... If you're planning on bringing a well known story to the screen, you want to make sure it's easily identifiable, which means keeping the title so people know what you're doing and what to expect....
Well, if they are going to leave out two thirds of the story to fit it into a movie, changing the name at least gives us fair warning. I have to respect that, after what they did to Starshp Troopers and -didn't- change the title!
I've also felt the same way, Citizen of the Galaxy is one of my favorite Heinlein books (as is The Moon is a Harsh Mistress) and both would make good movies if you could get a good screen writer that doesn't mess too much with the theme and characters and tries to faithfully stick to the story....
Except that one of those books is three times the size of a movie and some of the later ones are much more. Even a miniseries might not be enough. Maybe a few seasons of weekly shows?...
His later books got more than a little bizarre and disturbing. Strange things seem to happen to aging SF writers.
Yes. He did get a bit old and grouchy. But I think he was also talking to some Physicists about Quantum theory, at a time when even the Physicists were scared of it!
You mis-read me. Verhoeven saw the book as an endorsement of the society in the book, and parodied it in his movie, since he saw it as such an awful book. Verhoeven has said as much in interviews.
A parody is not the original. In that case, they should have used a different title. The working title mentioned above was probably more fitting, considering they made a movie that was just a Hollywood horror flick.
My opinion is that the Hollywood "intellegencia" hated Heinlein so much, that they intentionally sabotaged the movie. Not even caring if it made any money. The investors should have sued them...
That's like saying the KKK, Westboro Baptist Church, Jehovah's Witnesses, (insert dangerous cult here) aren't "real" Christians....
You are right, but still wrong in your conclusion. I don't know about the JW, but the KKK and such are -just- like the IS bandits. And they are not real Christians because they go against everything Christ said. Just like IS does.
The Bible has a paragraph where God says "Vengence is mine." They think that gives them the right to take vengence. Wrong! It should be read as: "Vengence is -mine-." As in, only God has the right to take vengence, -no one- else.
But criminals will seize on anything that they think will slow down the honest people... and they are indeed criminals.
You need to read General Giap's book. He knew full well the North Vietnamese had not one hope in hell of beating the USA in a war. He said the war will be won on the streets of Washington DC, not in Vietnam....
More than you know... The Russians and North Vietnamese had an active "fifth column" operation in the US to convince people to be anti-war and anti-South Vietnam. And it worked. You can even see the effects still today in the more rabid "liberals". (Note that I put "liberals" in quotes, I used to consider myself Liberal, but not like that...)
... Really? Then explain why the Vietnam war ended with the fall of Saigon. The US did the largest air evacuation in history. That is not what you do when you have won a war. "North Vietnamese were powerless"? Don't make me laugh.
See the messages above, near mine. You have been listening to the wrong people. By the way, don't drink the coolaid they give you...
... What would it take to get it back in line with TOS? Maybe a dose of optimism and belief in conquering great evils and striving for a greater society. Maybe it just isn't a widely held set of beliefs anymore...
Maybe that is the key: conforming to prevailing beliefs, as opposed to showing needed beliefs. The very definition of mediocre...
It's quite possible to make a clean, simple interface for a computer. They are called Application programs. The OS manufacturers don't know anything about them and should not be applying theory from them to the OS, which is different. i.e, A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and the OS manufacturers have little or no knowledge of Applications interfaces. (Thats why I have a job, to make up the lack.) 8-)
P.S. I think the core of the problem is that the Marketing/Advertising people, at the OS manufacturers, are more like morons than the actual customers, and have more input to the design!
The crap ones like Windows and OSX, they hide it because they assume the user is a drooling moron.
And most of the time they are right.
No, actually they are wrong. Everyone is a "moron" when they are out of their area of expertise, but that's different. Most of those people are plenty smart, they just are not interested in learning -your- area of expertise. That's what IT is for.
You can fall into this state, too, by doing your own corporate taxes or acting as your own lawyer or dosing yourself with pills when you are sick. Or just giving advise about other things, that is not worth what it cost. 8-)
3. Delete a file 4. Whoa, the file is STILL THERE in the list
Err, wut?...
