If they were running air traffic control systems on Microsoft, Code Red could cause a Code Red...
One would hope any system where lives are at stake would switch to using Linux. Does anyone know of any lives lost due to a computer screw up caused by Microsoft software?
How is that flamebait? If it deserves any mod, it's -1, troll.
Lucas is a talentless jackoff who shot his load back in '77 and has desperately been trying to get it back ever since.
Just because someone see's Lucas for what he really is they get modded down. This is exact reason that, today, I unticked the "Willing to moderate" box as I didn't like the company I had to keep.
B5 was one of the best shows made, and I am sad because it just went off the air in Canada.
It sucks that Space's broadcast rights ran out. I wish I knew the exact reason. If it's in any way Space's fault, they are idiots, that's all there is too it.
Of course, don't forget we have the 5 episode marathon today at 1pm EST. Hoping they show Endgame so I can get it on tape.
You are certainly not alone in mourning B5's passing. Almost makes me want to move to the US.
Thanks for the compliment. It's nice to be able to praise possibly my favourite TV show (closely followed by Twin Peaks incidentally), particularly given it's re-runs have just ended in Canada.
GROPOS was a great episode. Good example of the poignancy I mentioned I think.
The best episodes IMO are around the middle of the 3rd season. The three episode arc Messages from Earth - Point of No Return - Severed Dreams and the two parter War Without End are some of the finest TV you can see, particularly Severed Dreams. That episode was so good, when I saw it initially, I had taped it due to being out. I watched it. Sat there with jaw on the floor at what I had just seen, rewound the tape, and watched it again.
I didn't like the fifth season much. Due to the cancellation woes that the show faced, the fifth season felt tacked on somehow, but having just watched it all again, I was unfair. It was actually a very good season. For those fans of Neil Gaiman, he scripted the fifth season episode "Day of the Dead". A very good episode, but one, like the others I mentioned, that really need to be seen in the context of the rest of the show to fully enjoy them.
As for Farscape, Space up here in Canada is airing that this fall, and having heard so many good things about it, I will check it out, despite my initial observation that it looks like little more than Muppets in Space:)
Babylon 5 re-runs have just come to an end in Canada, except for a 5 hour "viewers choice" marathon tomorrow starting at 1pm est.
B5 was by far the best sci-fi on TV for several reasons.
The effects: The budget per episode for B5 was a tenth of what ST:TNG cost, and by the time B5 reached the 5th season the effects were just stunning. Quite possibly the best space battles ever in a sci-fi show.
The story: While you could watch most B5 episodes as a seperate entity, the dedicated viewer was rewarded by one of the best stories I've seen in any medium. I won't even try and encapsulate it here, but it ranged from great comedy (some of the Londo/G'Kar scenes, plus various comments from other characters, particularly Ivanova.) to tragedy (no spoilers here. Suffice to say the show has it's fair share of tragedy.) Unlike shows like Voyager or Next Gen, B5 started a story, and ran it to it's conclusion. There were changes from the creators vision along the way (JMS is a genius!) for various reasons, but the description "a novel for television" was used, and fairly so.
Characters: No annoying robots or cute kids. Every character was believeable. Every character had flaws. The characters evolved. B5 could and should be used as a teaching piece on character development. Another thing I liked was the fact that you never felt any character was indispensible. In TNG, you know damn well Picard, Riker etc... aren't going to snuff it. In B5 I always felt like no character had a free pass. That added immeasurably to the show.
Realism: Unlike the shiny happy universe of Star Trek, B5 had real problems. Homeless people aboard the station for example. JMS (I won't even attempt to spell his surname) made a believable universe by including such elements.
The music: The show was great, but Christopher Franke's (ex of Tangerine Dream) music moved the show up a level. There are scenes which just rip your heart out, the music is so poignant. (Again, no spoilers.)
The alien races: While most were humanoid (not all) I think the aliens designed for B5 were FAR better than the blindingly obvious "human under makeup" aliens of Trek. The Pak'Mara for example looked amazing, and while the main players are the standard "human under makeup", the diversity of the portrayed alien cultures was amazing. Oh, and not all of them breathed oxygen. The station has section for non oxygen breathers.
