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Can we get link-speak added to that Lake Superior State University list of things that must die? The links you assigned to all the words there had no special meaning to any particular word. Particularly with Slashdot's little citing engine throwing block quotes behind every one, it just makes it terribly annoying to read. Why not keep things legible and list links in an orderly fashion:

Nickalodeon
The Daily Show
South Park
MTV
TV Land

See, it's not hard.

Stealing? Who's talking about stealing?

Viacom puts many of their shows online.

TOS is still available via DVD, it will be rebroadcast in its original form on TV LAND... there's just no comparison to Lucas' repeated muddling of the Star Wars plot and effects. The only reason Lucas has decided to sell the original unmodified trilogy is because so many people downloaded or bought used laserdisc copies, rather than buy his recent updated box set.

I mean, I grew up with TOS and think it's kinda cool CBS will rebroadcast it in HD - but I'm not clamoring for it either. I just think the comparison between Paramount's changes tp TOS vs. what Lucas did to the original Star Wars is just plain unfair.

*shrug*

What most of these lawmakers and city/state administrators fail to realize is that watching or playing one of these violent video games does not make an otherwise peaceful or innocent teenager go out and commit violent crimes. This is just the same as outlawing black trenchcoats in school because of the Columbine situation. Wearing trenchcoats isn't going to make you murder your schoolmates.

Its called predisposition. There are lots of folks out there who can't honestly separate reality from fantasy. These are the folks you heard about a decade ago who went out and stabbed someone with a long sword after playing D&D for 45 hours straight. The people who commit violent crimes after playing games like Grand Theft Auto are the ones who were already predisposed to commit those crimes. They just needed some kind of catalyst or spark to get them going. These are the people who should be seeing psychiatrists. The game might give them the idea of what violent crimes to commit, but playing a video game isn't going to turn the Beaver into a killer.

Here's what needs to happen:

1. The problem children need to be identified early. These are the kids who are torturing small animals, play with fire, etc etc.
2. Parents need to educate their children on the difference between fantasy and reality.
3. Parents need to pay attention to what their children play and watch. I'm a father of two small children now, and my oldest one is just beginning to be old enough that I need to censor what she sees and hears.

I think the solution lies in the household, not in the government. While I don't think that a 12 year old boy should be buying GTA: San Andreas, I think that IF they did buy it, there's a much bigger problem at home, and that boy's parents need to be examined.

C'mon, dust devils? Super wind? Driving at a tilt? Clearly there's a simpler explanation.

Can't say I consider myself so bright any more now that I'm older, but I suggest you try a field that has a lot of width, like architecture.

That was my experience. I was lucky to get six years to complete undergrad (thanks Mom and Dad!) so I could do the four year commitment to architecture school while still taking quite a few religion, business, art and history courses. Never failed a class and graduated with nearly 200 hours. Best thing that could have happened, even though I didn't realize it at the time. (I transferred too late in my freshman year and couldn't get into Arch school until my junior year.)

And now, even though I've been in this career for a while, I still enjoy it. Architecture has a lot of different opportunities. You can develop into a designer, focusing on the art and philosophy. Or you can explore the technical side becoming a specialist in specifications, construction administration, or some particular design focus such as laboratory planning. Other opportunities include project, financial and office management, marketing and graphics, or CAD, computer and technical support. Really, there's something for everyone.

The trick is to not focus too soon. Most professions (medicine, law, accounting, architecture) have a range of skill areas. Even computer science, as specific as it is, has opportunities in marketing, usability, testing, graphics, business and project management, sales, internal technical support, and human resources--not just programming.

The downside of not focusing early is that you'll always be behind the savant who did. But if you know yourself not to be that way (as you do) don't even try to compete. I always think its funny when the working end of the screwdriver types (in my profession the designers) lament that everyone else goes home on time and has more of a life. They miss that it's a team effort, and they need the rest of us as much as we need them. (Besides the fact that such focus can sometimes lead to massive mis-direction and inefficiency. Although I will grant that it takes that type and effort to yield the once-in-a-lifetime genius work of architecture. Once. Among dozens of failures and misses.)

So be sure to shop around and keep yourself learning broadly. Force yourself to learn things you don't want to know. And remember, even though you might be known as your office's Cliff Clavin, it only takes one time for that single obscure bit of knowledge or experience to land your firm a mega contract and bump you up the ladder five rungs.

DS9 also did really well when it had to compete against Babylon 5.

Urban legend has it that J. Michael Straczynski went to Paramount trying to sell his idea for this innovate new space opera whose central focus was life aboard a space station. The way I've heard it told, the studio brass sat there nodding silently and appreciatively during the pitch session but ultimately said "Thanks, but No Thanks".

