For those spared this atrocity, it was a Saturday morning cartoon featuring, I kid you not, a living Rubik's Cube. It was an idea that filled me with loathing even at that age, and I can't tell you what it was about because I always switched to something else as soon as it came on.
The 1980s certainly seemed the nadir of American animation...
My website reveals the sordid details of my passionate affair with:
Natalie Portman
Kristen Dunst
Brittany Spears
Kate Winslet
Carrie-Anne Moss
CowboyNeal never kisses and tells.
My SF/F/H Recommended Reading List
on
A Good Summer Read?
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· Score: 2, Informative
Lawrence Person's Recommended Reading List Novels Rats & Gargoyles - Mary Gentle The Werewolves of London - Brian Stableford The Exorcist - William Peter Blatty The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkein Dune - Frank Herbert 1984 - George Orwell The Chronicles of Amber (Original Five) - Roger Zelazny Neuromancer - William Gibson The Long Walk - Stephen King The Vampire Lestat - Anne Rice Salem's Lot - Stephen King Phases of Gravity - Dan Simmons The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson The Book of the Long Sun - Gene Wolfe Blood Music - Greg Bear Eon - Greg Bear IT - Stephen King The Glass Hammer - K.W. Jeter Moving Mars - Greg Bear Hyperion/Fall of Hyperion - Dan Simmons The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert A. Heinlein Bridge of Birds, The Story of the Stone, Eight Skilled Gentlemen - Barry Hughart The Time Ships - Stephen Baxter Weaveworld - Clive Barker Lucifer's Hammer - Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle The Hereafter Gang - Neal Barrett Jr. Stand on Zanzibar - John Brunner Permutation City - Greg Egan The Light at the End - John Skipp & Craig Spector Crucifax Autumn - Ray Garton A Fire Upon the Deep - Vernor Vinge The Sheep Look Up - John Brunner The Child Garden - Geoff Ryman Carrion Comfort - Dan Simmons The Bridge - Iain Banks Perdido Street Station - China Mieville Evolution's Shore (a.k.a. Chaga) - Ian McDonald The Stone Canal - Ken MacLeod A Deepness in the Sky - Vernor Vinge Holy Fire - Bruce Sterling Geek Love - Katherine Dunn Terminal Cafe (a.k.a. Necroville) - Ian McDonald The Sparrow - Mary Doria Russell The Night Watch - Sean Stewart Nifft the Lean - Michael Shea Summer of Night - Dan Simmons Fevre Dream - George R. R. Martin The Magic Wagon - Joe R. Lansdale Mona Lisa Overdrive - William Gibson The Book of the New Sun - Gene Wolfe Perfume - Patrick Süskind The Difference Engine - William Gibson & Bruce Sterling Synners - Pat Cadigan The Xenogenesis Trilogy - Octavia Butler Lord of the Hollow Dark - Russell Kirk The Anubis Gates - Tim Powers Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny Last Call - Tim Powers Door Number Three - Patrick O'Leary The Paratawa Trilogy - Christopher Hinz Declare - Tim Powers Metropolitan, City on Fire - Walter Jon Williams The Paper Grail - James P. Blaylock The Foundation Trilogy - Isaac Asimov Firelord - Parke Godwin The Shaft - David J. Schow Empire of the East - Fred Saberhagen
The video card market has gotten absolutly rediculous in the last 2 years. Its strange, when Intel and AMD fight it out, prices plummet. While nVidia and ATI have been fighting it out prices have skyrocketed.
There are many quite logical reasons high-end video card prices rise, having to do with the differing economics of the businesses involved:
First of all, Intel and AMD own their own fabs. A modern, 300mm,.13 micron chip fabrication plant costs in the neighborhood of 2.5 to 4 billion dollars. To make back such a staggering initial investment, CPU manufacturers must achieve remarkable economies of scaleby cranking out as many chips as possible.
By contrast, both ATI and Nvidia are fabless chip manufacturers; the contract out the actual chip production to foundries like TMSC and UMC in Taiwan. Because they don't own the fabs, they have to pay higher prices so the foundries can make their profit.
Most of the speed increases in new CPUs tend to come from die shinks (i.e., moving from.18 micron to.13 micron); serious design revisions only happen every few years. By contrast, the upgrade cycle on video chips seems to be every six months.