In closing, Babylon 5 is the best sci-fi there has ever been on TV. I look forward to the new "Legends of the Rangers" but I can't see, in all honesty, how it can possibly live up to Babylon 5 itself.
Besides, you have to love a show that blasts a teddy bear into space:)
A good few years ago now in England a girl named Leah Betts died. The media went mental because she had taken Ecstasy and latched onto it, the family were dragged out into the public eye, the father, a cop of ex-cop if I remember correctly, decried the drug in the media. They had a field day, and this was the geneseed of a lot of the anti rave garbage in England these days.
What the media conveniently forgot to mention in all but the smallest paragraph in one article (out of hundreds) was that she had a headache and had taken 12 painkillers a couple of hours before her death. Yes, 12 at the same time, and these painkillers (can't remember which ones off hand, but it was well known that they react with E) reacted with the Ecstacy in her system and that was what lead to her death if I recall.
I'm not denying her families loss, I'm going to be a father in a few weeks myself and can only imagine what it must be like to lose your daughter, but the media paraded them around at possibly their weakest moment and used it to tarnish the whole rave scene.
The point is, it wasn't the Ecstacy alone that killed her, it was the pain killers too. 12 PK's may be enough to kill for all I know and the E was entirely blameless, but of course painkiller overdoses don't make good for good headlines. "Man dies from Aspirin overdose" draws a lot less interest than "Man dies from Ecstacy overdose".
I think programs like DrugSafe, that will test your E for you are much better than blanket condemnation. That helps nobody. People will still do the drug, so make sure the drugs are safe.
For the record, I have never been to a rave, nor taken E. I'm just speaking as an individual who actually thinks for himself rather then being herded by the media.
You're right on the money. I used to be able to down caffeine like it was going out of style. Back in the early 90's when working 17 hour shifts (2pm-9am) I used to have cups of coffee with a tablespoon, yes, TABLEspoon of coffee in it just to keep going.
Then in 1993 I contracted flu, and the virus attacked my heart. Since then I can't touch anything with caffeine in it. My heart goes berzerk, my body goes mental. It feels like a cross between a panic attack and heart failure, so if caffeine can effect me like that, I'm honestly not surprised that otherwise "healthy" people died.
Mixing alcohol and caffeine just seems retarded anyway if you ask me. Mixing two brain altering chemicals is pretty stupid. Makes about as much sense as dropping acid and E at the same time.
Yes, but they overturned the decision to smash them to pieces, in that respect it was a partial success and they would not have done this if the appeal had said "monopoly? what monopoly?"
Cute quote, but the fact is they did garner a verdict in their favour regarding the break up. This new OEM deal is simply an appeasement, nothing more.
Gee, what are the odds? Their appeal partially fails and they're labelled as a monopoly. I think we can safely say they'd never have done this if the appeal had been 100% successful and the finding of fact was overturned.
While this is a small victory I guess, the question is how many OEM's are actually going to bother doing this? I mean they've bitched and moaned about MS, but how many are actually going to take advantage of this?
Yeah, that's why I had free access to Cybersurf for approximately 18 months taking this exact route. Trust me, they ARE that stupid.
As for the latency issue, yep, spot on. Of course, I'm currently using Telus for my Internet access, and they are fucking shit. Mail servers time out badly, DNS is shit, and the connection speed fluctuates wildly. And their latency is terrible.
And all this for the low low price of $22 CDN, plus the added bonus of being limited to 100 hours a month.
OH DEAR GOD! We can't have the Chinese watching DVD movies! What will happen to them if they're subjected to the directors cut of Jaws?! The horror! The horror!
Seriously, since when are DVD's a menace? I'm pretty sure nuclear would do more damage than a DVD. Unless of course there's plans for a Chinese invasion that involves them coming in at night and lumping us in the head with a good solid DVD player.
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Notice the use of the word IF in my post you fuckhead.