I have seen that problem with Windows Explorer in Win7, but not for a couple of months. Maybe they fixed it... It was also locking files in the folder it had open, which would cause errors in my builds. But that also seems to be better.
Advice: Wait to buy the new Windows OS until the next one is out. By that time it has a few patches and is safer to buy. Like, right now the Win8.1 is getting usable, but maybe next year... .
If I had to guess its because Microsoft isn't just pursuing change for its own sake here. It's icons. On new modern seriously high DPI screens. I think they're trying to future proof themselves.
No, actually they are trying to make them compatible with low resolution cellphone screens. But by the time they get it done the cellphones will (do?) have much higher resolution screens. It's a fools choice...
Change just for the sake of it is marketing. It's the same thing as mutating the taillights (and in the 1950's, fins) of a car just so that everyone will know that you couldn't afford to go out and replace the perfectly good car you already had.
I think if the auto manufacturers had changed the position of the brake and gas pedals, they might have gotten themselves in a bit of trouble. This is not just the "look and feal" they are changing, they are changinmg the necessary controls. And they have been at it since XP, that is one reason Linux is getting more popular.
Just because someone is ignorant of history does not mean that it didn't exist. Including the history that no-one knows anymore! 8-) Any sailor that goes to the horizon (about 12 miles) knows that the world is not flat. They can -see- it.
It is possible that it could make steel much stronger, by preventing microcracks from starting at the surface. Cracks start at defects in the metal or in uneven surface features like micro-scratches. If a coating can smooth and reinforce the surface, then it can stave off cracks starting and push the breaking point to much higher levels.
We already have methods of preventing defects inside the metal, and I assume they are already using those methods.
We also have used surface hardening to strengthen metals and other things (see Corel dishes). So if the coating is stronger we know it will help.
"Here's 1.2 mil. We want you to tell us that it is possible that global warming is being caused by the sun"
The Sun causes all warming, there is no other source of energy for us. (And no, things that originally came from the sun don't count...)
But, if you want to know if it is possible that the Sun could cause what is called "Anthropomorphic global warming", then yes of course it could. It is already known to do so. The berden of proof is on the other side, to prove that it is -not- caused by changes in the sun !
We already have "robots" that write code! They are called Compilers and Linkers, and they have put all of the Assembler coders out of work.
Except me and a few others. But I have not actually done assembler for a long time.
The next step up is code generators, like what the Clarion development system has. They are run by scripts which can be written by coders, if necessary. So instead of writing assembler or writing source code, to run the app, we write "Template" code to run the code generators.
But Clarion has been around for more than two decades, so it is not that new... 8-)
Is it just me, or does all this math wrangling seem like what Geocentric scientists were doing to properly figure out the path of stars in our night sky to align with their theory?
Epicycles? Yes, it does sound like that...
By the way, it is actually a valid way to model irregular repeating functions. Only now we call it a Fourier Series! 8-)
Ingested uranium was even used in the treatment of diabetes before the discovery of insulin.
Arsenic was used to treat syphilis. Doesn't mean it worked.... We used to treat headaches with leaches. Doesn't mean there's any actual science behind the treatment.
The arsenic was somewhat effective, in the days when they had nothing better. They now treat those smashed toes with leaches. And it can save them from amputation. Don't get so sure of yourself, it's dangerous... 8-)
I'm not quite sure if you understand how Stealth works then...
The idea of Stealth aircraft is to not reflect EM radiation at all. It bounces it away in another direction or absorbs it outright.
If detecting stealth was as simple as using a different frequency, then it would be worthless.
Precisely... and it -is- worthless, unless you know the radar systems it needs to defeat. They try to make the effective frequency band as wide as possible, but it is still limited and tuned to the ones we know about. Particularly if detection systems use laser light, or very low frequency. In WWII they even used passive sound detectors for short range, like a few miles.
Of course, the "stealth" aircraft use multiple types of systems to defeat detection. But no-one should think they are "undetectable".
Slashdot Mirror
... If you're planning on bringing a well known story to the screen, you want to make sure it's easily identifiable, which means keeping the title so people know what you're doing and what to expect. ...
Well, if they are going to leave out two thirds of the story to fit it into a movie, changing the name at least gives us fair warning.
I have to respect that, after what they did to Starshp Troopers and -didn't- change the title!
