Having a land line is a grotesque and arrogantly undisguised rip-off. If it wasn't for my modem I'd lose it and get a cell. I mean, I still get billed an itemized $5/month for "touch-tone service". The phone company must have recouped the cost of converting to touch-tone many years ago. Almost nobody uses an old-fashioned pulse dial phone anymore.
OK, maybe not like they need food and love but like it or not, the internet is part of modern western society and blockading your kids from it is unwise. For starters there's a good chance they'll HAVE to use it for school, in which case they'll just have to use it _at_ school, whether you like it or not. On a more general note, it's a wonderful source of diverse and fascinating information, and the sooner your kids learn to use it effectively (eg. learn to filter the crap and cross-check the facts), the more they will get out of it. Banning them from it smacks of laziness, to be honest - you wouldn't make them stay indoors all the time because it's easier to keep track of where they are, would you?
Oh, and as a long time internet user, I've NEVER encountered porn unless I was looking for porn. Except one time when I was looking for warez, and trust me, if your kids are _looking for_ warez and porn on the internet, that's a whole other kettle of fish you'll have to talk to them about. But keeping them away from www.nationalgeographic.com won't help.
I heard the Alice game was pretty good, actually, and I personally appreciated the fact that the female protagonist wasn't a huge-titted gun-toting bimbo, gunning down hordes of aliens. But for my Pentium1/Voodoo1 combo I'd have bought a copy. If you think the original Lewis Carroll book isn't creepy and maybe a hint of "gothic", maybe you should re-read it some time.
(reply to the poster, not a question for Mr. Ellis)
Two issues of GF were the first comic books I'd bought for years (not counting a beat-up second-hand copy of Gaiman's Death: The Time of Your Life). I picked up #2 (the military cyborg) and #3 (the alien memetic virus) after reading extensive good words about the series on the internet. To be honest, I was disappointed. The physical and visual quality of the books was very good - excellent printing quality and I quite liked the art in both cases - but I found the story lines and writing in general very... unsatisfying. In both cases interesting ideas were presented but I found they were treated in a superficial way. I'm not sure if it was the simple brevity of the stories or the fact that so much was offered conceptually and then wrapped up so neatly in one issue. In fact I suspect that proper treatments of both stories could have easily filled one of those fat manga books I hear they have in Japan, or at least a few more issues of GF...
Being a sexy comic book doesn't equal being a satisfying read. Am I missing something here or am I just not used to comic-book-length stories?
Hmm, perhaps they don't last b/c people don't buy them... assuming they won't last?
WRT trade paperbacks, comics go on my bookshelf, being books and all. I'm not a collector, with bags and acid-free backing boards and all that jazz. I like the trade pb editions because they are more durable - I can READ them without causing appreciable damage.
Obviously, you'd feed the energy recovered into your supply in such a way that nothing would be solely dependant on it - and it could still lower your overall electric bill. Makes sense to me, especially since in some cases, the "HVAC man" can't do anything about the vibration. If you really want to power small devices solely off the vibration, plan ahead before any upgrades. Not hard.
"Ok, it's The Matrix meets Buffy meets Romeo and Juliet meets Ishtar!"
Well, I guess time will tell on that. I assume you mean "It'll have super action and FX, star-crossed lovers, and IT'LL SUCK." Funny:-) Though, to be fair, "Romeo and Juliet" was hardly an original plot even in Wm. Shakspere's time...
It's still dark. Humanity is constantly battling for its existence against Chaos, but the human Empire is a religious-fascist hegemony which self-destructively purges dissent and heresy, through a perpetual Inquisition. Science is a thing of the past and artisans (re)produce technology with no knowledge of how it works. It almost makes the Orcs' destructive nihilism look at least honest.
Posting how to create a bomb on a web site has been to federal court and protected. But I can't write software to conceal a communications device? Which is more dangerous?
