Secrets of the City

Buy Mac.

Macs are for tools who want to have want a trendy style.

Use Linux, free, secure, reliable, runs on anything, etc etc

It is a comedy that people actually use Geek Squad, why not just learn to fix your computers yourself, seriously? So much info available online.

If you can’t handle the technology, don’t use it!

Yes, vlado, and if you can’t fix your car, don’t drive one.

Linux XP anyone? It’s out there. XP like GUI based on Linux. Check it out.

Anybody who stores that stuff on their hard drives has got to be stupid. If they need to store their info like that they should save it to a flash drive or use a file shredder with at least a 5 to 7 pass shred. I use cCleaner, a free program to securely shred files 1, 5 or 7 passes (search cCleaner).

My first computer job was writing and using machine language programs.

A few years later I taught the Cray operating system to computer science PhDs.

Nowadays I develop bleeding-edge web applications.

I use the Geek Squad kids to fix my broken machines because I don’t have time. Just like your daddy doesn’t change the oil in the family car himself anymore.

OOPS, forgot to mention that free cCleaner is for personal use only and is not for business use.

Maz is a high-tech old coot. I’m impressed.

My dad bought a laptop and they offered to charge him $200 to remove all of the filthy software that came on the computer. If a salesperson had actually had the audacity to say that to me I’m fairly certain I would have punched him in the face, and I’m not a violent person. I’ve built my own since I was in 7th grade and that works for me.

Vlado: Not to turn this into a dorky operating system thread, but sometimes linux just makes me want to kill myself. It’s brilliant, the socialist in me loves the whole open-source thing, and yet sometimes using it is just so fucking awful. My dirty secret is that Windows XP never treated me all that wrong.

How bout people stop downloading child porn and uploading pics of their wives’ snatches onto MySpace? Problem solved…

In other words…Maz knows very well how to hide his dirty, filthy secrets.

A bit off topic…From this article about students cheating using ipods…

“I tell students they can bring a pencil; that’s all they’ll need,” said Annette Schoenberger, a computer science professor at St. Cloud State University.

Schoenberger is not tech-savvy – “If you took an iPod and hit me in the face with it, I wouldn’t know what it was” —

Computer science prof, NOT tech savvy. Hey, let’s throw MORE money at schools!

Linux is the perfect *nix for nerds who like desktop eye candy and have hours and hours to spend making things work.

Mac OS X is the perfect *nix for people who don’t have to be nerds who like desktop eye candy and have hours and hours they don’t have to spend making things work.

Windows on the other hand is the perfect platform for World of Warcrack and malware.

zen, don’t forget the hours and hours of work needed to pay the extra price for a Mac.

1. Geek Squad is a subsidiary of Best Buy.

2. How could you expect anything less?

3. It’s computer science. Most of it is theory, and you don’t need a computer in class any more than a telescope in astronomy. Sure, you’ll probably use them, but not every day.

4. Should I ever find that free weekend, I’ll be wiping that garbage XP Home from my Dell notebook and installing a dual boot of Pro and Arch Linux, the standard OS for my shop.

5. Macs shave quite a bit of cost by taking out that unnecessary mouse button… but seriously, their prices are very competitive.

There’s more: I have a half-sister who was a Geek Squad manager in Indianapolis. She said she encountered a level of sexual harassment and just plain harassment from male employees who didn’t want a female supervisor that merits a lawsuit, if only even half of it is true. Rather than fight the machine, she walked away from a career she had spent years building and by all accounts was very good at.

I’m not sure what she’s going to do next, but hearing her story certainly makes me unlikely to give the Geek Squad any of my business. Besides, we own a Mac at home.

Bob, you should tell your sister to talk to Bobby, or the Indiana equivalent of Bobby. She’s probably got a 2 year statute of limitations. Sue! Sue! Sue!

The kid who wrote that article must be awfully sheltered if this stuff shattered his innocence. Just shopping at a Best Buy will do that to most folks.

Your thoughts, bobby? mike s? I respect your advice in these matters.

I am a client of a an Indianapolis law firm, so I could make a quick call on this.

It saddens me to hear local people bad mouth Best Buy, which is one of this town’s greatest ever business success stories.

When I was a teenager back in the 60s, I would buy most of my 45 RPM records at McGowens appliance on Grand ave, or a new store on Snelling called the Sound of Music. The owner of that store was a guy named Dick Schulze and his salesman was named Brad Anderson. Today Dick Schulze is a billionaire philanthropist and Brad Anderson is CEO.

Sound of Music went from a little store selling stereo equipment to Forbes Company of the Year in 2004 and the number 1 consumer electronics retailer in the country with over 1000 stores.

That was the year I began writing all the training for their store personnel, but I think that may only be a coincidence. heh

Um, if you could post whatever you know, guys. Someone might have a final on this topic in the near future…

Your sister could probably get a free consult with a lawyer, or there’s a self-help process through the EEOC.