I've also felt the same way, Citizen of the Galaxy is one of my favorite Heinlein books (as is The Moon is a Harsh Mistress) and both would make good movies if you could get a good screen writer that doesn't mess too much with the theme and characters and tries to faithfully stick to the story. ...
Except that one of those books is three times the size of a movie and some of the later ones are much more. Even a miniseries might not be enough. Maybe a few seasons of weekly shows? ...
His later books got more than a little bizarre and disturbing. Strange things seem to happen to aging SF writers.
Yes. He did get a bit old and grouchy. But I think he was also talking to some Physicists about Quantum theory, at a time when even the Physicists were scared of it!
Apparently you missed the implied <SARCASM> tags.
Don't use sarcasm on the internet, no one will recognise it and they will think you are just an idiot...
You mis-read me. Verhoeven saw the book as an endorsement of the society in the book, and parodied it in his movie, since he saw it as such an awful book. Verhoeven has said as much in interviews.
A parody is not the original. In that case, they should have used a different title. The working title mentioned above was probably more fitting, considering they made a movie that was just a Hollywood horror flick.
My opinion is that the Hollywood "intellegencia" hated Heinlein so much, that they intentionally sabotaged the movie. Not even caring if it made any money. The investors should have sued them...
That's like saying the KKK, Westboro Baptist Church, Jehovah's Witnesses, (insert dangerous cult here) aren't "real" Christians. ...
You are right, but still wrong in your conclusion.
I don't know about the JW, but the KKK and such are -just- like the IS bandits. And they are not real Christians because they go against everything Christ said. Just like IS does.
The Bible has a paragraph where God says "Vengence is mine." They think that gives them the right to take vengence. Wrong!
It should be read as: "Vengence is -mine-." As in, only God has the right to take vengence, -no one- else.
But criminals will seize on anything that they think will slow down the honest people... and they are indeed criminals.
So we "rushed" to leave the single longest military engagement in the history of the United States? ...
That depends on how you measure it. We are still in Japan, that might be longer.
You need to read General Giap's book. He knew full well the North Vietnamese had not one hope in hell of beating the USA in a war. He said the war will be won on the streets of Washington DC, not in Vietnam. ...
More than you know...
The Russians and North Vietnamese had an active "fifth column" operation in the US to convince people to be anti-war and anti-South Vietnam. And it worked. You can even see the effects still today in the more rabid "liberals".
(Note that I put "liberals" in quotes, I used to consider myself Liberal, but not like that...)
... Really? Then explain why the Vietnam war ended with the fall of Saigon. The US did the largest air evacuation in history. That is not what you do when you have won a war. "North Vietnamese were powerless"? Don't make me laugh.
See the messages above, near mine. You have been listening to the wrong people. By the way, don't drink the coolaid they give you...
... What would it take to get it back in line with TOS? Maybe a dose of optimism and belief in conquering great evils and striving for a greater society. Maybe it just isn't a widely held set of beliefs anymore ...
Maybe that is the key: conforming to prevailing beliefs, as opposed to showing needed beliefs.
The very definition of mediocre...
It's quite possible to make a clean, simple interface for a computer. They are called Application programs. The OS manufacturers don't know anything about them and should not be applying theory from them to the OS, which is different. i.e, A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and the OS manufacturers have little or no knowledge of Applications interfaces. (Thats why I have a job, to make up the lack.) 8-)
P.S. I think the core of the problem is that the Marketing/Advertising people, at the OS manufacturers, are more like morons than the actual customers, and have more input to the design!
The crap ones like Windows and OSX, they hide it because they assume the user is a drooling moron.
And most of the time they are right.
No, actually they are wrong. Everyone is a "moron" when they are out of their area of expertise, but that's different. Most of those people are plenty smart, they just are not interested in learning -your- area of expertise. That's what IT is for.
You can fall into this state, too, by doing your own corporate taxes or acting as your own lawyer or dosing yourself with pills when you are sick. Or just giving advise about other things, that is not worth what it cost. 8-)
3. Delete a file
4. Whoa, the file is STILL THERE in the list
Err, wut? ...
I have seen that problem with Windows Explorer in Win7, but not for a couple of months. Maybe they fixed it...
