I find your selection of a title for "Confessions of a Redhead" very appropriate. Although from the reading, I couldn't tell if you used it in truth or in metaphoric terms.
Anyhow, I must concur, and say that the more traits which are not "appreciated" by society, leads to more bothering by those who would have you fit in. I am both, geek and redhead. I stand out so unbelievably that I can identify with many of the posts here on/.
Note to everyone in America: Things are fucking rough, get over it.
Ha, same tactic, and Katz didn't have to write anything about it in his original articles, because each "social class" has its own representatives. We're geeks, Katz (being somewhat mainstream media) provides a good voice to the mainstream.
Just happens that gays have their media icons, blacks have theirs and so on, etc.
Your comments, while valid, also seem to prove a point about America which perhaps you did not intend to prove.
After WWII, America rejoiced, reveled and otherwise felt good about itself. We were told that we could have anything we wanted, but as the Great Depression taught us, we would have to work to get those things we wanted. This did not bother Americans, those two great tragedies seemed to have an important effect on this mode of thinking.
Now jump forward to present. The geeks, nerds, and other social outcasts in high school are idealists (mostly, and I know because I'm proud to be one.) We've read countless books where in the end, it is the smartest person who is our hero, because he uses his ability to determine the best route to thwart his oppressors. These are propagandist stories, judging simply from when in history they were written, and also by whom they were written. Yet they still hold true to some case.
The geeks, nerds, and outcasts have worked to put learning (gasp) as the focus of our schooling, and yet now our American Dream is failing. The truths that were instilled from our parents and grandparents that if we work hard enough, everything will be provided seems to be fading. Why is this? Because rewards and vicarious living through the talented athletes, popular people and otherwise "in group" has become prevalent.
Now to get to your point about the difference between Ethiopian, Kosovar, and geek. It is true that the tragedies happening elsewhere in the world are far more disturbing and shocking, and it is true that their victims are mostly unable to speak up. Yet, Kosovars and anti-Milosevic Serbs ARE speaking up online. So are the geek class. Why?
The answer is simple. Our ideal is dissolving, and we as a class are finding ourselves under fire by all sides. So, we USE our voice which our class created to speak up against the atrocities (I use that word with as much fervor as I would describing the helplessness to stop tragedy anywhere) performed by our oppressors.
Yes, it is a shame that Ethiopians cannot speak up, but it speaks of their upbringing (not to say that their upbringing is the Right Thing) which has made them helpless. And without meeting Maslow's pyramid of having the necessary things to feel good about yourself, these people are forced to accept their plight. It is most definitely not the Right Thing.
Geeks in America are on a higher rung of the pyramid, and are in the position to move higher by fighting for what is Right. However, no one ever condoned killing, slaughtering, or massacring your oppressors. That is a war crime by Geneva standards. (I find the Geneva guidelines for war to be silly. I know that they protect basic human rights, but to imagine that we have rules for war is outright absurd. I guess "Not all is fair in War.")
I guess my point is that it's not about "keeping up with the Joneses" or even "being the Joneses", it is about reward for work done. That is what we believe. I'm fairly certain that you will not find another person in our "social class" that feels otherwise.
Finally, I'm making another shameless plug for escape from your situation to all high school students that feel oppressed. In Texas, there are at least two programs which allow students to leave high school after their sophomore year. One is Texas Academy for Leadership in the Humanities at Lamar University in Beaumont. The other is the Texas Academy for Math and Science at University of North Texas. I went to TALH my senior year, (it's charter year) and I am currently planning our 5-year (since the beginning) reunion. My best friend was my roommate there (and we're going to be roommates again), and my fiance also attended. The rest of the charter class are people I would consider my closest friends ever. My advice is to research whether there is a program like these in your home state.
It was a reward for my intelligence, but also provided a new challenge. Isn't this what we're all after anyways, challenges?
I'm always glad to help anyone learn more about these programs, as I consider TALH (and somewhat Texas Governor's Honors Program) to be the life-changing experiences that have shaped me.
> Cool! I wanna go to Io, one of the moons of Mars! Other people will want to go to Mars itself, > or Venus, or that moon of Jupiter that might have life on it, but I want to be able to > say "I've been to Io!", and have other people say "Huh?"
Alright, old Doomers what has this young person forgotten? Or can I dare go far as to ask astronomers where Io is?
That's right, spiffy1, Io is a moon of Jupiter. In fact one of the first four found by less than modern day astronomer Galileo. Also found in the orbit of Jupiter are Ganymede, Europa (the one you're trying to remember), and Calisto.
Now the Doomers step up and remind spiffy1, there are two moons of Mars. Phobos and Deimos are their names. Hopefully, this lesson will remind you that "evil computer games like Doom and Quake" can teach you something (The Jovian moons are something I remember from reading 3001).
Finally, I'd like to say that I haven't been able to look at the homepage of Alien's with that spiffy chair, but I saw the animated gif posted earlier on this thread and I wouldn't use one of those desks.
IF YOU ARE THIS FAR INTO THIS THREAD, YOU KNOW IT'S A SPOILER....
Well, I saw it again, and I must say that the second viewing really did change my mind about the Palpatine/Sidious connection. Here's why:
1. First consider that Lucas realizes that in the end, when all 6 movies are out, there will be two camps. One group will watch the movies chronologically (our chronos), and the other group will watch the movies episodically (SW chronos). So he puts in this twist for those who will watch 1-6 rather than 4-6, 1-3.
2. I noticed that Sidious was not listed in the credits either. He was referred to by name in the movie, and would have otherwise been listed as Cloaked Sith Lord. However, there were no credits for the man. This bothers me, because EVERYONE involved with the movie had a credit line (notice the list that takes two screens worth just for digital artists).
