I wouldn't be surprised. Even though Mr Stuart has gotten faim and acclaim for bringing back Star Trek (he basically launched an entire industry with that classically-trained voice: "engage"), he is a rather serious actor, and serious actors like to take on diverse, challenging, creatively envigorating roles.
Unfortunitely for the rest of us, playing the same space captain for 10+ years kind of takes the "diverse, challenging, creatively envigorating" out of it.
BTW: I caught his Prospero (that's from Shakespeare's Tempest) a couple years back in NYC. Brilliant. If anyone ever has a chance to see Patric Stuart perform anything live (esp Shakespeare), take it. His stage presence is unreal. I really hope he finds more projects to work on in the future.
You're correct here and with your notation that people have freedom of choice, can migrate to other systems and that this is a better solution than giving a bunch of people 20-dollar-bills.
I worked for a little while to help set up and Open Source lab in a housing project on Statin Island. It was great. I think for starters it would be just as great if the software were M$. The result is still the same: a whole crew of 10 to 18 year old hackers.
However, you've skirted the source of the outrage, my friend. The real issue is that the prosecution has (for whatever reason) offered microsoft a non-punishment. The bitter pill they're being asked for abusing their monopoly power is, essentially, to abuse their monopoly power.
Even though I'll admit that this solution will probably be beneficial to the recipients of the hardware, software and support, it is certainly not the best use of $1B+ to help low-income schools and is the opposite of a punishment for the guilty party.
Ergo it fails to qualify either as justice or as charity. It's a fucking sham. Hence the twisted feeling I get in my stomache, reminiscent of loosing a childhood baseball game due to trechary or a bad umprie call.
I would most definintely consider videogames to be an art form. Actually, I believe they represent a particularly exciting confluence of art and science. The success of a videogame is essentially rooted in its storytelling ability and capacity to elicit emotion from the subject gamer. Sometimes this takes the form of something a little more artsy-fartsy (e.g. Final Fantasy, Resident Evil or of course Myst), and sometimes the appeal is fairly lowbrow (e.g. DOA3).
But even in the case of wham-bam fighting games, the appeal of a game its ability to draw a user in to the action of combat and the clash of fighting styles and personalities contained therein. It's not all that different from what makes a dance piece successful (or not).
Bottom line, videogames represent the germination of a legitimately new form of art, one that combines classic elements such as storytelling, visual art, choreographed movement and music with technology like no other. It is a young form, and one that has its roots purely in the value of entertainment. But is also an evolving form, and as someone who alternately wares the hat of artist and techie, I'm excited to see where it will go.
The innaresting thing to me is that the defense is trying to play the "keylogger = wiretap" card, and therefore invalidate the evidence because it wasn't acquired under the corrent warrent.
Now, why would the Feds not want to disclose the mechanism of their keylogger? Either it's typical spook selfishness OR they think that doing so would strengthen the defense's argument. I havn't looked at the actual details of the argument the defense is making, so it's hard to tell if this is part of the motivation for the "it's classified" song and dance.
On the one hand, perhaphs they just don't want people knowing how the FBI keylogger works as opposed to all the others. Maybe because, shame shame, it's the same as the market variety.
But maybe it interfaces automagically with some external snooping device. That would be both something they'd rather not let people know about AND something that would give the defense the winning argument in the court case.
Err, "What did Clinton know about foreign policy when he gotelected?" Well, ignoring for the moment your not-so-subtile Arkansas-bashing and the rediculous claim that "at least texas is the biggest state," (as if that matters), remember that lick-em-and-stick-em Willie got his UG degree in international relations, performing well enough to be named a Rhodes Scholar.
No offense, but that does sort of beat out George Jr. Dubya was a grade-C student who performed without distinction at yale, where he was admitted only because of the distinctly blue hue to his blood. He was on the goddamn pep squad for crying out loud.
All that being said, the proof is in the pudding. No one could no, for instance, that Bill Clinton would prove to be adept at diplomacy until he actually tried his hand. Likewise, who would have thought Ronald Regan (an actor) would have negotiated so many arms-reduction treaties. Not that I love Regan all that much, but I do think the START treaties were the best thing he did as prez.