It was also locking files in the folder it had open, which would cause errors in my builds. But that also seems to be better.
Advice: Wait to buy the new Windows OS until the next one is out. By that time it has a few patches and is safer to buy. Like, right now the Win8.1 is getting usable, but maybe next year...
.
If I had to guess its because Microsoft isn't just pursuing change for its own sake here. It's icons. On new modern seriously high DPI screens. I think they're trying to future proof themselves.
No, actually they are trying to make them compatible with low resolution cellphone screens. But by the time they get it done the cellphones will (do?) have much higher resolution screens. It's a fools choice...
Change just for the sake of it is marketing. It's the same thing as mutating the taillights (and in the 1950's, fins) of a car just so that everyone will know that you couldn't afford to go out and replace the perfectly good car you already had.
I think if the auto manufacturers had changed the position of the brake and gas pedals, they might have gotten themselves in a bit of trouble. This is not just the "look and feal" they are changing, they are changinmg the necessary controls. And they have been at it since XP, that is one reason Linux is getting more popular.
Just because someone is ignorant of history does not mean that it didn't exist. Including the history that no-one knows anymore! 8-)
Any sailor that goes to the horizon (about 12 miles) knows that the world is not flat. They can -see- it.
It is possible that it could make steel much stronger, by preventing microcracks from starting at the surface. Cracks start at defects in the metal or in uneven surface features like micro-scratches. If a coating can smooth and reinforce the surface, then it can stave off cracks starting and push the breaking point to much higher levels.
We already have methods of preventing defects inside the metal, and I assume they are already using those methods.
We also have used surface hardening to strengthen metals and other things (see Corel dishes). So if the coating is stronger we know it will help.
"Here's 1.2 mil. We want you to tell us that it is possible that global warming is being caused by the sun"
The Sun causes all warming, there is no other source of energy for us. (And no, things that originally came from the sun don't count...)
But, if you want to know if it is possible that the Sun could cause what is called "Anthropomorphic global warming", then yes of course it could. It is already known to do so. The berden of proof is on the other side, to prove that it is -not- caused by changes in the sun !
We already have "robots" that write code! They are called Compilers and Linkers, and they have put all of the Assembler coders out of work.
Except me and a few others. But I have not actually done assembler for a long time.
The next step up is code generators, like what the Clarion development system has. They are run by scripts which can be written by coders, if necessary. So instead of writing assembler or writing source code, to run the app, we write "Template" code to run the code generators.
But Clarion has been around for more than two decades, so it is not that new... 8-)
Wasn't one of Tesla's "magic tricks", the flourescent bulbs that we are all using now?
And a few other things...
Is it just me, or does all this math wrangling seem like what Geocentric scientists were doing to properly figure out the path of stars in our night sky to align with their theory?
Epicycles? Yes, it does sound like that...
By the way, it is actually a valid way to model irregular repeating functions. Only now we call it a Fourier Series! 8-)
Ingested uranium was even used in the treatment of diabetes before the discovery of insulin.
Arsenic was used to treat syphilis. Doesn't mean it worked. ...
We used to treat headaches with leaches. Doesn't mean there's any actual science behind the treatment.
The arsenic was somewhat effective, in the days when they had nothing better.
They now treat those smashed toes with leaches. And it can save them from amputation.
Don't get so sure of yourself, it's dangerous... 8-)
You of course miss the point, as so many do.
If I have the ability to travel 500 years back in time, I also have the ability to take GPS satellites with me.
But how much good will they do, sitting on the ground at your feet? 8-)
I'm not quite sure if you understand how Stealth works then...
The idea of Stealth aircraft is to not reflect EM radiation at all. It bounces it away in another direction or absorbs it outright.
If detecting stealth was as simple as using a different frequency, then it would be worthless.
Precisely... and it -is- worthless, unless you know the radar systems it needs to defeat. They try to make the effective frequency band as wide as possible, but it is still limited and tuned to the ones we know about. Particularly if detection systems use laser light, or very low frequency. In WWII they even used passive sound detectors for short range, like a few miles.
Of course, the "stealth" aircraft use multiple types of systems to defeat detection. But no-one should think they are "undetectable".