Then, mysteriously, a new show appeared featuring Star Trek themes and ...whaddya know! many spacefaring races mingling in intrigue and commerce on a space station! Go figure, what were the odds of something like that happening? Two shows with nearly identical scenarios hitting the air at roughly the same time? ;)

But to tell the truth the Star Trek folk were just doling out a bit of what they got back in the 60s (okay a bit of a stretch, but bear with me here). According to William Shatner in his book about the making of 60's series he told of how Roddenberry approached (I think it was CBS) trying to sell his "wagon train to the stars" (making an attempt to appeal the success of a show called Gunsmoke) to the execs there. One major selling point was how cheaply the show could be made because of his "similar worlds theory". The theory in question states that given the enormity of the universe there is a mathematically possibility that other worlds could have evolved similarly to the earth. That being the case, depictions of allien races could be achieved cheaply through inexpensive costuming techniques and alien landscapes could be achieved through location shoots. Like their Paramount counterparts of the 1990's, they sat there and said "Interesting, good, but ultimatly no thanks". Then...lo and behold look what hits the air before Roddenberry can get the okay to do Star Trek...

I just spanked my monkey watching her (4th pic from the top).

This isn't a privacy issue. If you think you have one spec of anonymity or privacy in a casino, you're nuckin futs.

Excellent point that sums up the whole thing. After all, the entire point of a casino is to prey on peoples' willing suspension of disbelief.

How can anyone who walks in and puts their cash on the table think that the casino companies aren't going to fleece them from the moment they enter? That those ridiculously overdone venues with their flashing neon lights just built themselves out of the Nevada desert?

On the other side of the roulette wheel, you have people who *do* think they can beat the house... the people who buy lottery tickets at home in blissful ignorance of the laws of mathematics.

Neither of these groups is going to care about RFID. One group knows that they're entering a fantasy world, and the other wouldn't believe you if you told them.

Instead of going into the software business, he should have been an architect like his father.

What happened to Lamont?

As soon as I saw Matt Dillon's name associated with BSD, I got really excited. I mean, who knew that the ol' gunslinger Marshal Matt Dillon became a programmer?

Then, I realized I must have been thinking about the wrong Matt Dillon, but I still thought it was weird that the guy from There's Something About Mary became involved in a BSD project.

Finally I remembered the other Matt Dillon who developed the DICE C compiler for the Amiga back in the good old days.

The humor in Futurama is too intellectual (aside from the Bender beer drinking jokes, and the insipid stupidity of Fry) for your average viewing public, hence its decline into the dustbin of the airwaves (TVLand).

"Born in Pennsylvania, Gilligan worked at a gas station before joining the Navy where he saved the life of the captain, becoming his "little buddy." In gratitude, when the Skipper started his own charter business, he hired Gilligan to be his first mate despite his incompetence. Gilligan's childlike nature makes him the perfect errand boy often performing many of the menial tasks on the island such as riding the Professor's generator bike, acting as manservant to Mr. Howell or collecting coconuts for the girls. It should be noted, some claim Gilligan's first name is "Willy", though none has been able to prove it."

TV Land Rules

This isn't the actor, it's the lawman. Jeez, Slashdotters are so ignorant!

a long time ago as Ralph Kramden in an episode of The Honeymooners. I don't remember the figures, but he had come up with the percentages for the perefct song, which he then attempted to compose. I think it must have been episode #92:

http://www.tvland.com/shows/honeymooners/episode s5 .jhtml

I have not tried working in a white noise space, but it's a good idea if you want to implement acoustic privacy. I remember some research on outdoor spaces that showed people in areas with waterfalls did not necessarily pay attention to the waterfall itself - the attraction was the insulation from the street noise. You'd have to tinker with the sound level and speaker placement so people didn't find themselves in a Cone of Silence. I'd try a grid of small, unobtrusive speakers. Try to use materials and decorations with good acoustic properties (large plants, cieling tiles, fabric banners, etc).

Cube farms can totally suck the life out if you if they are visually unattractive and bland. You can make spaces more interesting using quirky tricks - use an old computer (white noise generator?), LCD projector, and theater blinders to put a dynamic mural on the wall without blinding half your staff. Corkboard or painted homasote walls also allow rapid customization as well as enhance sound dampening.

• Some publications are embarassing, and would damage their corporate image. For example, Disney doesn't want Song of the South to be seen again. They've also censored the original versions of Alladin and other films.
  
• A richer public domain will reduce the public's need to buy new entertainment products. If 50-year old books and TV shows were available for free, there would be slightly less need to pay money for new ones. (The TV-Land channel, at least, would see it's operating costs decrease)
  

Who would wanna cell phone in their ring? Keep it in your shoe like any professional spy.

I don't know where Mr. GeekLife.com has been hiding, but Ford cancelling the "Model E" program is such old news that /. covered it over two months ago!

I'm starting to think that maybe VA <buzzword> sold /. to TVLand...

In an attempt to "scoop" Casio, This device was just released by a competitor!