It’s computer science. Most of it is theory, and you don’t need a computer in class any more than a telescope in astronomy.

i know what computer science is. but any functioning adult in a technology driven industry (or any industry, really) to have no idea what an ipod is should be embarassed. farkin out of touch “educators”.

I remember interviewing people who had masters degrees in MIS who could barely operate a PC. It happens and they can get away with it if they stay in academia.

Maz,

Best Buy has grown so big as to lose the values it had when it was the Sound of Music.

I worked there all through high school and some in college. I say that its dishonest efforts to pad its bottom line with garbage like replacement plans and online service and magazine subscriptions undermines their image in the eyes of consumers, who want when they visit a store to purchase a TV or a washer and dryer and could care less about the pure profit attachments.

It has nothing to do with academia, as someone in the industry. It’s a function of the higher-level individuals at any kind of organization, including businesses, tending to be self-imposedly helpless because they either honestly don’t care about the junk tech of the day, or alternately, they think someone else should be doing that dirty work for them. This is utterly pervasive in the private sector, and anyone who doesn’t think so has no idea what they’re talking about.

This is utterly pervasive in the private sector

I agree.

This is utterly pervasive in the private sector, and anyone who doesn’t think so has no idea what they’re talking about.

I have something I call the “maz rule.” I refuse to work for a person who knows less than I do. People who work for clueless bosses have only themselves to blame.

Ehh,

Americans have become too complacent due to the service economy. Everything has to be done by a professional nowadays. Pay someone to mow your lawn, fix your car, computer etc….

Sure not everyone has time, but things are getting pathetic. I try to avoid the exorbitant labor costs for any of those tasks.

I don’t know how much the geek squad charges, but I imagine it is an obscene amount.

Can these guys do complex repairs? Or are they only for morons who don’t know shit about computers.

How about hiring a dorky teenager instead of Geek Squar Inc.

I love my bosses.

Macs and PCs use extensibly the same hardware. Thus, the only differences in Macs and PCs is the operating system. Thus, from a reliability standpoint, there is no difference.

If you give your PC or Mac to a Geek Squad technician, it is likely they’ll need some sort of “root” password. Thus, you are no safer on a Mac than with a PC.

If you give a computer with porn on it to a computer geek, he (or she) WILL find it. Thus, if giving away a computer, wipe out the partitions and format (not quick format) the hard drive.

Mac OS X is the perfect *nix for people who don’t have to be nerds who like desktop eye candy and have hours and hours they don’t have to spend making things work.

Actually I would say Ubuntu is the perfect *nix for people who don’t have to be nerds. OSX is still kind of for trendy tools.

Oh, and can I recycle my *nix joke from a week or two ago since we’re on the topic?

/mnt/yrmom

Americans have become too complacent due to the service economy. Everything has to be done by a professional nowadays. Pay someone to mow your lawn, fix your car, computer etc….

In defense of the average american (you won’t catch me saying this often), the complexity and amount of things we have that could need repairs has reached the point where most people simply don’t have the time to learn enough about each one to do it themselves. If you believe time is money (eh) then it’s actually cheaper to rely on service industries for certain things because you don’t have to waste a huge chunk your supposedly-valuable time learning how to fix something, and instead can spend an amount of money hopefully worth less to you than that time.

That said, I love knowing how everything works.

Hey you guys, I don’t see MNSpeak on this:

“Oh, and can I recycle my *nix joke from a week or two ago since we’re on the topic? /mnt/yrmom”

Yes. Yes, you can. And I will still laugh out loud then feel great shame for doing so.

I mostly keep pr0nz on yrmom

some music too.

Oh god. That map is so Middle Earth.

My blog country is not a string of islands! It’s the size of France, at least.

omg, geek squad is so expensive, i would never pay that much for service.

Chkdsk people, chkdsk.

chkdsk /f

Nerds, the lot of you…hehe

nerds do it best

Do they do it in binary code, too?

I like to think of sex in terms of euler’s formula.

it’s all about the oscillations, but there’s just something unreal about it.

all the math nerds in the house will get that, but everyone else will think I’m bizarre.

Too late…haha!

aliecat, if that’s the way you like it, I can download a service pack for that.

I could partition your disk for better page file performance.

OK, between those two, there is quite an excessive amount of beating…
around the bush.
_____

When people turn against a company/person, it’s always a good fallback position to say people are “envious of their success” and they don’t know/forgot about “all the good things X has done”, but guess what — we don’t care. If the magic’s gone, it’s probably something they did to us, not the other way around.

_____

If you guys hurry, you can get over to the capitol for the National Day of Prayer event at noon… and don’t forget who you’re praying for.

Thanks…but I could really use an upgrade in RAM…wait, what?