In a sense, offloading graphics processing into a separate has given CPU manufacturers one less thing to worry about, allowing space on a chip that would be used for graphics processing to be used for something else, and also freeing them from having to throw resources at designing chips for the latest and greatest games.
So, as usual, it comes down to economics. With higher fab costs and faster product revision cycles, high end graphic chips increase in price compared to CPUs because the economies of scale and structural costs are different. Still, capitalist competition and the wonders of the free market means that last year's $350 high end graphics card can frequently be found for $99 today...
Of course they died, because they were missing the single most important piece of dive safety equipment: A hyperintelligent dolphin with miraculous capabilities of interspecies communication.
Flipper: Ennnhhhhhh! Ennnhhhhhh! (backs up)
Diver: What's that Flipper? There's a software bug in my wrist diving computer that could lead to my grisly death?
Flipper: Ennnhhhhhh! Ennnhhhhhh! (backs up)
Diver: Well thank God you told me! Otherwise I never would have known!
Flipper: Ennnhhhhhh! Ennnhhhhhh! (back up)
Diver: What? There's a Russian sub off the coast?
In short, never go diving without your near-omniscient dolphin.
"which do you think is the better deal: $7500 to fill a 30GB player (7500 songs at $1 each) with iTunes Music Store, or $120 a year with the ability to swap in new music whenever you want?"
Hmmm, all other things being evil, I think I'll go with the music service where all my money doesn't go directly to Satan, so Apple it is!
And speaking of music, that's Satan and not The Great Satan. Don't get those two confused...
So, it's not OK to appear under a pseudonym on electrinic bulletin board, but it's just fine and dandy to let kornet.net continue as the world's number one source of spam, eh?
Maybe we should pull all of our troops out of South Korea...
Oh, by the way, here's a list of e-mail contacts for the Korean spammers who made it impossible for me to use my last e-mail address. Have at them, harvestbots!
I'm glad to see that Intuit finally came to their senses. Too bad they did it so late, as I've already switched to H & R Block's TaxCut. Now all my data has been switched over, I see no reason to go back. Who should I support: The company that changed it's mind about screwing me, or the company that never tried to screw me in the first place?
The tragedy is that anyone with half a brain could have told them their scheme wouldn't work. Moreover, they've aliented not only millions of potential customers, but millions of formerly loyal customers as well. I had used MacinTax (the Mac version of TurboTax) for seven to ten years. Now, unless H&R Block does something stupid or discontinues the product, I have no compelling reason to switch back.
It's good to see Intuit come to it's senses, but the damage is already done.
"Some are calling this just another unfair tactic, losing money to maintain marketshare. Well, maybe it is, but isn't that what M$ is doing with the XBox? Rumor has it that Sony did it with the PS2 at least when it came out."
This is a mix of SF, Fantasy, and Horror, and includes things I think are out of print:
Novels Rats & Gargoyles - Mary Gentle The Werewolves of London - Brian Stableford Blood Music - Greg Bear Eon - Greg Bear The Glass Hammer - K.W. Jeter Moving Mars - Greg Bear Bridge of Birds, The Story of the Stone, Eight Skilled Gentlemen - Barry Hughart The Hereafter Gang - Neal Barrett Jr. The Light at the End - John Skipp & Craig Spector Crucifax Autumn - Ray Garton The Child Garden - Geoff Ryman The Bridge - Iain Banks Evolution's Shore (a.k.a. Chaga) - Ian McDonald Holy Fire - Bruce Sterling Geek Love - Katherine Dunn Terminal Cafe (a.k.a. Necroville) - Ian McDonald The Night Watch - Sean Stewart Nifft the Lean - Michael Shea Fevre Dream - George R. R. Martin The Magic Wagon - Joe R. Lansdale Perfume - Patrick Süskind The Difference Engine - William Gibson & Bruce Sterling Synners - Pat Cadigan Lord of the Hollow Dark - Russell Kirk Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny Door Number Three - Patrick O'Leary The Paratawa Trilogy - Christopher Hinz The Paper Grail - James P. Blaylock Firelord - Parke Godwin The Shaft - David J. Schow Empire of the East - Fred Saberhagen
Collections & Anthologies
The Hugo Winners (Volumes I & II)- Isaac Asimov, editor Strange Things in Close Up - Howard Waldrop Songs the Dead Men Sing (Dark Harvest version) - George R. R. Martin Vacuum Diagrams - Stephen Baxter San Diego Lightfoot Sue & Other Stories - Tom Reamy Night of the Cooters - Howard Waldrop By Bizarre Hands - Joe Lansdale Think Like a Dinosaur - James Patrick Kelley Dark Gods - T.E.D. Klein The Fire When It Comes - Parke Godwin Portraits of His Children - George R. R. Martin Book of the Dead - John Skipp & Craig Spector, editors Watchers at the Straight Gate - Russell Kirk The Last Defender of Camelot - Roger Zelazny Mirrorshades - Bruce Sterling, editor Slow Dancing Through Time - Gardner Dozois, et al. Seeing Red - David J. Schow Heatseeker - John Shirley Empire Dreams - Ian McDonald Patterns - Pat Cadigan Crystal Express - Bruce Sterling Before the Golden Age - Isaac Asimov, Editor
Many of these are still available on the used book market. In fact I have many available at The Lame Excuse Books Web Page
Thanks to the Vance Integral Edition, which reprints all of Jack Vance's work in a uniform edition of 44 hardback volumes. I just got my half of the set in the mail yesterday.
