There's always going to be something better coming along. In 2002 there might be the Acme Widgetmaster 2002! With more pixelly things and polygonality than ever before and quantum cube storage capable of storing the entire knowledge of the world!!!!
Ok. Hyperbole. But you get my point. Whether you buy a Dreamcast or PS2 now, an Indrema, Gamecube or X-Box when they're available, in a few years time there'll be something better.
When you're buying a console, the hardware isn't that important. OK - you want stuff to look good and sound good, but the main point of a console is the games available for it. If it has plenty of top-notch games of the sort you like, then that's the one to buy.
That's where consoles stand or fall. It's the Gillette principle, where the founder of Gillette realised that it didn't matter how much he sold the razors for as people would keep buying blades from him all the time afterwards. The console is the razor. The games are the blades. That's where the console companies make their money.
Sony could probably afford to give away PS2s. Sega could probably afford to give away Dreamcasts. They'd get the money back on the extra games they sold.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
"Weiler said the current plans would spend about $450 million a year, but the sample return mission may cost as much as $1 billion."
So what you're saying here is that you could have two sample return missions for the price of one B2 Stealth Bomber, the plane which is so ludicrously expensive the US Air Force didn't use them in the Gulf War in case one got shot down!
A plane which has to be kept in a specially air-conditioned hangar, as in the wrong conditions the stealth covering comes off, and has to have a new coat of stealth covering after each flight!
An aircraft so wonderfully stealthy that when one came to a UK Air Show, British Radar picked it up while it was still over the Atlantic, flying at full stealth capacity! Strangely, they've not sent one over since.
(F117 Stealth Fighters probably cost hundreds of millions, and they're a bit crap too. Fighter my arse, a WWII Spitfire would fly rings around it and then shoot it down!)
A $1 Billion mars programme sounds like a bargain! Why not spend more money on it and make sure it's going to work this time?
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Personally I don't see any world government putting another person on the moon again
China might. OK, they're starting with bought-in Russian tech, but they might go for it for the glory of China. And like the Russians, they might get too upset every time an astronaut dies. (What DOES China call their spacemen?)
India is also shooting for the moon, first with unmanned probes as you can read here, but who knows what else.
Actually, I hope China and India both make it, and establish bases there.
More people might then go to the moon and ask "What do you fancy tonight? Chinese or a curry?"
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
They may very well have the kind of leverage to get the US government to pressure whichever countries supply SeaLand's bandwidth to have SeaLand cut off
The US would have to pressure a few North Sea countries (All reasonably wealthy with no real dependence on the US) essentially as a favour to a corporation currently being tried for monopolistic practices. Of course, MS could directly approach those countries.
The thing about Sealand is that when it was founded it was outside British territorial waters - the old three mile limit. We extended that to a ten mile limit several years ago. Sealand is now inside British Territorial Waters.
I suspect the only reason we haven't already reposessed it is because nobody has paid any attention to it - nobody wanted the hassle. It's a bunch of metal and concrete in the north sea, so long as it's not being used for illegal purposes (drug running or terrorism), it's harmless and eccentric - and we love eccentrics.
Picture this: Offended party complains to FBI. US Gov. asks UK Gov. to do something. UK Gov. closes down Sealand and probably demolishes it. After all, it is government property, and the only reason it hasn't been knocked down is because there's been no real need to.
The idea that Sealand is going to be some kind of wonderful free data haven outside the reach of governments is a pipe-dream for inhabitants of cloud cuckoo land.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Balance of Power. I had that on my Atari ST. One of the few games where I didn't have to disconnect the monochrome monitor and go back to the TV.
I always lost. The losing message was quite chilling. This was the 80's - where Reagan and Brezhnev were practically daring each other to cross the line, and the nukes could have started flying any time.
Actually, it would be kind of cool for someone to design an updated version. No more Soviet Union, of course, but you could handle conflicts such as India/Pakistan, China, N. Korea, all the other nuclear powers in the world.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Ronald Reagan swore under oath that he pretty much didn't know anything about what went on in his office!
Perhaps so, but in Ronnie's case that was quite true!
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Astrologers have already had to make up new rules. When people started doing astrology, they didn't know about the outer planets. So they kind of added them on as they went along
Astrology is bunk, as any decent Astronomer will tell you.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Lem's stuff is brilliant,that which I've read, and I'm sure he'd be far more well known had he not been from eastern Europe. Which is a shame. More of his books should be reprinted as they're quite hard to find.
Someone mentioned Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (sp?) - Their novel "Roadside Picnic" has been reprinted (in the UK, at least) in Gollancz's new classic SF range - the return of the yellow jacketed SF books I used to seek out at the library when I were a lad.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
You missed out that people who use the word "grok" come across as sad bastards with no lives.
While we're at it. "The GIMP" - Oh joy, it's Gnu Stupid Acronymic Name Syndrome again. I mean, could nobody think of a decent name for it? "FreePaint", "Photo4Free", whatever, something more descriptive and catchy-sounding.