I could probably get some RAM into your slot.

wow

and don’t forget who you’re praying for.

Of course, liberals will be praying for the full recovery of Castro and Osama.

Ann Coulter can’t write lamer trollbait than that.

Yeah I took it next-level FTW

Holy crap, I have no witty comeback for that…props

Ann Coulter can’t write lamer trollbait than that.

Just to be technically accurate, the troll bait was your inviting this audience to a prayer event. My comment was a simple reply to such bait. So I guess that makes you the troll, doesn’t it?

Wayne,

You going to give her the

1GB 1024MB-400MHz DDR2-400 PC2-3200, 240p DIMM?

OR the

16MB 2×64-66MHz, 168p DIMM, 3.3v, Sync?

Just remember that those 168P DIMM’s need to be slotted in pairs to work!

Of course, liberals will be praying for the full recovery of Castro and Osama.

Haven’t you been watching Fox News? What would “Godless Liberals” be doing praying? Duh!

I’ve always thought of Wayne as more of a 128K SIMM anyway…

Ask champs. He invited you.

Just remember that those 168P DIMM’s need to be slotted in pairs to work!

Oh I know! Maybe I’ll try the same DIMM in both slots, though!

Hey now…

but I’m on a roll!

also, re: that last joke- paging alexis

Groan…haha!

maybe I can get you to show me your flash drive?

Only if I can see your monster cable…heeeyoooohhh!

Y’all need to screw and let us have our message board back.

For reals.

aww…prude…

Carry on then.

joekz make the workday pass faster

Wayne, you’re last comment was #69…heh…

At least it isn’t spiraling into a political war… I would much rather have Wayne flirting with all the girls that frequent here, than have it devolve into liberal this and conservative that. Party on Wayne!

Listen, I wrote the Best Buy employee book. Can’t any of you understand that you’re dealing with a superior intellect?!!
Woudn’t it then be true that my political opinions are totally correct?
Why I spend my life in this miserable little blog is starting to perplex my constitution.
Also, Iraq was directly connected to 9/11.

It’s no surprise that Maz would be in bed with Best Buy.

Fascist cretins who try to sell Fear Based bogus warranties with their crappy tech equipment.

Hand in glove with you Maz. Hand in glove.

For the ladies’ sake, I hope Wayne is runs Norton Anti-Virus.

Wayne, you’re last comment was #69…heh…

»» Submitted by »»» aliecat at 1:45 PM on May 3

heh!

I’ll show you comment #69 …

Wayne is runs

Nice grammar, dooshbag. This is why you never get laid.

Idiot.

Nice grammar, dooshbag. This is why you never get laid.

Yes, I’m sure that’s the reason, K…haha!

I’ve got the most up-to-date virus definitions!

maybe I can get you to show me your flash drive?
umm, fllash drives are small oblong external features that protrude. Are you sure you want her to show you that?

Alie, or should I call you Al?

What else could it possibly be? I’m perfect in every other way.

Holy crap! Did I say that? I need more coffee.

I know that baker, but it was more a reference to

oh nevermind!

Wayne just wants a solid-state drive. That’s all.

I’m alllll girl…

I’m just a sweet transvite…

prove it aliecat.
give wayne something to write home about.

He must have a close relationship w/ his parents…

“Yes, vlado, and if you can’t fix your car, don’t drive one.”

Well, actually, yes. Learn something about what you own, it doesn’t hurt that bad and you can actually save a lot of money. Plus, it is much more interesting to listen to someone talk about how they fixed something than b*tch and moan about how much it cost to fix/replace.

If you want a free nice OS — Ubuntu, nice linux build, user friendly…

http://www.ubuntu.com/

If you want a nice OS to buy, wait for OSX 10.5-Leopard…

If you want to stay on Windows XP / switch to Vista… GetFirefox.com and also, just mindful which websites you navigate to and what (free) software you install!

Geek squad will no longer be an issue

“If you can’t handle the technology, don’t use it!“

I hear this from lots of techies, but when I ask them if they want to help me pull the tranny on my GTO over the weekend, they all fade. They must just mean their favorite technology.

“I have a half-sister who was a Geek Squad manager in Indianapolis. “

Cool. What was her other half?

(If she was being harassed by people who had no authority over her, she should have complained to her bosses. Any lawsuit against her employer would stem from the employer (i.e., her bosses) knowing (or reasonably being expected to know) about the harassment, and doing nothing or not enough to stop it. If they didn’t know, then they never got a chance to fix it, which would pretty much be a complete defense.

She should take advantage of the “first talk is always free” feature of lawyerdom, and pull out the Yellow Pages and look for “Employment Law” firms or lawyers. My initial take on what you typed would be, she would do better for herself by simply walking away and chalking it all up to a bad lesson, because lawsuits mainly just keep you focused on icky parts of your life and generally don’t bring riches, but if she did make a complaint upstream, or she can show that her bosses knew (or everybody knew), or, even better, some harassment came from upstream, she might have a viable claim.)