Of course, at $1250 for the set, it's not exactly cheap...
Is it just me, or does Microsoft's entire NGSCB/DRM/"Trusted Computing" complex ignore the number one irritent of the Internet age, i.e. spam? Imagine, for a moment, that Microsoft's DRM actually works as promised and isn't cracked. [Must...keep...straight...face... "Hahahahahaha!" OK, just pretend...] It doesn't matter how locked down your own PC might be, unless every link in the mail chain is MS DRM validated, you're still going to get spam with forged headers floooding into your mailbox. The only way this wouldn't be true is if: A.) People are willing to give up on receiving mail from those without DRM systems (very, very unlikely), or B.) Everyone in the world agrees to have Microsoft DRM installed (impossible).
Hey Microsoft, you want to do some REAL innovation for once? Create mail receiving system that automatically validates the headers of every incoming piece of mail on the fly and rejects those with forged headers. Do that, and the world WILL beat a path to your doorstep. Of course, since Outlook virus-driven spam makes up a significant portion of the problem, I'm not holding my breath...
"But deep within Longhorn lurks the Nexus, part of Microsoft's new Next Generation Secure Computing Base system, which is intended to provide a tamper-resistant, private container for data users would rather not share with the world."
OK, I've got $5 that says that NGSCB will be cracked within five days of the first Alpha appearing on P2P networks...
There's nothing particularly interesting or shocking about having an AMD chip in the Airport. Also, it's not any kind of i86 chip at all: "The CPU is a AMD Au1500 series RISC-based processor. It is based on the MIPS architecture." Moreover, it has a date of 2000 and "Made in Taiwan" on the chip itself, so what we have here is fairly old technology cranked out by a Taiwanese fab (UMC would be my guess). And absolutely no proof for the "Apple is moving to AMD" rumor. Nothing to see here, folks, move along, move along...
GREETINGS EARTHLING,
I HAVE AN IMPORTANT BUSINESS PROPOSITION FOR YOU. SHORTLY BEFORE THE MOST RECENT MARTIAN CIVIL WAR, I HAD 37,000,000 (37 MILLION) MARTIAN GORANS SITTING IN THE FIRST BANK OF MARS. HOWEVER, NOW THAT THE BLUE THARK HAVE TAKEN OVER THE MARTIAN GOVERNMENT, I HAVE NO WAY OF GETTING MY MONEY OIFF THE PLANET.
PLEASE PROVIDE ME WITH YOUR BANK ACCOUNT NUMBER SO I CAN TRANSFER THE FUNDS TO EARTH, AND I WILL BE GIVE YOU HALF THE 37 MILLION GORANS, WHICH IS WORTH OVER 50,000,000 (50 MILLION) OF YOUR EARTH DOLLARS. YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION AND DISCRETION IN THIS MATTER IS GREATLY APPRECIATED.
"I associate it because in the beginning of the movie, they're going to store 80 gigs of information (about as much as I have in/usr/home/) in Just Johnny's head. They use three random images from the television to associate with and encrypt the information. These images are then faxed to the recipient. Obviously the bits aren't being used because they would change in faxing."