3. Plotwise, I caught a few smirks from Palpatine at rather misplaced times, like when the queen is going back to Naboo. The idea that Sidious has power in the Senate (but we never see him lobbying there although we see outright two bureaucrats lobbying the SC at his post) also seems to cause a connection.
After two viewings, I would have to say that Sidious looks more and more like Palpatine, given plotline connections and RL differences as seen in reasons 1 and 2.
Are you going to claim the original Zahn series with Adm. Thrawn as the bad guy leading the empire, or any of the other numerous trilogy sets that the authors love to use since it worked so well for lucas, and in general for most serial novel writers.
Just curious on your take of what the "Episodes 7-9" consist of.
Do WE fans really know for certain that Palpatine was Sidious? Nope. I went away pretty convinced that in fact, Palpatine was just a lowly Senator jockeying for more power. Meanwhile there was this seamy underfigure named Sidious that was orchestrating the whole embargo/war.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that it would be a good twist for first time viewers to make Palpatine and Sidious the same guy. But remember, we're dealing with post RotJ viewers here who will be looking for exactly what has been suggested. We know the emperor to be all consuming evil, so we just can't handle the fact that he was a goofball senator.
I think his rise to power as the chancellor will be the turning point to evil for him.
But since he's close to Anakin, through his connections to the Queen, he'll be able to "watch his career closely" (which is just bad foreshadowing for 4-6 cause Lucas knows we expect it.)
I seem to recall a few scenes from ESB (the best) where Yoda talks about this energy that flows through all things. Seem to remember him lifting a NON LIVING object (arguably because it was in a living surrounding?), seem to remember seeing luke pick up R2, some rocks, a few other objects.
Seem to remember a lot of things the SCRIPT WRITERS forgot, because there ain't no symbiotic life-forms in that X-Wing until Luke loads up in there.
Saw an interesting idea yesterday on the Poll comments, that possibly Lucas is using this to take a hit at biotech, and in the next couple episodes, this whole metachlorine thing will be shown to be a non-indicator of Jedi strength. Lots of good arguments about the fact that Anakin's count was high, but Vader who had extreme control of the force (recall the fact that he choked his Admiral while talking to him via video screen) and of course Vader was mostly machine.
We'll have to wait and see what GL does with this metachlorine stuff, but I don't like it for now.
Thank you for providing a second post. I'm certain that there are many people out there that don't follow the psychologists' model for brain behavior. It's probably on the order of unique fingerprints, considering the complexity of human development and evolution. For some, it is just simply necessary for this style of recall, although being afflicted with the "photographic memory" as it is commonly called, is not entirely a pleasant life. I'm not quite sure why those of us who do possess this mental capability have it as part of our genetic makeup. It is not a skill I find particularly useful or unuseful, it is just the way things are.
Plus, it is probably something that many people possess yet some have failed to learn to utilize it. Like I said, I was bothered by the "hard facts" of this "science" of psychology when I took my intro course. I do not claim to be an expert in this field, just one who has been disaffected by it. I do my work in CS and find my abilities useful.
Anyhow, there is one other link to all of this. I'm curious about those who possess this ability and the breakdown of genetics. I have inferred that it is a recessive ability and I am curious if those who possess it find these attributes in their parents. My own parents are impressive in their own mental ability but my mother stated last Christmas while cleaning the mess of opening presents that she liked it when she was smarter than I was. This leads to my major confusion, because if this is a recessive trait, then carriers would not necessarily be able to use it, however if it is dominant, it would figure that there would be a lot less stupid people in the world. And everyone who had the half/half combination would be able to utilize this trait.
Our genetics culling process has tended to make useful things dominant. Yet, certain things which are not useful or unuseful seem to be marked with randomness. (Why are brown eyes "better" (dominant) over blue eyes? and furthermore, does the iris color affect the way I see things vs the way a person with different eye color sees? These seem to be keys to psychology rather than dream interpretations (simply just random images with a subconscious doing its best to make sense with a storyline))
Oh well, I've gone on and on about this and yet seem not to really have said anything overly important. Just wanted to state that this "science" still has a far way to go before it accurately catalogs humanity.
Well, I'm apparently an exception. When I took my intro to psych class a semester back, I was bothered by the fact of many anomalies that were present in what my prof said vs what I experience.
But, nonetheless we must remember that psych is a young "science." It is based on impressions and guesses which are hard to prove. (As you may see, I'm a firm believer that what the psychologists learned a century ago is distorted by their world views from a century ago, and therefore their findings should be taken with as much regard) I don't recall every small detail about every day. But my friends will vouch that it is disturbing when they ask me to recall facts about a certain date (I can do this for up to 5-6 years back) and provide them with details. The problem is, that someone usually has a corroboration with my version and it's unsettling that it's never the same person who does. In other words, I'm holding a capacity of 5 years of near perfect detail in my head whereas they hold maybe a 5th of that.
Like I said, that "science" has yet to discover all the intricacies of the mind. My gf is bothered that I do this date recall thing, but I never forget anniversaries. There is the argument that I hold too much useless info, but then again, I argue that I have a larger storage capacity. We can hold these things and function normally, it just requires to expand the amount of brain that you use.
The kill switch (which some have called a simple virus) will be embedded in songs so that playing can only occur a finite number of times. Does this playing mean digital recordings of the said tracks with said encoding or does this mean overall playings of tracks with said encoding?
I ask this since I can fire up something like sound recorder in windoze and hit the record button pretty much simultaneous to playing the music. Then I get to encode it with my mp3 encoder and voila, new mp3. Sure it's a long process, but it escapes the evil therein. (if you don't count the fact that I used an ms product as my example.)
Will this destroy my tapes that I make to listen in my car oh great RIAA gods?
Sounds like a bunch of smack talk that hasn't been fully engineered.
