A lot of people are mentioning Lem's translator Michael Kandel as an amazing guy. Someone who translated the essence of Lem's work, not just the words.
Hey Editors, let's interview him!
(To be honest, the translations are so good that I always kind of thought Lem just wrote in English... even though the Kandel's name is right there in the book)
I find it funny that many of the people posting in defense of SendMail here are the same ones that lambast MS Windows for the very same "features".
- Huge, bloated software. - Hard to configure. - Hard to maintain. - Has a history of enabling spam and virus propagation (due to users inability to set it up properly). - Yet it dominates the market despite all other alternatives.
Obviously if you're discussing Windows it's BAD!. If it's sendmail, well, it's GOOD!.
MMOGs don't interest me -- the graphics pretty much ruin in.
I play a fun little RPG strategy game called carnageblender that doesn't have any graphics. It's built around the idea that most people playing these sorts of games want to chat, and to see their character's stats go up (with work). So it's a text-based combat game where you equip weapons, and spend earned xp on spells/physical attributes/skills. You fight your fellow players, trying to find a character setup that can defeat other people that are about the same power as you. Then changing that setup to respond to changes in your opponent's strategies and to ongoing balancing tweaks to the game itself.
It's a great community and a game I really enjoy. You might like it too.
(The link above is a referral link that allows you start with a little extra cash and gives me a cash reward. If you don't like that idea, you can just go to carnageblender.com)
In my book it gets bonus points because:
they enforce a "PG" level of discussion in chat and the forums
all in-game transactions are public and searchable
the forum enforces spelling rules
lots of statistics about your fellow players and their characters are avaliable
"Or they could arrest people, hold them in jail for a while, charge them, and then before the courts can make a decision, drop charges and let them go with stern warnings."
I think the way it works now is to arrest people and hold them in jail. The whole "charging" and "court" thing no longer applies.:-(
I love thinking about how technology from different eras could interact. That's why I love books like Eric Flint's 1632 (available for free) in which a modern town from West Virgina is suddenly transported to the middle of Germany during the Thirty Years war. You might like it too.
Now, if only your bluetooth (or whatever) player(phone?) could download and play the appropriate descriptive audio when you approach each part of the installation. On demand, as it were. Now *that* would be a cool use of technology. Hey, why download a big file for the whole exhibit when you only need to hear info about the thing you're currently looking at?
Even better... If you spend a lot of time looking at a particular part of the exhibit then have it give you additional, more detailed, commentary that part. Perhaps comments from the artists that worked on that set of models, character designs discussing the challenges they faced and why they made the choices they did.
You might argue that this would be a lot of extra work and you'd be right. Just like the extra work that goes into just about everything that Pixar touches. That's part of what makes them so great.
It seems like the RIAA only goes after groups that can't fight back so I doubt it. More likely that they'll just use this new service to find even more people to sue.
Funny this should come up again the same day that Penny-Arcade published their take on Wikipedia. Their unhappy experience regarding their Elemenstor project spawned this comic and this news post. (Hey PA guys, fix your stupid redirect engine)
Excerpt from the news post
Reponses to criticism of Wikipedia go something like this:
the first is usually a paean to that pure democracy which is the project's
noble fundament. If I don't like it, why don't I go edit it myself? To
which I reply: because I don't have time to babysit the Internet. Hardly
anyone does. If they do, it isn't exactly a compliment.
Any persistent idiot can obliterate your contributions. The fact of the
matter is that all sources of information are not of equal value, and I
don't know how or when it became impolitic to suggest it. In opposition
to the spirit of Wikipedia, I believe there is such a thing as expertise.
The second response is: the collaborative nature of the apparatus means
that the right data tends to emerge, ultimately, even if there is turmoil
temporarily as dichotomous viewpoints violently intersect. To which I
reply: that does not inspire confidence. In fact, it makes the whole
effort even more ridiculous. What you've proposed is a kind of quantum
encyclopedia, where genuine data both exists and doesn't exist depending
on the precise moment I rely upon your discordant fucking mob for my information.
You assume they would be dumb enough to hire a company within subpoena-range.
How about "We're sure our competitor is defaming us. However, the company hired to do the calling is in India, subcontracted through China, and we can't prove a direct connection between the Chinese company and our competitor."
a plugin for your browser that would find offensive words and, say, display them only in a white font, or insert the word "Smurf" every time an offensive word appears
This month is National Smurf Cancer Month! Every woman should carefully check her Smurfs at least once a month for unusual lumps or bumps
John 12:14 And Jesus saw a young Smurf and took his seat on it;
When the Smurf crows
Vice President Smurf Cheney emerged from an undisclosed location today for a brief press conference...
Distinguished Engineer. IBM-speak for "This guy is so valuable that he can do anything he wants, go anywhere he wants, study anything he wants... and write his own paycheque"
The US government defines the people they are currently fighting as unlawful combatants and therefore the Geneva conventions do not apply and they can do whatever the hell they want.
I doubt it matters very much to them if they maim you before or after they disappear you. (Except that a reporter might witness it when it happens "before")
In Minnesota, use of encryption on your system is evidence of crimminal intent.
"We find that evidence of appellant's
Internet use and the existence of an encryption
program on his computer was at least somewhat
relevant to the state's case against him,"
Funny how the other companies that claim ownership of "gmail" all submitted their trademark applications the same day that Google announced their mail service.
Slashdot Mirror
A lot of people are mentioning Lem's translator Michael Kandel as an amazing guy. Someone who translated the essence of Lem's work, not just the words.
Hey Editors, let's interview him!