While this is true of the movie, this is not true of the original William Gibson story of the same name it was based on. There the mnemonic trigger was "Christian White and his Aryan Reggea Band."
>In the world of the future, it will be corporations, not governments, that will oppress the people.
Yeah, well, when you find a corporation which has killed 100 million people the way communism has, be sure to let us know...
For general information on curbing all sorts of lawsuit abuses across the country, you might want to take a look at the American Tort Reform Association.
I guess it's too much for Slashdot submitters and moderators to actually read the site they're linking to, but if they did take this extrodinary and nigh-unheard of step, they would see that the the phrase "independent musicians receive 100% of the money that fans pay for their music or merchandise (of course, after the credit card company takes their cut from the payment)" is demonstrable false. Lets look at the other fees mentioned on the site itself, shall we?
"Fat Chuck's Music costs $60 for the first year and $40 per year afterwards. The only other fees associated with Fat Chuck's Music are below:
1. Paid by Check. Getting paid by check in the U.S. or Canada is $4 per check. However, direct deposit is free! Check payment is free outside of the U.S. or Canada since direct deposit is not possible there.
2. Wire Fees. Wire fees change depending on how much is sent to you. Check out the complete chart for more information.
Wire Payment Fees
To wire your payments to you.
$100-$200 Gross Sales -> $33 Wire Fee
$200-$300 Gross Sales -> $30 Wire Fee
$300-$400 Gross Sales -> $27 Wire Fee
$400-$500 Gross Sales -> $24 Wire Fee
$500-$600 Gross Sales -> $21 Wire Fee
$600-$700 Gross Sales -> $18 Wire Fee
$700-$800 Gross Sales -> $15 Wire Fee
$800-$900 Gross Sales -> $12 Wire Fee
$900-$1000 Gross Sales -> $9 Wire Fee
$1000-$1100 Gross Sales -> $6 Wire Fee
$1100-$1200 Gross Sales -> $3 Wire Fee
$1200+ Gross Sales -> No Wire Fee"
Some of these may indeed seem very reasonable (though the wire service fees seem a bit stiff), but it is far, far away from the "100% except for credit card fees" implied by the over-eager submitter. It took me all of 45 seconds to find this imformation. Is it too much to ask submitters and moderators to do likewise?
Another Scary Bunny: Frank From Donnie Darko
on
Easter Humor
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· Score: 1
Slashdot Mirror
The 1980s certainly seemed the nadir of American animation...
"...we're asking them to download this 75mb DivX file."
What's wrong with this picture?
Lawrence Person's Recommended Reading List
Novels
Rats & Gargoyles - Mary Gentle
The Werewolves of London - Brian Stableford
The Exorcist - William Peter Blatty
The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkein
Dune - Frank Herbert
1984 - George Orwell
The Chronicles of Amber (Original Five) - Roger Zelazny
Neuromancer - William Gibson
The Long Walk - Stephen King
The Vampire Lestat - Anne Rice
Salem's Lot - Stephen King
Phases of Gravity - Dan Simmons
The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson
The Book of the Long Sun - Gene Wolfe
Blood Music - Greg Bear
Eon - Greg Bear
IT - Stephen King
The Glass Hammer - K.W. Jeter
Moving Mars - Greg Bear
Hyperion/Fall of Hyperion - Dan Simmons
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert A. Heinlein
Bridge of Birds, The Story of the Stone, Eight Skilled Gentlemen - Barry Hughart
The Time Ships - Stephen Baxter
Weaveworld - Clive Barker
Lucifer's Hammer - Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
The Hereafter Gang - Neal Barrett Jr.