Well, you do have a valid point. However, etymology only goes so far. There are probably many examples for common etymological bases that lead to terms with similarities yet no real relation to each other. Unfortunately, since I'm a C.S. major I can't pull up any good ones at the moment. But if you want one, go find an English major, they love to be asked about the language and face it, they're not doing anything important but reading something by a dead guy anyway.
Here's the deal, and also the reason why I won't buy this book.
A "Bot" is inherent in both actual "Robots" and "Bots" because it is the program, software, whatever you wish to call it that makes the thing do what it does.
A "Robot" is a discrete machine that uses its "Bot" to manipulate its hardware. A "Robot" by nature is a physical object, whereas a "Bot" can surface about anywhere you can create a system.
Therefore, if your car had a "Bot" that actually controlled its own hardware, you would have a robotic car. But, if you have a system that does not manipulate anything but bits, you simply have a "Bot."
I'm sure any of you/.ers would hesitate before calling AltaVista's crawler a "Robot", since the most hardware manipulation it does is saving information in a file (which thus is software) on a hard drive.
I'm really kind of shocked someone who had researched bots as "extensively", as we are led to believe, would allow such an ignorant statement appear on his book, albeit "Robots" probably are good marketing. I don't know.
I want to thank Jon for continuing his coverage of this horror. And I want to thank everyone for writing about their experiences. I wrote in yesterday with a post about helping these kids at the boiling point to escape. I went to a program called the Texas Academy for Leadership in the Humanities @ Lamar U. in Beaumont. You can go to Lamar's homepage and look in the directories for information. There is also a news item that talks about the Academy on their site under the news dated Jan. 24, 1999.
I've received a couple of emails since posting, and welcome all because I think that the Academy changed my life in the most positive way possible. Send me one if you want to know how to escape the Hellmouth.
Yeah, it may sound strange but I wish that right now I was still in high school. That way I could effectively fuck with the administrators minds.
I was the "popular loner" in high school, a term that it took me years to create, but none to recognize. I was in all the "nerd classes" and I loved them, but even more importantly so were many of the "preps, jocks (shocking, huh?), and other popular people." I got lucky, as I was held with esteem by classmates for my intelligence. But then again, I didn't have a real girlfriend until I left high school. It is a stark dichotomy, and I imagine had I written my first poem this month rather than in '92, my english teacher would have sent me for counseling.
What hasn't been written is the other "escape plans" that students have available to them. My sophomore year, I was selected to attend the "Texas Governor's Honors Program" (btw if you're a TGHPer from '93 or later, send me a line at this email) and it was a pure joy that changed my life forever. A year later, I left for college before graduation at a program held at the same school as TGHP called the Texas Academy for Leadership in the Humanities. (That link goes to our reunion planning page for those of you academy kids who run across it.)
Texas has two such programs, TAMS @ UNT and the Academy @ Lamar-Beaumont. It let me leave an atmosphere that was stifling to go to a program where I was not alone in my desire for REAL EDUCATION! Unfortunately, public schools don't promote these opportunities because they would lose federal aid if they did. The government gives money for attendance, that's why these programs are hard to find. They exist, probably in abundance, but they are hush-hush.
I urge anyone who is a high school student who is a geek, nerd, dork, or "popular loner" to investigate these types of programs. Invest in your future and your pleasure. And for those older geeks with kids, help them if they don't fit in. I know I'm preaching to the choir because I imagine that parents who love learning support their children, I know mine do.
Please for the sake of everyone, do the Right Thing and give these kids what they really need, and that is not counseling, it's respect.
FREE KEVIN??? Not that I don't know the battle cry, but I'm not a "script kiddie".
My point was that geeks, like myself, are living in a state of confusion. How so? We have good lives and all of us are free to pretty well do as we please.
Yet those who see us feel threatened and then seek to control that which really cannot be controlled. Eventually, they will win because they are bigger than me, and I'll get to be miserable just like everyone else. But I don't think it can happen if we recognize that WE are the ones who can successfully pull off a revolution, just like Thomas Jefferson suggested.
A revolution is required every twenty years in his words, and that makes sense. We ARE leading a revolution and those who don't like it are trudging through their slow system to control something that is 5 years old by the time it first gets even considered.
It needs to end. We end it. Plain and simple. it's not about drawing lines in the sand by crackers, and it's not about standing by while hackers forfeit their rights because we were too busy writing code and what not.
It's the fact that we're in demand now, that means we run the show now. When we're not in demand, if we don't step down, some other group who is in demand returns the favor and revolts against us. It's a healthy system, that's why Jefferson wanted it.
That's my point.
"FREE KEVIN, get your FREE KEVIN right here. Step right up and win yourself a KEVIN my friend!" sounds like a goddamn carney.
Undoubtedly the "first Age of Enlightenment" sparked many revolutionary leaders into action. And as I read posts here about dissatisfaction with everything involving "the Holy Circle" of today that Katz pointed out in this article, I can't help but think that we must become the new revolutionaries if we wish to see change.
Thomas Jefferson said that revolution was necessary every so often to keep this experiment going, yet now in the age of bloatedness within the "Circle" it seems as though we are a bit delayed in running our fourth. And we are the most likely to do it.
We have the control of the technology, and the dissention waiting for an action to rile us up.
And there are plenty of actions requiring reaction: weak encryption laws, CDA, and whatever else annoys you.
I'm not sure the impact that these biases really had on the interview, though I suspect that's the reason for much of the theological aspect of it. I personally found the exchange between the two very intriguing.
I think that Moyers has always embraced SW as more than a cult phenomenon. It's "followers" gain something, which is apparently healthy, that had been previously missing from their lives. That much is clear as the intent of Lucas. And Moyers' denomination seems to have no interaction with his feelings (that I can recognize at least. I am from a highly SoBaptist area.) whereas his need for spirituality does appear more relevant to the conversation.
