Ars Technica has rather exhaustive coverage of the auction. You can start here and work your way back, they've gone over everything you've asked about in previous articles.
Apparently Dirk Benedict (original Starbuck) thinks the new BSG, and especially the new Starbuck, are some kind of Feminazi conspiracy. There is quite the amusing rant about this on his website, http://dirkbenedictcentral.com/. I think the new series is great myself...
Sorry guy, but thats a load of shit. We give money and aid when it is in the interest of some perverse understanding of National Security/Interest. Examples? Try Latin America. Time and time again the US has helped to overthrow freely elected, democratic governments, and to install military dictators, who coincidentally, are always very friendly to US economic interests, even when those interests involve horribly exploiting and impoverishing their people.
When Russia became democratic, we gave some token aid as much to flaunt our 'victory over communism' as out of any real sense of charity.
Everyone seems to forget that we're not always the Good Guys.
Personally, my favorite paintings of middle earth are those by Alan Lee.
And in response to your complaint about the publishing of napkin scribbles, I have very much enjoyed reading some of the History of Middle-earth books, published by Christopher Tolkien. The early forms, and many revisions, of the legends, poetry, and language that eventually was distilled into The Silmarillion are fascinating reading, both in their own right as excellent stories, and in the insights they give into the creative process that spawned Middle-Earth. Furthermore, Christopher Tolkien's commentary and notes on the various pieces presented is highly interesting, clear, and insightful. So I say, keep publishing those napkins!:)
You say that as if its a bad thing. I would think that a job in which a kid could learn and develop new skills is a far better form of 'rehabilitation' than 8 months of getting the crap kicked out of him.
Dark Side of the Moon, not The Wall, sucka.
I pity the foo who's never watched Wizard of Oz timed to Dark Side. It's nothing at all like these whacky theories discussed in the review. Also, the song Echoes, on Pink Floyd's Meddle, is specifically timed to the Jupiter and Beyond The Inifinite sequence in 2001.
No coincidence there.
Having used both linux and the BeOS somewhat extensively, I would have to say that an open Be would blow linux straight out of the desktop, a/v manipulation, and gaming markets. I have a feeling that if BeOS, less proprietary, non-Be Inc., code were opened it would quickly attract a good sized group of interested coders. The nastiest bugs would be fixed within a year. People would start porting linux apps like there was no tommmorrow. Others would start porting/writing hardware drivers, which Be has always been sorely lacking.
BeOS is small, fast, powerful, and sexy, often, dare I say, moreso than Linux - but it has some rather gaping flaws. Flaws which could be fixed pretty quickly with an open developement model, IMO.
Just my $.02
You know, I have no problem with a little 'Suspension of disbelief,' But if a director wants me to suspend disbelief, he damn well better make sure i have a good reason to. For example, Pitch Black - a pretty basic sci-fi thriller type movie. The emphasis, however was on the thriller bit, as opposed to the sci-fi bit. If you want to make an action movie set on mars, you make an Action movie, that incidentally happens on mars - you dont leave room for people to ask questions, you distract them from the science aspect using something called a story or at least with so many explosions/creepy aliens/etc they dont know what to think. On the extreme other hand, if you want to make a movie about Mars, and the possibilities it holds for a our actual future, you damn well better get the details straight.
Mediocre attempts at satisfying both of these criteria yield pieces of crap like M2M, where a man lives for a year on the surface of planet with an atmospheric pressure that would almost instantly burst all of his capillaries, then freeze him solid due to the extremely lo temperatures, protected only by a CANVAS TENT filled with PLANTS.
Suspension of Disbelief can only carry one so far.
Thats just my opinion; I could be wrong.
jesus, its gibberish! why why why why why do they write legislation that no one can understand??? Not even me, and i can read just about anything english! Yaaaarrrrgh!
When i saw the topic analysis of the dmca i clicked through hoping for an unbiased rundown of the act... not a politically onesided commentary on its evilness. While I enjoy Jon Katz's writing sometimes, i must say that this piece was pretty much worthless. We need a straightforward description of this law and all of its implications. I suppose I'll have to go read it myself now...;) maybe ill be inspired.
Here at UCONN napster has been blocked due to bandwidth and 'potential legal issues.' And, yes, my pipe is indeed even fatter now that it has been blocked. I havent heard about decss being banned, i honestly dont think they even know what it is:(, although i am working on setting up netBSD on some old mac hardware i picked up in an engineering department hallway (i find hallways are awesome for hardware salvage - why bother with dumpsters?) for the purpose of a deCSS (etc) mirror.
