Slashdot Mirror
Slashback: Segwait, Farscape, Leg-pulling
You knew this had to be too good to be true. Joe Ryan from AmericanTower.com writes: "Please note that the information posted Wednesday regarding sites American Tower has for sale is not accurate. American Tower Corporation has a limited number of surplus towers for sale. The list of sites can be accessed through our sites for sale list at http://www.americantower.com/mainweb/SitesForSale.asp. These are the only towers that are for sale. Please also note that these Surplus sites are sold on a strictly "as is-where is."
Thanks for the correction.
If the site you are inquiring about is not on the "Sites For Sale" list, then it is not for sale."
Despite all the lobbying, the wait is on. dgreno writes "Like many other Slashdot readers, I stations signed up with Amazon.com to be notified when the Segway Human Transporter would be available for sale. Today Amazon sent me an email which included the following, "We've recently learned from our supplier that the item you requested to be notified about, Segway Human Transporter (also known as "Ginger" or "IT"), will not be available in the foreseeable future." I guess the sidewalks are safe for a while longer."
Don't they like devoted fans?
$nyper writes "I just wanted to let everyone know that there is major backlash against the Sci-Fi channel from fans about the
cancellation of Farscape. They appear to have miscalculated the Fans. For the past few days Sci-Fi's main office has been inundated with faxes, e-mails, and phone calls to keep the show alive for its 5th season. CNN Headline news also ran a story on the effort yesterday. What it boils down to is that at $1.5 million USD per episode the greatest science-fiction show on television is too expensive for Sci-Fi to produce. Even the top
Executive at the Sci-Fi channel (Bonnie Hammer, Executive Vice President and General
Manager), which is one of Farscape's biggest fans is currently only operating in figure head mode and is being made to keep quiet. Most think she would speak out in favor of the show but is worried about the status of her job at the moment. If you have any questions about what you can do to help out, just pop over to
Farscape World for the best information.
There is also a website setup for detailed up to the minute information about
the struggle to save Farscape over at the main Save
Farscape site including information being supplied under the table y a
Sci-Fi channel mole. :)
After all the coverage Sci-Fi has stopped the construction crews assigned to tear down the sets and have re-entered
negotiations regarding the show. The Jim Henson company that is responsible for the show's creation is also currently courting executives from Showtime and UPN about moving the show to another network for the 5th and future seasons."
This will not be made into a Dummies book for a few years yet. dsyu writes "Follow-up to a previous article -- the good folks at the X-Box Linux Project have posted step-by-step instructions on how to install SuSE 8 on your XBox."
The Nigerian Spam saga wends ever onward. An anonymous coward writes "'Mike Aba' and 'Obi Azuka' are the fake names used by a Nigerian criminal who tried to defraud me. As soon as I read the "DEAR FRIEND" of the first e-mail, I knew it was a scam, but for fun I decided to mislead the criminal into believing that I was falling for his scam. You can read the exchange of e-mails here. This type of fraud is known as the Nigerian Fee scam. Unfortunately, gullible people do fall for this scam. Hopefully this page will alert more people and make criminals like "Mike" less successful."
I was really looking forward to the Segway -- I hope this is just some amazon.com script that autoexpires prerelease items after some long period of time (it's been over a year now).
Showtime didn't really want to keep Stargate SG1 (that's a big reason it's on Sci-Fi now), and Stargate SG1 is doing significantly better in the ratings than Farscape, so I don't see how they'd want Farscape. And UPN... well, sometimes it is like the island of misfit toys, but other than Buffy, most show transplants haven't done too well... and I'm still bitter they cancelled 7 Days.
Every Farscape fan should send Sci-Fi $20. That'd help they pay for the whole season if they had a million fans.
I want a solar powered Segway with extra big tires for driving in sand dunes.
The only reason I buy HBO is for the series shows (Sopranos, Oz, etc) ... the reason I canceled Showtime when they lost Stargate was because of no series that interested me. I'd be sure to resubscribe if Farscape moved there.
I really wish more serial shows would move to commercial free tv, I'd be happy to pay for it.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo.
Did someone finally figure out that very few people would be willing to pay so much for the product?
Did someone finally figure out that those who are most likely to use it, those without a car, usually don't have the 3000 to pony up for one of these things? (Excepting a few people in Boston and NYC, but the sidewalks are so crowded as it is! not to mention trying to take it on a subway...)
we have
Sexscape: Newer, Harder, and Faster
"I don't want the world. I just want your half" ~TMBG
This Register article says so.
I am a viral sig. Please copy me and help me spread. Thank you.
Here's where a couple guys respond to Nigerian scam pages as David Lee Roth and say they'll send the money. It's pretty good getting Nigerian scammers to go to the airport to meet them holding a sign that says "David Lee Roth" on it.
Sorry it's on geocities, but hey...
http://www.geocities.com/scamjokepage/
riding round the world on an old motorcycle
If you like Farscape, it is easy to show your support for the show by going to Save Farscape. You can help by doing something as simple as logging on to irc.scifi.com and lurking in #farscape. It's not too late for Farscape. We are having an impact. This is a populist movement and you can be a part of it.
Peace out.
Amazon goofed up, there's actually no new news regarding segways and when they'll be available.
Howto here.
funny sure, but did he not commit a felony by providing the 'fake passport'?
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
I must admit I did like their
photoshopped Passport they provided.
But - they got his place of birth wrong ? I thought he was from Iowa, he only worked in outer space ?