One of the questions Moyers asks seems almost too good for Lucas.
He, in fact, sets up Lucas to be a modern Jesus in a way. Except that Lucas realizes he isn't Son of God, just able to exercise God-like powers, George could have easily answered, "Isn't that the way Jesus taught about heaven and the way to get there?"
Overall, I have always agreed with Moyers interpretation that SW was simply a method of giving religion to our culture. And considering that it has become nearly as fanatic as many religions, it's a wonder Lucas doesn't have a bigger ego.
>What are the five windowing systems? Macos, X, Windows, BeOs, Wince(?) >Oh, and who is charging for their browser now? Opera
Wrong on first one, don't know on second.
Five desktop environments for X are KDE, CDE, enlightenment, fvwm, AfterStep, but there are more as well...
GNOME is another, anyone else wish to add?
Gates isn't even aware of how these things work, so why quote him when he says that there are only five? I truly don't think that he would ever look at a full list of available Linux software let alone their descriptions. He really thinks there is nothing to learn from it.
...You are morons. (Read subject line to get full effect.)
Anyways, can't you see that these rules have been made to help the consumer (aka the geeks who have been sitting in line for a month out in L.A. and everywhere else).
Now we all know how long we have to ensure our spot in a theater and we know that with patience, we'll get in. Plus Lucas can make these demands because he does have the economic advantage in this situation.
Supply = the movie theater owners playing the film who are trying to get the most out of this publicity stunt which will be the closest they get to a circus similar to the O.J. trial, Monica Blew-him-sky, and every other media madhouse this decade rolled into one.
Demand = loads of geeks frothing at the mouth to see his movie.
Lucas = removal of evil suppliers who try to shirk the hordes of demanding geeks by laying down rules.
Imagine running a theater right now. There is a lot of money in this (Matrix set a new record for opening weekends at 27.2M right? What do you think the theater owners are doing right now? My guess is probably looking for their own little island in the polynesian area.) I truly imagine that this also sets up some theaters to run only Star Wars for 2-3 months (how fantastic!)
So be happy that Lucas is using his Force (which is arguably the third type of Force in the galaxy: the elusive Ambiguous Side of the Force) to meet his standard for quality.
I think you're being a little condescending there. Who's to say that future generations of computing will even be based on what is taught in computer science? Will quantum computer code be anything like C or C++?? Probably not.
But then again, it's possible you've not studied enough cs. Math is the basis and while quantum computing may change some of our process, what Dijkstra proved will not be any less important. That's the nice thing about fields involving science and math, you can't start anywhere but the beginning. Sure the roads branch here and there, but it doesn't change the facts.
If anything, what has been presented in the past will only be expanded.
Hear hear. Anyone out there ever been raped by a bot in RL? No. Hmmm...
First of all, there were never prank phone calls before Alexander Graham Bell was born. There were never mass media scares before Gugliermo Marconi was born. (I am referring to an instantaneous form of broadcast).
It seems that every new media brings along those who exploit it for evil purposes. Gee whiz, imagine. There are just some sick people out there, who sometimes get good at the media. They exploit it as much as their victims are exploited by them.
I exploit this "new" medium, does that make me a predator? No, I live a fairly well balanced life. Why then does Ann Landers mark all the users evil? Not including the victims who write in, and then the technical experts who constantly write in to refute it, and then probably whoever is in charge of her syndication, and so on, and so on, until we see that the same f*ed people online are those who are equally f*ed offline.
When we were all growing up, there was that weird guy or lady who lived at the end of the road, and we all stayed away from his or her house. If the internet is actually viewed as a representation of an enlarged neighborhood, then that means per capita we should continue to avoid that weird guy's house but only a larger scale. This then begs, how many nice people lived on your street?
I use the net for simple purposes, being the giant repository of stuff that it is, but aside from the occasional post here, I don't chat with people who I'm not already acquainted with in RL, except for the occasional email to a open source/free software advocate. I'm willing to presume that most/.ers are the same. Why am I this way, because I've already done it for 13 years off and on growing up (from age 6) and I quit a few years back because of the inanity of the users. I dabbled with cybersex and never met anyone in RL. I got bored, because I could not have a decent conversation in the MUDs anymore, and I left.
Now, I'm happy. And it's cases like this when it irks me that just because people have heard the word internet, it makes them experts. Rob, if you read this post, I've got a question. How much space does an average thread take up in bytes? Secondly, do you still have every one of those threads to the beginning of/. ?
The facts are that people are stupid. It appears that their computer is responding in a sense, even though they know the person is real. It's still their computer that is talking. And really how frightening is that one-eyed box in front of you?
Everyone in my generation ahs known those forever, first as a tv, then as the monitor. Hmmph, I'm done ranting. Screw em all.
There are such physical things that people use simultaneously without anyone really bothered by the fact that the guy next to him is using the same thing he is.
There are times when the intellectual greatness of Isaac Newton is pondered by all in a certain place. That's basically the gist of this article. Ideas, once expressed, can be used by all at the same time.
Of course, I was also thinking about Air, the Sun, and other necessities that apparently are exempt from property laws.
Finally, just a curious question. maybe rob could even do a poll. Can anyone own thoughts? (Corporate or otherwise) This addresses a lot here, including the flip side of IP: patents.
I think I'm going to have to go with the Free Thoughts Foundation. Hmmm...
Slashdot Mirror
I find your selection of a title for "Confessions of a Redhead" very appropriate. Although from the reading, I couldn't tell if you used it in truth or in metaphoric terms.
/.
Anyhow, I must concur, and say that the more traits which are not "appreciated" by society, leads to more bothering by those who would have you fit in. I am both, geek and redhead. I stand out so unbelievably that I can identify with many of the posts here on
Note to everyone in America: Things are fucking rough, get over it.