One would hope any system where lives are at stake would switch to using Linux. Does anyone know of any lives lost due to a computer screw up caused by Microsoft software?
Leave me out of it dude! That's not my account. Compare the numbers.
Lucas is a talentless jackoff who shot his load back in '77 and has desperately been trying to get it back ever since.
Just because someone see's Lucas for what he really is they get modded down. This is exact reason that, today, I unticked the "Willing to moderate" box as I didn't like the company I had to keep.
Honestly, has Lucas ever had an original idea? I mean Star Wars was "inspired" (AKA stolen) from a Kurasawa movie if I recall.
Lucas is a hack. JMS is God.
You spell his name correctly, then mess up the simplest word in the English language.
You amuse me.
Then again, he fucks goats.
You're a self righteous prick, but then you probably already knew that, right?
It means you should take the kiddie wheels off and use a real OS.
You are truly a 1337 p3rl d00d.
My first child is going to be born around when Linux turns 10. Cool.
486/33, 4 megs ram, monochrome screen laptop with 200 meg HD and shit all else. Running Debian text only.
Mock me? Go right ahead. It does everything I need. Lovely little thing.
Oh yeah, it's got a fucked up battery too that doesn't hold a charge.
Supply and demand. They charge that because they know they'll get it.
It sucks that Space's broadcast rights ran out. I wish I knew the exact reason. If it's in any way Space's fault, they are idiots, that's all there is too it.
Of course, don't forget we have the 5 episode marathon today at 1pm EST. Hoping they show Endgame so I can get it on tape.
You are certainly not alone in mourning B5's passing. Almost makes me want to move to the US.
GROPOS was a great episode. Good example of the poignancy I mentioned I think.
The best episodes IMO are around the middle of the 3rd season. The three episode arc Messages from Earth - Point of No Return - Severed Dreams and the two parter War Without End are some of the finest TV you can see, particularly Severed Dreams. That episode was so good, when I saw it initially, I had taped it due to being out. I watched it. Sat there with jaw on the floor at what I had just seen, rewound the tape, and watched it again.
I didn't like the fifth season much. Due to the cancellation woes that the show faced, the fifth season felt tacked on somehow, but having just watched it all again, I was unfair. It was actually a very good season. For those fans of Neil Gaiman, he scripted the fifth season episode "Day of the Dead". A very good episode, but one, like the others I mentioned, that really need to be seen in the context of the rest of the show to fully enjoy them.
As for Farscape, Space up here in Canada is airing that this fall, and having heard so many good things about it, I will check it out, despite my initial observation that it looks like little more than Muppets in Space:)
B5 was by far the best sci-fi on TV for several reasons.
The effects: The budget per episode for B5 was a tenth of what ST:TNG cost, and by the time B5 reached the 5th season the effects were just stunning. Quite possibly the best space battles ever in a sci-fi show.
The story: While you could watch most B5 episodes as a seperate entity, the dedicated viewer was rewarded by one of the best stories I've seen in any medium. I won't even try and encapsulate it here, but it ranged from great comedy (some of the Londo/G'Kar scenes, plus various comments from other characters, particularly Ivanova.) to tragedy (no spoilers here. Suffice to say the show has it's fair share of tragedy.) Unlike shows like Voyager or Next Gen, B5 started a story, and ran it to it's conclusion. There were changes from the creators vision along the way (JMS is a genius!) for various reasons, but the description "a novel for television" was used, and fairly so.
Characters: No annoying robots or cute kids. Every character was believeable. Every character had flaws. The characters evolved. B5 could and should be used as a teaching piece on character development. Another thing I liked was the fact that you never felt any character was indispensible. In TNG, you know damn well Picard, Riker etc... aren't going to snuff it. In B5 I always felt like no character had a free pass. That added immeasurably to the show.
Realism: Unlike the shiny happy universe of Star Trek, B5 had real problems. Homeless people aboard the station for example. JMS (I won't even attempt to spell his surname) made a believable universe by including such elements.