After the way she/they screwed up the Battlestar Galactica revival I seriously doubt anyone on the Sci-Fi channels staff is worth keeping around.
.02 worth.
The Farscape hyjinx is just the tip of the iceberg.
Just my
The transcript of the Nigerian emails here looks to be garbled.
;)
I am impressed that anyone who can deciphered that actually then sent their money to people!
"PC Load Letter? What the $@#% does that mean?!"
I want a rocket powered Segway with spikes on the extra large tires for driving over SUVs.
You're excited about getting a Nigerian scam email?? I must get a dozen of these a day. Once in a while they get creative: they're from Zim, or South Africa. You'd think with the volume of the emails they're sending out that *everybody* with email must have gotten dozens of these offers by now.
Basically, the scam market is a commons. There's nobody to prevent them from using up the commons with their letters, and so they have.
-russ
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
I want my three dollars!
Long but funny. Make sure to read to the end.
I want a Segway made out of butter so that I can drive over my breakfast before eating it.
is at Buddy Weiserman's site. The complete, extensive email exchange with photos is shown there. He actually got the scammer to travel to another country and run around flapping his arms like a chicken! "Buddy Weiserman"'s name was of course inspired by Budweiser beer, but the scammer didn't figure that out either.
I'm a regular of the #farscape channel on irc.scifi.com, and it has been incredible. Here's a java chat link for the lazy. Random stars and makers of the show have been showing up there at least once a day, sometimes several visits throughout the day, to give encouragement to the fans. The channel grew to consistently hold hundreds of users, maxing out at 700 at a time. Here's a quick rundown of some of the news converage that we've gotten:
E! OnlineTV Guide (again)
CNN
Wired
BBC
Its turning out to be a story not just about a bunch of SciFi geeks crying about a lost show, but a protest against corporations directing culture through actions they don't have to justify. I mean, they killed their #2 show after having already made the commitment to the year. I don't consider myself the protesting type, especially over a TV show... but I wrote a letter, linked to it from my site and sent a few emails because I think the people who make and watch the show aren't out of line to demand what was promised to them.
Error: PANTS NOT FOUND. Press <F1> to continue.
That's a bummer, I had aspirations of doing some mods to my segway and putting it on a halfpipe to do some tricks, maybe get in to the x-games or something.
Farscape was saved and Futurama wasn't? WTF?!
Anybody else find that a little weird, especially considering that a number of Fox's moneymaker shows ended?
(don't bother me with 'Futurama was saved too!' posts, the RERUNS were saved, there's still no word on new episodes.)
"Derp de derp."
Fake? It's a fucking fake?
Goddammit!
I don't really think these are people you want to fuck with. There are stories floating around about people who were beated or killed after travelling to meet these scammers. I wouldn't be surprised if they had ties to organized crime.
One thing they do not seem to be is stupid. Sure, they suck at english, but they aren't going to ever give you their real info. I'm sure they get some patsy to go get the money transfers for them, using high quality fabricated documents such as the ones linked to. They probably wind up scamming those people too.
This guy has written an e-book that is supposedly about his experience baiting the scammers and going as far as to actually follow it through to the end. I have not read it.
You have to think for a minute... If these guys were really that stupid as to give you real info about them just because you trail them along for a little while, don't you think law enforcement would have stopped them by now?
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
I'm bitter cuase Sci-Fi cancelled Lexx, damn you Sci-Fi Channel! Plus Jos Wheaton kinda fsck'd up Buffy too, so I hope he doesn't screw up Firefly with morals and ethics and stuff. Keep it to the sex and aliens, I get enough preaching from Star Trek.
Jos should've called the TV buffy version, "Daria The Vampire Slayer", cause Sarah just doesn't convey the stuck-up cheerleader role well. Buffy the movie was funny, Buffy the TV show is too serious, though slightly campy.
Mike finally got enought money out of people to pay to get his CAPS LOCK KEY FIXED
There's another funny variation here -- even manages to capture webcam images of the scammers.
I just wanted to let everyone know that there is major backlash against the Sci-Fi channel from fans about the cancellation of Farscape. They appear to have miscalculated the Fans. For the past few days Sci-Fi's main office has been inundated with faxes, e-mails, and phone calls to keep the show alive for its 5th season.
Sometimes flames are good. The Farscape Bboard has been hosed for days. Do It! Assert your preference for SciFi with at least a little intelligence.
Always figure out the right answer, but no one knows exactly how they did it.
That Nigerian scam is hysterical, but did anyone else think it would have been even funnier if "James" killed his wife in the pool, rather than in the tub?
~8:45 EST
This post was generated by a Cadre of Uber Monkeys for Monkey-Man2000 (603495).
The company I work for, SST, has a chip that was at one point supposed to be in the Xbox. That fell through, but the chip still works. So even though my company only deals in volume -- maybe 100,000 chips an order -- we've been flooded with calls from script kiddies wanting to chip-mod the Xbox. I guess our chip will let those in Europe play US content, among other things. The Sales people here are amused. The latest was a kid who wanted "5-10 sample chips for a school project." Uh-huh.
My Greasemonkey scripts for Digg &
It only makes sense, really. I know that AT&T still uses some Long-Line sites... the Cherryville, NJ site, for one, is still very much in use for other purposes.
American Tower may not be selling too many of those sites, they're not exactly honest in saying "these are the only towers that are for sale." They should qualify that to be the only towers that they are selling. I expect that there are others being sold by other parties. If you're seriously intersted in one in a given area, you can do some research and find where they are and who owns them.
