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Slashback: Drivers, Bodycomputing, Farscape

Slashback with news on ATI drivers for non-ATI branded cards, the viewer-led movement to save Farscape, wearable computing from MIT, text-to-facial-expression software, and more. Read on for the details

Maybe customer service isn't dead. On November 28th, we posted a report that OEM cards using ATI chips had trouble with the official drivers from ATI. Terry Makedon (Senior Product Manager, Software for ATI Technologies) writes "Last week we posted a set of unified Linux drivers. These drivers were only loading up on 'Built by ATI' cards. Through our various feedback mechanisms we have determined that there is a large community of 'Powered by ATI' Linux users that did not benefit from our Linux drivers. At this point we are happy to announce an update to our Linux driver (ver. 2.5.1) which will work on both 'Powered by' and 'Built by.' ATI's driver and software strategy is firmly based on responsiveness and we greatly appreciate the feedback our Linux users have provided. Please use http://apps.ati.com/linuxDfeedback/ for a direct feedback line to ATI.

Thanks again for the feedback."

But what if we put the show into this Interdimensional Fungubulon, and then jumped through this here "wormhole"? xagon7 writes "David Kemper, the producer/writer of Farscape, mentioned that it would be theoretically and legally possible for a group to set up a non-profit organization for fans to donate money to, in order to finance an episode and make Farscape all that much tastier to Sci-Fi for the 5th season. They have done just that. They have $200,000 worth of pledges and only need $800,000 total....I hope this gets Slashdotted. Read the story here and you can pledge here."

You're getting less happy to see me? man_of_mr_e writes "Check out MIThril, the next generation research platform for context aware wearable computing. It's been about 18 months since this was last talked about here on Slashdot, and it's kind of cool to see how far the technology has come since then. For those that aren't aware of what it is, it's essentially a project to prototype human wearable computers, complete with schematics, pictures, and a cvs repository for software. Now you too can be like that guy in the IBM commercials trading stock while feeding the pigeons."

Flattening the slope to entry. Catskul writes "You don't need the libwine hack, mentioned in the previous news entry. Just follow the New QT Howto, download the codecs and start MPlayer."

Don't look at me in that tone of voice! 1010011010 writes "On Nov. 26, you ran a story on SpeechView, 'software that translates the voice on the other side of the line into a three dimensional animated face on the computer.' The North Carolina State University Department of Computer Science's 'Voice IO Group' is also working on that problem. Their software looks like it might be better. Read about it here. Includes quicktime movies of the results."

Victory, or a reprieve? A non moose cow writes "Just noticed that a couple of my favorite "Killed by the RIAA" webcast stations are back... like Soma-FM and Monkey Radio (get the streams at Shoutcast). The saving grace came via the recent passage of HR5469 [PDF] by the US Legislature. Thank you to all that sent letters and/or money to fix this problem. If you have been yearning for the resurrection of your favorite stream, go check, it might be back. If you would like to trace the chronology of this mess, check out the Soma-FM news page."

120 of 281 comments (clear)

  1. On the topic of Farscape... by Freston+Youseff · · Score: 5, Informative

    Save Farscape was created for the explicit effort of saving Farscape. I sure hope it is saved, since it's probably one of the best sci-fi shows in existence. Pretty much all I watch for TV shows are Junkyard Wars, Farscape and Enterprise.

    --

    1. Re:On the topic of Farscape... by Mac+Degger · · Score: 2

      Well, if it does get financed this way, it better not have ANY adds in there, seeing as it's already been payed for.

      --
      -- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
    2. Re:On the topic of Farscape... by Cpt_Kirks · · Score: 2

      During "Taken", SciFi was running "SciFi 2003" commercials that included Farscape.

      Hmmm...

    3. Re:On the topic of Farscape... by Cpt_Kirks · · Score: 2

      I thought the one where Crighton "wormholed" to earth was the season (series?) finale.

      Oh shit, I guess that was a spoiler!

    4. Re:On the topic of Farscape... by DaytonCIM · · Score: 2

      I watched Taken last night and SciFi was running a promotion for their new line up of shows and Farscape was included. So... is Farscape cancelled or not?

  2. What? by jdkincad · · Score: 5, Funny

    I hope this gets Slashdotted.

    Are you some kind of computer sadist?

    --
    The great advantage of having a reputation for being stupid: People are less suspicious of you.
    1. Re:What? by Lshmael · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yes, think of the servers!

  3. Donate.. by Forkenhoppen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And while you're donating $800,000 so a bunch of guys 'n gals can run around in rubber and vinyl while stuff blows up around them, why not donate a few bucks to charity so a few kids can eat for a year?

    No, seriously.. you'll feel better about yourself. :)

    1. Re:Donate.. by Telastyn · · Score: 5, Funny

      Or at least get it released on Spice rather than SciFi :P

    2. Re:Donate.. by shiffman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And what makes you think we don't already donate a few bucks, or more than a few, to deserving charities?

      Or do you think museums and symphonies should be plowed under to make way for soup kitchens? Supporting the arts, and I do consider Farscape to be art, shouldn't have to apologize for not being about subsistance.

    3. Re:Donate.. by ottffssent · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Because:

      Farscape and well-fed children are not substitutes, in an economic sense. Each satisfy a unique need on the part of the donator.

      Thus, while you may be correct that donating to a feed-the-children charity will make one feel better about one's self, that does not imply that donating to a feed-the-children charity INSTEAD of donating to a save-the-Farscape charity will make one feel MORE good. The law of diminishing utility implies that donating some money to save Farscape and some to save children will make a person MOST happy overall.

    4. Re:Donate.. by Forkenhoppen · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If you do, then I commend you for it. It's people like you who make this world a better place.

      I respect the arts. I just felt obligated to put it into perspective, that's all. $1,000,000 is an awful lot of money, and the first thing that came to mind is that an amount like that could feed a fair number of mouths. (It may have had something to do with my just having listened to the evening news.)

      I apologize if I came across as heavy-handed.

    5. Re:Donate.. by quick_dry_3 · · Score: 2

      but starving children aren't entertaining, the performances of said children on World Vision adverts isn't anywhere near as good as the Farscape team's.

    6. Re:Donate.. by Sloppy · · Score: 5, Funny
      why not donate a few bucks to charity so a few kids can eat for a year?
      Dress the kids up in rubber costumes, and we can kill two birds with one stone.
      --
      As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
    7. Re:Donate.. by failrate · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Charities have become rather parasitic entities. I worked in a Muscular Dystrophy Association call center... for a day. I was summarily released because I didn't get enough donations. Charitable work.

      I'm not the only one who's been exposed to this kind of charitable dirty business... look here, please

      --
      Voodoo Girl is the bomb!
    8. Re:Donate.. by Neon+Spiral+Injector · · Score: 2

      So we do donate our $800,000 to see the rubber suits and the Muppets. This is just for 1 episode, right? So if we want to see what happens next, we get to pay another $800,000?

    9. Re:Donate.. by Skjellifetti · · Score: 2

      That's only half the analysis. With only two goods (Farscape and well-fed children) they must be substitutes, so we need at least three goods (Farscape, well-fed children, and a composite everything else). Now add a budget constraint and you may find that optimal purchases of either well-fed children or Farscape are zero while the other is positive. Otherwise you would observe every consumer buying some miniscule amount of every good produced.

    10. Re:Donate.. by Lumpy · · Score: 2

      Agreed, It's unbelieveable at the massive sums of money people will throw at frivilous entertainment.. while they dont "bother" to donate anywhere near as much to feeding children, fighting for their freedoms (FSF) fighting for the safety of their community (Red Cross)

      they foam at the mouth and give hand over fist to make a TV show... but when it's real issues..... Nahhhh... we cant be bothered with reality.

      it makes a really sad statement.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    11. Re:Donate.. by Alsee · · Score: 2

      Dress the kids up in rubber costumes, and we can kill two birds with one stone

      I realize over population is a contributing cause of starvation, but I hardly think stoning children to death is a good solution. Though I do admit putting them in silly costumes would make for good ratings.

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  4. Re:Egg Troll has $800,000 by Ribo99 · · Score: 2, Funny

    You must be thinking of LEXX

    --
    I wear pants.
  5. Re:Egg Troll has $800,000 by GoatPigSheep · · Score: 4, Funny

    I must agree. I prefer the excellent writing of star trek: enterprise (and voyager before it) to fill my need for good original sci-fi.

    --
    GoatPigSheep, the 3 most important food groups
  6. A word of caution... by The+Bungi · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I think it's very cool that there are people out there who feel passionately enough about a goot TV program to fork over money and keep it running.

    However, if this actually takes off, I believe it will not set a good precedent (AFAIK this is not being done anywhere else, unless I'm mistaken, please feel free to correct me).

    Think about it - the SciFi channel is not free. I already pay ~$50 for cable... and in order to enjoy a show I like I have to pay even more??? What's next? Viewer-supported Buffy The Vampire Slayer? Does anyone think low-life TV execs (which are no better than record company ones) are not going to see this and go oooohh! Let's threaten to cut Zim The Invader and start raking up the dough!!!