Ha. With a bomb, you could kill a bunch of the worker proles in a supermarket or office building, or maybe even one or two members of the elite if you plan it really well. With the ability to conceal a communications device you could actually plan a protest, demonstration, walkout, sit-in, love-in or other more constructive revolutionary action in secret. Losing the ability to monitor all we do and say is much more important to "them" than a few human beings blown to bits. Besides, "they" actually LIKE it when bombs go off - the Terrorists get blamed and the government can take away even more of your rights.
Don't kid yourself, the RIAA is as eager to throw you in jail for pirating the Velvet Undergound as for pirating the new Britney CD. It's all money, after all.
[old argument] Yeah, that works great for the n% of artists that the major recording companies have signed and paid their way onto the radio playlists. For the 100-n% that are making it on their own, or are being suffocated by a major label contract they can't escape, GOOD LUCK. Soon the RIAA will move to kill the college stations, and if they succeed they will control the entire radio market top to bottom [/old argument]. MTV is even worse, you have to be able to afford to produce a palatable video that'll fit nicely into one of their anointed genre pigeonholes.
Indy bands that give away a few mp3's on their websites get my vote however. Best way to promote your music online, IMO. And it heads off "music piracy" the RIGHT way.
You should work for Rumsfeld and the US DOD. You're almost as good at underestimating the enemy as they are. You could order the marines sent in armed with baseball bats, after all the Iraqis couldn't possibly do more than throw rocks at them...
ps: that box you typed this on is "advanced sand technology";-)
I don't know about "legitimizing the industry", but as a mode of human cultural expression, computer games are worthy of academic scrutiny, as are "Gilligan's Island" and "The Old Man and the Sea" for that matter. All can reveal deeper truths about the societies that spawned them, and be fodder for interesting examinations of humanity (or at least a few graduate theses).
Actually, it's a very close skirting of Godwin's Law, in a modernized form where "terrorists" replaces "Nazis". And it was almost invoked before the discussion even began!:-)
I remember reading a letter to a Victorian science journal complaining about the problem of horse waste in London's streets. The writer declared it an aesthetic and health menace. Fact is, the removal of horse poop was a HUGE problem in pre-automotive urban societies. So they polluted too, just in a relatively non-toxic way (in the sense that horse poop is biodegradable and doesn't give you cancer). I have no data on hand but I assume they solved the problem by having people who cleaned it up and sold it as fertilizer.
And if you think that car pollution "blows away in the wind", you've obviously never been to a REALLY big city with poor emission laws, like Mexico City...
Those people also read about all the beautiful and sexy women in the 'average' scientist's life. Nowadays we have breast implants, nose jobs, face lifts, liposuction, and every other procedure needed to make that a reality.
Yeah, except your average scientist would rather have a plain mate who doesn't say "Huh?" when you gripe about how the genes wouldn't clone/particle accelerator wouldn't warm up/the department chair bitched you out. Your description sounds more like Pamela Anderson.
I think it's true that many Asian parents came from very humble origins in another country and so motivate their children to succeed. As for foreign nationals, trust me, I think some of them are sent here just to get rid of them. I've seen some real charlatans and idiots from almost every part of the world as graduate students and post-docs here. Hmm, I guess dumbasses are a curse on all humanity...;-)
It would be unnerving to have an experience as completely in the real world as his character did in that movie.
Unnerving, and expensive. The character in "The Game" was a multimillionaire, remember. That's probably part of why "Majestic" sucked - for what the average joe was willing to pay, it couldn't be more than some well-timed e-mails and phone calls from a machine. It's once you start to jack up the price that the user can get such personalized service as sinister vans parked outside their house, being followed on the street by men in overcoats, and being shot at with blanks (hopefully).
Slashdot Mirror
Having a land line is a grotesque and arrogantly undisguised rip-off. If it wasn't for my modem I'd lose it and get a cell. I mean, I still get billed an itemized $5/month for "touch-tone service". The phone company must have recouped the cost of converting to touch-tone many years ago. Almost nobody uses an old-fashioned pulse dial phone anymore.
And yet.