For the most part, though, what's interesting is that there are a bunch of unusual structures out there, and in some cases they are surprisingly affordable. And even if you don't buy one, it's fun to think of all the different things you could do with such a site.
You want to know why? I simply would NEVER help out a black person. And you probably think this is a troll. :) Only race traitors got scammed in my book.
Well, Star Trek's third season was the big granddaddy of this sort of thing. There's no question that Desilu would have shut it down sooner without fan reaction.
Other then that, I don't know. I'm somehow under the impression that there are other examples, but none are coming to mind.
Personally I'm waiting to see the first fanbuilt eps of long-running shows. Hmmm.
1.) Take a few hundred stills of each character in various moods, facing assorted ways, in various lighting, use to build synthetic actor. Do the same thing with voices/sounds.
2.) Do the same for the sets.
3.) Supplement with other footage of the same actors/type of sets from other stuff. (the more this happens the more "clip art" will be out there for cut and paste.)
4) Build plot parser to find running themes.
5.) Start building episodes.
Can anybody out there with three or more years of experience in Strata work or equiv. tell me with a straight face that there aren't already a hundred talking Kirk heads out there? Same for Tasha Yar, Seven of Nine, etc., etc., etbloody cetera.
I give it four years before the first homebuilt episodes with the following characteristics come out:
)-( Original plot and dialogue
)-( Visually convincing enough that a non-techie may mistake it for live action.
)-( Is accepted by 10+% of fans within two years as part of the full canon.
and here's the messy one
)-( Fifteen minutes or more of playing time (doesn't include title sequence or other filler)
And when that day comes this MPIAA/RIAA/Napster stuff will seem about as trivial as the Macarena.
Personally I'm glad that I dropped my acting career *early* (one major movie casting call was quite enough, thank you very much).
-Rustin
Data is the lever, rigor the fulcrum, brains the force that drives it all.
Seems we may have crashed the chat oom over at sci-fi. :) either that, or they shut it down 'cause they were sick of us.
"It takes a very long time to count to 2 in binary." ~'Fourlegged'
I want a Segway made out of hot grits so I can drive it all over Natalie Portmans Sausage Wallet!
Can someone please explain to me the mentality of "Save __(insert cancelled show here)__". It's getting cancelled because the viewership is too low. Anyone that signs a petition, or hangs out on Save Farscape website or mails letters are obviously existing viewers, and probably only hardcore ones at that. Existing viewers aren't the problem. What there needs to be is a "Tell your friend about Farscape" drive. Then beg the networks to re-examine the viewership numbers a few episodes later. It still won't work, but at least it's a step in the right direction.
I'm Rick James with mod points biatch!
I just got back from a visit to Walt Disney World in Florida, and in Epcot, there was a staff member roaming around between Innoventions (basically like the first thing you see once you're past the golf ball aka spaceship earth) on a Segway. It even said Segway down between the wheels. Another member of my party took a picture of me standing next to this guy on the segway, with his hands completely off the handles. It was very cool. Later, I saw someone selling souvinirs from one. I guess Disney has the buying power to get them long before the general public
I recognize people by their sigs. Is that a bad thing?
I heard this thing has trouble with potholes and curbs. Anyone have info on this? The website had absolutely zero, just that it will be available with snow tires. I was looking at the specs, it weighs 95 lbs (they call it portable, I'd like to see some 100 pounder try to put it in their trunk) and supposedly it can take a 250lb person and 75 lbs of cargo. I'd love to see what 420lbs crashing down a 4inch curb with essentially zero suspension travel looks like, I'd volunteer for testing that, though I'd wear a mouth guard to stop me biting my tongue off. Even if you stopped and got off to walk the segway off the curb, thats potentially 170 pounds of segway and cargo you have to move up and down a curb. And they say this thing will eventually tow a 300lb capacity trailer? Yikes. Either you and your trailer ride the sidewalk and block half the people, or you ride in the street and dodge cabs. I'd love to see what 700 or so pounds would tax those motors with. And then theirs San Francisco and other hilly cities...
My favorite Segway quote:
Many people believe the Segway will revolutionize the ways people get hit by cars.
--- Tina Fey, SNL Weekend Update
I'm a big Farscape fan, but at $1.5 million per episode, I'm surprised that the Sci-Fi channel could keep it going for 1 season, let alone 4. I mean, looking at Sci-Fi's other proprietary shows - First Wave and Lexx - you would think they had a minimal budget. I'm quite surprised by this figure.
I don't know much about TV show production costs, though, so (is this)/(is this not) a lot of money for one episode? I get the feeling that it really is, though all the stuff in the show is evidence of where it goes.
Realistically, I don't think the advertisements during Farscape have been pulling in anything close to $1.5 million. The rest has to be coming from them, so no wonder they want to cancel it.
According to this article on news.com the Amazon email about the Segway was inaccurate:
t op
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-957746.html?tag=fd_
Your alias says you're Captain Jean Luc Picard
Of the United Federation of Planets
Cause he won't speak english anyway
Everybody knows that the world is full of stupid people
So meet me at the mission at midnight
We'll divvy up there
Everybody knows that the world is full of stupid people
Well I got the pistol
So I get the Pesos
That seems fair
Wrong captain, but close enough.
Bugrit! Millenium hand and shrimp!