    It's a noble cause, assuming I can pick it up using an antenna. Otherwise it's a bad idea.

    Rant off.

    1. Re:A word of caution... by susano_otter · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well, the cable system has some obvious flaws...

      With network TV, you pay for shampoo, and the shampoo manufacturer pays for your TV programs.

      With "perfect" cable TV, you pay for shampoo, and you also pay for your TV programs, but at least you don't have to watch shampoo commercials.

      With "typical" cable TV, you pay for shampoo, and programs, and you still get shampoo commercials.

      You can't expect to fix the whole problem at once, but viewer-supported cable programming is a step in the right direction.

      If this works, and becomes widely adopted, it could shift the whole paradigm for television programming. In time, viewers and cable stations would renegotiate the arrangement to be more efficient and profitable for all parties concerned.

      In the mean time, threatening to cancel a show would be a great market metric. If nobody offers to save it, you probably weren't picking up any viewers for it to begin with. And that, of course, is bad business in the first place.

      --

      Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.

    2. Re:A word of caution... by Sloppy · · Score: 2
      No, it's a damned good idea. This is the first step toward the viewer-direct-funded model replacing user-funds-product-that-buys-advertising model.

      If this works, then TV becomes a little closer to being irrelevant.

      Too bad I don't like Farscape.

      --
      As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
    3. Re:A word of caution... by gladed · · Score: 5, Funny
      In summary,
      1. SciFi creates show for geeks...
      2. ...who buy DVRs so they can skip the ads...
      3. ...so the advertisers pull their funding and SciFi cancels the show...
      4. ...and the geeks start whining.
      Here's the solution: to watch a TV show you "subscribe" to it for a small fee, but you get a small credit back every time you sit through a commercial. Kinda like a metered sewer system, but in reverse.
    4. Re:A word of caution... by Webmonger · · Score: 2

      Umm, it might be optimistic to assume that large media companies are going to come to an equitable arrangement with consumers. Look at the RIAA and MPAA's antics.

      As for cancellation-threat-as-metric, the metric would indicate how fanatical fans were, not how many there were. Shows that go for the lowest-common-denominator aren't likely to receive the Farscape treatment, no matter how big the audience is.

      On the other hand, "My so-called life" was dearly loved by the few who watched it.

    5. Re:A word of caution... by PeteEMT · · Score: 2, Informative

      Isn't viewer supported TV programming called PBS?

      --
      Pete
    6. Re:A word of caution... by pcidevel · · Score: 2

      Actually, I was just discussing an idea like this with friends over the weekend. It's sad that the RIAA and the MPAA are so resistant to change, because the technology is out there to make a much better system for the consumers, which equates to more profit for the buisnesses. It is sad that the cable networks, the music industry, etc, are so frozen by fear of piracy, that they are unwilling to work with the consumers to make a better service (like TV on demand, buying subscriptions to just the shows you want to see, etc).

      The really strange part is that these industries are really fairly new, you would think they would be much less resistant to change. I could understand an industry that had been operating the same way for hundreds of years trying to stay static, but these are new industries built on relatively new technologies, and they are trying hard to keep themselves way to static to be effective.

      --

      I thought someone said there was going to be free beer!

    7. Re:A word of caution... by Violet+Null · · Score: 2

      Here's the solution: to watch a TV show you "subscribe" to it for a small fee, but you get a small credit back every time you sit through a commercial

      Interesting idea, but how do you tell when someone sits through a commercial?

      If I'm using a Tivo, the Tivo's recorded the commercial -- the cable company can't tell whether or not, on a subsequent viewing of the show, I fast forward through the commercial. The cable company can't even tell if my TV set is on or not at any given time.

      Don't get me wrong -- I like the idea -- but if you thought Valenti calling people who go to the bathroom during commercial breaks thieves was bad before...

    8. Re:A word of caution... by cant_get_a_good_nick · · Score: 4, Funny

      Kinda like a ... sewer system, but in reverse.

      Thats an image I'd want to keep in mind, a reversed sewer system. Mmm, good.

    9. Re:A word of caution... by ottffssent · · Score: 2

      Actually, I think the opposite. In theory I buy products because of advertising, which pays for shows so I'll watch the ads. If instead I'm the one paying for a show, there better not be any ads. I hear there are something like 2 million regular Farscape viewers. For less than a buck apiece we can completely fund the show - it costs more than that to rent the DVDs, let alone get a brand new show made!

      Now, the real trick would be to get something like this setup with enough support behind it to buy copyrights and such to the shows they're funding so there's a lasting benefit to the viewers.

    10. Re:A word of caution... by Saxerman · · Score: 2
      if this actually takes off, I believe it will not set a good precedent

      The entire theory behind copyright law is that without it, we wouldn't get quality projects like big movies and TV shows because they cost so much money to create. If a large group of fans can get together and finance it on their own, with a desire to create quality content rather than profits, that kinda defeats the purpose of copyright, doesn't it?

      I agree that in this example the fans are collecting funds to continue a copyright that is privately owned. But in a sense the fans are attempting to take control of something they've never been able to impact directly before. If this does work, I think the precedent will be that fans are willing to pool together and pay a LOT of money to get the quality content they want. Groups could form to fund their own content, which they could release into the public domain. P2P could distribute them. No need to edit out commercials because there isn't any.

      I'm not a major fan of Farscape, but I'm donating because I DO want to set this precedent.

      --

      A steaming cup of soykaf would be real wiz right now.

    11. Re:A word of caution... by LostCluster · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Viewer-supported TV exists. It's called Public Television.

      Nova or Frontline would not survive on a typical broadcast network, it simply wouldn't get the ratings in demographics that sponsors would pay for. Those shows exist because donors from individuals to corperations fund the show. (Your PBS station knows what show your pledge can be attributed to... they know what time you called, and specifically if they're sending you the Nova totebag or videotape of John Tesh in Concert and fund programs accordingly.)

      I think the clear rule that TVC needs to set from the outset is that when they put money into a show, they want that money to either be lost in a losing-money effort, or if the show rights itself and becomes profitable, they want their share of the profits so they can go save another show. The money they spend goes pay the actors and crew of the show, not into the production company or network's hands.

    12. Re:A word of caution... by Neon+Spiral+Injector · · Score: 2

      Well the whole system of paying for shows, and being credited for watching the commercials will require a slightly more interactive system than what we have today.

      Perhaps to get credit for the commercial, you'd have to answer a question about it. I wouldn't care anyway, I'd just pay for the shows that I want to see and forget about the commercials at all.

    13. Re:A word of caution... by shayne321 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If I'm using a Tivo, the Tivo's recorded the commercial -- the cable company can't tell whether or not, on a subsequent viewing of the show, I fast forward through the commercial.

      Actually, they (Tivo) can. Tivo has always stated they collect anonymous viewing statistics, and I've read that commercial skipping is among the statistics they collect. Assuming that's one of the statistics Tivo would be willing to sell, it would be trivial for them to say "of 58,000 tivo owners that recorded last week's farscape, 96% of them skipped or fast-forwarded through the commercials". Of course, it's probably in Tivo's best interest NOT to release those numbers.. It would only reinforce what network execs already suspect: tivo owners (generally) don't watch commercials. This is why Tivo is starting to test other methods of getting ads in front of you, such as pushing them down to your box in nightly updates and displaying them prominently on your Tivo Central menu. *For now* you still have the option of whether you want to watch or not, but how long before Tivo forces you to sit through at least one ad before watching something you've recorded? Not trying to sound conspiratorial, just food for thought.

      Shayne

      --
      Today I didn't even have to use my AK; I got to say it was a good day -- Icecube
    14. Re:A word of caution... by G-funk · · Score: 2

      It's pretty simple the reasons why paying only for the shows you want to watch will never come in to play - the providers will make less money.

      As it is now, you're paying for all your fave shows, and for some you don't like. If you only pay for the ones you don't like, they get less money. Not the best way to keep the shareholders happy.

      --
      Send lawyers, guns, and money!
    15. Re:A word of caution... by The+Bungi · · Score: 2

      Bummer. That's the only post-Transformers/GI Joe/Robotech cartoon I actually found entertaining.

    16. Re:A word of caution... by Transient0 · · Score: 2

      > As it is now, you're paying for all your fave
      > shows, and for some you don't like. If you
      > only pay for the ones you don't like,
      > they get less money. Not the best way to keep
      > the shareholders happy.
      (emphasis added)

      Not the best way to keep the viewer happy either. (chuckle)

    17. Re:A word of caution... by Lumpy · · Score: 2

      even though.... this tactic is still doomed... Sci-FI is cancelling the show because they cant get enough paying advertisers to advertise during that show and it's re-runs. It's not attracting a large enough demographic nor enough nielsen ratings to attract the pepsi, coke, bmw, saab, and austin martin advertisers.... it's attracting the bottom feeder advertisers that pay as little as possible. (I know this I have access to all this data in the CAB books and database as well as I see what breaks are released to us for advertising cover-up (cable adverts) and farscape's share of free to put our stuff there has increased steadily over the past 2 years...