OK, maybe not like they need food and love but like it or not, the internet is part of modern western society and blockading your kids from it is unwise. For starters there's a good chance they'll HAVE to use it for school, in which case they'll just have to use it _at_ school, whether you like it or not. On a more general note, it's a wonderful source of diverse and fascinating information, and the sooner your kids learn to use it effectively (eg. learn to filter the crap and cross-check the facts), the more they will get out of it. Banning them from it smacks of laziness, to be honest - you wouldn't make them stay indoors all the time because it's easier to keep track of where they are, would you?
Oh, and as a long time internet user, I've NEVER encountered porn unless I was looking for porn. Except one time when I was looking for warez, and trust me, if your kids are _looking for_ warez and porn on the internet, that's a whole other kettle of fish you'll have to talk to them about. But keeping them away from www.nationalgeographic.com won't help.
I never thought I'd see his Law invoked in a discussion of online bookselling...
I heard the Alice game was pretty good, actually, and I personally appreciated the fact that the female protagonist wasn't a huge-titted gun-toting bimbo, gunning down hordes of aliens. But for my Pentium1/Voodoo1 combo I'd have bought a copy. If you think the original Lewis Carroll book isn't creepy and maybe a hint of "gothic", maybe you should re-read it some time.
(reply to the poster, not a question for Mr. Ellis)
Two issues of GF were the first comic books I'd bought for years (not counting a beat-up second-hand copy of Gaiman's Death: The Time of Your Life). I picked up #2 (the military cyborg) and #3 (the alien memetic virus) after reading extensive good words about the series on the internet. To be honest, I was disappointed. The physical and visual quality of the books was very good - excellent printing quality and I quite liked the art in both cases - but I found the story lines and writing in general very... unsatisfying. In both cases interesting ideas were presented but I found they were treated in a superficial way. I'm not sure if it was the simple brevity of the stories or the fact that so much was offered conceptually and then wrapped up so neatly in one issue. In fact I suspect that proper treatments of both stories could have easily filled one of those fat manga books I hear they have in Japan, or at least a few more issues of GF...
Being a sexy comic book doesn't equal being a satisfying read. Am I missing something here or am I just not used to comic-book-length stories?
Hmm, perhaps they don't last b/c people don't buy them... assuming they won't last?
WRT trade paperbacks, comics go on my bookshelf, being books and all. I'm not a collector, with bags and acid-free backing boards and all that jazz. I like the trade pb editions because they are more durable - I can READ them without causing appreciable damage.
Obviously, you'd feed the energy recovered into your supply in such a way that nothing would be solely dependant on it - and it could still lower your overall electric bill. Makes sense to me, especially since in some cases, the "HVAC man" can't do anything about the vibration. If you really want to power small devices solely off the vibration, plan ahead before any upgrades. Not hard.
"Ok, it's The Matrix meets Buffy meets Romeo and Juliet meets Ishtar!"
:-) Though, to be fair, "Romeo and Juliet" was hardly an original plot even in Wm. Shakspere's time...
Well, I guess time will tell on that. I assume you mean "It'll have super action and FX, star-crossed lovers, and IT'LL SUCK." Funny
At least "the Hedgehog" wouldn't tell poor people with 10 kids in countries with 40% HIV infection that using condoms is a sin.
It's still dark. Humanity is constantly battling for its existence against Chaos, but the human Empire is a religious-fascist hegemony which self-destructively purges dissent and heresy, through a perpetual Inquisition. Science is a thing of the past and artisans (re)produce technology with no knowledge of how it works. It almost makes the Orcs' destructive nihilism look at least honest.
But yes, it's very much marketed to 12 year olds.
Posting how to create a bomb on a web site has been to federal court and protected. But I can't write software to conceal a communications device? Which is more dangerous?
Ha. With a bomb, you could kill a bunch of the worker proles in a supermarket or office building, or maybe even one or two members of the elite if you plan it really well. With the ability to conceal a communications device you could actually plan a protest, demonstration, walkout, sit-in, love-in or other more constructive revolutionary action in secret. Losing the ability to monitor all we do and say is much more important to "them" than a few human beings blown to bits. Besides, "they" actually LIKE it when bombs go off - the Terrorists get blamed and the government can take away even more of your rights.