Stand on Zanzibar - John Brunner
Permutation City - Greg Egan
The Light at the End - John Skipp & Craig Spector
Crucifax Autumn - Ray Garton
A Fire Upon the Deep - Vernor Vinge
The Sheep Look Up - John Brunner
The Child Garden - Geoff Ryman
Carrion Comfort - Dan Simmons
The Bridge - Iain Banks
Perdido Street Station - China Mieville
Evolution's Shore (a.k.a. Chaga) - Ian McDonald
The Stone Canal - Ken MacLeod
A Deepness in the Sky - Vernor Vinge
Holy Fire - Bruce Sterling
Geek Love - Katherine Dunn
Terminal Cafe (a.k.a. Necroville) - Ian McDonald
The Sparrow - Mary Doria Russell
The Night Watch - Sean Stewart
Nifft the Lean - Michael Shea
Summer of Night - Dan Simmons
Fevre Dream - George R. R. Martin
The Magic Wagon - Joe R. Lansdale
Mona Lisa Overdrive - William Gibson
The Book of the New Sun - Gene Wolfe
Perfume - Patrick Süskind
The Difference Engine - William Gibson & Bruce Sterling
Synners - Pat Cadigan
The Xenogenesis Trilogy - Octavia Butler
Lord of the Hollow Dark - Russell Kirk
The Anubis Gates - Tim Powers
Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny
Last Call - Tim Powers
Door Number Three - Patrick O'Leary
The Paratawa Trilogy - Christopher Hinz
Declare - Tim Powers
Metropolitan, City on Fire - Walter Jon Williams
The Paper Grail - James P. Blaylock
The Foundation Trilogy - Isaac Asimov
Firelord - Parke Godwin
The Shaft - David J. Schow
Empire of the East - Fred Saberhagen
There are many quite logical reasons high-end video card prices rise, having to do with the differing economics of the businesses involved:
So, as usual, it comes down to economics. With higher fab costs and faster product revision cycles, high end graphic chips increase in price compared to CPUs because the economies of scale and structural costs are different. Still, capitalist competition and the wonders of the free market means that last year's $350 high end graphics card can frequently be found for $99 today...
Of course they died, because they were missing the single most important piece of dive safety equipment: A hyperintelligent dolphin with miraculous capabilities of interspecies communication.
Flipper: Ennnhhhhhh! Ennnhhhhhh! (backs up)
Diver: What's that Flipper? There's a software bug in my wrist diving computer that could lead to my grisly death?
Flipper: Ennnhhhhhh! Ennnhhhhhh! (backs up)
Diver: Well thank God you told me! Otherwise I never would have known!
Flipper: Ennnhhhhhh! Ennnhhhhhh! (back up)
Diver: What? There's a Russian sub off the coast?
In short, never go diving without your near-omniscient dolphin.
What the article meant to say was that 70% of Slashdot posters don't actually read the article before posting to the thread...
Hmmm, all other things being evil, I think I'll go with the music service where all my money doesn't go directly to Satan, so Apple it is!
And speaking of music, that's Satan and not The Great Satan. Don't get those two confused...
Well sure! The methamphetamine market has always been more stable and profitable than computers...
Maybe we should pull all of our troops out of South Korea...
Oh, by the way, here's a list of e-mail contacts for the Korean spammers who made it impossible for me to use my last e-mail address. Have at them, harvestbots!
