Slashdot Mirror

http://206.54.177.105/people/JessB/kissing/pics.ht ml

I live in Plano, TX and all the online grocery stores that used to operate in this area have gone the way of the rest of the dotcoms. However, before the downfall, I had started designing a system that would automate my grocery shopping by tracking what I had in stock and based on the rate I consume things. On a weekly basis I would plan my menus so the program knew what was needed and would order whatever wasn't available. Go to http://206.54.177.105 and click on Inventory to see the current status. Items are entered and removed from the inventory by using a retail barcode scanner.

Since the online grocery stores are now gone, I can't really get any use of out it and the best I can do now is to print out shopping lists, so I've kinda put the project on the back burner. But had those companies prevailed I believe this setup would have made a nice addition to any home automation system by making shopping an almost transparent process.

-Restil

The problem I see is that

you're 27 years old and hang

out with 15 year old teenage

girls. P E R V E R T .

Tom Bombadil is the only character in the story that can be safely removed entirely without affecting the rest of the story. Two events which happen during the time we spend with Tom: Frodo tries the ring for the first time, and we encounter the barrow wights, where frodo is once again tempted AND the four hobbits obtain their swords. However, these are plot elements that can safely be removed without upsetting the story.

The best part of the radio plays is they include a great many of the songs that are included in the books, along with characters expressing some real heartfelt emotions.

-Restil

Play with my webcams and turn on my lights at http://206.54.177.105

Between the two LOTR Movies and this radio adaption, the radio plays by far stick to the story line, almost to the letter. Obviously they have to abridge it somewhat, but the most important parts of the story are maintained in excellent detail.

While not disappointed with the new movie, I was somewhat dismayed by their attempt to rush more important aspects of the story and drag out those parts that play little role. LOTR is, more than anything, about the growth of the characters. How these small, fat, lazy hobbits go on an adventure and when they return they run the evil out of their homeland. How a dirty rugged old ranger ends up becoming king, and how a dwarf and an elf, both with much inbred conflict with each other, manage to become lifelong friends.

The cave troll did not take 3 minutes to dispatch in the book. It was an orc chieftan who skewered frodo, not a troll. Frantically, the party ran from that room, carrying Frodo (whom they believed to be dead) with them. Gandalf attempts to seal the door with a spell, only the Balrog fights him back with magic and almost destroys him. All this was missed. Instead they have to spend precious time on the character development of Arwen, who doesn't get more than 5 minutes in the books anyways.

And at the end, we don't have the troublesome Aragorn. In the books, he was distraught because he didn't know what path to follow, and then everybody gets separated, Boromir dies, all the hobbits disappear, and the fate of frodo and sam is unknown. Aragorn is forced to make a decision on who they follow and choose to pursue Merry and Pippin.

Galadriel warned against betrayal in the party. Yet there was no such warning. Oh, the book hinted about Boromir's desire for the ring, but up until the very minute he tried to steal it, Frodo only thought that Boromir wanted them to keep it safe at Minas Tirith, and not to walk it into the enemy's hand. However, the rest of the party did not desire it so, and none of the rest of them were a risk. This is shown most prominantly in the "Samwise the Strong" segue in the third novel when Sam is tempted by the power of the ring while he holds it for a while, and yet manages to overcome it with barely any thought on the matter.

But anyways.. No need to overanalyze this. The radio plays are GOOD. Listen to them if you can.

-Restil

Play with my webcams and turn on my lights at http://206.54.177.105"

You see this as an advantage. I see it as a limitation of the cable services. In fact, what they have done, is deprive you of the very overselling that makes the service reasonable in the first place. Yes, it will keep the warez kiddies in check, however you are now no longer able to download an iso as it will easily exceed 150 megs, unless we're talking a VERY small CD. How can you even justify this as useful?

Fact of the matter is, 150 megs a day is probably what their system can handle ON AVERAGE per user. They expect to have a lot of casual webserfers and people who check their email who don't consume much bandwidth and they expect the occasional warez kiddie who are pretty well responsible for the infamous 128kbps upstream cap that many providers have implemented. They expect this to even out in the long run and charge appropriately.

What they have done is constrain ALL their users to the least common denominator. Now, this is EXTREMELY cost effective for them, but it doesn't do squat for any power users. They would be far better off just canceling the service of anyone who's abusing the system and letting the rest of the users have free reign.

But yeah.. like THAT'S going to happpen.

-Restil

Play with my webcams and lights at http://206.54.177.105 .

Huh? A LOT of older ethernet network cards have AUI connectors. You don't see them on the 100mbps cards but since this maxes out at 10mbps anyways, who cares? If you're going to spend the time building this device, getting ahold of a compatible network card is not the biggest obstacle. :)

-Restil

Play with my webcams and turn my lights on/off at http://206.54.177.105

But you can turn my Xmas lights on/off via the internet. Check out the interactive webcams at http://206.54.177.105

The Xmas lights are in the living room. Now I've got motivation to do something more impressive for next year. :)

-Restil