      $800,000 might save the show for an episode or two... but until the "fans" get people actually watching it..... it aint gonna happen...

      BTW: the decline seems to have a direct correlation with sci-fi's brain dead move to start airing it ion a willy-nilly fashon instead of every friday night at 9:00pm NO MATTER WHAT.. the sci-fi brass are the ones that want it gone.. otherwise they would have never moved it from the sweet spot.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  7. In case someone's oblivious by Frederique+Coq-Bloqu · · Score: 3, Informative

    The final eleven episodes of Farscape begin in January of next year.

  8. Lip Synching... by manly_15 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Very cool examples. Except, none of them show a tounge! There were portions of the speech where the lips weren't moving, and the tounge would have been.

    Once a tounge is added to the render, this tech will be sweet for games. Imagine playing someone in UT and seeing their mouth move properly as they talk to you. Cool for sure.

    1. Re:Lip Synching... by Erik+Hollensbe · · Score: 2

      This might be nice for slower games, ala half life or adventure games....

      But this tech is all but useless on a game like UT or Quake. In fact, I would be rather pissed to have to waste more money on hardware so I can see a guy's mouth move right before I get gibbed to bits with a rocket. :)

  9. Saving farscape by KlippoKlondike · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Is television really THAT important? I mean, farscape is entertaining and all, but that's all it is. Entertainment. Aren't their more important things to worry about? I'm not saying it's impossible to care about a tv show, just that there's things out there that matter a lot more. You know, like that group of people that lives in your house and pays all your internet and cable bills and feeds you coffee and pixie stix all day? That's your family, give them money, they deserve it more than hollywood.

  10. Re:that's pathetic by Remik · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Everyone has priorities. Your logic is headed down a very slippery, liberal slope.

    Before you suggest that we have a responsibility to donate to the lowest/needest rung, think for a second on what a race to the bottom looks like. If you're having trouble, read Atlas Shrugged.

    -R

  11. Without a doubt by Freston+Youseff · · Score: 2

    I'll have my TiVo ready to capture every delicious episode until the final season comes out on DVD.

    --

  12. Farscape fund by El · · Score: 3, Funny

    And how does this fund help those of us that are too cheap to buy cable?

    --

    "Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney

    1. Re:Farscape fund by LostCluster · · Score: 2

      It doesn't. In fact, if another season does get made it'll likely be distributed either by DVD or Pay Per View to make sure that everybody who watches is paying at least part of their share to the project.

  13. $$$ money $$$ by MacAndrew · · Score: 5, Funny

    I don't know about y'all, but for me "only" and "$800,000" don't come in the same sentence. (Except maybe "If I only had $800,000...") And I thought pay-per-view was steep!

    I had heard the episode price was closer to $1.7 million ... maybe that was not USD. For our non-American audience, $800,000 is real money. I think you can buy a cruise missile for that much -- which I note might be much more persuasive to those SciFi twits. You know, call a meeting, then appear on the videophone with your demands....

    Ambitious project! Damn! Farscapers are making us Mac zealots look pretty tame -- at least when we send Cupertino a couple thousand we get back a computer and a couple window stickers.

    1. Re:$$$ money $$$ by LostCluster · · Score: 5, Interesting

      $1.7 mil USD is likely the production budget per episode, but $800,000 USD per episode is the ammount of money Sci-Fi network gave the production company at the start, with the theory being that the remaining half of the money would come in from other sources such as the infinite future of rerun rights (which Sci-Fi is apparently still buying) and other intellectual property licensing rights. Remember, all this money would buy them just one episode to wrap things up, they'd need to multiply it all by 10-20 if they want a full season.

      As for this TVC entity, it should be very interesting to see what this builds into. If it were to be able to build up enough of warchest, it could finance the production of borderline shows that it knows there are enough fans to make viable, then collect a share of the revenues and use that income to finance future show-saving efforts. Of course, the whole point of this organization would be to finance shows that are good TV but are being canceled because they lose money, so TVC should seek non-profit status and always be soliciting donations.

      As for distributing the show to maximize profits, I would suggest that TVC first sell the new episodes via DVD and pay-per-view at about $10-20 per episode in order to capture the outright hardcore fans who are willing to pay big to see the show continued. Then, about six months later enter into a prime-time time exchange with a TV network where TVC provides the show for free to a cable network in exchange for TVC being allowed to sell all but 2 minutes or so of the ad time. (Of course, if there is a network willing to pay for the show, that is the safer bet...) The idea of putting the show on free TV would be to attract new fans, and hopefully enough new fans would be brought in to make the show once again viable, at which point TVC could begin to pull its financial involvement out and find another show to rescue.

    2. Re:$$$ money $$$ by MacAndrew · · Score: 2

      I think you're right about the cost, at least I have heard that networks have expected studios to underwrite more and more of the expenses. So there is all the more pressure to deliver instant hit shows, rather than wait for a sleeper to simmer. Really, though, Farscape had passed the sleeper stage.

      The pitfall I see here is that the show really needs the strength of a fully committed network behind it. Farscape is still pretty obscure and needs to expand its audience share. To do that, it needs promotion and an intelligent time slot. I don't know about elsewhere, but here in DC Farscape was airing late Friday night. That is not primetime, and yes people can tape it but the ones who do already like the show.

      So ... the money-raising may be symbolic at best, and maybe the ideal outcome is to outbluff the network. However, we would not want a repeat of the Star Trek experience, where the show was renewed under fan pressure, but only for one year and in bizarre moving time slots without promotion. The network guaranteed its demise for "declining ratings."

      I don't know the business, and I hope whoever's involved in this white knight plan does. It is rumored that whoever is in charge at SciFi (I forget his name) simply "doesn't like space shows" which is certainly ironic and probably insurmountable. More.

      I'm still leaning towards my cruise missile idea. Is there a downside?

    3. Re:$$$ money $$$ by Dark+Lord+Seth · · Score: 2
      $800,000 is real money.

      As opposed to what?

    4. Re:$$$ money $$$ by topham · · Score: 2

      The problem is, being a hit, of any kind, is irrelevent.

      It has to be a major hit with a SPECIFIC target group that actually spends money.

      Oh, and if it is the wrong target group (even if they spend money) they will still junk it and try something new.

      This is why fox hit it big, and now mostly sucks. They spent a lot of money with shows that 'might' be hits. Most of them bombed, but a few hit with an audience and bingo. You had Married with Children, Simpsons, etc.

      But, now they go for target markets like everybody else.

      Wish I knew what market I was in (of any channel) cuz damnit, I don't seem to get the channel.

    5. Re:$$$ money $$$ by AntiTuX · · Score: 2

      window stickers?!?! I didn't get any window stickers with my tibook!!!

    6. Re:$$$ money $$$ by stefanb · · Score: 2
      When we send Cupertino a couple thousand we get back a computer and a couple window stickers.

      It's been a year since I last bought a Mac, but I got Apple stickers with mine, not Windows.

    7. Re:$$$ money $$$ by MacAndrew · · Score: 2

      As opposed to a pile of corn husks?

    8. Re:$$$ money $$$ by MacAndrew · · Score: 2

      It has to be a major hit with a SPECIFIC target group that actually spends money.

      Oh, I already explained what I had in mind, along with the correct target group. See, the cost is quite reasonable, more so if we steal one.

      This is going to get me on some terrorist watch list, isn't it? Note to the FBINSACIA (the tri-spy-agency): Just kidding. I was gonna put confetti in it, really.

    9. Re:$$$ money $$$ by Dark+Lord+Seth · · Score: 2

      I'll have you know that a pile of corn husks can be immensely valuable.

  14. personal wearable efforts by FrenZon · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you feel like making your own non-instrusive wearable, one that DOESN'T make you look like a dork, and doesn't require specialist hardware, please check out http://riot.com.au/

    Disclaimer: this is one of my projects.

    1. Re:personal wearable efforts by imadork · · Score: 3, Funny
      If you feel like making your own non-instrusive wearable, one that DOESN'T make you look like a dork ...

      And what, exactly, is the problem with looking like a dork?

    2. Re:personal wearable efforts by Alsee · · Score: 2

      I can't get the pictures. Dude, you just slashdotted yourself.

      And it wasn't even from a link in an article. It was from a late response on a measly slashback.

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
    3. Re:personal wearable efforts by FrenZon · · Score: 2

      funny... anything that looks like you're wearing an ASCOT and you claim it doesnt make you look like a dork... funny... really funny.... Perhaps I shouldn't be replying to ACs, but that's just a Crumpler bag (the messenger/courier bags that every man and his dog are wearing these days). The reason there are so few photos on the site is because the system looks DEAD BORING (which is the point). It's a bag, a phone, and some headphones. Zzz.

