>>>(1) I don't bother with rabbit ears. (2) I have a television but it's never on except to play video games. (3) I never turn on a set to see "what's on".
There's still about 60 million Americans who use rabbit ears or rooftop antennas to receive their television. Not everyone has cable running past their homes, or enough spare cash to get a satellite dish (although the cost has dropped to $20/month) so they keep using their antennas. Speaking for myself, I have that "free tv" turned-on all day and use the built-in program guide to locate interesting movies, so yes I'm still checking to see "what's on". Of course I supplement that television with my computer with sits directly next to me, so I'm often watching hulu.com at the same time as the live TV.
>>>I don't know a damn thing about analog compression, but I imagine that it's all inherently lossy so applying much would defeat the purpose of having the increased resolution in the first place. >>>
You can read all about analog compression by searching for "MUSE TV" on wikipedia. In brief it created a beautiful 1060x1080 still image, but as soon as movement happened the resolution dropped to about 530x1080, due to not having enough analog bandwidth. Also it required 3 channels to operate, whereas today's digital TV can fit inside just one channel.
TRIVIA - When PAL was first introduced in the UK it was called "high definition" since it had almost twice as many scanlines as the older television standard. That's similar to how 640x480 gaming consoles used to be called "high resolution" versus the older 320x240 standard. It's all a matter of perspective.
>>>Sony here is giving a giant middle finger to the first-sale doctrine.
And we the customers are giving a giant middle finger back, as we close our wallets and refuse to buy any more games. I'm not going to buy anything that I can't later say, "Well I'm tired of that game," and sell it to someone else. I'll just keep playing my older Atari, Sega, Nintendo, and Playstation consoles. Frak Sony, frak RIAA, and frak e-books sellers.
I reserve the right to have a physical object so I can sell it later, and recover my money.
The PSP Go reminds me of another frak-up by an earlier company called Commodore. They had the extremely-popular Amiga 500, then released a 600 that was supposed to be an upgrade, but was actually less functional (no keypad, not backwards-compatible with old games, and not expandable). According to their chief engineer Dave Haynie, the A600 "was supposed to be $50-$60 cheaper than the A500, but it came in at about that much more expensive than the A500." The Managing Director of Commodore UK, David Pleasance, described the A600 as a "complete and utter screw-up."
I suspect ten years from now we'll see Sony engineers saying the PSP GO started as a good idea, but due to poor management and bad decisions, became a complete and utter screw-up, and about $100 more expensive than it was meant to be.
Reading that review makes me want to dust-off my old Atari, Nintendo, and Sega Genesis consoles, and relive the days when gaming was FUN rather than a chore. The PSP Go sounds like a royal piece of shit, especially the part where you have to waste 2-3 hours downloading games.
You ought to be smart enough to know that a $25 check (same as cash) and a $25 *credit* on a Visa card is not the same thing. The credit may be revoked at any time (like if Staples went bankrupt), or it include a $2.00 per year fee (typical for gift cards), or it can expire.
>>>Disney could keep "Steamboat Willie" copyrighted forever - 1 day
Nooooo! The world would be a lot better place if Steamboat Willie, Merry Melodies, and other early projects fell into the public domain. Then at least we could see these early works. When "It's a Wonderful Life" was under copyright the movie was largely forgotten, but then it fell into the public domain so television stations of the 70s and 80s started playing it (because it was basically free), and it went from obscurity into popularity. Now with the copyright restored, the movie is once again falling into obscurity.
The art world is best served by allowing works to be public domain and accessible, not locked behind a door.
>>>The last thing I want is Comcast controlled by the government. Government has no business in private Market.
Agree 100%, except in cases of monopolies like the electric company, natural gas company, phone company, or..... the internet company. Until such time as the Comcast monopoly is broken with 3 or 4 other alternatives, the government has every right to control it, in order to prevent the kind of abuses found in this blog - http://comcastissue.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2007-02-01T08%3A27%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=7
Um... okay. Well it's still damned inconvenient to spend this VISA card, since I have to worry about when/where/how I'm going to use a card before it expires. A $25 check would have been easier, because I can just dump twenty-five dollars in my wallet or savings account and forget it.
Customer service sure has gone to shit in 2009. NBC talked about that in regards to bank accounts raising fees, or stores refusing to take returns. It must be the result of companies tightening their belts.
