Slashdot Mirror

Hacking Italian traffic lights for financial gain has been thought of before. The Italian Job

Bill Gates sometimes strikes me as the nerdy James-Bond-villan type that would invent some type of super-virus and release it on the world via mosquitoes.

Christopher Walken plays him in the movie.

This REALLY reminds me of the movie Gattaca

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119177/

Quote: "In "the not-too-distant" future, where genetic engineering of humans is common and DNA plays the primary role in determining social class, Vincent (Ethan Hawke) is conceived and born without the aid of this technology. Suffering from the nearly eradicated physical dysfunctions of myopia and a congenital heart defect, as well as being given a life expectancy of 30.2 years, Vincent faces extreme genetic discrimination and prejudice. The only way he can achieve his life-long dream of becoming an astronaut is to break the law and impersonate a "valid", a person with appropriate genetic advantage.[4]"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119177/

The slippery slope begins... first arrests... then when you're born. Living "off the grid" will eventually equate to "being born in the woods."

Um, no. Slashdot brings out a certain kind of ignorant loud mouth.
It doesn't reflect the US anymore then a Saudi Arabian guy living in Afghanistan orginizing an attack on the US is an accurate portrayal of Saudi Arabia citizens.

full quote for my reference here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1293323/quotes

When you come down to it, there really isn't any significant difference between recording fingerprints and recording DNA.

Yes, there is a huge difference between fingerprints and DNA.

Fingerprints tell you nothing about a person other than what strange wavy patterns happen to be on their fingertips. Whatever palm-readers might say, fingerprints don't give insight into the person they belong to. DNA, on the other hand, can tell you nearly infinite amounts about a person: sex, ethnicity, eye color, whether they are prone to depression, schizophrenia, cancer, violent tendencies, etc. And whereas fingerprints are not hereditary (your fingerprints have essentially no correlation to your parents' or siblings'), DNA is all about inheritance.

The potential for abuse here is incalculably greater than with fingerprints. Haven't you seen Gattaca ? How much would a genocidal dictator love to have such a DNA database? He'd be able to figure out exactly who belongs to the race/ethnicity/tribe you despise most. Hitler is the prime example, but there are any number of other, more recent, genocides that it could apply to. One needn't go to the extreme of genocide to start getting the willies about the government having such comprehensive information about its people. And that's just what is available with what we know about DNA today - who can say what will be possible in a generation?

    At any moment, the reds will try to invade us, and this will become the Soviet State of Amerika!

Agent 007 thwarted one such attempt.

If adding tons of water within days is enough to threaten the stability of a fault, obviously removing tons of water within minutes is the safest way to fix the problem. Yes, I can see the movie industry (which once depicted people being pursued by cold air) falling for that.

A Taste of Armageddon

No specifications were revealed but DNA, a daily newspaper, has mentioned that it will be small and portable, will feature Wi-Fi, LAN, and expandable memory, and will operate on 2 watts of power.

User interface devices and storage media sold separately.

Seriously, imagine what you could do with a small CCD and a mobile chassis for just one of these babies without those extra items, if not a hundred of them for $1000.

Now I just need heat-seeking pistol rounds and I can recreate the setting of the movie Runaway.

The movie rating system is pretty messed up. I prefer the Joe Bob Briggs method of rating movies from when he was on the movie channel. He'd run down the count of kills (with an emphasis on decapitations or anything out of the ordinary) and breasts and other nudity. We could throw in counts of bad language. The rating would be something like:

up to 542 kills/per game - some with chainsaw
8 breasts and 3 asses
"shit" - 12, "piss" - 1, "fuck" - 17, "cunt" - 0, "cocksucker" - 3, "motherfucker" - 6, "tits" - 2

Then a parent can decide if Timmy is ready to saw a zombie in half or if he needs to hold off on being able to hit a button to yell "motherfucker" at a Nazi for another year or so.

Dude, you can major in Gameboy if you know how to bullshit.

You're forgetting that the premise of Dark Angel was human-animal chimeras.

I'm guessing if they looked anything like the actors/actresses in that show (eg, Jessica Alba), they'd be a little more accepted. Unfortunately, the show also had their earlier 'failures', which were a little less human looking, and might qualify in the uncanny valley / furries area.

Maybe aliens are everywhere, aware of us, and simply choosing not to communicate.

Many people have speculated this about cats. Owners know it to be true. Perhaps aliens live among us, and late at night, turn into psyochotic axe-murderer chasing predators from the foots of our very own beds.

Nah, they leave the axe-murderers alone, but they do a good job of keeping down the population of tiny trolls.

Plus Emilio Largo is going to have to move his secret operations.

Can't someone post an oppositional opinion on slashdot without being modded "troll" or "flamebait"

Amen, brother.