Slashdot Mirror
I wouldn't be surprised. Even though Mr Stuart has gotten faim and acclaim for bringing back Star Trek (he basically launched an entire industry with that classically-trained voice: "engage"), he is a rather serious actor, and serious actors like to take on diverse, challenging, creatively envigorating roles.
Unfortunitely for the rest of us, playing the same space captain for 10+ years kind of takes the "diverse, challenging, creatively envigorating" out of it.
BTW: I caught his Prospero (that's from Shakespeare's Tempest) a couple years back in NYC. Brilliant. If anyone ever has a chance to see Patric Stuart perform anything live (esp Shakespeare), take it. His stage presence is unreal. I really hope he finds more projects to work on in the future.
You're correct here and with your notation that people have freedom of choice, can migrate to other systems and that this is a better solution than giving a bunch of people 20-dollar-bills.
I worked for a little while to help set up and Open Source lab in a housing project on Statin Island. It was great. I think for starters it would be just as great if the software were M$. The result is still the same: a whole crew of 10 to 18 year old hackers.
However, you've skirted the source of the outrage, my friend. The real issue is that the prosecution has (for whatever reason) offered microsoft a non-punishment. The bitter pill they're being asked for abusing their monopoly power is, essentially, to abuse their monopoly power.
Even though I'll admit that this solution will probably be beneficial to the recipients of the hardware, software and support, it is certainly not the best use of $1B+ to help low-income schools and is the opposite of a punishment for the guilty party.
Ergo it fails to qualify either as justice or as charity. It's a fucking sham. Hence the twisted feeling I get in my stomache, reminiscent of loosing a childhood baseball game due to trechary or a bad umprie call.
I would most definintely consider videogames to be an art form. Actually, I believe they represent a particularly exciting confluence of art and science. The success of a videogame is essentially rooted in its storytelling ability and capacity to elicit emotion from the subject gamer. Sometimes this takes the form of something a little more artsy-fartsy (e.g. Final Fantasy, Resident Evil or of course Myst), and sometimes the appeal is fairly lowbrow (e.g. DOA3).
But even in the case of wham-bam fighting games, the appeal of a game its ability to draw a user in to the action of combat and the clash of fighting styles and personalities contained therein. It's not all that different from what makes a dance piece successful (or not).
Bottom line, videogames represent the germination of a legitimately new form of art, one that combines classic elements such as storytelling, visual art, choreographed movement and music with technology like no other. It is a young form, and one that has its roots purely in the value of entertainment. But is also an evolving form, and as someone who alternately wares the hat of artist and techie, I'm excited to see where it will go.
The innaresting thing to me is that the defense is trying to play the "keylogger = wiretap" card, and therefore invalidate the evidence because it wasn't acquired under the corrent warrent.
Now, why would the Feds not want to disclose the mechanism of their keylogger? Either it's typical spook selfishness OR they think that doing so would strengthen the defense's argument. I havn't looked at the actual details of the argument the defense is making, so it's hard to tell if this is part of the motivation for the "it's classified" song and dance.
On the one hand, perhaphs they just don't want people knowing how the FBI keylogger works as opposed to all the others. Maybe because, shame shame, it's the same as the market variety.
But maybe it interfaces automagically with some external snooping device. That would be both something they'd rather not let people know about AND something that would give the defense the winning argument in the court case.
(start carnivore paranoia ranting... now)
No offense, but that does sort of beat out George Jr. Dubya was a grade-C student who performed without distinction at yale, where he was admitted only because of the distinctly blue hue to his blood. He was on the goddamn pep squad for crying out loud.
All that being said, the proof is in the pudding. No one could no, for instance, that Bill Clinton would prove to be adept at diplomacy until he actually tried his hand. Likewise, who would have thought Ronald Regan (an actor) would have negotiated so many arms-reduction treaties. Not that I love Regan all that much, but I do think the START treaties were the best thing he did as prez.
-lysurgon revolutionary in training