Amazon frelled up. Segways are on schedule.
jX [ Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler. - Einstein ]
I've noticed there are several types of networks. There's the type that just runs programs to make bucks. There's nothing wrong that -- businesses are created to make money and so people can make a living. Then there's the networks that are run by people that like what they're doing. For example, TVLand. Maybe I'm wrong, but when one of the VPs of a network writes books about the types of shows his network airs, I figure he's into the product. Oxygen seems similar -- it's focused on women and it seems like the people involved with the network are in tune with what they show. This type of network has an integrated and obvious image that viewers can identify with -- they will often leave their TV on that network or go to it first before checking other networks.
USA, on the other hand, to me, never seemed to be about anything but profit. They seemed to pick shows only for ratings, not because the people running the network were interested in a particular type of show or because there was any emotional motivation -- all they ever seemed to care about was profit. This kind of network, at least to me, always seemed to have no other identity or image other than "Aren't we cool with these cool shows? We've got the top ten," or something like that.
While Sci-Fi has an image, it has seemed to me for a long time that the network was about money, and nothing else. That the people behind it were doing SF, but that the endeavor was more about money than the subject matter. I really liked The Invisible Man -- for once there was a show about an invisible man that wasn't contrived -- it didn't always boil down to "We're in trouble and the only thing that can save us is invisibility." It actually had interesting characters and a complex world. I understand it was making the numbers in the ratings, but still canned.
I stopped watching Sci-Fi years ago EXCEPT for shows I could record and watch later. I got fed up with 4 minute commercial breaks. I was frustrated with watching Hercules or Xena re-runs (I didn't watch them when they were first aired). Remember, both shows have an overall story arc and the characters change. Sci-Fi started with airing episodes in reverse order and, later, when they were airing the shows daily, they'd cut them off at the end of the quarter when their schedule changed -- without reaching the series end. When they started re-airing the shows, I started watching again and -- guess what? They cut them off before the end of the series and at the end of the quarter again!
If these guys (the Sci-Fi staff) were running NBC in the late 1960s, let's face it, Star Trek would have been killed after 2 seasons (I know -- with the 3rd season, that may have been a blessing!). Look at other classics -- not SF, but Dick Van Dyke was cancelled after year 1, then the producers talked them into keeping the series and it had a great 5 year run overall and was as profitable as a TV show can be. Decisions like this can not always be made based on the numbers, but at Sci-Fi, it is, has been, and always will be about nothing but the numbers.
I stopped watching Sci-Fi several years ago. A friend talked me into I-Man, and let me see his tapes of the show each week. I do watch Stargate, but when that ends, I won't bother with Sci-Fi. I'm tired of 4 minute commercial breaks. I'm tired of getting into a show and seeing the re-runs cut short. I'm tired of getting into a show and seeing it cancelled before it's ready to go.
USA networks doesn't care about any show. All they care about is the bottom line. I've seen episodes of Farscape and find it impressive, but I'll be damned if I get involved with any more shows on Sci-Fi. It's clear to me they dont' give a tinker's dam about the viewers/fans. Only the buck.
Farscape will be much better off if it can move to Showtime and be the 3rd show for Sci-Fridays.
Segwait? What about segway? What happened to those things? Future of travel my ass.
But you did not answer my question in regard to whether I need to travel to The Congo. I saw the movie "Congo" and it was very frightening. I would be afraid of the gorillas if I travelled there.
Oh man, that's classic. =)
Paranoid
Bwaahahahahaa.
As seen in the Excel Spreadsheet
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Those theiving marketers at Microsoft are getting exactly what they want. Ok, so they can't sell you the priveledge of licensing their crappy software products because you're a Linux geek, so instead, they'll sell you a piece of garbage hardware product. Sure, they might SAY they don't want hackers messing with the software on that thing, but what they really WANT is for hacking X-Boxes to be the next big fad.
Microsoft generates trash products and makes zillions upon zillions of dollars by selling them to people who have no choice because no other system will get the job done, due to the nature of Microsoft's unethical and illegal business practices over the past 20 years or so. The X-Box is a successful attempt at taking over the video game market and putting all the competition out of business. Next, they'll hit up another market, and before you know it, your dishwasher will be made by Microsoft and your money will have In Microsoft We Trust with Bill Gates' picture where George Washington's used to be. Don't support those evil people by installing perfectly good software on their garbage piece of hardware.
First /. posts a story on how Star Trek isn't original enough, now they have framed captain Kirk for murder!
;- )
For shame!
Slashdot editors have a Star Wars bias...
You can't take the sky from me...
Stupid Americans have been bilked out of thousands of dollars,
lured to Africa and (as described in this state department pdf) murdered.
Not saying you're necessarily courting death by jerking a spammer's chain but you might want to consider that some of these Nigerian fraudsters are serious thugs.
Would you make prank calls to Furio?
Jesus saves....And takes 1/2 damage.
This article has been written in OpenOffice.org 1.0.1 in SuSE 8 on the Xbox. Not what Microsoft originaly had in mind, hehe.
I'm a writer, a poet, a genius, I know it. I don't buy software, I grow it.
Another site Slashdotted:i teSearchADO/
www.americantower.com/OasisPublic/S
Our apologies for the inconvenience, but this page is temporarily unavailable due to extrodinary levels of traffic. Please try back again shortly.
-- Spammers: My E-mail server is in California. Consider yourself warned.
Seriously. Kill it. I was rather happy when I heard of its demise in the first place. I'm hoping they could put a real Sci-Fi show in its place. But then again, if they could keep Farscape and kill Lexx--I would be all that more happier."