  15. $200k in PLEDGES by WPIDalamar · · Score: 3, Funny

    So... how many of those pledges are going to fall through when it comes time to pay up? Yeah...

    On second thought, never mind. I love that show. I'll pledge the other $600,000!

    1. Re:$200k in PLEDGES by sharkey · · Score: 2

      I'll pledge the other $600,000!

      Unfortunately, our caller hung up before we could get his address! But thanks to InstaTrace, we know he is mhughes of wpidalamar.com. Our Pledge Enforcement Van is on the way to the address listed for that domain.

      --

      --
      "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
  16. Come again? by MacAndrew · · Score: 2

    Boy did that go over my head!

    I'll translate: Do both doofus.

    We are all selfish at some point, choosing our comfort over that of someone less fortunate. I've just slotted this quandary into the general principle of all things in moderation.

  17. The Farscape/Poor children connection... by hackwrench · · Score: 2, Funny

    But immagine how much better citizens those children could be if they could only watch Farscape!

  18. Re:1st post by Rick+the+Red · · Score: 2
    I disagree. When I meta-moderate a -1 Redundant, I always look at the story to see if any earlier posts raised similar points. You'd be amazed how many un-deserving Redundants are handed out. I consider the first "First Post" non-redundant (although, as I said, an Off-Topic or Troll is quite appropriate); any following "First Post"s could be fairly moderated Redundant. Maybe I'm a stickler, but I meta-moderate them as I see them.

    --
    If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
  19. Anthropics by hondo77 · · Score: 4, Informative

    These guys are doing speech to animation. It is being used in phones. No, I don't work there, though I used to work with one of the people there (a long time ago).

    --
    I live ze unknown. I love ze unknown. I am ze unknown.
  20. text to face by sarcast · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Bud Light site has had a similar feature to this for a while. They call it "making faces" and you can look at it here: http://veepers.budlight.com/

    You can upload your own picture and make it say anything you want, it will animate your face for you and looks pretty passable if you use a good picture.

    The company that makes this technology is Pulse Entertainment and they are located at http://www.pulse3d.com/ in case you wanted to check them out too.

    1. Re:text to face by nurightshu · · Score: 4, Funny

      Unfortunately, Anheuser-Busch gave Pulse Entertainment a whole lot of money to add that feature to their website -- money that could have been spent on research and development of a Budweiser-brand domestic beer that doesn't taste like month-old horse urine. The advertising for that sort of breakthrough would practically write itself:

      Want a great-tasting beer, but don't want to send your money over to Fritz and his Nazi pals? Buy new Budweiser Good(TM), the revolutionary new brew from Anheuser-Busch! This is the first domestic beer that won't leave an aftertaste like the floor of a stable -- and because it's made in America by Americans, you know you're getting a quality product. Bud Good(TM): it's your new brew.

      And all the while they could have the vaguely homoerotic American working-man images that seem to be so popular these days (which is bizarre because they always remind me of those old Soviet labor propaganda posters). But at least the lip-synching thing is pretty cool.

      --
      They that would sacrifice their .sig space for that cliched Franklin quote deserve neither.
  21. ATI Fruit Baskets. by Grendel+Drago · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Where do we send thank-you cards or fruitbaskets? Emails, too, of course, but it's important to let the folks at ATI know that we appreciate their support of the Linux community, and somehow fruitbaskets seem to speak louder than electrons.

    --grendel drago

    --
    Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
    1. Re:ATI Fruit Baskets. by dinivin · · Score: 2


      Feel free to use the open source DRI drivers which should work on PPC hardware.

      With ATI you get the best of both worlds: feature complete binary drivers for those who have the necessary hardware and open specs allowing others to write open source drivers.

    2. Re:ATI Fruit Baskets. by chromatic · · Score: 2

      Feel free to read the link again; there is no DRI support yet for my hardware.

      There are also, to the best of my knowledge, no open specifications for this hardware. Please feel free to set me straight if I've just overlooked them.

      I have an ATI card. I'm running Linux. I'd like to combine the two.

    3. Re:ATI Fruit Baskets. by dinivin · · Score: 2


      Perhaps you'd like to actually let us know what video adapter you're using. All anyone can glean is that you're using a laptop with an ATI chipset. Whoop-dee-doo...

      And, if you'd like access to the specs for nearly all ATI hardware, you can become an XFree86 developer and sign the NDA that all XFree86 developers must sign. IIRC, all the necessary documentation (yes, excluding some of the fancy, glitzy features of the newest cards) is sitting on the XFree86 ftp server in an area restricted to their developers.

      Dinivin

    4. Re:ATI Fruit Baskets. by HuguesT · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'm curious, why would open-source developers need to sign an NDA? Isn't their work the ultimate disclosure?

    5. Re:ATI Fruit Baskets. by dinivin · · Score: 2


      The Mobility Radeon 9000 should use the r200 core, iirc. I don't see why, with some modification perhaps, it wouldn't work with the r200 open source driver. The Radeon 9000 already does.

      Dinivin

  22. Re:that's pathetic by Remik · · Score: 2

    Chuckle. Just to clarify, I'm not an Objectivist, I just think that AS is an excellent critique of the sort of thinking that the original poster appears to be espousing.

    -R

  23. Re:that's pathetic by Remik · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It sounds to me like you just want everyone else to accept your priorities. Funny though, they haven't landed you in a very tenable position, so I'd think they'd be some of the last for society to adopt as a whole.

    Some people need a helping hand, but the epidemic is not at such a level as to begin to decry any spending which does not have immediate and obvious charitable effects (the net effect of your initial post). Even accepting your ethos, you're forgetting that there are hundreds of people who will be losing their jobs if Farscape is canceled. Not just overpaid actors, but average Joe set builders &c.

    Your worldview is too narrow. I don't think your initial post was well thought out. If you still hold by the tenets put forth there, then I don't think I have the power or desire to continue to show the error of your ways.

    -R

  24. Ransom by Myco · · Score: 3, Insightful
    It seems that the recent innovation of ransoming software into the public domain may have applications in other media. And why not? If the audience for something like Farscape is a devoted corps of fans who are willing to pay up to make it happen, who needs the network after all? Sick of network execs telling you what to watch and calling you a thief if you don't watch every commercial with rapt complicity? Then organize and buy your entertainment direct from its makers. You cut out the middlemen and you get what you want, period.

    That's the dream, anyway. I'd love to see it happen, but I'm sure you've all got a thing or two to say about blind idealism right about now.

  25. Public broadcasting by MacAndrew · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Yes, good point, and their begathon comes every year! Meanwhile the number and wordiness of thank-yous to corporate sponsors has been growing. (I mostly listen to NPR -- same problem.) Yet membership accounts for only 25% of revenue, so "viewer supported" is true but misleading. One-fourth supporting.

    I went to the trouble of looking this up on the CPB site, so feast your eyes. Their financing is complex to say the least. The item "CPB Appropriation" appears to represent the federal government's $300 million share -- a pittance if you compare it to the $800,000 they want here for one episode of one show.

    The point is probably just to get the pledges, to make an impression on SciFi whose bottomline motivation is money.

  26. Geez, is no one checking ID's? by MacAndrew · · Score: 3, Funny

    You, um, seem to be under the misapprehension that everyone here is 15 and lives at home. Lay off the "coffee and pixie sticks" diet.

    Anyway, the group of people that lives in my house is a bunch of leeches. Especially the kids. And I'm not too impressed with the cat, either. ;-)

    1. Re:Geez, is no one checking ID's? by deranged+unix+nut · · Score: 2

      I don't have a family. I don't have a life. I program computers by day and get my entertainment from cable TV.

      I spend $35 on cable TV to watch Farscape, Stargate, Law and Order, Junkyard Wars, Simpsons, and Star Trek. $15 of that is just for expanded cable so I can watch Farscape...is it so hard to understand that I might be willing to fork over another $20 per month for a show that I really like instead of walking down to the video store to rent something decent once a week?

    2. Re:Geez, is no one checking ID's? by MacAndrew · · Score: 2

      No, but you shouldn't have to pay anything, ads and stuffed D'Argo dolls should more than pay the tab. And your cable is $10 cheaper than mine, dammit.

  27. Bootiful by bayankaran · · Score: 2, Funny

    Just installed the ATI drivers for the 8500LE on Redhat8 and it worked just fine...now which are some of the good open GL games in Linux?

    --
    Tat Tvam Asi
    1. Re:Bootiful by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 2

      Games? We just do drivers around here, I'm afraid.

      Though Nethack looks nice enough on my GF.

      --

      How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
  28. Re:that's pathetic by geekoid · · Score: 2

    in other words,
    "Let them eat cake"

    Great way to loose your head in the next revolution.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  29. Thank you ATi by Trogre · · Score: 2

    As I do not yet own anything better than a Radeon 7500 these driver updates do not directly benefit me. Nonetheless, a big thank you to ATi for listening to those of us in the linux community and acting accordingly.

    Whatever the equivalant of 'kudos' is to those who don't believe in karma, that to the people of ATi for their support of us linux users.