However, even worse things are afoot around here... They're changing the student conduct code to include language that allows the university to literally take whatever disciplinary action they want for whatever reason they choose against any student. One of the key changes is a section that allows them to 'discipline' (read kick out) students caught violating the conduct code off university grounds.
The language has been kept purposely vague in order to allow them complete freedom to interpret students actions and punish them any way they see fit. It wasn't even done in anything remotely approaching a subtle fashion - the only thing that kept me from laughing when i read it was the sheer feeling of horror rising in my gut.
For years universities have been bastions of freedom and learning. Lets not allow that to change.
SHEESH. I think the riaa would be damn surprised at what would happen if they actually LOWERED cd prices... maybe people would..... BUY MORE OF them...??? nahh... cant be... first post? *shrug*
Personally I found the article interesting and highly insightful, but what has struck me about this whole DVD battle is that very few of us are actually doing anything about it. What we need is a.) a concrete plan (or plans) of action based on a clear and straightforward understanding and interpretation of the legal and ethical issues at hand, whether this take the form buying up stocks and using some community oomph to get things done, or some other ingenious plan, it doesn't matter as long as it works. b.) we need people or organizations that are willing to get this shit organized, collect funds, work out the details, and put plans into ACTION. Maybe the folks at openDVD.org are the ones to be doing this, or maybe the EFF. Maybe, as someone mentioned, VALinux and RedHat (and any other company involved with Linux and open source) should be taking a more active stance, hey maybe ALL of these groups should be standing up and getting organized TOGETHER; this is a community isn't it?
My point is that if this weak, fragmentary defence front against 'BB' (and no i dont agree with lumping corporate America into one faceless evil) continues, we WILL lose. Things like DeCSS will become ILLEGAL, and we begin to lose some of our most cherished freedoms in the face of corporatism and profit. Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy takes an interesting look at what today's social and economic standards could turn into down the line, and frankly, visions like his make this case even more important; who knows, this thing could become pivotal, a landmark decision for or against corporate power. We have to make this thing count.
Slashdot Mirror
Ars Technica has rather exhaustive coverage of the auction. You can start here and work your way back, they've gone over everything you've asked about in previous articles.
I *think* I saw it too... in the 80's sometime...
But yeah the memories are wicked hazy...
Apparently Dirk Benedict (original Starbuck) thinks the new BSG, and especially the new Starbuck, are some kind of Feminazi conspiracy.
There is quite the amusing rant about this on his website, http://dirkbenedictcentral.com/. I think the new series is great myself...
Has been around for a while now. Ceck out filetopia. Although Locutus does look useful for searching corporate lans and such.
You've obviously never been to a phish concert....
Sorry guy, but thats a load of shit. We give money and aid when it is in the interest of some perverse understanding of National Security/Interest. Examples? Try Latin America. Time and time again the US has helped to overthrow freely elected, democratic governments, and to install military dictators, who coincidentally, are always very friendly to US economic interests, even when those interests involve horribly exploiting and impoverishing their people.
When Russia became democratic, we gave some token aid as much to flaunt our 'victory over communism' as out of any real sense of charity.
Everyone seems to forget that we're not always the Good Guys.
And in response to your complaint about the publishing of napkin scribbles, I have very much enjoyed reading some of the History of Middle-earth books, published by Christopher Tolkien. The early forms, and many revisions, of the legends, poetry, and language that eventually was distilled into The Silmarillion are fascinating reading, both in their own right as excellent stories, and in the insights they give into the creative process that spawned Middle-Earth. Furthermore, Christopher Tolkien's commentary and notes on the various pieces presented is highly interesting, clear, and insightful. So I say, keep publishing those napkins! :)
You say that as if its a bad thing. I would think that a job in which a kid could learn and develop new skills is a far better form of 'rehabilitation' than 8 months of getting the crap kicked out of him.
... Don't know about that, 8 months is a long ass time, and a complete disruption of a 17 yr old's life. Sucks to be him.
Dark Side of the Moon, not The Wall, sucka. I pity the foo who's never watched Wizard of Oz timed to Dark Side. It's nothing at all like these whacky theories discussed in the review. Also, the song Echoes, on Pink Floyd's Meddle, is specifically timed to the Jupiter and Beyond The Inifinite sequence in 2001. No coincidence there.
Having used both linux and the BeOS somewhat extensively, I would have to say that an open Be would blow linux straight out of the desktop, a/v manipulation, and gaming markets. I have a feeling that if BeOS, less proprietary, non-Be Inc., code were opened it would quickly attract a good sized group of interested coders. The nastiest bugs would be fixed within a year. People would start porting linux apps like there was no tommmorrow. Others would start porting/writing hardware drivers, which Be has always been sorely lacking.