Ha. No.
Only without the ability to make you think about the show long after you seen it. Farscape is a sit, drool, and click show. Nothing more.
Star Wars is certainly ingrained in our culture. But not for its originality. Rather, it was successful for pioneering the special effects of its time. Notice how much harder it is for the first trilogy to catch on. But Star Wars was never more than a space opera.
B5 was great because it was a space novel on the small screen. You were always pleased on how everything always came together with the right amount of suspense and metaphor. And Star Trek is simply way out of Farscape's league.
Hitchhiker's Guide is simply that crazy combination of British wit with Science Fiction that appeals to geeks everywhere. Never seen Doctor Who.
In other words, it is just another space opera. With any science-fiction, you are asked by the writiers and producers to "suspend your disbelief". Thats fine. But the point is that you need to be rewarded with something that is believable. With The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone for that matter, you are rewarded by looking at the world in a slightly new way. And usually there is a lesson. Star Wars just has that "good vs evil" lesson. Star Trek has its entire universe devoted to exploring humanity itself. And the Hitchhiker's Guide also offers a new way of looking at things as well as comedy to boot.
So. Someone please tell me what the reward in watching Farscape. You want to put Farscape in the same league as the above, but I think it falls far short. I would put it rather in the same league as Andromeda or Earth: Final Conflict (although I would give it some credit as not being in the same league as Lexx). Just another space opera looking for an audience. So I guess Farscape has found its audience--probably for being aired so close to gems such as First Wave and The Invisible Man.
But like I said, whats the point?
I could see how losing the preteen crowd could hurt puppet-based scifi. This show is so obviously targeted at the preteen market (an alien puppet that likes to fart?) that I can see how they might lose much of their audience by switching the show to past their bedtimes. It must really bother the parents who have to endure all the whining about not being able to see their show. Really, they should just convert it into an actual cartoon. Clearly that's their target demographic.
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
You must have tall curbs wherever you live. I can jump a curb on a bike easily, and I'm not even a good biker.
Hey man,
this is so cooool, really!
I want my three dollars! [scamorama.com]
Long but funny. Make sure to read to the end.
The last email in that exchange is one of the funniest things I've read in many years.
Just about pissed my pants!
Someone mod it up please!
If Joss fucked up anything on Buffy, it's the fact that he's less involved now. Post-high school buffy is more Marti Noxon than Joss. Still better than most of the other crap on tv.
I just received this:
Greetings from Amazon.com.
You recently received an e-mail from us regarding the Segway Human
Transporter (also known as "Ginger" or "IT"). This e-mail was sent
accidentally by an automated system and the information in it is
incorrect.
In fact, there is no new information on Segway's
availability. Consumer versions of Segway Human Transporters are
currently being piloted in various communities throughout the U.S.
The Segway HT is expected to be released to the general consumer
market in 2003.
We apologize for the confusion. We will keep your e-mail address on
our list of customers who wish to be notified about this item.
And for the kiddies...
The Baby Segway... (bottom image)
Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but copyright will always protect me.
Not related to any of the above, but I figure Slashback's the place anyway... I showed my girlfriend (who just happens to want to go out by being hit by a meteorite), this story about the girl being hit by one. She was quite jealous, and wrote me an indignant email, thus:
>The odds against being hit by a meteorite are
>billions to one - but a teenager in North
>Yorkshire may have had one land on her foot.
BAH! Landed on her foot! Bullshit! If she still has a foot, then a meteor did not land on it. I think someone threw a lava rock at her and her parents (trying to make her feel better) lied to her and said that it was a meteor. I bet she gets beaten up at school a lot.
I quickly concurred.
"If he thinks he can hide and run from the United States and our allies, he's sorely mistaken." Bush on bin Laden
I was going to use the money I got from Nigera to pay for the next season of Farscape, and with the leftovers, buy a Segway to carry my Xbox (which would be running SUSE 8.0)!
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
Forget the ratings issue. (they damaged the show
by moving the timeslot)
Forget the success of SG-1. (Farscape viewers
killing time watching SG-1 until Farscape comes
on)
The important thing is, they took an escape clause
out of their contract to get out of season 5
while the show was still drawing a huge crowd.
They moved the show to 10pm and that destroyed
viewership with fans that have social lives.
They effectively mismanaged the hell out of
the show, then backed out of their season 5
commitment when they tried to demand a lower
amount of money for the show, and EMTV said
no. Despite what anybody thinks, the show has
at least 1 million viewers in the USA alone,
and countless fans overseas. Recent numbers
are starting to make it look like even the
nielsen numbers are wrong (like that's never
happened before) and there are probably even
more fans. Also, it's looking like at least
50 percent of those fans are women. And I'm not
making this stuff up. This was reported on
CNN Headline news 3 days in a row.
How hard would it be for them to actually
try to figure out who their viewing audience is,
attract sponsors based on that audience, and
make a ton of money? Not very hard at all.
Especially now that due to massive amount of
national, and international coverage, interest
in the show will be higher than it's ever been.
They'd be idiots to let this kind of opportunity
to slip by them. They couldn't hope for better
publicity than this for a show. The good news is
there are several other interested parties that
KNOW the type of advertiser dollars that can
be made off this show. To quote Reney at
CNN Headline News:
"College educated, professions, typical incomes $50,000 - $150,000. Technologically inclined, and extremely computer literate. I would think that advertisers would jump all over that."