    It would be great to see other hardware manufacturers showing this level of support.

    --
    "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
    1. Re:Thank you ATi by bfree · · Score: 2

      Does that mean you got the Radeon Mobility 9000 based model and if so which drivers can you use? DRI (CVS I believe) and/or ATI? Any idea on performance? Any gotchas to configure it? Put a page up to tell me how? Guess who was doing this tomorrow anyway?

      --

      Never underestimate the dark side of the Source

    2. Re:Thank you ATi by bfree · · Score: 2

      Well it's done now! I'm posting this under the ATI driver on a Radeon Mobility 9000 (M9 / RV250). The only issue I have is that it's corrupting for me at resolutions other than the native 1600x1200 (noticed in UT2003 and TuxRacer). Performance is reasonable , I think I will probably be able to improve things with some tweaking. TuxRacer at about 100fps on a Mobile-P42GHz (glxgears 240ish) under a default woody install (XFree86 4.1). Next stop DRI to see how they go. Installing the ATI driver on Debian involved extracting the rpm, copying the files across to your real filesystem (have to replace libGL), compiling a kernel and then building the ati kernel module for X, modconfing it in after a reboot, finally I used the debian and ati X config tools and vi to cobble together a config file. I think that was everything, far from straight forward but not too tough (come on ATI, next thing to do is recognise anything other than RedHat). Next stop is MPlayer with wmv9/wma9 support, some kernel patches (2.4.20, 0[1], pre-empt) and then hopefully I'll get a cvs (or 4.3) XFree86 so I can do some good driver comparisons.

      --

      Never underestimate the dark side of the Source

  30. They need fishing poles instead of fish by Wee · · Score: 3, Offtopic
    $1,000,000 is an awful lot of money, and the first thing that came to mind is that an amount like that could feed a fair number of mouths

    Until the money ran out and the mouths got hungry again, the needy wouldn't need as much. You're completely correct. You premise that we'd be helping people by feeding them, however, is completely flawed. That money would buy a lot of food, but when I thought of how much that million was, I thought it would buy a lot of tools and education and basic agricultural reform.

    I won't dontate money to "needy" charities unless I know the money goes towards things which help build a less needy future, not non-sustainable, stopgap measures. For exmple, I'd give to "Feed the African Children", or whatever, only if I knew the money was going towards improving farming methods, animal husbandry skills, education, water supply improvement, birth control and reproductive education, etc. rather than just plain food (which is usually just stolen and sold anyway). I all I continue to give is just food, when will I be able to stop? When will the people I feed get to the point where they no longer need my help and can provide for themselves?

    Yeah, there are grey areas here (it's a shame the US destroys perfectly good crops to keep prices balanced, for example), but by and large terminally hungry people could use the ability to make food as opposed to merely food. Has Sally Struthers helped anyone get out of poverty and become self-sustaining? Have those "adopt a kid" programs gotten to the point where they've run out of kids? I'm not being cynical or contrary; I just can't help but think of it as the orgnic system it is. Energy is constantly flowing into it, but energy demand only increases as more flows in (probably due to unsustainable growth). Rather than building any sort of foundation, all the food does is create a positive feedback loop of needing more food. The hungriest nations are not going to get less hungry if we continue to feed them. They need to know how to help themselves. Looked at one way, one caould say that we're almost doing them a disservice by helping them. Metaphorically speaking, we're putting phosphates in the pond and complaining that all the algae don't have enough to eat. We're not part of the solution.

    I know you need to have the basics first, and that there will always be the itinerant and/or temporarily hungry, but the handout mentality really needs to shift towards helping people help themselves or the needy will be forever needful. IM(H)O.

    -B

    --

    Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.

    1. Re:They need fishing poles instead of fish by topham · · Score: 2

      Yeah, it could feed a lot of mouths. Like the film crew & their families. The actors and their families. The support staff, etc, etc.

      It isn't like the $1,000,000 goes up in SMOKE.

      Although, a few big explosions would be cool...

    2. Re:They need fishing poles instead of fish by Wee · · Score: 2
      Please check your facts before generalizing about charitable funding.

      I was necessarily generalizing. I used Save the Children only as an example, and one that came to mind (I was recently in London and saw ads for it there, which reminded me of ads here in the States). It's probably a nice charity and it probably helps many people in the short term, when they (arguably) need it most. It probably also doesn't help "break the cycle" of hunger very much in the long term. Sorry. I don't see less hunger as time has gone on if the focus is primarily on feeding the hungry with food donations.

      Has Save the Children increased or decreased its funding drives for countries in which it operates over the time it has operated there? How many people has it helped that it hasn't had to help repeatedly? What's the recidivism rate for those receiving donations/help from Save the Children? Do many kids get a fresh start or do they only create new kids who need similar help? Are we propping up their "economy" of need?

      I don't mean to agitate, and I don't mean to be overtly contrary (honestly). I just don't see much in the way of progress. Why feed when you can teach how to feed? Why give food when you can give shovels and hoes and pumps and condoms and learning? I admit that I'm not much of a social scientist, but it would do the charity well to emphasize how much they help people to feed themselves rather than tugging at American and European heartstrings for food money. Africa (especially) could be a very wealthy continent, certainly well off enough to feed itself. Find out why it isn't (I'd humbly suggest examining the political structure of central Africa for reasons why so many are starving), and fix the problems. Until then any short-term charity there just feeds the cycle of need and creates a dependancy on further aid. That's how it is. That's reality. Tell me what facts I need to check in order to controvert that fact.

      I'm sorry if that not sufficiently compassionate. I don't mean to denigrate the work anyone does to help others, but I do submit that relief efforts should be focused more towards self-sustaining solutions and less towards short term aid. Yes, that will hurt. People will die. But in the long term society (especially "their society") will be better off. I stated that I'll contribute to long-term solutions and I stand by that statement no matter what "facts" you'd have me check.

      My point stands: the richer nations should do what they can to help poorer/hungrier nations feed their populace by contributing to sustainable long-term efforts rather than just bulk fodstuffs and money which only cure ills in the short term (or worse: feed warlords and create situations like the ones in Somalia and Rawanda). Nobody should go hungry in the 21st century. Blind compassion and wonton gifts of money and food don't further that aim, they only perpetuate it by creating a horrible, low-end welfare state with (barely) tenuous funding.

      Find a charity that actually helps those it tries to help and I'll give. I already do give charitably (quite a bit in fact), but I'll never give a dollar when I can give knowledge on how to make dollars. I'll never give food when I can give knowledge that helps create food forever. I'll always help someone get on their feet, and never help them stay in a position of need. If you feel differently than you're certainly free to do whatever it is you want to do. More power to you. It's my belief that your help could be put to better use. It's hard to say that but that's the way it is.

      Without being argumentative, if you can show me facts that prove giving food versus giving food-making technologies helps those in need, I'll recant what I've said in full. Until then I maintain that it's best to help someone in such a way so they won't need more help over time. I'm sorry if that upset you, or if you took it personally, but I don't see reality being reflected any other way. I'm a highly compassionate person, and I just don't see many so-called "charities" helping to do much of anything but ensure they stay in business.

      -B

      --

      Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.

    3. Re:They need fishing poles instead of fish by squaretorus · · Score: 2

      That money would buy a lot of food, but when I thought of how much that million was, I thought it would buy a lot of tools and education and basic agricultural reform

      Your attitude is outdated and patronising.

      At the moment in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Zambia and Malawi drought over the past two seasons has drastically hit harvests, leading to 30 million people currently in need of food aid. Other countries are also effected to a lesser extent.

      The majority of farms know how to farm, but are fucked without rain. Simple as that. They have the know how and tools, a degree of political stability has returned, but the rain hasn't fallen for a couple of years. No rain, no grain.

      Food aid is needed now to get 30 million people in these regions through to the summer - no amount of tools or education will help. If you die in the winter you can't farm in the spring.

      The only logical objection to this is the old 'well, there are too many of them, let 30 million die and theres more food to go round next year!' arguement. Funny how thats never suggested for poorer families in the US!

      This isn't a world where the clever white guy needs to send over his knowledge to help those stupid Africans work out how to feed themselves. Its a world where the white north owns 90% of the worlds resources and can help out when areas are having a rough time. If it wants to.

    4. Re:They need fishing poles instead of fish by Grab · · Score: 2

      They do. Oxfam and others spend most of their time digging wells, providing schools and medical care, teaching ppl more efficient farming techniques, passing round new techniques developed by the people themselves, etc. Quoting from Oxfam's site:-

      In all our actions Oxfam's goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives.

      This can take the form of supporting people in efforts to gain access to productive
      opportunities, such as land rights, markets, training, and government services. It can also consist of supporting the efforts of poor and marginalized people to organize and participate in decision-making.


      Trouble is, when the rains simply don't come, or when the rains come too much and flood everyone's land, you're screwed. At that point, you need outside help to get you through, and to help you get back on your feet again.