"Millions of us have basically switched from reading books"

I don't think so. I look to the T.V. and see shit like Lost and Heroes and I reach for the hardcopies of Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Hunter S. Thompson, or Tom Wolfe among others, without looking back. There's no sadder sight than somebody who watches Lost but dosen't know who the real John Locke was. Some of us would rather get to know the human condition further without delving into the throwaway escapism of fantasy or bad sci-fi.

A side note: William Shatner had as the protagonist in the movie adaptation of Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov which was the best fucking book ever written. The best intersection of sci-fi and the human condition since the Shakespearian actor Patrick Stewart became captain of the Enterprise ;)

...is fossil oxygen in liquid form reachable by drilling.

Isn't that located on Mars?

I don't know why, but "They dropped dolomite on it." made me think of http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072895/

Whoosh

Am I the only one thinking 'Minority Report' here?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181689/

And then you find out, it really doesn't... but you still watch because in some ways, it's still entertaining.

Dr. Ian Malcolm: Oh, yeah. Oooh, ahhh, that's how it always starts. Then later there's running and screaming.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119567/quotes

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1155076/

I thought most of the first season was pretty awful (except the first storyline). I actually felt bad for Rutger Hauer that he was in such an embarrassing storyline (it didn't help that he had obviously showed up to the set drunk). And if I never again in my life see Barry Bostwick in a WAY-too-revealing kilt, I can die a happy man (and I bet he thought the gold lamé costume in Megaforce would be the worst wardrobe of his career).

I thought the second season was the best by far. "Brigadoom" was actually remarkably dramatic for such a simple idea--easily my favorite episode of the whole run. And "791" and "White Trash" were hilarious.

The third season was just a slog to watch. Like the early second season of Battlestar Galactica, it was like the writers just suddenly decided to spend an entire season seeing how much abuse they could poor on both the characters and the audience. I was glad so glad when they left it behind. Much as I loved Nigel Bennett in Forever Knight, by the end of that season I just wanted his character dead.

The fourth season was pure satire, and it did have a few funny moments (VERY few), but for the most part it was an abysmal mess--an exercise in how NOT to be funny. About the only good thing I can say about it was that Patricia Zentilli was kind of cute.

Aside from the two Batman Movies with Michale Keaton, the style wasn't really that dark gothic many fans enjoy.

Watch the first full-length Batman movie followed up by the first Michael Keaton flick. It looks plenty dark in comparison.

To quote Serenity:
Hoban 'Wash' Washburn: This landing is gonna get pretty interesting.
Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: Define "interesting".
Hoban 'Wash' Washburn: [deadpan] Oh God, oh God, we're all going to die?

Reservoir Dogs is a remake of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_on_Fire_(1987_film)

According to the IMDB FAQ there seems to be some disagreement on this

I'd say "reimagining" rather than "remake", much like Planet of the Apes.
Except that the reimagined version of the first is better than the original, and the latters' sucks monkey ass.

we need to get off this rock and really dominate the galaxy.

Sky Marshal Dienes: We must meet this threat with our courage, our valor, indeed with our very lives to ensure that human civilization, not insect, dominates this galaxy *now and always*!

I'm waiting for an ex-Professional wrestler to show up

Will Jessy "The Body" Ventura do?

Falcon

The 6th Day yesterday..... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0216216/

Primer was a pretty good SF movie. Hard science, speculative plot. No spaceships, explosions, robots, or girls in saran wrap spacesuits. That's probably why you have never heard of it.

Not only that, but the Mr. Blue, Mr. Orange, etc. shtick is lifted directly from "The Taking of Pelham 123".

Which is being remade, coincidentally with Ridley Scott's brother Tony at the helm!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0821171/

Jeez... watch the show. It's awesome ;)

Reservoir Dogs is a remake of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_on_Fire_(1987_film)

According to the IMDB FAQ there seems to be some disagreement on this:

Is this film a remake?
[...] [T]here are clear similarities. Both films deal with a robbery, and feature a warehouse rendez-vous spot, a climactic Mexican stand-off, and the relationship between a veteran thief and an undercover cop, but Lung fu fong wan deals mostly with events leading to the robbery, while Reservoir Dogs is famously about the aftermath of an unseen heist gone wrong. [...] There are similar elements between the two films, but much of what makes Reservoir Dogs a classic - pacing, style, and some famous plot twists - is not present in Lung fu fong wan. Nevertheless, the debate has continued among some film fans.

Personally I can't think of any Tarantino movie I'd call "original" though some of them I find reasonably amusing.

This guy is doing Neuromancer.

Bah, Tykwer just stole the idea from "Clean Slate".

So I ask you, why do you care? You aren't forced to see the movie and if you do, it's going to give you something you love and cherish the most: something to bitch vindictively about.