>>>Jesus Christ. You weren't "entitled" to the $25 off. It might have affected your choice, but the company was attempting to entice you... Cry us a fucking river.
Yeah you're right. And a few years ago when my ex-employer JCPenney was caught by the Texas General Attorney charging $19.99 for an item advertised at 9.99, that's exactly what they should have told him - "We were just trying to entice you to make a purchase. We're not expected to honor the price with an actual dollar discount. Here's a ten dollar coupon and shut up Mr. Texas AG." Instead they let themselves get fined. SUC80RS!
Xena fans are just as rabid as B5 fans, so your idea doesn't really make much sense. \
Anyway the actual numbers would have been 4 million U.S. homes watching B5/Xena/Hercules and about 5 million homes watching DS9, week-after-week. Star Trek TNG had a loyal following of 10-11 million homes each week; ditto Star Trek TOS.
>>>One can only imagine what JMS would have done with that if he had devoted Season 5 to it (as originally planned) instead of compressing it into Season 4. >>>
No need to imagine since JMS already answered this question a couple times. He:
- Moved the season 4 cliffhnager (where Sheridan is betrayed by Garibaldi and captured) from episodes 422 to 418. - He moved episodes 501, 502, and 503 to the end of season 4. - He left the rest of the season 5 story intact.
>>>I wouldn't mind seeing a story where the megalomaniac Sheridan got his comeuppance.
Except in the official B5 history, Sheridan stepped down as president and handed the reins over to somebody else, just as George Washington peaceably handed the control over to John Adams, rather than turn himself into a king. The ISA is supposed to be a democratic organization, much like the United Federation of Planets in Star Trek. ----- And turning over your whitestars or galaxy-class cruisers to Earth's president would make about as much sense as the U.S. giving nuclear weapons to the State of Texas, so Texas could go-around conquering Kansas and Arizona and Colorado. No. You don't turn-over your central weapons to the lower-level member states, else how would you keep them inline?
One story that might be interesting is circa 2700 when the Earth devolves into an anti-alien, fear-mongering society and effectively secedes from the Alliance.
Here's my understanding of Stargate history. It's convoluted and filled with holes, but here it is:
- The Ancients originated on earth as the first homo sapiens. They were highly advanced.
- A large chunk of them moved to the Pegasus galaxy, which is why the gates look "newer" than the Milky Way gates.
- The blood-sucking bug bit some humans, evolved into a bug-human hybrid called the Wraith, and forced the Ancients to leave Pegasus and come back home.
- The Ancients launched the exploratory vessel from Earth, perhaps looking for new galaxies to conquer.
- The Ancients ascended.
- Some stayed behind but a catastrophe forced them to "forget" their knowledge and devolve into us. Then the Go'auld arrived at some point and became the new masters in Egypt. We kicked them out, buried the gates, and without the Ga'ould controlling our population, we rapidly grew from 0.2 to 6 billion.
Ooops. I read too fast and thought it said million not billion.
Okay so the ship is still inside the universe. Interesting. That means it would take that ship about 3 million years to go from the Milky Way to the edge. It would have needed to be launched back when the poles were still ice free, and the dominant lifeform was an ape that ate raw meat (and therefore got smarter).
Re:Troubleshooting skills.
on
Stargate Universe
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
>>>First, why did the point of origin for the 9 symbol address have to be Earth's symbol? They weren't on Earth, and they weren't using the Earth gate.
Precisely. Which is why it didn't work until they changed their point-of-origin to the new planet. Please pay closer attention to the fake, make-believe magic incantations.;-)
>>>if no one has been on the ship since it was launched, why are the CO2 scrubbers full of gunk?
For the same reason why your car's engine oil would turn to with gunk if you left it sitting-around for 10,000 years.
>>>if the air has been leaking out of the ship since it was damaged, where is the new air coming from?
Good point. It's funny how all these problems just suddenly "happened" on precisely Day 3.6 Million of the ship's log, and humans just happened to be there.
>>>a Run about would pass through the borg cube. jeeze read a book.
Would I find this book about imaginary technology in my college library?;-) Oh and by the way photon torpedoes are warp-driven vessels filled with antimatter - they don't pass through the ship when they impact, even though they are traveling at warp speed.