The music: The show was great, but Christopher Franke's (ex of Tangerine Dream) music moved the show up a level. There are scenes which just rip your heart out, the music is so poignant. (Again, no spoilers.)
The alien races: While most were humanoid (not all) I think the aliens designed for B5 were FAR better than the blindingly obvious "human under makeup" aliens of Trek. The Pak'Mara for example looked amazing, and while the main players are the standard "human under makeup", the diversity of the portrayed alien cultures was amazing. Oh, and not all of them breathed oxygen. The station has section for non oxygen breathers.
For all your B5 needs, go check out The Lurkers Guide.
In closing, Babylon 5 is the best sci-fi there has ever been on TV. I look forward to the new "Legends of the Rangers" but I can't see, in all honesty, how it can possibly live up to Babylon 5 itself.
Besides, you have to love a show that blasts a teddy bear into space:)
Any comment attributed to him regarding what he is is bullshit and I guarantee he never said it.
Slow down cowboy!
Slashdot requires you to wait 20 seconds between hitting reply on comments.pl and submitting a comment.
It's been 19 seconds since you hit 'reply'!
What a moronic addition to Slash...
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A good few years ago now in England a girl named Leah Betts died. The media went mental because she had taken Ecstasy and latched onto it, the family were dragged out into the public eye, the father, a cop of ex-cop if I remember correctly, decried the drug in the media. They had a field day, and this was the geneseed of a lot of the anti rave garbage in England these days.
What the media conveniently forgot to mention in all but the smallest paragraph in one article (out of hundreds) was that she had a headache and had taken 12 painkillers a couple of hours before her death. Yes, 12 at the same time, and these painkillers (can't remember which ones off hand, but it was well known that they react with E) reacted with the Ecstacy in her system and that was what lead to her death if I recall.
I'm not denying her families loss, I'm going to be a father in a few weeks myself and can only imagine what it must be like to lose your daughter, but the media paraded them around at possibly their weakest moment and used it to tarnish the whole rave scene.
The point is, it wasn't the Ecstacy alone that killed her, it was the pain killers too. 12 PK's may be enough to kill for all I know and the E was entirely blameless, but of course painkiller overdoses don't make good for good headlines. "Man dies from Aspirin overdose" draws a lot less interest than "Man dies from Ecstacy overdose".
I think programs like DrugSafe, that will test your E for you are much better than blanket condemnation. That helps nobody. People will still do the drug, so make sure the drugs are safe.
For the record, I have never been to a rave, nor taken E. I'm just speaking as an individual who actually thinks for himself rather then being herded by the media.
Mixing Red Bull and E probably kills you too.
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Then in 1993 I contracted flu, and the virus attacked my heart. Since then I can't touch anything with caffeine in it. My heart goes berzerk, my body goes mental. It feels like a cross between a panic attack and heart failure, so if caffeine can effect me like that, I'm honestly not surprised that otherwise "healthy" people died.
Mixing alcohol and caffeine just seems retarded anyway if you ask me. Mixing two brain altering chemicals is pretty stupid. Makes about as much sense as dropping acid and E at the same time.
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Cute quote, but the fact is they did garner a verdict in their favour regarding the break up. This new OEM deal is simply an appeasement, nothing more.
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While this is a small victory I guess, the question is how many OEM's are actually going to bother doing this? I mean they've bitched and moaned about MS, but how many are actually going to take advantage of this?
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Yeah, that's why I had free access to Cybersurf for approximately 18 months taking this exact route. Trust me, they ARE that stupid.
As for the latency issue, yep, spot on. Of course, I'm currently using Telus for my Internet access, and they are fucking shit. Mail servers time out badly, DNS is shit, and the connection speed fluctuates wildly. And their latency is terrible.
And all this for the low low price of $22 CDN, plus the added bonus of being limited to 100 hours a month.
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Seriously, since when are DVD's a menace? I'm pretty sure nuclear would do more damage than a DVD. Unless of course there's plans for a Chinese invasion that involves them coming in at night and lumping us in the head with a good solid DVD player.
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