Ha, same tactic, and Katz didn't have to write anything about it in his original articles, because each "social class" has its own representatives. We're geeks, Katz (being somewhat mainstream media) provides a good voice to the mainstream.
Just happens that gays have their media icons, blacks have theirs and so on, etc.
Your comments, while valid, also seem to prove a point about America which perhaps you did not intend to prove.
After WWII, America rejoiced, reveled and otherwise felt good about itself. We were told that we could have anything we wanted, but as the Great Depression taught us, we would have to work to get those things we wanted. This did not bother Americans, those two great tragedies seemed to have an important effect on this mode of thinking.
Now jump forward to present. The geeks, nerds, and other social outcasts in high school are idealists (mostly, and I know because I'm proud to be one.) We've read countless books where in the end, it is the smartest person who is our hero, because he uses his ability to determine the best route to thwart his oppressors. These are propagandist stories, judging simply from when in history they were written, and also by whom they were written. Yet they still hold true to some case.
The geeks, nerds, and outcasts have worked to put learning (gasp) as the focus of our schooling, and yet now our American Dream is failing. The truths that were instilled from our parents and grandparents that if we work hard enough, everything will be provided seems to be fading. Why is this? Because rewards and vicarious living through the talented athletes, popular people and otherwise "in group" has become prevalent.
Now to get to your point about the difference between Ethiopian, Kosovar, and geek. It is true that the tragedies happening elsewhere in the world are far more disturbing and shocking, and it is true that their victims are mostly unable to speak up. Yet, Kosovars and anti-Milosevic Serbs ARE speaking up online. So are the geek class. Why?
The answer is simple. Our ideal is dissolving, and we as a class are finding ourselves under fire by all sides. So, we USE our voice which our class created to speak up against the atrocities (I use that word with as much fervor as I would describing the helplessness to stop tragedy anywhere) performed by our oppressors.
Yes, it is a shame that Ethiopians cannot speak up, but it speaks of their upbringing (not to say that their upbringing is the Right Thing) which has made them helpless. And without meeting Maslow's pyramid of having the necessary things to feel good about yourself, these people are forced to accept their plight. It is most definitely not the Right Thing.
Geeks in America are on a higher rung of the pyramid, and are in the position to move higher by fighting for what is Right. However, no one ever condoned killing, slaughtering, or massacring your oppressors. That is a war crime by Geneva standards. (I find the Geneva guidelines for war to be silly. I know that they protect basic human rights, but to imagine that we have rules for war is outright absurd. I guess "Not all is fair in War.")
I guess my point is that it's not about "keeping up with the Joneses" or even "being the Joneses", it is about reward for work done. That is what we believe. I'm fairly certain that you will not find another person in our "social class" that feels otherwise.
Finally, I'm making another shameless plug for escape from your situation to all high school students that feel oppressed. In Texas, there are at least two programs which allow students to leave high school after their sophomore year. One is Texas Academy for Leadership in the Humanities at Lamar University in Beaumont. The other is the Texas Academy for Math and Science at University of North Texas. I went to TALH my senior year, (it's charter year) and I am currently planning our 5-year (since the beginning) reunion. My best friend was my roommate there (and we're going to be roommates again), and my fiance also attended. The rest of the charter class are people I would consider my closest friends ever. My advice is to research whether there is a program like these in your home state.
It was a reward for my intelligence, but also provided a new challenge. Isn't this what we're all after anyways, challenges?
I'm always glad to help anyone learn more about these programs, as I consider TALH (and somewhat Texas Governor's Honors Program) to be the life-changing experiences that have shaped me.
PsychoSpunk
> Cool! I wanna go to Io, one of the moons of Mars! Other people will want to go to Mars itself,
> or Venus, or that moon of Jupiter that might have life on it, but I want to be able to
> say "I've been to Io!", and have other people say "Huh?"
Alright, old Doomers what has this young person forgotten? Or can I dare go far as to ask astronomers where Io is?
That's right, spiffy1, Io is a moon of Jupiter. In fact one of the first four found by less than modern day astronomer Galileo. Also found in the orbit of Jupiter are Ganymede, Europa (the one you're trying to remember), and Calisto.
Now the Doomers step up and remind spiffy1, there are two moons of Mars. Phobos and Deimos are their names. Hopefully, this lesson will remind you that "evil computer games like Doom and Quake" can teach you something (The Jovian moons are something I remember from reading 3001).
Finally, I'd like to say that I haven't been able to look at the homepage of Alien's with that spiffy chair, but I saw the animated gif posted earlier on this thread and I wouldn't use one of those desks.
IF YOU ARE THIS FAR INTO THIS THREAD, YOU KNOW IT'S A SPOILER....
Well, I saw it again, and I must say that the second viewing really did change my mind about the Palpatine/Sidious connection. Here's why:
1. First consider that Lucas realizes that in the end, when all 6 movies are out, there will be two camps. One group will watch the movies chronologically (our chronos), and the other group will watch the movies episodically (SW chronos). So he puts in this twist for those who will watch 1-6 rather than 4-6, 1-3.
2. I noticed that Sidious was not listed in the credits either. He was referred to by name in the movie, and would have otherwise been listed as Cloaked Sith Lord. However, there were no credits for the man. This bothers me, because EVERYONE involved with the movie had a credit line (notice the list that takes two screens worth just for digital artists).
3. Plotwise, I caught a few smirks from Palpatine at rather misplaced times, like when the queen is going back to Naboo. The idea that Sidious has power in the Senate (but we never see him lobbying there although we see outright two bureaucrats lobbying the SC at his post) also seems to cause a connection.
After two viewings, I would have to say that Sidious looks more and more like Palpatine, given plotline connections and RL differences as seen in reasons 1 and 2.
I recant my previous posts.