It wouldn't be the same. The War against the First Ones only happens once in the entire span of the universe. Anything other time period in B5 History simply wouldn't be as interesting.
>>>I still think that B5 is rather underrated/unknown in the general population
Actually B5's Nielsen Ratings (viewership) were only 1% below that of Star Trek DS9, and equal to Hercules and Xena, so it's about as well known as those shows in terms of how many people saw them.
Re:Big SG1 fan, not impressed.
on
Stargate Universe
·
· Score: -1, Troll
Good summary. Here are the random thoughts that popped into my head during the premiere:
- That ship traveled the distance of about ~50 galaxies in 10,000 years. According to scientists there's about 3 million LYs between each galaxy, so the ship covered that's 150 million lightyears. FLAW: It's only about 50 million LYs from here to the edge of the universe. (suspension of disbelief just broke)
- How many stargates did the Ancients "seed" if the ship was only one day away from one of them? There must be trillions of them scattered around.
- Stargate Atlantis is to Star Trek DS9, as Stargate Universe is to Voyager. - I'd rather have season 6 of Atlantis.
>>>>>You are a Republican. You are unwanted. Go away.
>>A Republican! GET THE PITCHFORKS AND TORCHES!
That's alright. At least you Democrats didn't go so far as to call me "racist". Oh wait. You did. Also "unamerican" according to Oligarch Pelosi. I guess I won't be going to any more tea party protests, because y'all put me in my place. I'm sorry. I'll just go watch my television now and vegetate like a sheeople..... (drools)
BTW I've already worked-out plans -
- if the merd hits the fan, I'm moving to the EU so I can live under their Charter of Fundamental Rights. "Where liberty lives, there is my country." - Benjamin Franklin
>>>It sounds alot like you just feel the need to bitch about something today.
I can't help that. The actions of the corporations makes the complaining inevitable. Perhaps if they stopped searching for ways to screw the citizens (like in this article with "free" upgrades costing 20 dollars) then not just me, but ALL of us would have less things to complain about.
Slashdot Mirror
>>>(1) I don't bother with rabbit ears. (2) I have a television but it's never on except to play video games. (3) I never turn on a set to see "what's on".
There's still about 60 million Americans who use rabbit ears or rooftop antennas to receive their television. Not everyone has cable running past their homes, or enough spare cash to get a satellite dish (although the cost has dropped to $20/month) so they keep using their antennas. Speaking for myself, I have that "free tv" turned-on all day and use the built-in program guide to locate interesting movies, so yes I'm still checking to see "what's on". Of course I supplement that television with my computer with sits directly next to me, so I'm often watching hulu.com at the same time as the live TV.
>>>I don't know a damn thing about analog compression, but I imagine that it's all inherently lossy so applying much would defeat the purpose of having the increased resolution in the first place.
>>>
You can read all about analog compression by searching for "MUSE TV" on wikipedia. In brief it created a beautiful 1060x1080 still image, but as soon as movement happened the resolution dropped to about 530x1080, due to not having enough analog bandwidth. Also it required 3 channels to operate, whereas today's digital TV can fit inside just one channel.
TRIVIA - When PAL was first introduced in the UK it was called "high definition" since it had almost twice as many scanlines as the older television standard. That's similar to how 640x480 gaming consoles used to be called "high resolution" versus the older 320x240 standard. It's all a matter of perspective.
>>>Sony here is giving a giant middle finger to the first-sale doctrine.
And we the customers are giving a giant middle finger back, as we close our wallets and refuse to buy any more games. I'm not going to buy anything that I can't later say, "Well I'm tired of that game," and sell it to someone else. I'll just keep playing my older Atari, Sega, Nintendo, and Playstation consoles. Frak Sony, frak RIAA, and frak e-books sellers.
I reserve the right to have a physical object so I can sell it later, and recover my money.
P.S.
The PSP Go reminds me of another frak-up by an earlier company called Commodore. They had the extremely-popular Amiga 500, then released a 600 that was supposed to be an upgrade, but was actually less functional (no keypad, not backwards-compatible with old games, and not expandable). According to their chief engineer Dave Haynie, the A600 "was supposed to be $50-$60 cheaper than the A500, but it came in at about that much more expensive than the A500." The Managing Director of Commodore UK, David Pleasance, described the A600 as a "complete and utter screw-up."
