In their newswire, Salon titled this story, "Computer crackers steal students social security numbers."
I thought the Slashdot community would appreciate Salon getting the terminology right on this one. It may seem like a silly point to some, but the distinction between "cracker" and "hacker" is huge in my mind, and it always makes me happy to see a journalistic outlet get it right, for a change.
Your life is about to be forever changed. You don't know it now, but in three years, you're going to be in millions of households world-wide.
Everywhere you go, people are going to scream at you that they hate you. Listen to this advice, 12 year-old self, because I know that nobody else is going to give it to you: whatever you do,don't listen to them, and let them define your sense of self-worth. It's going to hurt, a lot. You won't understand it, and you'll try really hard to convince them otherwise, but they will not listen . . . because they're just as insecure and confused as you are right now. You're going to want to quit the show, but if you do, you'll be 30 before you stop regretting it. Trust me on this one.
Stay on that show until it's over, and when you're older, you'll realize that for every person who screamed "I hate you," there is another who was quietly inspired by something you did. It all balances out, kid.
You are never going to be cool, no matter how hard you try, so save yourself the agony of trying to fit in. You end up marrying a real hottie who loves your inner geek.
And register wilwheaton.com before someone else picks it up.
OH! And when you're 22, and you're in a bar in New York, just say, "No, thank you." You'll understand why when the time comes.
If this film is a success, it could move us all one step closer to "Watchmen."
I think Pharmboy is totally correct in his assessment of "trying times," which closely parallells Adrian Veidt's thoughts near the 11th hour of Watchmen.
. . . and I know a pretty good actor who will work for scale if you'll let him be in the movie.
. . . and don't go asking me to reorganize your isolinear optical chips if you decide to play cowboy and run your server through the heart of an anomaly.
"I know as well as anyone how much we owe the tech industry, but what are the geeks going to do if we piss them off with Internet taxes? Leave?" -- California governor Gray Davis at a private dinner
"Why does my homepage say '3y3 0wnZ0rr j00 gr3y d@v1Z!'? What does that mean, exactly?" -- California governor Gray Davis, looking at his computer in three months.
Wat a minute . . . you're going from SuSE to gentoo, to Debian, and you're trying to get easier?;)
Give Red Hat 8.0 a go, or Mandrake 8.2 -- I'm a total lamer, and even I was able to get both of those installed and running . . . and teach my wife and stepkids how to use them.
Just so's you know: posting in a discussion after you mod in it undoes your moderation, and you loose the mod points.
The original poster was either trolling you or confused.
I knew that, but thought that maybe it's been changed in all these crazy code upgrades. So if I was succesfully trolled, congratulations! The Troller can pick up his shirt at the award center.
Personally, I believe the key to Nemesis's downfall was the lack of trombone playing by Riker. He had a perfect chance in the opening scenes, and that waste created an imbalance throughout the movie.
In the original script, and when we shot it, Riker plays the hell out of the trombone during the wedding sequence, while Data sings "Blue Skies."
Well, I was going to burn my mod points in this thread, but I'll give it a shot:
I think that the release date was incredibly stupid. It's almost like Paramount wanted to "bury" this movie. I have no idea why they released it when they did.
But the release date shouldn't matter. If the story is strong enough, people will go to see it over and over again. As far as I can tell, this is where Paramount fumbled this movie.
When Star Trek is good, it's about people. That's why my favorite episode is Inner Light. That's why I loved working on First Duty and Final Mission.
The script that I read for Nemesis was about people. John Logan is a HUGE fan, who knows every detail about TNG. He infused the characters and plot with detalis that would make a Trekkie drool. He understood why people cared about these characters, and told an incredible story. I still haven't seen the final cut, but everything I've read indicates that they got away from that. I have heard that on more than one occasion the director proclaimed that he didn't care about Star Trek history and continuity. It seemed like he really didn't respect the fans or the franchise, so they ended up with yet another action movie with robots and laser guns.
Sadly, I think that an action movie in space is exactly what Paramount wants.
Marketing a Star Trek movie is insanely difficult. Mainstream audiences think it's just for nerds. They think that they need to watch seven seasons of TNG to know what's going on. Paramount knows that the hardcore fans will show up no matter what, so they focus their attention on convincing the mainstream audience that they'll like this movie.
The trap they seem to fall into when they do this is to cut up the movie, take out stuff that's too "fan-specific," and focus on themes that appeal to a broader audience: babes and bombs. This usually alienates the hardcore fans, and doesn't excite mainstream audiences enough to see it more than once -- and that's where a movie makes money: on repeat sales.