And Episodes 7-9 would be which stories???
Are you going to claim the original Zahn series with Adm. Thrawn as the bad guy leading the empire, or any of the other numerous trilogy sets that the authors love to use since it worked so well for lucas, and in general for most serial novel writers.
Just curious on your take of what the "Episodes 7-9" consist of.
SPOILER!!!
Do WE fans really know for certain that Palpatine was Sidious? Nope. I went away pretty convinced that in fact, Palpatine was just a lowly Senator jockeying for more power. Meanwhile there was this seamy underfigure named Sidious that was orchestrating the whole embargo/war.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that it would be a good twist for first time viewers to make Palpatine and Sidious the same guy. But remember, we're dealing with post RotJ viewers here who will be looking for exactly what has been suggested. We know the emperor to be all consuming evil, so we just can't handle the fact that he was a goofball senator.
I think his rise to power as the chancellor will be the turning point to evil for him.
But since he's close to Anakin, through his connections to the Queen, he'll be able to "watch his career closely" (which is just bad foreshadowing for 4-6 cause Lucas knows we expect it.)
POSSIBLE SPOILERS-- READ WITH CAUTION
In much agreeance with you.
I seem to recall a few scenes from ESB (the best) where Yoda talks about this energy that flows through all things. Seem to remember him lifting a NON LIVING object (arguably because it was in a living surrounding?), seem to remember seeing luke pick up R2, some rocks, a few other objects.
Seem to remember a lot of things the SCRIPT WRITERS forgot, because there ain't no symbiotic life-forms in that X-Wing until Luke loads up in there.
Saw an interesting idea yesterday on the Poll comments, that possibly Lucas is using this to take a hit at biotech, and in the next couple episodes, this whole metachlorine thing will be shown to be a non-indicator of Jedi strength. Lots of good arguments about the fact that Anakin's count was high, but Vader who had extreme control of the force (recall the fact that he choked his Admiral while talking to him via video screen) and of course Vader was mostly machine.
We'll have to wait and see what GL does with this metachlorine stuff, but I don't like it for now.
Thank you for providing a second post. I'm certain that there are many people out there that don't follow the psychologists' model for brain behavior. It's probably on the order of unique fingerprints, considering the complexity of human development and evolution. For some, it is just simply necessary for this style of recall, although being afflicted with the "photographic memory" as it is commonly called, is not entirely a pleasant life. I'm not quite sure why those of us who do possess this mental capability have it as part of our genetic makeup. It is not a skill I find particularly useful or unuseful, it is just the way things are.
Plus, it is probably something that many people possess yet some have failed to learn to utilize it. Like I said, I was bothered by the "hard facts" of this "science" of psychology when I took my intro course. I do not claim to be an expert in this field, just one who has been disaffected by it. I do my work in CS and find my abilities useful.
Anyhow, there is one other link to all of this. I'm curious about those who possess this ability and the breakdown of genetics. I have inferred that it is a recessive ability and I am curious if those who possess it find these attributes in their parents. My own parents are impressive in their own mental ability but my mother stated last Christmas while cleaning the mess of opening presents that she liked it when she was smarter than I was. This leads to my major confusion, because if this is a recessive trait, then carriers would not necessarily be able to use it, however if it is dominant, it would figure that there would be a lot less stupid people in the world. And everyone who had the half/half combination would be able to utilize this trait.
Our genetics culling process has tended to make useful things dominant. Yet, certain things which are not useful or unuseful seem to be marked with randomness. (Why are brown eyes "better" (dominant) over blue eyes? and furthermore, does the iris color affect the way I see things vs the way a person with different eye color sees? These seem to be keys to psychology rather than dream interpretations (simply just random images with a subconscious doing its best to make sense with a storyline))
Oh well, I've gone on and on about this and yet seem not to really have said anything overly important. Just wanted to state that this "science" still has a far way to go before it accurately catalogs humanity.
Well, I'm apparently an exception. When I took my intro to psych class a semester back, I was bothered by the fact of many anomalies that were present in what my prof said vs what I experience.
But, nonetheless we must remember that psych is a young "science." It is based on impressions and guesses which are hard to prove. (As you may see, I'm a firm believer that what the psychologists learned a century ago is distorted by their world views from a century ago, and therefore their findings should be taken with as much regard) I don't recall every small detail about every day. But my friends will vouch that it is disturbing when they ask me to recall facts about a certain date (I can do this for up to 5-6 years back) and provide them with details. The problem is, that someone usually has a corroboration with my version and it's unsettling that it's never the same person who does. In other words, I'm holding a capacity of 5 years of near perfect detail in my head whereas they hold maybe a 5th of that.
Like I said, that "science" has yet to discover all the intricacies of the mind. My gf is bothered that I do this date recall thing, but I never forget anniversaries. There is the argument that I hold too much useless info, but then again, I argue that I have a larger storage capacity. We can hold these things and function normally, it just requires to expand the amount of brain that you use.
The kill switch (which some have called a simple virus) will be embedded in songs so that playing can only occur a finite number of times. Does this playing mean digital recordings of the said tracks with said encoding or does this mean overall playings of tracks with said encoding?
I ask this since I can fire up something like sound recorder in windoze and hit the record button pretty much simultaneous to playing the music. Then I get to encode it with my mp3 encoder and voila, new mp3. Sure it's a long process, but it escapes the evil therein. (if you don't count the fact that I used an ms product as my example.)
Will this destroy my tapes that I make to listen in my car oh great RIAA gods?
Sounds like a bunch of smack talk that hasn't been fully engineered.
Well, you do have a valid point. However, etymology only goes so far. There are probably many examples for common etymological bases that lead to terms with similarities yet no real relation to each other. Unfortunately, since I'm a C.S. major I can't pull up any good ones at the moment. But if you want one, go find an English major, they love to be asked about the language and face it, they're not doing anything important but reading something by a dead guy anyway.
hehe
Here's the deal, and also the reason why I won't buy this book.