I suspect ten years from now we'll see Sony engineers saying the PSP GO started as a good idea, but due to poor management and bad decisions, became a complete and utter screw-up, and about $100 more expensive than it was meant to be.
Huh.
Reading that review makes me want to dust-off my old Atari, Nintendo, and Sega Genesis consoles, and relive the days when gaming was FUN rather than a chore. The PSP Go sounds like a royal piece of shit, especially the part where you have to waste 2-3 hours downloading games.
>>>HAND
Thanks for the offer but my wife already took care of that this morning.
>>>ranting about socialism in Ayn Rand's terms.
Wow. Thomas Jefferson must have got a sex change. He's the person I quote most often. I've never even read Ayn Rand's stuff.
You ought to be smart enough to know that a $25 check (same as cash) and a $25 *credit* on a Visa card is not the same thing. The credit may be revoked at any time (like if Staples went bankrupt), or it include a $2.00 per year fee (typical for gift cards), or it can expire.
>>>Disney could keep "Steamboat Willie" copyrighted forever - 1 day
Nooooo! The world would be a lot better place if Steamboat Willie, Merry Melodies, and other early projects fell into the public domain. Then at least we could see these early works. When "It's a Wonderful Life" was under copyright the movie was largely forgotten, but then it fell into the public domain so television stations of the 70s and 80s started playing it (because it was basically free), and it went from obscurity into popularity. Now with the copyright restored, the movie is once again falling into obscurity.
The art world is best served by allowing works to be public domain and accessible, not locked behind a door.
>>>The last thing I want is Comcast controlled by the government. Government has no business in private Market.
Agree 100%, except in cases of monopolies like the electric company, natural gas company, phone company, or..... the internet company. Until such time as the Comcast monopoly is broken with 3 or 4 other alternatives, the government has every right to control it, in order to prevent the kind of abuses found in this blog - http://comcastissue.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2007-02-01T08%3A27%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=7
Um... okay. Well it's still damned inconvenient to spend this VISA card, since I have to worry about when/where/how I'm going to use a card before it expires. A $25 check would have been easier, because I can just dump twenty-five dollars in my wallet or savings account and forget it.
Customer service sure has gone to shit in 2009. NBC talked about that in regards to bank accounts raising fees, or stores refusing to take returns. It must be the result of companies tightening their belts.
>>>Jesus Christ. You weren't "entitled" to the $25 off. It might have affected your choice, but the company was attempting to entice you... Cry us a fucking river.
Yeah you're right. And a few years ago when my ex-employer JCPenney was caught by the Texas General Attorney charging $19.99 for an item advertised at 9.99, that's exactly what they should have told him - "We were just trying to entice you to make a purchase. We're not expected to honor the price with an actual dollar discount. Here's a ten dollar coupon and shut up Mr. Texas AG." Instead they let themselves get fined. SUC80RS!
Xena fans are just as rabid as B5 fans, so your idea doesn't really make much sense. \
Anyway the actual numbers would have been 4 million U.S. homes watching B5/Xena/Hercules and about 5 million homes watching DS9, week-after-week. Star Trek TNG had a loyal following of 10-11 million homes each week; ditto Star Trek TOS.
>>>One can only imagine what JMS would have done with that if he had devoted Season 5 to it (as originally planned) instead of compressing it into Season 4.
>>>
No need to imagine since JMS already answered this question a couple times. He:
- Moved the season 4 cliffhnager (where Sheridan is betrayed by Garibaldi and captured) from episodes 422 to 418.
- He moved episodes 501, 502, and 503 to the end of season 4.
- He left the rest of the season 5 story intact.
>>>I wouldn't mind seeing a story where the megalomaniac Sheridan got his comeuppance.
Except in the official B5 history, Sheridan stepped down as president and handed the reins over to somebody else, just as George Washington peaceably handed the control over to John Adams, rather than turn himself into a king. The ISA is supposed to be a democratic organization, much like the United Federation of Planets in Star Trek. ----- And turning over your whitestars or galaxy-class cruisers to Earth's president would make about as much sense as the U.S. giving nuclear weapons to the State of Texas, so Texas could go-around conquering Kansas and Arizona and Colorado. No. You don't turn-over your central weapons to the lower-level member states, else how would you keep them inline?