abuse@kornet.net, ip@ns.kornet.net, ip@ns.kornet21.net, domain@NS.KORNET.NET, donghk@soback.kornet.net, ever@kt.co.kr, jeonnam3@soback.kornet.net, jeon@kornet.net, jeonbuk3@kornet.net, koreatelecom@KORNET.NET, gfd5246@soback.kornet.net, gspark@kornet.net, help@KORNET.NET, helpdesk@KORNET.NET, haewha1@soback.kornet.net, heyeunmi@kornet.net, kmhno1@soback.kornet.net, hopewon3@soback.kornet.net, kgromc@soback.kornet21.net, kmhno1@soback.kornet.net, legal@KORNET.NET, network@kornet.net, packet@soback.kornet.net, postmaster@kornet.net, postmaster@soback.kornet.net, postmaster@ns.kornet.net, postmaster@soback.kornet.net, pusanpub@soback.kornet.net, root@soback.kornet.net, root@kt.co.kr, service@kornet.net, support@kornet.net, system@kornet.net, yjjeon61@kornet.net, abuse@ns.kornet21.net, domain@ns.kornet21.net, network@ns.kornet21.net, postmaster@ns.kornet21.net, resume@kornet.net, root@ns.kornet21.net, service@ns.kornet21.net, support@ns.kornet21.net, system@ns.kornet21.net, wong@kornet.net, abuse@ASADAL.NET, postmaster@ASADAL.NET, manager@cais.kaist.ac.kr, abuse@hanmir.com, postmaster@hanmir.com, webmaster@hanmir.com, msweet@kt.co.kr, abuse@itnsoft.com, help@itnsoft.com, ip@ns.kornet.net, hostmaster@nic.or.kr, marom@itnsoft.com, postmaster@itnsoft.com, root@itnsoft.com, eglee@yesnic.com, info@yesnic.com, hostmaster@yesnic.com, postmaster@yesnic.com, eglee@whois.co.kr, postmaster@whois.co.kr, whois@whois.co.kr, brkim@INWANG.NOWCOM.CO.KR, domain@NOWNURI.NET, busisik@nownuri.net, kbr@nownuri.net, memory@nownuri.net, abuse@nownuri.net, postmaster@nownuri.net, abuse@dreamx.net, abuse@cjdream.net, abuse@todream.net, admin@dreamx.net, admin@cjdream.net, administration@dreamx.net, administration@cjdream.net, billing@DREAMX.NET, billing@cjdream.net, brkim@cjdream.com, dns@dreamx.net, dns@cjdream.net, dnsadmin@dreamx.net, dnsadmin@cjdream.net, domain@DREAMX.NET, domain@todream.net, domains@DREAMX.NET, domain@todream.net, feedback@DREAMX.NET, feedback@cjdream.net, help@DREAMX.NET, help@cjdream.net, helpdesk@DREAMX.NET, helpdesk@cjdream.net, hostmaster@dreamx.net, hostmaster@cjdream.net, inhanna@cjdream.net, info@dreamx.net, info@cjdream.net, jyan@dreamx.net, jyan@cjdream.net, ley319@dreamx.net, loveabuse@dreamx.net, loveabuse@cjdream.net, mail@dreamx.net, mail@cjdream.net, mgr@cjdream.com, news@dreamx.net, news@cjdream.net, newsabuse@dreamx.net, newsabuse@cjdream.net, postmaster@dreamx.net, postmaster@todream.net, raven3@dreamx.net, raven3@empal.com, root@dreamx.net, root@cjdream.net, soip@cjdream.com, sales@dreamx.net, sales@cjdream.net, sbkim091@dreamx.net, sbkim091@cjdream.net, service@DREAMX.NET, service@cjdream.net, solhan@cjdream.net, spam@DREAMX.NET, spam@cjdream.net, support@cjdream.net, support@dreamx.net, sysop@DREAMX.NET, sysop@cjdream.net, sysop@todream.net, tech@dreamx.net, tech@cjdream.net, technical@dreamx.net, technical@cjdream.net, technicalsupport@dreamx.net, technicalsupport@cjdream.net, system@cjdream.net, system@dreamx.net, sysop@todream.net, ykshin@cjdream.net, ykshin@dreamx.net, eglee@yesnic.com, info@yesnic.com, hostmaster@yesnic.com, eglee@whois.co.kr, brkim@INWANG.NOWCOM.CO.KR, domain@NOWNURI.NET, kbr@nownuri.net, memory@nownuri.net, busisik@nownuri.net, abuse@nownuri.net, postmaster@nownuri.net, inhanna@sysone.co.kr, abuse@thrunet.com, abuse@korea.com, admin@thrunet.com, admin@korea.com, administration@thrunet.com, dns@thrunet.com, dns@korea.com, dnsadmin@thrunet.com, domain@thrunet.com, feedback@thrunet.com, feedback@korea.com, help@thrunet.com, helpdesk@thrunet.com, hostmaster@thrunet.com, mail@thrunet.com, mail@korea.com, news@thrunet.com, news@korea.com, newsabuse@thrunet.com, postmaster@
Top Coder: "What? This isn't done yet?"
Bottom Coder: "No, your Code Mistressness!"
Top Coder: "You pathetic little worm! Get back in there and code until your hands bleed!"
Bottom Coder: "Right away your worshipfulness!"
Expect to see more ads for "Dominatrix" pop up in Silicon Valley...
I'm glad to see that Intuit finally came to their senses. Too bad they did it so late, as I've already switched to H & R Block's TaxCut. Now all my data has been switched over, I see no reason to go back. Who should I support: The company that changed it's mind about screwing me, or the company that never tried to screw me in the first place?