And my favorite quote:
"But Nina Lump is talking, she is the web mistress of the Save Farscape website at Farscape.wdsection.com. I spoke with her today and she said that site and a related one have had over 600,000 hits since yesterday"
And that's just the net savvy viewers. I
personally blanketed the area I live in with
500 flyers today. I hit video stores, I hit
skateshops, gas stations, malls, you name it.
Most of the people I talked to were NOT on the
net, and most of the people I talked to did
not know the show had been cancelled.
The point
is that SciFi said they'd carry the 4th and 5th
season, they mismanaged the hell out of the show,
they backed out of their 5th season obligation,
and they were not going to tell anybody until
march. There are plenty of people saying some
genuinely misguided things about what's going
on here. I recommend you all take the time
to read the information at http://www.savefarscape.com
before making guesses
about what's REALLY going on.
The most important thing any republican needs to know.
I too hope it's "just a script;" however if the going gets tough, you can always go to Tampa with a few strong buddies, and lie in wait for the nearest postman to zip by...
Wrists killing you? Not in 2 weeks. Learn Dvorak.
The US Secret Service has some more information about these scamsters. In the good old days, they would approach their victims using snail-mail with impressive letterheads. Now, they just spam everyone!
Here's the text from Amazon:
Greetings from Amazon.com.
You recently received an e-mail from us regarding the Segway Human Transporter (also known as "Ginger" or "IT"). This e-mail was sent accidentally by an automated system and the information in it is incorrect.
In fact, there is no new information on Segway's
availability. Consumer versions of Segway Human Transporters are currently being piloted in various communities throughout the U.S. The Segway HT is expected to be released to the general consumer market in 2003.
We apologize for the confusion. We will keep your e-mail address on our list of customers who wish to be notified about this item.
Sincerely,
Amazon.com Customer Service
http://www.amazon.com
Urgo: "I want to live. I want to experience the universe and I want to eat pie!"
Jack: "Who doesn't??"
There is an effort to get a full page add in the New York Times to let SciFi know how lame they are. Check it out here.
Str8Dog
using System.Darkside; public
The problem with discussions like this is the potential to sink to a simple flame-fest. This discussion is especially prone to such degradation when one favorite is attacked ("I was rather happy when I heard of [Farscape's] demise in the first place") and another is placed upon a pedestal ("And Star Trek is simply way out of Farscape's league"). Further idolization with such pretentious statements such as "Star Trek has its entire universe devoted to exploring humanity itself" sets one favorite on such a high pedestal that it makes a really tempting target. But I'll avoid the temptation.
On the other hand, I do agree with some of the observations on what makes some of the mentioned SciFi shows interesting. It might be worth noting that none of these shows are without criticism. But each show does have some appeal - whether it appeals to you personally or not is a matter of personal taste.
So the question was asked: what is appealing about Farscape?
Star Wars has lost its impact between the older and newer movies even as it has held on to its theme of "good vs. evil". What it didn't hold on to was its core heros. The first trilogy was not about individual characters, but rather a group thrown together by chance. Each character contributes to the bigger-than-oneself events around them and, ultimately, challenge an Empire.
Farscape also has a core group of disparate characters thrown together by fate. And this group also challenges greater powers than themselves. Though in this case, our central core of heroes aren't always agreeable witch each other. And while it is sometimes a frustrating plot device - it also has a ring of truth for all but the most structured group environments.
I also find the human character Crichton interesting. The character goes from being one of the top in his field (scientist and astronaut) to fish-out-of-water baggage. He then adapts to the oddity around him. Eventually, he gains the respect of his fellow fugitives and begins to thrive in his new surroundings. In effect, Crichton adapts to and overcomes the insane situation he is thrust in to... with a bit of irreverent insanity of his own.
It might be worth noting that the Farscape world itself has some appeal. There is a different look to the show. Often animatronics and puppets are used to give the Farscape world a more alien feel. Subtle oddities such as biological ships and the human-like Sebatian race's deadly susceptibility to heat add to a fantastic, unique world.
That's not to say Farscape is beyond criticism. Overall, I really enjoy the writing behind the series. Occasionally, there is an episode that seems to... slip. And unfortunately, the latest season seems to be slipping more often than not. I hope Farscape picks the pace back up. Or is mercilessly put out of its misery.
I can understand why there is some shock at Farscape's popularity. It took me awhile to become a fan of the show. But once I started watching, I found more than enough to appeal to me.
Ah the key "I can jump". The bike doesn't jump, you do, the bike just happens to follow. Now take that bike and run it full speed into a curb and don't jump. Wanna bet it will hurt. Now load the bike down with 70 lbs of weight and try it again but this time attempt to jump and see what happens. Brains people, brains!
RE: Nigerian scam
OMG her friend allowed him to take a shot of her naked (you can see her nipples in the picture). A friend in need is a friend indeed.
He killed his wife!!! Oh my god!!!!
Nice rack though
"Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
is to seriously insult J. Michael Straczynski. I definately prefer his style of writing and plot to Gene Roddenberry's. I kinda wish that Crusade had gotten a chance. The frelling thing was canceled before it was even aired. Stupid AOL Time Warner/TNT. Bah.
My friend also recieved something simular to the spam email that was linked in the article.