One story that might be interesting is circa 2700 when the Earth devolves into an anti-alien, fear-mongering society and effectively secedes from the Alliance.
Here's my understanding of Stargate history. It's convoluted and filled with holes, but here it is:
- The Ancients originated on earth as the first homo sapiens. They were highly advanced.
- A large chunk of them moved to the Pegasus galaxy, which is why the gates look "newer" than the Milky Way gates.
- The blood-sucking bug bit some humans, evolved into a bug-human hybrid called the Wraith, and forced the Ancients to leave Pegasus and come back home.
- The Ancients launched the exploratory vessel from Earth, perhaps looking for new galaxies to conquer.
- The Ancients ascended.
- Some stayed behind but a catastrophe forced them to "forget" their knowledge and devolve into us. Then the Go'auld arrived at some point and became the new masters in Egypt. We kicked them out, buried the gates, and without the Ga'ould controlling our population, we rapidly grew from 0.2 to 6 billion.
Ooops. I read too fast and thought it said million not billion.
Okay so the ship is still inside the universe. Interesting. That means it would take that ship about 3 million years to go from the Milky Way to the edge. It would have needed to be launched back when the poles were still ice free, and the dominant lifeform was an ape that ate raw meat (and therefore got smarter).
>>>First, why did the point of origin for the 9 symbol address have to be Earth's symbol? They weren't on Earth, and they weren't using the Earth gate.
Precisely. Which is why it didn't work until they changed their point-of-origin to the new planet. Please pay closer attention to the fake, make-believe magic incantations. ;-)
>>>if no one has been on the ship since it was launched, why are the CO2 scrubbers full of gunk?
For the same reason why your car's engine oil would turn to with gunk if you left it sitting-around for 10,000 years.
>>>if the air has been leaking out of the ship since it was damaged, where is the new air coming from?
Good point. It's funny how all these problems just suddenly "happened" on precisely Day 3.6 Million of the ship's log, and humans just happened to be there.
>>>a Run about would pass through the borg cube. jeeze read a book.
Would I find this book about imaginary technology in my college library? ;-) Oh and by the way photon torpedoes are warp-driven vessels filled with antimatter - they don't pass through the ship when they impact, even though they are traveling at warp speed.
You're using a camera in an environment with extreme contrast. You're going to get a lensing effect.
It wouldn't be the same. The War against the First Ones only happens once in the entire span of the universe. Anything other time period in B5 History simply wouldn't be as interesting.
>>>I still think that B5 is rather underrated/unknown in the general population
Actually B5's Nielsen Ratings (viewership) were only 1% below that of Star Trek DS9, and equal to Hercules and Xena, so it's about as well known as those shows in terms of how many people saw them.
Good summary. Here are the random thoughts that popped into my head during the premiere:
- That ship traveled the distance of about ~50 galaxies in 10,000 years. According to scientists there's about 3 million LYs between each galaxy, so the ship covered that's 150 million lightyears. FLAW: It's only about 50 million LYs from here to the edge of the universe. (suspension of disbelief just broke)
- How many stargates did the Ancients "seed" if the ship was only one day away from one of them? There must be trillions of them scattered around.
- Stargate Atlantis is to Star Trek DS9, as Stargate Universe is to Voyager.
- I'd rather have season 6 of Atlantis.
>>>>>You are a Republican. You are unwanted. Go away.
>>A Republican! GET THE PITCHFORKS AND TORCHES!
That's alright. At least you Democrats didn't go so far as to call me "racist". Oh wait. You did. Also "unamerican" according to Oligarch Pelosi. I guess I won't be going to any more tea party protests, because y'all put me in my place. I'm sorry. I'll just go watch my television now and vegetate like a sheeople..... (drools)
BTW I've already worked-out plans -
- if the merd hits the fan, I'm moving to the EU so I can live under their Charter of Fundamental Rights. "Where liberty lives, there is my country." - Benjamin Franklin
>>>It sounds alot like you just feel the need to bitch about something today.
I can't help that. The actions of the corporations makes the complaining inevitable. Perhaps if they stopped searching for ways to screw the citizens (like in this article with "free" upgrades costing 20 dollars) then not just me, but ALL of us would have less things to complain about.
Okay I read the wikipedia entry. What's the relevance?