The few times they've managed to hit both audiences -- Star Trek IV and Star Trek II -- they've focused people.
I'm hearing that this is the end of TNG, and it probably is. From what I've heard, some of the actors aren't interested in doing it any more, which is understandable, considering that they've been playing those characters for over 15 years.
But I don't think it's the end of Star Trek movies. TPTB aren't stupid. If they were, they wouldn't be running this franchise. I think they've just gotten away from the heart of Star Trek. If they find that heart again, and hire some very good SF writers to defibrillate it, Star Trek will be fine. There's still some life in the old girl.
Why do people have to be such whining little babies these days?
Well, duh. He's a laywer.
"In his lawsuit, Grace demands $2.5 million in punitive damages from eBay and $100,000 from Neeley." I'd like to see him prove that one bad feedback is going to cost him that much.
Again, lawyer.
Christ, if I brought lawsuits against everyone who ever said a negative thing about me I'd --
Slashdot Mirror
In their newswire, Salon titled this story, "Computer crackers steal students social security numbers."
I thought the Slashdot community would appreciate Salon getting the terminology right on this one. It may seem like a silly point to some, but the distinction between "cracker" and "hacker" is huge in my mind, and it always makes me happy to see a journalistic outlet get it right, for a change.
I have it on good authority that this will be distributed by Dennis Moore.
I can't believe it.
:)
You've managed to make NASCAR sound interesting, _and_ cool.
That's not an argument, it's just negation. I paid for an argument!
Ohh . . . it's being hit on the head lessons in here.
No it isn't!
Dear 12 year-old self,
Your life is about to be forever changed. You don't know it now, but in three years, you're going to be in millions of households world-wide.
Everywhere you go, people are going to scream at you that they hate you. Listen to this advice, 12 year-old self, because I know that nobody else is going to give it to you: whatever you do,don't listen to them, and let them define your sense of self-worth. It's going to hurt, a lot. You won't understand it, and you'll try really hard to convince them otherwise, but they will not listen . . . because they're just as insecure and confused as you are right now. You're going to want to quit the show, but if you do, you'll be 30 before you stop regretting it. Trust me on this one.
Stay on that show until it's over, and when you're older, you'll realize that for every person who screamed "I hate you," there is another who was quietly inspired by something you did. It all balances out, kid.
You are never going to be cool, no matter how hard you try, so save yourself the agony of trying to fit in. You end up marrying a real hottie who loves your inner geek.
And register wilwheaton.com before someone else picks it up.
OH! And when you're 22, and you're in a bar in New York, just say, "No, thank you." You'll understand why when the time comes.
Does Dave Barry lose geek points because he missed the obvious "$127,001" joke?
Am I a huge geek for even noticing the chance at a joke there, or just sad?
Do I lose or gain geek points for even bringing this up?
PS- Dave Barry is still teh r0Xor.
Dear Dave,
You have made me laugh out loud more times than I can count.
Rock on.
Wil
Can you imagine? If it was a 12 part miniseries? Something like Band of Brothers?
Oh man. When we geeks run the world, some things are going to change around here.
If this film is a success, it could move us all one step closer to "Watchmen."
I think Pharmboy is totally correct in his assessment of "trying times," which closely parallells Adrian Veidt's thoughts near the 11th hour of Watchmen.
. . . and I know a pretty good actor who will work for scale if you'll let him be in the movie.
Promoted to management, eh? Poor bastard . . .
You have no idea.
Code named 'Crusher'.
. . . and don't go asking me to reorganize your isolinear optical chips if you decide to play cowboy and run your server through the heart of an anomaly.
I don't do that shit anymore.
"I know as well as anyone how much we owe the tech industry, but what are the geeks going to do if we piss them off with Internet taxes? Leave?"
-- California governor Gray Davis at a private dinner
"Why does my homepage say '3y3 0wnZ0rr j00 gr3y d@v1Z!'? What does that mean, exactly?"
-- California governor Gray Davis, looking at his computer in three months.
If it makes you feel better, I'm still waiting on my PowerBook, too.
In the original script, and when we shot it, Riker plays the hell out of the trombone during the wedding sequence, while Data sings "Blue Skies."
Oooh, will that be an extra on the special edition DVD?
Yeah. I just heard that they're cutting the additional Wesley scenes from the Director's Cut to make room for that scene.
Wat a minute . . . you're going from SuSE to gentoo, to Debian, and you're trying to get easier? ;)
Give Red Hat 8.0 a go, or Mandrake 8.2 -- I'm a total lamer, and even I was able to get both of those installed and running . . . and teach my wife and stepkids how to use them.