:234-1-7597267,Your individual/Company's
the link is: jesus.doomed.us/spam.html
The spam:
CHIEF PATRICK OLADOKUN
EMAIL:patrickoladokun2002@lycos.com
FAX: 234-1-7597267
Sir,
URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP
First, I must solicit your confidence in this transaction, which is of mutual benefit. This is by virtue of it's nature of being utterly confidential.I am sure and have confidence of your ability, and reliability to prosecute a transaction
of this great magnitude.
We are top Officials of the Federal Government Contract review Panel who are interested in importation of goods into our country with funds which are presently trapped in Nigeria. In order to commence this business,we need your assistance to enable us transfer funds into your account. As members of the Contract Review Panel set up by
the Government of Nigeria to review all contracts from 1983 to the present,we have identified a lot of inflated contract funds which are presently floating in the Central Bank of Nigeria ready for payment.
By virtue of our position as Civil Servants and members of this Panel, we cannot acquire this money in our names, in this regard I have been delegated by my colleagues of the review Panel to look for an overseas partner into whose account we would transfer the sum of US$21,320,000.00
(Twenty -One Million, Three Hundred and Twenty Thousand United States Dollars) hence we take the liberty to write you.
The money will be shared as follows:-
1. 20% for you the account owner
2. 70% for us (The Officials)
3. 10% to be used in settling taxation and all local and foreign expenses.
Please note that this whole process will take between 7 to 10 working days from the date of receipt of the following information by Fax
signed and stamped letterhead with a transcribed"Text" which we would send to you upon receipt of your reply with a letter of interest. The above information will enable us write letter of claim, and Job description by using your
individual/Company name to apply for payment for the above stated amount. Please acknowledge the receipt of this letter using the above Fax number.
Detailed information of this pending business transaction will be sent to you as soon as I hear from you.
Yours faithfully,
CHIEF PATRICK OLADOKUN
--
I never saw this type of spam/scam before until he pointed it out to me a few days ago. But it has been forwarded to uce.gov so hopefully they can catch this idiot.
The measure of the love we give is in the hearts that others show.
A Penny for my thoughts? Here's my two cents. I got ripped off!
Hm. Having now read more about it, it sounds quite decent. Which pretty much guarantees we won't get it in .au... )=
|>
Here be Dragons
Bad porn for same sex people.
You can ride a modern downhill bike full speed into a 6 inch curb and barely even notice.
It is not all that difficult to gain access to the international bank wire system. not directly, of ocurse, and it takes some paperwork, and some upstanding citizen.. but it doesn't take too much effort.
Say you had a business that required the ability to do bank deposits and withdrawls.. this CAN be set up for you.
Many people think this nigerian scam must be rediculous, because nobody can take money out of your account without your authorization, right?
Well.. once you are into the electronic transfer system, by way of a provider, you can do whatever you want.. yes, they will come back LATER and make you back up each transaction you did.. but there is nothing actually stopping you from draining someone's bank account and then shuffling the money all over the place.
Tha'ts what this scam is about; getting bank account numbers, and personal information about the account holders... exactly what is needed for electronic funds transfers.
I sent this in May this year, enjoy. The original email isn't really needed.
----BEGIN----
To my new and dear friend Barrister Mark Solomon
I was so wonderfully excited to read your interesting and informative email regarding your deliciously lucrative business proposal. May I first suggest though that you take some of the cash you have and nip out to a local computer shop and buy a keyboard where the CAPS-LOCK key is not broken.
Before we proceed I was wondering what you would define a reasonable percentage of twenty five million dollars to be? After careful consideration I concluded that at least 20 percent would be acceptable, although with house prices rising so fast where I live that number may have to increase before too long. This is, of course fully open to discussion, I would not want to rule anything out at this stage in the proceedings.
Perhaps another avenue is a sales transaction, you understand that this is strictly confidential but I could offer you some 'interesting' mercendise, much of it aquired after the break-up of the former Soviet Union. Could you use a tank? I expect that those pesky vindictive government officials can call upon tanks of their own but in my experience they usually think twice (and are sometime even become very cooperative, showing complete and total change of loyalties) when faced with a nice T-84. I have 12 for sale right now, enough to invade a medium sized Palestinean town, that could be shipped as soon as funds arrive. They come with full optional extras, 125mm main gun with autoloader, full service history, CD player, air bags, traction control, leather seats and little cup holders. Any colour you wish, I like red ones myself. More can be obtained via my contacts if you need them and are prepared to accept minor detractions from an otherwise perfect armoured fighting vehicle, such as no spare tracks.
Now Anthrax may be a little passé in today's social climate and there are the problems of postal services in developed countries screening for it but nothing quite packs the punch of a bio-terrorist attack on your enemies. Sarin is also a possibility albeit at a higher price. Volume discounts are available. I'm sorry but only last week I sold my last smallpox culture to an arabian gentleman who was willing to pay 'top-dollar'.
I no longer deal in small children, only adult females. There was simply too much attention paid to the child slave market to make it finantially viable. Stocks are low at the moment, autumn is the best season for the kidnapping and brainwashing required and I have already passed on all of last years arrivals. I do have a blond available though, slightly used but nothing that won't polish up. She nags a bit but gets drunk quickly and is quite agreeable after that, if you're into that sort of thing. If you are interested I'll send you the address of the website which contains a complete picture portfolio.
Many people who truly appreciate a quality service have discovered the benefits of eastern medicine. Therefore endangered animal products are experiencing a boom right now. Tiger, Panda and Rhino products are the main areas for medicine but if you are prepared to pay for them, the eggs of the Californian Condor can be used to make excellent omelettes.