/.ers would hesitate before calling AltaVista's crawler a "Robot", since the most hardware manipulation it does is saving information in a file (which thus is software) on a hard drive.
A "Bot" is inherent in both actual "Robots" and "Bots" because it is the program, software, whatever you wish to call it that makes the thing do what it does.
A "Robot" is a discrete machine that uses its "Bot" to manipulate its hardware. A "Robot" by nature is a physical object, whereas a "Bot" can surface about anywhere you can create a system.
Therefore, if your car had a "Bot" that actually controlled its own hardware, you would have a robotic car. But, if you have a system that does not manipulate anything but bits, you simply have a "Bot."
I'm sure any of you
I'm really kind of shocked someone who had researched bots as "extensively", as we are led to believe, would allow such an ignorant statement appear on his book, albeit "Robots" probably are good marketing. I don't know.
PsychoSpunk
I want to thank Jon for continuing his coverage of this horror. And I want to thank everyone for writing about their experiences. I wrote in yesterday with a post about helping these kids at the boiling point to escape. I went to a program called the Texas Academy for Leadership in the Humanities @ Lamar U. in Beaumont. You can go to Lamar's homepage and look in the directories for information. There is also a news item that talks about the Academy on their site under the news dated Jan. 24, 1999.
I've received a couple of emails since posting, and welcome all because I think that the Academy changed my life in the most positive way possible. Send me one if you want to know how to escape the Hellmouth.
Mike Ford
Yeah, it may sound strange but I wish that right now I was still in high school. That way I could effectively fuck with the administrators minds.
I was the "popular loner" in high school, a term that it took me years to create, but none to recognize. I was in all the "nerd classes" and I loved them, but even more importantly so were many of the "preps, jocks (shocking, huh?), and other popular people." I got lucky, as I was held with esteem by classmates for my intelligence. But then again, I didn't have a real girlfriend until I left high school. It is a stark dichotomy, and I imagine had I written my first poem this month rather than in '92, my english teacher would have sent me for counseling.
What hasn't been written is the other "escape plans" that students have available to them. My sophomore year, I was selected to attend the "Texas Governor's Honors Program" (btw if you're a TGHPer from '93 or later, send me a line at this email) and it was a pure joy that changed my life forever. A year later, I left for college before graduation at a program held at the same school as TGHP called the Texas Academy for Leadership in the Humanities. (That link goes to our reunion planning page for those of you academy kids who run across it.)
Texas has two such programs, TAMS @ UNT and the Academy @ Lamar-Beaumont. It let me leave an atmosphere that was stifling to go to a program where I was not alone in my desire for REAL EDUCATION! Unfortunately, public schools don't promote these opportunities because they would lose federal aid if they did. The government gives money for attendance, that's why these programs are hard to find. They exist, probably in abundance, but they are hush-hush.
I urge anyone who is a high school student who is a geek, nerd, dork, or "popular loner" to investigate these types of programs. Invest in your future and your pleasure. And for those older geeks with kids, help them if they don't fit in. I know I'm preaching to the choir because I imagine that parents who love learning support their children, I know mine do.
Please for the sake of everyone, do the Right Thing and give these kids what they really need, and that is not counseling, it's respect.
Mike Ford
FREE KEVIN??? Not that I don't know the battle cry, but I'm not a "script kiddie".
My point was that geeks, like myself, are living in a state of confusion. How so? We have good lives and all of us are free to pretty well do as we please.
Yet those who see us feel threatened and then seek to control that which really cannot be controlled. Eventually, they will win because they are bigger than me, and I'll get to be miserable just like everyone else. But I don't think it can happen if we recognize that WE are the ones who can successfully pull off a revolution, just like Thomas Jefferson suggested.
A revolution is required every twenty years in his words, and that makes sense. We ARE leading a revolution and those who don't like it are trudging through their slow system to control something that is 5 years old by the time it first gets even considered.
It needs to end. We end it. Plain and simple. it's not about drawing lines in the sand by crackers, and it's not about standing by while hackers forfeit their rights because we were too busy writing code and what not.
It's the fact that we're in demand now, that means we run the show now. When we're not in demand, if we don't step down, some other group who is in demand returns the favor and revolts against us. It's a healthy system, that's why Jefferson wanted it.
That's my point.
"FREE KEVIN, get your FREE KEVIN right here. Step right up and win yourself a KEVIN my friend!" sounds like a goddamn carney.
Undoubtedly the "first Age of Enlightenment" sparked many revolutionary leaders into action. And as I read posts here about dissatisfaction with everything involving "the Holy Circle" of today that Katz pointed out in this article, I can't help but think that we must become the new revolutionaries if we wish to see change.
Thomas Jefferson said that revolution was necessary every so often to keep this experiment going, yet now in the age of bloatedness within the "Circle" it seems as though we are a bit delayed in running our fourth. And we are the most likely to do it.
We have the control of the technology, and the dissention waiting for an action to rile us up.
And there are plenty of actions requiring reaction: weak encryption laws, CDA, and whatever else annoys you.
I'm not sure the impact that these biases really had on the interview, though I suspect that's the reason for much of the theological aspect of it. I personally found the exchange between the two very intriguing.
I think that Moyers has always embraced SW as more than a cult phenomenon. It's "followers" gain something, which is apparently healthy, that had been previously missing from their lives. That much is clear as the intent of Lucas. And Moyers' denomination seems to have no interaction with his feelings (that I can recognize at least. I am from a highly SoBaptist area.) whereas his need for spirituality does appear more relevant to the conversation.
One of the questions Moyers asks seems almost too good for Lucas.