That sucks, man. I'm sorry to hear it. I like the college/community radio here: independent, eclectic and we get the BBC world service on it too.
:-)
CFRU 93.3 FM Guelph
Still broadcasting streaming audio over the net
Don't kid yourself, the RIAA is as eager to throw you in jail for pirating the Velvet Undergound as for pirating the new Britney CD. It's all money, after all.
[old argument] Yeah, that works great for the n% of artists that the major recording companies have signed and paid their way onto the radio playlists. For the 100-n% that are making it on their own, or are being suffocated by a major label contract they can't escape, GOOD LUCK. Soon the RIAA will move to kill the college stations, and if they succeed they will control the entire radio market top to bottom [/old argument]. MTV is even worse, you have to be able to afford to produce a palatable video that'll fit nicely into one of their anointed genre pigeonholes.
Indy bands that give away a few mp3's on their websites get my vote however. Best way to promote your music online, IMO. And it heads off "music piracy" the RIGHT way.
No kidding. The only actual "working" chemical laser weapon the US mil has admitted to having is mounted through the length of a 747 :-)
You should work for Rumsfeld and the US DOD. You're almost as good at underestimating the enemy as they are. You could order the marines sent in armed with baseball bats, after all the Iraqis couldn't possibly do more than throw rocks at them...
;-)
ps: that box you typed this on is "advanced sand technology"
I don't know about "legitimizing the industry", but as a mode of human cultural expression, computer games are worthy of academic scrutiny, as are "Gilligan's Island" and "The Old Man and the Sea" for that matter. All can reveal deeper truths about the societies that spawned them, and be fodder for interesting examinations of humanity (or at least a few graduate theses).
Actually, it's a very close skirting of Godwin's Law, in a modernized form where "terrorists" replaces "Nazis". And it was almost invoked before the discussion even began! :-)
I remember reading a letter to a Victorian science journal complaining about the problem of horse waste in London's streets. The writer declared it an aesthetic and health menace. Fact is, the removal of horse poop was a HUGE problem in pre-automotive urban societies. So they polluted too, just in a relatively non-toxic way (in the sense that horse poop is biodegradable and doesn't give you cancer). I have no data on hand but I assume they solved the problem by having people who cleaned it up and sold it as fertilizer.
And if you think that car pollution "blows away in the wind", you've obviously never been to a REALLY big city with poor emission laws, like Mexico City...
"If you talk to God on the porcelain telephone it's alcoholism, if God talks to YOU on it, it's schizophrenia."
Wait until the US Army unveils their new secret weapon in a few hours...
Those people also read about all the beautiful and sexy women in the 'average' scientist's life. Nowadays we have breast implants, nose jobs, face lifts, liposuction, and every other procedure needed to make that a reality.
Yeah, except your average scientist would rather have a plain mate who doesn't say "Huh?" when you gripe about how the genes wouldn't clone/particle accelerator wouldn't warm up/the department chair bitched you out. Your description sounds more like Pamela Anderson.
I think it's true that many Asian parents came from very humble origins in another country and so motivate their children to succeed. As for foreign nationals, trust me, I think some of them are sent here just to get rid of them. I've seen some real charlatans and idiots from almost every part of the world as graduate students and post-docs here. Hmm, I guess dumbasses are a curse on all humanity... ;-)
Hey, I fucking turned out great, and I'll beat the shit out of anyone that says otherwise...
;-)
I see it didn't have any long term effects at all
Kidding! KIDDING! OW! OW!
It would be unnerving to have an experience as completely in the real world as his character did in that movie.
Unnerving, and expensive. The character in "The Game" was a multimillionaire, remember. That's probably part of why "Majestic" sucked - for what the average joe was willing to pay, it couldn't be more than some well-timed e-mails and phone calls from a machine. It's once you start to jack up the price that the user can get such personalized service as sinister vans parked outside their house, being followed on the street by men in overcoats, and being shot at with blanks (hopefully).