      I suggest that you could allow everyone to die as a matter of policy. But if you did, then to keep an ethical policy, you'd also have to let all Mississippi residents drown when the river floods, and let LA residents burn to death when forest fires hit. Oh, and allow all cities in CA, AZ and CO to dry up and blow away, bcos they don't get enough rain to support themselves.

      Grab.

    5. Re:They need fishing poles instead of fish by Isle · · Score: 2

      You are so right. Although the truth is a lot worse. The programs that just aim to feed "hungry people" often do more harm than good.

      A few decades ago there was a movement to give the european food surplus stock to poor starving people in poor countries. The result was the economies and food producers in the respective countries crashed as they couldnt compete with free food, resulting the countries becoming permantently dependent on foreign support. Unfortunatly a lot of publicity charities have never learned the same lesson (or dont want to) and such destructive programs continue to exist and be funded by naive americans and europeans.

      For the same reasons I personally have a policy of only supporting charties that also recieves funds from my own government, the EU or the UN. They have the best oppotunities to do real good without depending on catastrophies that sell well on TV.

    6. Re:They need fishing poles instead of fish by battjt · · Score: 3, Informative

      Nice response, this is part of the discussion we don't see. There aren't news specials about kids who aren't starving on farms that are doing OK in Africa.

      My town here in the midwest USA could easily support 5 times the current population, but the town has shrunk in size over the last 100 years. Our main export is corn and beans. Why has the population grown in areas with repeated droughts and repeated need for food aid?

      Joe

      --
      Joe Batt Solid Design
    7. Re:They need fishing poles instead of fish by Wee · · Score: 2
      This isn't a world where the clever white guy needs to send over his knowledge to help those stupid Africans work out how to feed themselves. Its a world where the white north owns 90% of the worlds resources and can help out when areas are having a rough time. If it wants to.

      And you say my views are outdated and patronizing? You're actually suggesting that the western, developed world does not need to do things like invent and then provide cheap stoves which burn less fuel (and dung), allowing more people to cook and purify water while not stripping fuel supplies bare? They don't need The Evil White Man's help with that. That we don't need to provide human-powered pumps for better irrigation? I'm sure they have their own foundries and engineering talent that can create those, if they need them at all. That we shouldn't provide condoms to those that need them? Africa can handle AIDS, and doesn't need a bunch of whities telling them how to slow the spread of disease.

      You're basically saying we should not actually help them help themselves become self-sufficient, but only continue to give them more of what we have in order to keep them afloat ecologically, right? I might have missed something, but that's basically what I get out of the statement above.

      I'm sorry if you think I'm too white or something, or you think the 1st world owns too many things, but what you're saying is the most cracked thing I've read in a long time. So let's not actually help them or anything, let's just give them handouts and perpetuate their state of being in desparate need. Yeah, that'll help. Sure. There's nothing Africa can use from us except food handouts. Right. Look, if the places they live can't support human life due to environmental conditions, what good is us giving them food going to do?! The real answer is they need to move to a new niche, or make where they are habitable.

      Get that racial chip off of your shoulder and realize what the western world can really do to help places like Africa. I never said we shouldn't give them emergency food relief. I'm saying that if that's the bulk of our giving, we're not actually helping anything.

      -B

      --

      Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.

    8. Re:They need fishing poles instead of fish by Wee · · Score: 2
      I suggest that you could allow everyone to die as a matter of policy.

      I must have made my point poorly as amny people don't seem to understand what I was saying. I was not saying people should starve, or that food shoul dnever be given out at all. I was trying to say that as long as the balance of giving is shfted more towards food rather than methods to provide food, then the charity does nothing but perptuate the need.

      Of course there should be relief efforts (wherever they are needed; some people seem to think that I don't mind giving starving people in Arkansas handouts, but don't want to give to African nations and this couldn't be more wrong). But why can we ride out the occasional regular disasters but African nations cannot? That is my point. If we really want to help them, we'll help them get to the point where they don't need us in order to get by during the lean times or ecologial emergencies.

      -B

      --

      Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.

    9. Re:They need fishing poles instead of fish by squaretorus · · Score: 2

      At no point did I suggest non-food aid was not required. I simply said that to say food aid was bad was wrong.

      In simple terms:

      Man One: Dave is a dick, I like Iain.
      Man Two: Dave isn't a dick!
      Man One: So. Your saying Iain is a dick! How can you say Iain is a dick?? Stop being such an Iainist!

    10. Re:They need fishing poles instead of fish by Wee · · Score: 2
      Stop being such an Iainist!

      Heh heh. Right on. I get your point. I think we're on the same page...

      -B

      --

      Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.

  31. emoting online by MacAndrew · · Score: 2
    FWIW I for one didn't think you were seriously going preachy on us. It's tough to communicate tone online without hundreds of those infernal smileys.

    There is one distinction here -- Farscape is an *investment* -- I don't know how they plan to work it but I damn well wouldn't give a significant amount without knowing where revenues and royalties were going to go. I think the show is more than good enough to pay for itself and then some, and the SciFi Channel is not my idea of charity (more like war criminal at the moment). Once that's done, donate the principal+earnings and everyone's happy! Heck, maybe I'll give Tiny Tim an advance.

    For a stunningly efficient and humane charity, please check out Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres). They go to all the tough spots that even Red Cross fears to tread, indeed they were originally a splinter from RC. [/plug] :)
  32. Re:that's pathetic by fenix+down · · Score: 2
    ...read Atlas Shrugged...
    or, you could just read "So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish".

    "Do you want to have a good time?" said a voice from a doorway.

    "As far as I can tell," said Ford, "I'm having one. Thanks."

    "Are you rich?" said another.

    This made Ford laugh.

    He turned and opened his arms in a wide gesture. "Do I look rich?" he said.

    "Don't know," said the girl. "Maybe, maybe not. Maybe you'll get rich. I have a very special service for rich people ..."

    "Oh yes?" said Ford, intrigued but careful. "And what's that?"

    "I tell them it's OK to be rich."

    Gunfire erupted from a window high above them, but it was only a bass player getting shot for playing the wrong riff three times in a row, and bass players are two a penny in Han Dold City.

    Ford stopped and peered into the dark doorway.

    "You what?" he said.

    The girl laughed and stepped forward a little out of the shadow. She was tall, and had that kind of self-possessed shyness which is a great trick if you can do it.

    "It's my big number," she said. "I have a Master's degree in Social Economics and can be very convincing. People love it. Especially in this city."

    Pretty good summary right there, I think.
  33. Can Mplayer handle the latest trailers? by starseeker · · Score: 2

    It can play it if you can download the whole .mov file (two towers trailers - WOOOHOOO) but it doesn't seem to handle those stupid mov files most of the new trailers are using, which seem to be some kind of reference file to other files which make no sense. Anyone gotten that to work?

    Anyway, I can confirm that this compiles, runs and rocks, including audio. Thanks Mplayer Team!

    --
    "I object to doing things that computers can do." -- Olin Shivers, lispers.org
    1. Re:Can Mplayer handle the latest trailers? by TeknoHog · · Score: 2
      In fact, MPlayer prints out the references..
      Playing http://a772.g.akamai.net/5/772/51/9f4f764750c78f/1 a1a1aaa2198c627970773d80669d84574a8d80d3cb12453c02 589f25382f668c9329e0375e81787e85abb28970c7aee1d900 465d736aa1c81ec4bb91e8bf063cc3f/stn-2_l400.mov
      Re solving a772.g.akamai.net ...
      Connecting to server a772.g.akamai.net[194.251.253.108]:80 ...
      Cache size set to 40 KBytes
      Connected to server: a772.g.akamai.net
      Cache fill: 0.00% (0 bytes) MOV: Reference Media file!!!
      REF: [url ] http://a772.g.akamai.net/5/772/51/068bfad3cafe79/1 a1a1aaa2198c627970773d80669d84574a8d80d3cb12453c02 589f25382f668c9329e0375e81788fc5bcb3aad2186f86b/qt 5gateQT3.mov
      REF: [url ] http://a772.g.akamai.net/5/772/51/068bfad3cafe79/1 a1a1aaa2198c627970773d80669d84574a8d80d3cb12453c02 589f25382f668c9329e0375e81788fc5bcb3aad2186f86b/qt 5gateQT4.mov
      REF: [url ] http://a772.g.akamai.net/5/772/51/068bfad3cafe79/1 a1a1aaa2198c627970773d80669d84574a8d80d3cb12453c02 589f25382f668c9329e0375e81788fc5bcb3aad2186f86b/qt 5gateQT4.1.mov
      REF: [url ] http://a772.g.akamai.net/5/772/51/068bfad3cafe79/1 a1a1aaa2198c627970773d80669d84574a8d80d3cb12453c02 589f25382f668c9329e0375e81788fc5bcb3aad2186f86b/qt 5gateQT4.1.1.mov
      REF: [url ] http://a772.g.akamai.net/5/772/51/068bfad3cafe79/1 a1a1aaa2198c627970773d80669d84574a8d80d3cb12453c02 589f25382f668c9329e0375e81788fc5bcb3aad2186f86b/qt 5gateQT4.1.2.mov

      ..but it can't handle those references:

      Playing http://a772.g.akamai.net/5/772/51/068bfad3cafe79/1 a1a1aaa2198c627970773d80669d84574a8d80d3cb12453c02 589f25382f668c9329e0375e81788fc5bcb3aad2186f86b/qt 5gateQT4.1.2.mov
      Resolving a772.g.akamai.net ...
      Connecting to server a772.g.akamai.net[194.251.253.106]:80 ...
      Cache size set to 40 KBytes
      Connected to server: a772.g.akamai.net
      Cache fill: 0.00% (0 bytes) Detected QuickTime/MOV file format!
      Compressed header uses zlib algo!
      Compressed header size: 417 / 927
      --------------
      MOV track #0: 1 chunks, 0 samples
      Generic track - not completly understood! (id: 0)
      --------------
      No stream found
      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  34. Re:that's pathetic by Doktor+Memory · · Score: 3, Funny

    If you're having trouble, read Atlas Shrugged.