“It’s a function of the higher-level individuals at any kind of organization, including businesses, tending to be self-imposedly helpless because they either honestly don’t care about the junk tech of the day, or alternately, they think someone else should be doing that dirty work for them. This is utterly pervasive in the private sector, and anyone who doesn’t think so has no idea what they’re talking about.”

“Self-imposedly helpless” because they don’t know how to run the tools they hire you to run? CEO needs to know how to run the forklift, and the boxcutters, and the VOM, and the back-up power supply, and the flow guage, and the inside micrometer, and the main telephone exchange, and the toilet plunger, and . . . ?

I’d say you’ve got a bit of techie-conceit going on there. No, there’s no real reason to have to know that stuff if you’re running things and can hire technicians to do it for you.

Does anyone here watch The Young and The Restless? If so, when they read this thread do they think of Daniel’s problem. If no one here watches, well, I’ll just go now…

I will never use Ubuntu and join that smelly throng of drooling knuckle-draggers.

Bixby,
Yes.

Kwatt, you’re my new favorite! Oh Daniel and his “problem”. Oh Lily and her gullibility.

Okay I haaven’t seen it in a few weeks cause cable fucked yp my vcr. But I so saw thta coming from a mile away. It’s Y&R’s traditional adfiction storlyline they drag outjg gevery few years.

I heard our morning anchor/outdoorsman Bill Hudson arguing with morning weather dude Chris Shaffer about Y & R the other day. Hilarious.

Okay I haaven’t seen it in a few weeks cause cable fucked yp my vcr. But I so saw thta coming from a mile away. It’s Y&R’s traditional adfiction storlyline they drag outjg gevery few years.

Well, you do know:
A. Dru is “dead”
B. Daniel is addicted to the porn
C. Nikki has gone batshit crazy?

right?

My friend got cable so that he could tape it every day. We only get ABC and NBC out here. That’s what happens when you go to school in a valley.

Anyway, glad to know there is another YR fan on MNSpeak!

I heard our morning anchor/outdoorsman Bill Hudson arguing with morning weather dude Chris Shaffer about Y & R the other day. Hilarious.

Hee! What on earth could they have been arguing about? I mean, my debates pretty much boil down to me being on Team Sharon and my friend is on Team Phyllis…

I’ve never understood the point of taking sex pictures if you aren’t going to share. I mean, really, here borrow my camera, except, oops! ah, shucks, you weren’t supposed to see those!!

Oops. Is this thread past the point of talking about sex pictures?

can we get back to the inneundo please?

no?

well this is comment #100.

I’d say you’ve got a bit of techie-conceit going on there. No, there’s no real reason to have to know that stuff if you’re running things and can hire technicians to do it for you.

You missed my point, bobby. I’m not much of a techie. Don’t own a computer, just work with ‘em. I’m not saying the CEO needs to know how to run a mail server or drive the forklift. I’m saying that, for things which he needs to do every day like check his email, he should remember how to be minimally functional with it. That is, remember his password and not delete messages that he’ll want later. Etc. This is a narrow argument in response to something maz said.

In the context we’re talking about, it’s not about the CEO knowing how to drive the forklift… it’s about the CEO knowing how to drive his car to work without hitting someone on the way. IE, making his daily needs into someone else’s overt problem.

And for the record, this is true of most people these days, I’m just positing that, as a general guide, it increases the higher you go up the ladder.

Also, somehow I doubt you would extend the same benefit-of-the-doubt to someone in a position that you consider stereotypically “liberal”, as opposed to a “CEO”.

what do expect from a bunch of horny little geeks

Ok people here are the facts. The folks that use “Geek Squad”, “Firedog”, “Data Doctors”, or any other computer repair service are not getting ripped off when they have to pay for service. The people that take their computers in for repair are paying someone else to do it because they dont know how. I work in the electronics industry and I understand the value of the service and knowledge these places offer. Fixing a flat tire, changing the oil in a car, replacing a battery, and most other basic maintenance on a car could be easily learned if people just took the time to learn how but they dont. Most choose instead to pay someone else to do it. Remember the next time you find yourself having to dish out some cash to have anything serviced that you cant do yourself, you are paying that person for the time they are taking to help you, the time they took to learn what they need to know to help you, and you are paying the company they work for to stand behind that work. Those who run around pointing the finger at these places saying that they should be showing people how to do things for free dont know as much as they say they do. Most are just jealous of the success of others, are Self Educated (i.e. they didnt go to school to work and pay for their skills), and are angry that they didnt think of charging people first. There are always going to be employees in a business this big that do not hold up to the standards of the whole, and unfortunately there will be misunderstandings that lead to a negative experience, but from the people I have talked to in person more are happy with the service they got at these places then not.