Just so's you know: posting in a discussion after you mod in it undoes your moderation, and you loose the mod points.
The original poster was either trolling you or confused.
I knew that, but thought that maybe it's been changed in all these crazy code upgrades. So if I was succesfully trolled, congratulations! The Troller can pick up his shirt at the award center.
Personally, I believe the key to Nemesis's downfall was the lack of trombone playing by Riker. He had a perfect chance in the opening scenes, and that waste created an imbalance throughout the movie.
In the original script, and when we shot it, Riker plays the hell out of the trombone during the wedding sequence, while Data sings "Blue Skies."
(Assuming . . . reasonably faithful plotlines- no gay Wesley, no Wesley's really a romulan hybrid)
Well, that vast library of fan fiction is right out, then.
Aw, shit.
I just lost geek points, didn't I?
I'll have to run an old Atart BASIC script on my geek balance.
Seriously, Wil, got any comments?
Well, I was going to burn my mod points in this thread, but I'll give it a shot:
I think that the release date was incredibly stupid. It's almost like Paramount wanted to "bury" this movie. I have no idea why they released it when they did.
But the release date shouldn't matter. If the story is strong enough, people will go to see it over and over again. As far as I can tell, this is where Paramount fumbled this movie.
When Star Trek is good, it's about people. That's why my favorite episode is Inner Light. That's why I loved working on First Duty and Final Mission.
The script that I read for Nemesis was about people. John Logan is a HUGE fan, who knows every detail about TNG. He infused the characters and plot with detalis that would make a Trekkie drool. He understood why people cared about these characters, and told an incredible story. I still haven't seen the final cut, but everything I've read indicates that they got away from that. I have heard that on more than one occasion the director proclaimed that he didn't care about Star Trek history and continuity. It seemed like he really didn't respect the fans or the franchise, so they ended up with yet another action movie with robots and laser guns.
Sadly, I think that an action movie in space is exactly what Paramount wants.
Marketing a Star Trek movie is insanely difficult. Mainstream audiences think it's just for nerds. They think that they need to watch seven seasons of TNG to know what's going on. Paramount knows that the hardcore fans will show up no matter what, so they focus their attention on convincing the mainstream audience that they'll like this movie.
The trap they seem to fall into when they do this is to cut up the movie, take out stuff that's too "fan-specific," and focus on themes that appeal to a broader audience: babes and bombs. This usually alienates the hardcore fans, and doesn't excite mainstream audiences enough to see it more than once -- and that's where a movie makes money: on repeat sales.
The few times they've managed to hit both audiences -- Star Trek IV and Star Trek II -- they've focused people.
I'm hearing that this is the end of TNG, and it probably is. From what I've heard, some of the actors aren't interested in doing it any more, which is understandable, considering that they've been playing those characters for over 15 years.
But I don't think it's the end of Star Trek movies. TPTB aren't stupid. If they were, they wouldn't be running this franchise. I think they've just gotten away from the heart of Star Trek. If they find that heart again, and hire some very good SF writers to defibrillate it, Star Trek will be fine. There's still some life in the old girl.
. . . sentient nanite himself!
You know, back when I made nanites, I told them to--
Aw, forget it. This joke is played out.
2 hours of "Making of Lord of the Rings", then 3 hours "Lord of the Rings" followed by an hour of "Behind the Scenes of LOTR" on cable.
I just spent two valuable minutes looking for this on TV, you insensitive clod!
The best I could find was FOTR on Starz.
Dammit.
Why do people have to be such whining little babies these days?
Well, duh. He's a laywer.
"In his lawsuit, Grace demands $2.5 million in punitive damages from eBay and $100,000 from Neeley."
I'd like to see him prove that one bad feedback is going to cost him that much.
Again, lawyer.
Christ, if I brought lawsuits against everyone who ever said a negative thing about me I'd --
wait a minute! I'd be filthy rich!
I'll sue you!
I'll sue you all!
I'll sue you all to hell!
Bwahahahahahahahhahaahaha!
Blame Congress, not the tire makers.
Oh don't worry, we already are. If there's an invasion of privacy going on, Congress is somehow involved.
Oh, and Hillary Rosen.
Heh.
:)
Actually, it's wil wheaton dot net
Now I feel like I've arrived.
Now I have to go play Net Hack for several hours, just to die in the mines while blind.
And Mrs. Wheaton will go to bed alone, again.