I must confess that I view it as a terrible shame that you only have 75 million United States dollars at your disposal. If you could find a further 25 million (preferbly non-sequential) then I may be able to offer you a thermonuclear device. I only supply genuine SS-18 warheads as I appreciate the quality and reliability you can only get with that brand. To paraphrase Samuel L Jackson (a personal friend of mine) in Jackie Brown, "When you absolutely, positively, have to kill every motherf****r in a 12 mile radius, SS-18, accept no substitute."
Now I would understand perfectly if you felt alarmed at the seemingly too low price of 100 million dollars for a product of this nature, after all, in the acclaimed docu-drama The Peacemaker, staring George Clooney, an accurate price of 200 million dollars was quoted for a similar device. But with the quashing of the Brook Cartel and the fact that you appear to be a thoroughly nice bloke then 100 million dollars is the price I can offer you.
This is just a small sample of the goods I have available right now or can aquire through my contacts. If you are interested in any of these or have any special requests please do not hesitate to contact me any time day or night.
My very best of regards to you.
"Honest" Ernst Stavro Blofelt
International Criminal Mastermind
Top Floor
London Hilton
P.S. If none of these attract your attention then I understand fully and I appreciate that you will still have a significant ammount of cash that you need to transport away. While I could pick it up in my helicopter one option that you may not have considered is that you could simply fax the bank notes to someone.
P.P.S Your website addresses don't work, I understand that quality IT staff are hard to find and even harder to keep in this modern 'dot com' age.
----END----
Good quote!
n/t
The best letters seem to be at scamorama.com. I think the best of the lot is:
http://www.scamorama.com/bigmac.html
I keep trying to get in and while the server allows me to log in, as soon as I join #farscape the server drops my connection.
For years I've spent too much time on my computer or outside (huh? whassat?) to bother with watching much TV. I've watched ST:NG, DS9 and various other sci-fi/fantasy shows on and off. B5 was the one that pulled me into regular watching, but that was about all I watched. Once I discovered Farscape I was hooked again, but didn't get to watch it regularly until cable modem service was available in my area and I got free basic cable with it. Needless to say, I was excited to have a whole channel devoted to science fiction programming! I also was interested in Discovery, History, Animal Planet, and Cartoon Network, too, but still don't watch them much.
To get down to it, Sci-Fi has been a disappointment in the extreme. I thought it would have lots of quality original programming and a lot of sci-fi movies and worthwhile re-runs of 'classic' sci-fi TV series. But all they seem to have are B-movie horror/thriller movies and middling TV series. And what's up with 'Crossing Over'? Not sci-fi in my opinion.
The only bright spots were Farscape, the occasional special like the Star Wars Fan Film awards, and that program with the weird girl host that showcased independent just-out-of-film-school short movies. I also tape Stargate along with Farscape, but it's not nearly as interesting, though entertaining enough. I loved the one about the scientist geeks that save the team - did anyone notice one of them was the alien doctor from Enterprise.
It certainly would have been nice of sci-fi to give some advance notice to the show's writers so they could have tied up some loose ends before canceling the show. It was great that Babylon 5 got to the end before leaving the air, and that JMS (the writer/creator) wrote each season as if it were the last, but still managed to put them all together as a cohesive whole. Because of these lousy 'economic realities' I think no show that features an ongoing storyline should leave any major plotlines dangling at the end of the season. Cliffhangers only work from week-to-week, not season-to-season. I also think we need more Farscape/B5 type programming out there where things are more complicated, layered, and ongoing, rather than a simple ongoing plotline that only has an adventure-of-the-week.
Last note regarding economics - Sci-Fi definitely could have picked a better timeslot. Works for me in that it runs at 8pm my time. They also could have better provided re-runs to allow new viewers to 'get into' the show before each season (or even during the season). Also, if you have more quality original programming, especially lumped together instead of too spread out, you draw more viewers, and each show gains viewers from the ones before/after it, propping each other up. That's why slots like before/after Friends, X-Files, Simpsons, whatever were all coveted. Well, enough said on this. Comments?
That's the point I was trying to make -- it's not just because Texas is "bigger" that it has more cell towers for sale, or at least that's not all of it.
Take a look. Texas has more towers for sale than Minnesota, Utah, West Virginia, Washington, New York, New Mexico, Nevada, and Illinois combined. But this doesn't tell us too much on the face of it.
Let's just look at Washington. According to the 1990 census, Washington has an average of 73.1 people per square mile, while Texas has an average of 64.9. So they're pretty close in terms of population density.
Texas (261,914 sq.mi) is 3.9 times as big as Washington (66,581), so it seems reasonable to expect 3.9 times as many towers for sale in Texas.
But that's not what we get. Washington has 6 towers for sale. Multiplied by 3.9 gives us 23.4 towers expected for Texas. But Texas has 72 towers for sale, 3 times as many as predicted.
It seems that you'll get the same result for any state of similar population density. Texas has 3.3 times more towers per person than West Virginia, for example, even though West Virginia has roughly the same population density as Washington.
So why does Texas have 3 times as many towers per person as Washington or West Virginia? I don't know. Maybe someone else does. Is the market for microwave towers worse in Texas than in Washington for some reason, or was there a need for more towers to begin with? (It's not all academic. If the market for microwave towers in Texas is worse for some reason, you might be justified in offering a significantly lower bid on one.) It's worth looking in to.
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.
I can't find the eps on Kazaa anywhere ^^;;
[o]_O