    Now you have more trouble. Not to mention a hernia.

    --

    News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters? Like hell.

  35. how about some good miniseries instead? by Xtifr · · Score: 2

    I do like Farscape, but it was starting to drag a bit recently, IMO. I've been thinking about it, and if the SciFi channel only has a limited amount of funds for original productions, I'd rather see them work on a few *really* good movies or miniseries, rather than dragging Farscape out even further.

    They did an excellent job with Dune (much better than that David Lynch abomination with -- gah -- Sting). And the recent miniseries version of Mists of Avalon was excellent, too. (Ok, it was done by another network -- but it proves that there are people out there who can do good screen adaptations of good SF/Fantasy works. If only they had the money.)

    Granted, most of the recent SciFi channel original production movies have sucked -- but then, they've been pouring money into Farscape.... :)

    There's a lot of good F&SF out there that could be adapted. I'd love to see a miniseries based on Amber or Ringworld or the Vorkosigan series. If it was even halfway decently done, I'd much prefer it to yet another recycled plot in yet another episode of Farscape.

    1. Re:how about some good miniseries instead? by kalidasa · · Score: 2

      You're kidding, right? You thought that misbegotten piece of 4-hour long crap was Dune? I feel sorry for you, I really do.

      For the record, SciFi has been pouring plenty of money into stuff like Taken (which I will not watch; Spielberg's CE3K crossed with X-Files but without the big-budget mothership or John Williams' score? Why bother?) and "rescuing" old shows like Stargate. It's clear that they are more interested in wooing the crystal-power crowd (John Edwards, that's SciFi?) with Egyptian-gods-as-aliens (I b et that's how they sold Stargate to the network) than in anything having more than a remote connection to space.

      I won't watch them anymore; I may actually wait until season 4 of Farscape comes out on DVD rather than give SciFi the ratings.

  36. Responsiveness? Bull. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "ATI's driver and software strategy is firmly based on responsiveness"

    Oh really? So when thousands of older-ATI-card Macintosh owners(basically, any Macintosh released from about 1998 to about 2000) BEGGED Apple and ATI for drivers(even signing a massive petition), I suppose ATI listened intently, and then released drivers for MacOS X? Hahahaahaha.

    For those who don't know, Apple and ATI passed the issue back and forth like a hot potato, and eventually, Apple released rather half-assed(read: you could finally bear using the system in more than 16bit color) drivers for older systems like the iMacs and Powerbook Lombard/Pismo, rolled into a system update; you had to edit a config file buried in the system to even get the driver to load!

    I have a Powerbook Lombard, G3/400mhz, and I can't watch movie previews under MacOS X because the thing can't push a frame rate higher than maybe 10-15fps. Text scrolling is slow as molassis and 3D is -completely- unaccelerated. Apple's advice, for taking me back +5 years in graphics performance, is to take me back +10 years in graphics technology: "set it to 16 bit color for better performance."

    Folks, this is pure marketing BS/backpedalling(ie, "oops, oh shit, we just screwed a large customer base. Quick, someone do something!") I believe the expression is "knowing which side your bread is buttered on." It has NOTHING to do with warm fuzzy feelings for penguins. I cannot STAND companies that tout how they "listen to the customer"...

  37. Who owns Farscape now? by lobos · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Since we're always complaining about copyright, if we donate a ton of the money needed to keep farscape going, do those few people own part of it? Do they get any revenue off of it? It's not like they're the exclusive people who are seeing it. If they were, they would be paying to see it. But to me it seems like they're paying to make it so they and others can see it. Therefore, shouldn't they own part of it?

  38. this is a violation of the prime directive by outsider007 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I won't dontate money to "needy" charities unless I know the money goes towards things which help build a less needy future, not non-sustainable, stopgap measures.

    Are we still talking about Farscape, or starving africans? I agree, farscape is needy because there aren't enough fans to justify the expense of production, and africans are starving because there are so many of them living in a desert. neither is going to change by giving them $1Mil.

    Sometimes it's better to just let it go. It's not politically correct to point out but starvation is natural. population is balanced against available resources and equilibrium is reached. Should we drop protein reseqeuencers on a hungry primitive planet? no, even though it's hard to watch people suffer, it's still the wrong thing to do.

    should we fund a sick show that's been earmarked for extinction? sorry, I like farscape but it's time to say goodbye.

    --
    If you mod me down the terrorists will have won
    1. Re:this is a violation of the prime directive by Wee · · Score: 2
      Are we still talking about Farscape, or starving africans?

      What is the difference? One is a metaphor for the other. Have you ever heard that saying "don't feed a stray cat?" It's sad that the pitiful, starving creature is mewling at your door, but if you feed it, you will always have to feed it. It's the same with the current popular welfare mentality. Continue to just give food to starving people and you'll just keep otherwise starving people alive -- as long as you feed them. Pay for an "extinct" show to stay on the air and you'll have an extinct show on the air -- as long as you pay for it. Better is to find a way for the object of your sympathy to be able to exist on its own (in fact, I would argue that it's cruel and lazy to do otherwise). That is actually helping the situation.

      Blindly contirbuting money to Farscape is nice and heartfelt and gives the sometimes necessary short term feelgoods, but it won't help keep the show on the air. Giving money to this cause won't keep Farscape on the air any more than giving rice to Africa will teach Africans learn how to farm rice paddies.

      Figure out how to keep Farscape alive and viable on it's own merits. Or let it die and something else take its place. Surprisingly, some people just fail to understand this reality.

      -B

      --

      Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.

  39. Ownership instinct stronger than you might think by Transient0 · · Score: 2

    > If this does work, I think the precedent will
    > be that fans are willing to pool together and
    > pay a LOT of money to get the quality content
    > they want. Groups could form to fund their own
    > content, which they could release into the
    > public domain. P2P could distribute them.

    I think that you may have a bit too much experience with the hacker open-source community. From a sociological perspective, I don't think your hypothetical model could ever take off. The problem is that even if all these people were willing to go into this project with no thought of profit, simply to make something wonderful, once it was done, you would see a lot more resistance than you might expect to releasing it into the public domain.

    In the end, things that cost resources to produce end up belonging to someone because of the "Why should they get it for free when I had to pay for it" mentality.

    Just some return food for thought.

  40. Re:clarifications by robobor · · Score: 2, Informative

    There is no goal set for the campaign. Those numbers on the ipetitions page are only examples. The goal is to get as much as possible. The best bet for this to work is for "The Viewer Consortium" to act as an additional investor in the series.

    For example, the cost of the series averages to $1.5M per episode. Sci-Fi was picking up half of that, 750k. That's $16.5M for a 22 episode season. Assuming all the funding that was there still is, that is the only deficit to make up. (As an aside - Sci-Fi is paying up to 3 TIMES that much for "Taken")

    Take 1M as the average weekly viewership in the US. If 10% of the people who watch Farscape in the US gave an average of $25 each, the cost per episode could be reduced by over $100k. That could go a long way to helping Henson and Sci-Fi, or any other network for that matter, reach an agreement. Money from all the viewers worldwide only makes the deal better.

    Also, the number quoted as already donated is suspect. That ipetitions page is, I think, the original one from when the news first broke. It asked only hypothetically, "what would you give if you could save Farscape?". It needs to be restarted, asking "What WILL you give?", and a more definite payment system instead of "pledges" needs to be established.

    They are also looking into direct sales to viewers - perhaps DVD sales, or even pay-per-view. The numbers for this are even more daunting, but not, in my opinion, completely impossible. With advertising getting more and more difficult to sell and the impact of tivo-like devices rendering ads useless, this may be a distribution model considered more often in the future. Instead of paying $50 a month to your cable Co. for a collection networks, in the future you might pay $50 a month only for the shows you want to watch. The cable companies have alot of installed bandwidth and are itching to find more uses for it, like video on demand. Farscape could be offered as a test case to see how well the idea is accepted.