(To be honest, the translations are so good that I always kind of thought Lem just wrote in English... even though the Kandel's name is right there in the book)
I find it funny that many of the people posting in defense of SendMail here are the same ones that lambast MS Windows for the very same "features".
:-(
- Huge, bloated software.
- Hard to configure.
- Hard to maintain.
- Has a history of enabling spam and virus propagation (due to users inability to set it up properly).
- Yet it dominates the market despite all other alternatives.
Obviously if you're discussing Windows it's BAD!. If it's sendmail, well, it's GOOD!.
Even more funny is that I do it too.
I wonder what super powers you'd develop if you were bitten by one.
I saw a movie about that. Ripley escaped with the cat, but none of the other did. ;-)
I play a fun little RPG strategy game called carnageblender that doesn't have any graphics. It's built around the idea that most people playing these sorts of games want to chat, and to see their character's stats go up (with work). So it's a text-based combat game where you equip weapons, and spend earned xp on spells/physical attributes/skills. You fight your fellow players, trying to find a character setup that can defeat other people that are about the same power as you. Then changing that setup to respond to changes in your opponent's strategies and to ongoing balancing tweaks to the game itself.
It's a great community and a game I really enjoy. You might like it too.
(The link above is a referral link that allows you start with a little extra cash and gives me a cash reward. If you don't like that idea, you can just go to carnageblender.com)
In my book it gets bonus points because:
How about
In Soviet America, secret NSA spying programs expose you!
"Or they could arrest people, hold them in jail for a while, charge them, and then before the courts can make a decision, drop charges and let them go with stern warnings."
:-(
I think the way it works now is to arrest people and hold them in jail.
The whole "charging" and "court" thing no longer applies.
"military personnel have all taken an oath to defend the US Constitution"
So did the President.
I love thinking about how technology from different eras could interact. That's why I love books like Eric Flint's 1632 (available for free) in which a modern town from West Virgina is suddenly transported to the middle of Germany during the Thirty Years war. You might like it too.
Now, if only your bluetooth (or whatever) player(phone?) could download and play the appropriate descriptive audio when you approach each part of the installation. On demand, as it were.
Now *that* would be a cool use of technology. Hey, why download a big file for the whole exhibit when you only need to hear info about the thing you're currently looking at?
Even better... If you spend a lot of time looking at a particular part of the exhibit then have it give you additional, more detailed, commentary that part. Perhaps comments from the artists that worked on that set of models, character designs discussing the challenges they faced and why they made the choices they did.
You might argue that this would be a lot of extra work and you'd be right. Just like the extra work that goes into just about everything that Pixar touches. That's part of what makes them so great.
Sure. It can be kind of long and depressing... then the girl dies.
Sometime I it seems to me like those guys think that *we* are the enemy.
It seems like the RIAA only goes after groups that can't fight back so I doubt it.
More likely that they'll just use this new service to find even more people to sue.
Funny this should come up again the same day that Penny-Arcade published their take on Wikipedia. Their unhappy experience regarding their Elemenstor project spawned this comic and this news post. (Hey PA guys, fix your stupid redirect engine)
Excerpt from the news postReponses to criticism of Wikipedia go something like this: the first is usually a paean to that pure democracy which is the project's noble fundament. If I don't like it, why don't I go edit it myself? To which I reply: because I don't have time to babysit the Internet. Hardly anyone does. If they do, it isn't exactly a compliment.
Any persistent idiot can obliterate your contributions. The fact of the matter is that all sources of information are not of equal value, and I don't know how or when it became impolitic to suggest it. In opposition to the spirit of Wikipedia, I believe there is such a thing as expertise.
The second response is: the collaborative nature of the apparatus means that the right data tends to emerge, ultimately, even if there is turmoil temporarily as dichotomous viewpoints violently intersect. To which I reply: that does not inspire confidence. In fact, it makes the whole effort even more ridiculous. What you've proposed is a kind of quantum encyclopedia, where genuine data both exists and doesn't exist depending on the precise moment I rely upon your discordant fucking mob for my information.
You assume they would be dumb enough to hire a company within subpoena-range.
How about
"We're sure our competitor is defaming us. However, the company hired to do the calling is in India, subcontracted through China, and we can't prove a direct connection between the Chinese company and our competitor."
*shrug*
Maybe it does... until some company starts calling people on behalf of a competitor. Thus earning their competitor a fine and negative publicity.
The only trick would be to figure out how to sound like a legit call without actually offering any real benefit to the callee.
Please tell me the piranhas have frikkin lasers in their heads.
This month is National Smurf Cancer Month! Every woman should carefully check her Smurfs at least once a month for unusual lumps or bumps
John 12:14 And Jesus saw a young Smurf and took his seat on it;
When the Smurf crows
Vice President Smurf Cheney emerged from an undisclosed location today for a brief press conference...
Distinguished Engineer. IBM-speak for "This guy is so valuable that he can do anything he wants, go anywhere he wants, study anything he wants... and write his own paycheque"
Only the very best get that designation.
So... when can I buy a video card with one of these on it?
I have this already. It's called Google | Personalized Home (requires a gmail id). Wish it was more customizable, but I really like it.
no :-)
The US government defines the people they are currently fighting as unlawful combatants and therefore the Geneva conventions do not apply and they can do whatever the hell they want.
I doubt it matters very much to them if they maim you before or after they disappear you. (Except that a reporter might witness it when it happens "before")
In Minnesota, use of encryption on your system is evidence of crimminal intent.
Read all about itFunny how the other companies that claim ownership of "gmail" all submitted their trademark applications the same day that Google announced their mail service.