He, in fact, sets up Lucas to be a modern Jesus in a way. Except that Lucas realizes he isn't Son of God, just able to exercise God-like powers, George could have easily answered, "Isn't that the way Jesus taught about heaven and the way to get there?"
Overall, I have always agreed with Moyers interpretation that SW was simply a method of giving religion to our culture. And considering that it has become nearly as fanatic as many religions, it's a wonder Lucas doesn't have a bigger ego.
>What are the five windowing systems?
Macos, X, Windows, BeOs, Wince(?)
>Oh, and who is charging for their browser now?
Opera
Wrong on first one, don't know on second.
Five desktop environments for X are KDE, CDE, enlightenment, fvwm, AfterStep, but there are more as well...
GNOME is another, anyone else wish to add?
Gates isn't even aware of how these things work, so why quote him when he says that there are only five? I truly don't think that he would ever look at a full list of available Linux software let alone their descriptions. He really thinks there is nothing to learn from it.
...You are morons. (Read subject line to get full effect.)
Anyways, can't you see that these rules have been made to help the consumer (aka the geeks who have been sitting in line for a month out in L.A. and everywhere else).
Now we all know how long we have to ensure our spot in a theater and we know that with patience, we'll get in. Plus Lucas can make these demands because he does have the economic advantage in this situation.
Supply = the movie theater owners playing the film who are trying to get the most out of this publicity stunt which will be the closest they get to a circus similar to the O.J. trial, Monica Blew-him-sky, and every other media madhouse this decade rolled into one.
Demand = loads of geeks frothing at the mouth to see his movie.
Lucas = removal of evil suppliers who try to shirk the hordes of demanding geeks by laying down rules.
Imagine running a theater right now. There is a lot of money in this (Matrix set a new record for opening weekends at 27.2M right? What do you think the theater owners are doing right now? My guess is probably looking for their own little island in the polynesian area.) I truly imagine that this also sets up some theaters to run only Star Wars for 2-3 months (how fantastic!)
So be happy that Lucas is using his Force (which is arguably the third type of Force in the galaxy: the elusive Ambiguous Side of the Force) to meet his standard for quality.
I think you're being a little condescending there. Who's to say that future generations of computing will even be based on what is taught in computer science? Will quantum computer code be anything like C or C++?? Probably not.
But then again, it's possible you've not studied enough cs. Math is the basis and while quantum computing may change some of our process, what Dijkstra proved will not be any less important. That's the nice thing about fields involving science and math, you can't start anywhere but the beginning. Sure the roads branch here and there, but it doesn't change the facts.
If anything, what has been presented in the past will only be expanded.
Hear hear. Anyone out there ever been raped by a bot in RL? No. Hmmm...
/.ers are the same. Why am I this way, because I've already done it for 13 years off and on growing up (from age 6) and I quit a few years back because of the inanity of the users. I dabbled with cybersex and never met anyone in RL. I got bored, because I could not have a decent conversation in the MUDs anymore, and I left.
/. ?
First of all, there were never prank phone calls before Alexander Graham Bell was born. There were never mass media scares before Gugliermo Marconi was born. (I am referring to an instantaneous form of broadcast).
It seems that every new media brings along those who exploit it for evil purposes. Gee whiz, imagine. There are just some sick people out there, who sometimes get good at the media. They exploit it as much as their victims are exploited by them.
I exploit this "new" medium, does that make me a predator? No, I live a fairly well balanced life. Why then does Ann Landers mark all the users evil? Not including the victims who write in, and then the technical experts who constantly write in to refute it, and then probably whoever is in charge of her syndication, and so on, and so on, until we see that the same f*ed people online are those who are equally f*ed offline.
When we were all growing up, there was that weird guy or lady who lived at the end of the road, and we all stayed away from his or her house. If the internet is actually viewed as a representation of an enlarged neighborhood, then that means per capita we should continue to avoid that weird guy's house but only a larger scale. This then begs, how many nice people lived on your street?
I use the net for simple purposes, being the giant repository of stuff that it is, but aside from the occasional post here, I don't chat with people who I'm not already acquainted with in RL, except for the occasional email to a open source/free software advocate. I'm willing to presume that most
Now, I'm happy. And it's cases like this when it irks me that just because people have heard the word internet, it makes them experts. Rob, if you read this post, I've got a question. How much space does an average thread take up in bytes? Secondly, do you still have every one of those threads to the beginning of
The facts are that people are stupid. It appears that their computer is responding in a sense, even though they know the person is real. It's still their computer that is talking. And really how frightening is that one-eyed box in front of you?
Everyone in my generation ahs known those forever, first as a tv, then as the monitor. Hmmph, I'm done ranting. Screw em all.
ALL HAIL BRAK!
-> America gave us Windows
In my country we have a saying, "SurVEY Says!"
X [loud buzzer]
No a guy named bill gave us windows.
-> Europe gave us Linux
X [loud buzzer]
No a guy named linus gave us linux.
Please, trying to say that a whole continent is responsible for an operating system is ridiculous.
Of course, at this point, I get a
X [loud buzzer]
because Europe is responsible for Linux, oh but so are Americans, probably some Russians, Japanese. Aha, we're all a part of Linux, wow! JHC!
I'm thru bitching now.
There are such physical things that people use simultaneously without anyone really bothered by the fact that the guy next to him is using the same thing he is.
There are times when the intellectual greatness of Isaac Newton is pondered by all in a certain place. That's basically the gist of this article. Ideas, once expressed, can be used by all at the same time.
Of course, I was also thinking about Air, the Sun, and other necessities that apparently are exempt from property laws.
Finally, just a curious question. maybe rob could even do a poll. Can anyone own thoughts? (Corporate or otherwise) This addresses a lot here, including the flip side of IP: patents.
I think I'm going to have to go with the Free Thoughts Foundation. Hmmm...