The tragedy is that anyone with half a brain could have told them their scheme wouldn't work. Moreover, they've aliented not only millions of potential customers, but millions of formerly loyal customers as well. I had used MacinTax (the Mac version of TurboTax) for seven to ten years. Now, unless H&R Block does something stupid or discontinues the product, I have no compelling reason to switch back.
It's good to see Intuit come to it's senses, but the damage is already done.
Rumor is wrong. So sayeth the Gord.
Why yes, I have. And I've talked about it at length...
This is a mix of SF, Fantasy, and Horror, and includes things I think are out of print:
Novels
Rats & Gargoyles - Mary Gentle
The Werewolves of London - Brian Stableford
Blood Music - Greg Bear
Eon - Greg Bear
The Glass Hammer - K.W. Jeter
Moving Mars - Greg Bear
Bridge of Birds, The Story of the Stone, Eight Skilled Gentlemen - Barry Hughart
The Hereafter Gang - Neal Barrett Jr.
The Light at the End - John Skipp & Craig Spector
Crucifax Autumn - Ray Garton
The Child Garden - Geoff Ryman
The Bridge - Iain Banks
Evolution's Shore (a.k.a. Chaga) - Ian McDonald
Holy Fire - Bruce Sterling
Geek Love - Katherine Dunn
Terminal Cafe (a.k.a. Necroville) - Ian McDonald
The Night Watch - Sean Stewart
Nifft the Lean - Michael Shea
Fevre Dream - George R. R. Martin
The Magic Wagon - Joe R. Lansdale
Perfume - Patrick Süskind
The Difference Engine - William Gibson & Bruce Sterling
Synners - Pat Cadigan
Lord of the Hollow Dark - Russell Kirk
Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny
Door Number Three - Patrick O'Leary
The Paratawa Trilogy - Christopher Hinz
The Paper Grail - James P. Blaylock
Firelord - Parke Godwin
The Shaft - David J. Schow
Empire of the East - Fred Saberhagen
Collections & Anthologies
The Hugo Winners (Volumes I & II)- Isaac Asimov, editor
Strange Things in Close Up - Howard Waldrop
Songs the Dead Men Sing (Dark Harvest version) - George R. R. Martin
Vacuum Diagrams - Stephen Baxter
San Diego Lightfoot Sue & Other Stories - Tom Reamy
Night of the Cooters - Howard Waldrop
By Bizarre Hands - Joe Lansdale
Think Like a Dinosaur - James Patrick Kelley
Dark Gods - T.E.D. Klein
The Fire When It Comes - Parke Godwin
Portraits of His Children - George R. R. Martin
Book of the Dead - John Skipp & Craig Spector, editors
Watchers at the Straight Gate - Russell Kirk
The Last Defender of Camelot - Roger Zelazny
Mirrorshades - Bruce Sterling, editor
Slow Dancing Through Time - Gardner Dozois, et al.
Seeing Red - David J. Schow
Heatseeker - John Shirley
Empire Dreams - Ian McDonald
Patterns - Pat Cadigan
Crystal Express - Bruce Sterling
Before the Golden Age - Isaac Asimov, Editor
Many of these are still available on the used book market. In fact I have many available at The Lame Excuse Books Web Page
Thanks to the Vance Integral Edition, which reprints all of Jack Vance's work in a uniform edition of 44 hardback volumes. I just got my half of the set in the mail yesterday.
Of course, at $1250 for the set, it's not exactly cheap...
Is it just me, or does Microsoft's entire NGSCB/DRM/"Trusted Computing" complex ignore the number one irritent of the Internet age, i.e. spam? Imagine, for a moment, that Microsoft's DRM actually works as promised and isn't cracked. [Must...keep...straight...face... "Hahahahahaha!" OK, just pretend...] It doesn't matter how locked down your own PC might be, unless every link in the mail chain is MS DRM validated, you're still going to get spam with forged headers floooding into your mailbox. The only way this wouldn't be true is if: A.) People are willing to give up on receiving mail from those without DRM systems (very, very unlikely), or B.) Everyone in the world agrees to have Microsoft DRM installed (impossible).
Hey Microsoft, you want to do some REAL innovation for once? Create mail receiving system that automatically validates the headers of every incoming piece of mail on the fly and rejects those with forged headers. Do that, and the world WILL beat a path to your doorstep. Of course, since Outlook virus-driven spam makes up a significant portion of the problem, I'm not holding my breath...