  41. Re:Need to get priorities straight by kalidasa · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So let me get this straight- we have a record # of homeless people in the US, food pantries are empty, massive budget cuts for the poor(social services, medicare, etc.)... ...but a bunch of people donated $200,000 to go towards paying to make A TV EPISODE, for a FOR PROFIT cable network?

    I take it you've never bought a video tape, b ut only give away all your disposable cash to charity?

    For the record - I donate $20/paycheck directly to United Way, plus hundreds more throughout the year; I also spent a hundred or two on Farscape this year. Maybe I'll donate an additional $20 to say "screw you" to SciFi.

  42. Screw ATI by ZedNaught · · Score: 2, Interesting
    After reading the reviews of the new ATI Radeon 9700 Pro cards, I took the plunge and invested the $375.00. I followed the instructions to remove all of my prior ATI drivers and installed the card. Unfortunately the driver cdrom that shipped with the card is corrupted. It consistently fails installing with checksum errors. While the latest Win2000 Catalyst drivers are on the web, the DVD and multimedia drivers are outdated and do not recognize my install CD serial number.

    After a tedious email exchange with ATI support their final position is that the serial number from CD is insufficient proof of purchase. I need to supply a number which is located on the card and unreadable without reopening the case, dismantling the AGP support bridge and pulling the card. You would think they might mention "Write this number down before installing in case you need support later" somewhere in the installion instructions.

    I told them if I had to pull the card out to get replacement drivers from them, then I might as well put the card back in the box it came in and exchange it for a Matrox. Screw ATI.

  43. ATI, TV-out problems... by Junta · · Score: 2

    I'm looking at a new system for HTPC purposes. Since the mplayer/freevo/xmame/zsnes combo is such a killer ui-wise (been trying it on my desktop to evaluate), linux seems the way to go.

    However, the problem becomes TV-out. Now it looks like nVidia, Matrox, and ATI have decent TV-out capabilities.

    Matrox 3D is unacceptable, so I've discounted that (some pretty neat GL visualizations on xmms wouldn't look as good), so I'm left with ATI and nVidia. Researched nVidia and within two minutes saw that TV was fully supported in the binary-only drivers. On ATI's side of the fence.... they neither seem to have TV-out support in any binary form nor are willing to release specs (or else face the wrath of ??AA for providing a path for Macrovision to be disabled), so the only TV-out support is through using an unaccelerated framebuffer, completely unacceptable.

    ATI's efforts seem to be less comprehensive than nVidia's, both in terms of scope (only 8500 and 9700?), and in terms of functionality. All of this stuff should not be exclusive with respect to each other. I would love to see this happen, as there are a couple of decent motherboard's with built in TV-Out that use RV100 chips...

    --
    XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
  44. Improvement, etc. by Balinares · · Score: 2

    Okay, so the Germans were bad in 1940, and ATI were bad in 2000. Now guess what? It's year 2002, almost 2003. Germany changed, and from the look of it ATI changed too. Enough as to acknowledge a small market that won't bring them any significant money anyway. They've been churning out driver releases steadily, immediately correcting the pointed out problems (lack of support for 3rd party boards), correcting bugs, improving speed. Oh my God, actual customer support! Of course customer support is pure marketing. That doesn't mean it's any less good for us. Linux has little to NO economical weight in the high-end 3D board market, so giving us an actually good driver is pure PR -- something that won't bring in any immediate money. In other words, ATI is actually showing long-term thought here! That's good!

    And as for Mac drivers, alright, they SHOULD have been made. And Apple SHOULD have requested them! Who put the ATI card in your Powerbook in the first place? Yet I don't see you blaming the computer builder. If I bought a PC that didn't come with the driver for its own freaking video card I'd be very upset at whomever designed and sold that PC.

    Now of course if you bought the ATI card as a 3rd party upgrade, it's different, alright, but from your post I gather it's not the case.

    Anyway. ATI support was shitty, now it has improved considerably. That's commendable, but it will only go on if we send positive feedback. So let's keep the misdirected bitterness in check, and give ATI a chance to redeem themselves before we flame, hmm?

    And, BTW, yes, I've owned a Radeon 8500 for months, and yes, I was very angry when it turned out there was little to no support for my primary OS, so I know about the bitterness. It still doesn't mean I shouldn't rejoice and send positive feedback when the situation starts improving dramatically. Heck, even 2D support is significantly faster with the latest version of the driver!

    If the trend goes on, maybe I'll even consider making my next video card another ATI. We'll see if they deserve it.

    --

    -- B.
    This sig does in fact not have the property it claims not to have.
  45. About the starving people... by El+Camino+SS · · Score: 2

    I understand your plight with all of this, but you must understand that some people simply cannot be helped. It is not in them to feed themselves. I should know, I am a reporter, and I see that reality every day on the mean streets of America, where the poor clamour for a handout, but not a hand up.

    People say it is education, and what they have been taught. Well, what they have been taught does not work. It does not feed them, EVEN IN A PLACE LIKE AMERICA, where they throw away close to 40% of the food out there. Keep in mind that I am not talking about the elderly who cannot work anymore and are caught in an inflation trap. I am talking about people who grow up on a system that allows them to never, EVER think about their future. I cannot tell you how much special help comes into those schools to help poor kids where I am, it is amazing. I honestly don't think that any of this is working at all. If they kept giving me that kind of help, I'd be the freakin' overlord of the planet by now.

    This is the greatest example ever: When I have a story to do at 1pm in the poor neighborhoods, I can always get an interview. Why? Because no one has a job. No one is working. That is why they are poor. Not because of some secret government crap or ridiculous excuse. The same time in a suburb? I can bet you that I can't find anyone. And I mean anyone. THEY ARE WORKING. That is why they are not poor. *GASP* They actually have to something they may not like for, *GASP*, MONEY!

    Mostly, after hearing all of the rhetoric from all of the charities in the world I have come to this conclusion (and trust me, I do at least 4 charity stories a month): Most charity workers are great people, and the people they serve are duplicitous liars that give you the sad puppy dog eyes, and then take your food or money and sit on their asses and do NOTHING. Just like they did before. Nothing has changed. You just gave them a better coat that they won't take care of. You just fed their hungry mouths another day in a nation where you can easily get all the food you want. Whenever I do a story about these poor people, I hear the words "disabled." No, YOU'RE NOT. Because I know disabled people in wheelchairs that are at WORK RIGHT NOW... grinding away on a keyboard. Working like little ants. You are complaining about your back.

    Honestly, why do we need to have soup kitchens when soup is 50 cents a can and I can get that by bumming vending machine money off of people for that? A wiper and some Windex will get you a weeks worth in 15 minutes. Oh, but two hours worth will get you a bottle of Jack Daniel's. Once again. Your choice.

    These examples work for all things. Why are the Arab nations (IMHO IMHO IMHO) worthless? They can't get their act together. Why are there people starving on the streets? They never got their act together. Why are these nations ass over teacup with starvation? They never got their act together.

    Look around you. It is the 21st Century. Tell these people to either party like its 1499, or stay quiet. AS a citizen of the world and a human that lives in America and works very hard JUST TO GET BY... tell them to sit down and shaddup.

    1. Re:About the starving people... by Wee · · Score: 2
      I understand your plight with all of this, but you must understand that some people simply cannot be helped.

      If I was starving, I'd want help. I'd probably want food, too. But I'd want to have help in making my own way, whether that be with job training or farming training. If someone doesn't want help then that's their own business.

      -B

      --

      Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.

  46. Re:1st post by Rick+the+Red · · Score: 2
    I see your point, but since we don't get to moderate (or meta-moderate) Taco or Michael, then applying this rule to the readers is a double-standard. If we could moderate the Editors, I'd mark damn near every-other thing they write "Redundant." How many times do we need to hear the New York Times requires registration? They've even shortened it to "RRYYY" for "Registration Required, Yada, Yada, Yada" -- geeze, they can't even get their own hint!

    --
    If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
  47. Thank you... by El+Camino+SS · · Score: 2

    Your comments about your father made my whole day.

    Honestly, I'd love to meet him. I assume that his mind is a steel trap, and probably has a sense of humor that is so select that if you didn't listen you would miss it all. He's "one of those guys" that you see every now and then.

    Isn't it amazing what pressure does to some people? Some people avoid pain and suffering all of their lives to become worthless, and others have so freakin' much that it becomes irrelevent to what they want to accomplish. I am going out on a limb here, but the pain is obviously debilitating, but as far as his achievements are concerned, it is probably as irrelevent as the air conditioner sound in the back of the room right now.

    What did all of that stuff do to stifle his success? Absolutely nothing.

    It comes down to this with me: I think that all people, ALL HUMANS have within themselves two basic spirits... the ape, and the enlightened man. The ape is angry, lazy, lustfull, disaffected and greedy. The man is in a word, wonderful. The struggle is to see who is in charge. It is truly that simple.

    Tell your dad to ROCK ON for me. Good luck. God speed.

    -Alex Lucas