BeOS is small, fast, powerful, and sexy, often, dare I say, moreso than Linux - but it has some rather gaping flaws. Flaws which could be fixed pretty quickly with an open developement model, IMO. Just my $.02
I seem to recall the spice being described as tasting cinnamon like. So this is accurate as far as i know...
You know, I have no problem with a little 'Suspension of disbelief,' But if a director wants me to suspend disbelief, he damn well better make sure i have a good reason to. For example, Pitch Black - a pretty basic sci-fi thriller type movie. The emphasis, however was on the thriller bit, as opposed to the sci-fi bit. If you want to make an action movie set on mars, you make an Action movie, that incidentally happens on mars - you dont leave room for people to ask questions, you distract them from the science aspect using something called a story or at least with so many explosions/creepy aliens/etc they dont know what to think. On the extreme other hand, if you want to make a movie about Mars, and the possibilities it holds for a our actual future, you damn well better get the details straight.
Mediocre attempts at satisfying both of these criteria yield pieces of crap like M2M, where a man lives for a year on the surface of planet with an atmospheric pressure that would almost instantly burst all of his capillaries, then freeze him solid due to the extremely lo temperatures, protected only by a CANVAS TENT filled with PLANTS.
Suspension of Disbelief can only carry one so far. Thats just my opinion; I could be wrong.
No, I think it should be called LIME now! LIME Is an MP3 Encoder! hee hee LIME! yes. Hooray for recursive acronyms!
jesus, its gibberish! why why why why why do they write legislation that no one can understand??? Not even me, and i can read just about anything english! Yaaaarrrrgh!
When i saw the topic analysis of the dmca i clicked through hoping for an unbiased rundown of the act ... not a politically onesided commentary on its evilness. While I enjoy Jon Katz's writing sometimes, i must say that this piece was pretty much worthless. We need a straightforward description of this law and all of its implications. I suppose I'll have to go read it myself now ... ;) maybe ill be inspired.
Here at UCONN napster has been blocked due to bandwidth and 'potential legal issues.' And, yes, my pipe is indeed even fatter now that it has been blocked. I havent heard about decss being banned, i honestly dont think they even know what it is :(, although i am working on setting up netBSD on some old mac hardware i picked up in an engineering department hallway (i find hallways are awesome for hardware salvage - why bother with dumpsters?) for the purpose of a deCSS (etc) mirror.
However, even worse things are afoot around here... They're changing the student conduct code to include language that allows the university to literally take whatever disciplinary action they want for whatever reason they choose against any student. One of the key changes is a section that allows them to 'discipline' (read kick out) students caught violating the conduct code off university grounds.
The language has been kept purposely vague in order to allow them complete freedom to interpret students actions and punish them any way they see fit. It wasn't even done in anything remotely approaching a subtle fashion - the only thing that kept me from laughing when i read it was the sheer feeling of horror rising in my gut.
For years universities have been bastions of freedom and learning. Lets not allow that to change.
SHEESH. I think the riaa would be damn surprised at what would happen if they actually LOWERED cd prices... maybe people would ..... BUY MORE OF them...??? nahh... cant be... first post? *shrug*
Personally I found the article interesting and highly insightful, but what has struck me about this whole DVD battle is that very few of us are actually doing anything about it. What we need is a.) a concrete plan (or plans) of action based on a clear and straightforward understanding and interpretation of the legal and ethical issues at hand, whether this take the form buying up stocks and using some community oomph to get things done, or some other ingenious plan, it doesn't matter as long as it works. b.) we need people or organizations that are willing to get this shit organized, collect funds, work out the details, and put plans into ACTION. Maybe the folks at openDVD.org are the ones to be doing this, or maybe the EFF. Maybe, as someone mentioned, VALinux and RedHat (and any other company involved with Linux and open source) should be taking a more active stance, hey maybe ALL of these groups should be standing up and getting organized TOGETHER; this is a community isn't it?
My point is that if this weak, fragmentary defence front against 'BB' (and no i dont agree with lumping corporate America into one faceless evil) continues, we WILL lose. Things like DeCSS will become ILLEGAL, and we begin to lose some of our most cherished freedoms in the face of corporatism and profit. Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy takes an interesting look at what today's social and economic standards could turn into down the line, and frankly, visions like his make this case even more important; who knows, this thing could become pivotal, a landmark decision for or against corporate power. We have to make this thing count.