You say this now.

May I introduce you to director Jospeh Kahn, and his impressive achievements, including a number of Britney Spears video clips and the movie "Torque".

Now watch closely what his latest project is.

Interesting read but the Alternet article leaves holes. For instance it says nothing about the Rothschild and Rockefeller oil magnates. He then admits Hearst did rail against hemp however he dies not say Hearst owned thousands of acres of forest which he used to harvest trees to make paper. Instead it says he had to sale his "prized art collection to avert foreclosure" because of a debt owned to Canadian paper producers. It also doesn't say "The family continued to own forest products and petroleum properties".

Perhaps racism had something to do with making hemp illegal afterall his "Reefer Madness" did rail against Mexicans smoking "marijuana" the "Devil Weeds", he railed against Blacks, and during the Second World War as part of his "yellow peril" he not only pushed to have the Japanese interned but Chinese as well. However he could have opposed hemp for economic reasons as well.

Falcon

Yeah, often the industry shills dominate the first few pages of reviews.. good example was Forgetting Sarah Marshall, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800039/usercomments It's insulting that those dicks are not smart enough to come close to sounding like real people: Kristen Bell plays Sarah Marshall, the iconic ex of the film, but her role sits on the back burner along with the truly hilarious Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) to make way for a leading role in Mila Kunis. From the beginning it is clear that her not-too-smart and shallow role of "That 70s Show" didn't follow her to "Forgetting"'s script. Kunis plays Racheal, a hospitality girl for the hotel that "Forgetting" takes place, and subsequently deals with Peter as he tries to get over Sarah Marshall. Her character is intelligent, charismatic, and appreciative of the good in people, a strong juxtaposition to the seemingly.. if that was written by a real person I'm an AI

Don't forget IMDB. Why bother to make a decent movie when you can just pay some shill to astroturf the first "preview" of a mediocre film? It's got to be value for money.

I loved Primer but I also really liked The Butterfly Effect. Maybe you saw the the dumbed-down, happy-ending version where many of the sub-plots that actually made the movie, well smart and great, were removed? For example, him finding out that his mother had had two miscarriages before him.. couple that with the ending and you have a waaay better movie than the americ^Z^Z cinematic, "pro-life" version. A list of changes (note that the "Alternate ending" is the major plus): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0289879/alternateversions

Not to mention the idea of stretching something has been around forever. Plus there's a small piece of prior art (albeit theoretical) that some people may be familiar with http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181689/

If we're talking hacker movies, I just have to mention Sneakers. I know, some parts of the movie aren't technically accurate, and others not unrealistic.

But it is one of the few hacker films I really enjoy, even as a computer-literate person, or maybe even because of it.

Have you not seen the crap that was The Net? This movie is about a computer hacker/code tester whose life gets hijacked by other hackers. It was dumb and probably one of the worst thrillers I've ever seen. The closest movie that was interesting while at the same time technological-ish would have to be Primer. Check this out if you want more details. It's not exactly as much technological as it is paradoxical, but it seems to get at the techno-thriller genre (somewhat).

Have you not seen the crap that was The Net? This movie is about a computer hacker/code tester whose life gets hijacked by other hackers. It was dumb and probably one of the worst thrillers I've ever seen. The closest movie that was interesting while at the same time technological-ish would have to be Primer. Check this out if you want more details. It's not exactly as much technological as it is paradoxical, but it seems to get at the techno-thriller genre (somewhat).

Just in case you are actually being serious, although I find that hard to believe http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090605/quotes

I think he was making a reference to the hilariously campy 80's movie The Manhattan Project

Keep multiple systems and monitors.

In 50yrs I think you'd have more problem porting the video out than anything else. Remove the batteries too.

Why not store 3 complete systems in 3 entirely different ways. Hoping that one of them will survive intact. Or components from all three will have enough intact to make a complete system. Let's assume that whoever finds it, even in a century will be intelligent enough to turn it on. Unless this ends up being an Old Man in the Cave sort of scenario. Then you've no hope anyway.

My uncle still fires up his Apple LISA every few months to do his accounting on it.

In my opinion, the schools' function of teaching kids to respect authority is at fault because alongside this they need to learn to detect authority. Anyone can be handed a title that they don't deserve. Authority is earned.

From Thank You For Smoking

Nick Naylor: My point is that you have to think for yourself. If your parents told you that chocolate was dangerous would you take their word for it?
[Children say no]
Nick Naylor: Exactly! So perhaps instead of acting like sheep when it comes to cigarettes you should find out for yourself.

The LEDs will be brighter for a shorter duration and it will look the same.

You mean "the light that burns twice as bright burns half as long"? Sorry, I couldn't resist.