"But deep within Longhorn lurks the Nexus, part of Microsoft's new Next Generation Secure Computing Base system, which is intended to provide a tamper-resistant, private container for data users would rather not share with the world."
OK, I've got $5 that says that NGSCB will be cracked within five days of the first Alpha appearing on P2P networks...
There's nothing particularly interesting or shocking about having an AMD chip in the Airport. Also, it's not any kind of i86 chip at all: "The CPU is a AMD Au1500 series RISC-based processor. It is based on the MIPS architecture." Moreover, it has a date of 2000 and "Made in Taiwan" on the chip itself, so what we have here is fairly old technology cranked out by a Taiwanese fab (UMC would be my guess). And absolutely no proof for the "Apple is moving to AMD" rumor. Nothing to see here, folks, move along, move along...
GREETINGS EARTHLING,
I HAVE AN IMPORTANT BUSINESS PROPOSITION FOR YOU. SHORTLY BEFORE THE MOST RECENT MARTIAN CIVIL WAR, I HAD 37,000,000 (37 MILLION) MARTIAN GORANS SITTING IN THE FIRST BANK OF MARS. HOWEVER, NOW THAT THE BLUE THARK HAVE TAKEN OVER THE MARTIAN GOVERNMENT, I HAVE NO WAY OF GETTING MY MONEY OIFF THE PLANET.
PLEASE PROVIDE ME WITH YOUR BANK ACCOUNT NUMBER SO I CAN TRANSFER THE FUNDS TO EARTH, AND I WILL BE GIVE YOU HALF THE 37 MILLION GORANS, WHICH IS WORTH OVER 50,000,000 (50 MILLION) OF YOUR EARTH DOLLARS. YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION AND DISCRETION IN THIS MATTER IS GREATLY APPRECIATED.
- GENERAL GURLAK ZORGOFF
While this is true of the movie, this is not true of the original William Gibson story of the same name it was based on. There the mnemonic trigger was "Christian White and his Aryan Reggea Band."
>In the world of the future, it will be corporations, not governments, that will oppress the people.
Yeah, well, when you find a corporation which has killed 100 million people the way communism has, be sure to let us know...
For general information on curbing all sorts of lawsuit abuses across the country, you might want to take a look at the American Tort Reform Association.
I guess it's too much for Slashdot submitters and moderators to actually read the site they're linking to, but if they did take this extrodinary and nigh-unheard of step, they would see that the the phrase "independent musicians receive 100% of the money that fans pay for their music or merchandise (of course, after the credit card company takes their cut from the payment)" is demonstrable false. Lets look at the other fees mentioned on the site itself , shall we?
"Fat Chuck's Music costs $60 for the first year and $40 per year afterwards. The only other fees associated with Fat Chuck's Music are below:
1. Paid by Check. Getting paid by check in the U.S. or Canada is $4 per check. However, direct deposit is free! Check payment is free outside of the U.S. or Canada since direct deposit is not possible there.
2. Wire Fees. Wire fees change depending on how much is sent to you. Check out the complete chart for more information.
Wire Payment Fees
To wire your payments to you.
$100-$200 Gross Sales -> $33 Wire Fee
$200-$300 Gross Sales -> $30 Wire Fee
$300-$400 Gross Sales -> $27 Wire Fee
$400-$500 Gross Sales -> $24 Wire Fee
$500-$600 Gross Sales -> $21 Wire Fee
$600-$700 Gross Sales -> $18 Wire Fee
$700-$800 Gross Sales -> $15 Wire Fee
$800-$900 Gross Sales -> $12 Wire Fee
$900-$1000 Gross Sales -> $9 Wire Fee
$1000-$1100 Gross Sales -> $6 Wire Fee
$1100-$1200 Gross Sales -> $3 Wire Fee
$1200+ Gross Sales -> No Wire Fee"
Some of these may indeed seem very reasonable (though the wire service fees seem a bit stiff), but it is far, far away from the "100% except for credit card fees" implied by the over-eager submitter. It took me all of 45 seconds to find this imformation. Is it too much to ask submitters and moderators to do likewise?
Of course, it helps if you're six feet tale and have an evil metal face.
I thought James Cameron's next movie was an adaptation of Barry Malzberg's Galaxies, as reported here.