(Yes, I know it's Gnu Image Manipulation Program, but nobody ever calls it that and it's a bit of a mouthful, as the actress said to the bishop.)
As for the book "Grokking The Gimp", the title practically screams "GEEKS ONLY".
Don't get me wrong, I like the Gimp - Linux and Windows versions alike.
It's actually quite decent software - OK, it may lack the features that professionals need, CYMK etc, but for the ordinary guy who wants to play around with photos and make cool designs for their web page, it's the dog's bollocks.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Talking about Quake - the BBC are supposed to be developing a Deathmatch game show where celebs battle each other in Quake III Arena with skins modelled on themselves in a special arena designed for the programme.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
George Bush (the old one) had two terms in control behind senile old fart Reagan, one term in power as himself, and could end up being the first President to have four terms in control of the USA behind his idiot son.
From where I'm standing it's all highly entertaining, but then again our political parties aren't much better.
What happened to politicians with charisma and values?
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
As a confirmed mobilephoneophobe, I have to applaud the phone companies in their increased attempts to make mobile phone users look more and more stupid.
First, there was the hands free set, and we were besieged with people wandering along the street having a conversation with thin air.
Mummy mummy, why is the strange man talking to himself?
He's either mentally ill or on a mobile phone dear...
But this idea is guaranteed to make users look even stupider! I can bet you that if this sees production, you WILL see besuited yuppie scum wandering down the street talking to their wrist with their finger in their ear - just not realising how completly zarking stupid this makes them look!
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Yeah. The movie was supposed to have been this year's summer blockbuster... Although I suspect if it had been, X-Men may have beaten it at the box office.
I find it very hard to get excited at the film. Mainly because I've heard it all before. They've been going to make a film since the early '80s - each attempt got to about the stage it's at now, dragged on, and on, and on, and was quietly dropped.
When I see it I'll believe it.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
I am sure (although I don't have references handy) that MIR has provided lots of useful research
Loads - Through MIR, the Russians know more about long-term exposure to a microgravity habitat than anyone. They've worked on exercise devices designed to try and counteract these effects - lack of muscle tone, loss of calcium from bone structure, etc. They also know more about the psychology of long-term space habitation than anyone else. (I believe they had a captain on Mir who went a bit mad after a while?)
Make no mistake, the research done by the Russians with MIR will be invaluable, not only for people on the ISS, but for any long term space flight - i.e. going to Mars.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Jesus H. Christ on a motherfucking bicycle!
I wish the rapture *would* come - we'd get rid of all you arseholes and maybe the world would be a better place without your stupidty and bigotry.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Hey look! It's a pig-ignorant right wing arsehole!
There has *NOT* always been a hole in the ozone over the poles. And it *IS* getting bigger.
The climate *IS* changing, and you *ARE* a tosser.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Slashdot Mirror
There's always going to be something better coming along. In 2002 there might be the Acme Widgetmaster 2002! With more pixelly things and polygonality than ever before and quantum cube storage capable of storing the entire knowledge of the world!!!!
Ok. Hyperbole. But you get my point. Whether you buy a Dreamcast or PS2 now, an Indrema, Gamecube or X-Box when they're available, in a few years time there'll be something better.
When you're buying a console, the hardware isn't that important. OK - you want stuff to look good and sound good, but the main point of a console is the games available for it. If it has plenty of top-notch games of the sort you like, then that's the one to buy.
That's where consoles stand or fall. It's the Gillette principle, where the founder of Gillette realised that it didn't matter how much he sold the razors for as people would keep buying blades from him all the time afterwards. The console is the razor. The games are the blades. That's where the console companies make their money. Sony could probably afford to give away PS2s. Sega could probably afford to give away Dreamcasts. They'd get the money back on the extra games they sold.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
"Weiler said the current plans would spend about $450 million a year, but the sample return mission may cost as much as $1 billion."
So what you're saying here is that you could have two sample return missions for the price of one B2 Stealth Bomber, the plane which is so ludicrously expensive the US Air Force didn't use them in the Gulf War in case one got shot down! A plane which has to be kept in a specially air-conditioned hangar, as in the wrong conditions the stealth covering comes off, and has to have a new coat of stealth covering after each flight!
An aircraft so wonderfully stealthy that when one came to a UK Air Show, British Radar picked it up while it was still over the Atlantic, flying at full stealth capacity! Strangely, they've not sent one over since.
(F117 Stealth Fighters probably cost hundreds of millions, and they're a bit crap too. Fighter my arse, a WWII Spitfire would fly rings around it and then shoot it down!)
A $1 Billion mars programme sounds like a bargain! Why not spend more money on it and make sure it's going to work this time?
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Personally I don't see any world government putting another person on the moon again
China might. OK, they're starting with bought-in Russian tech, but they might go for it for the glory of China. And like the Russians, they might get too upset every time an astronaut dies. (What DOES China call their spacemen?)
India is also shooting for the moon, first with unmanned probes as you can read here, but who knows what else.
Actually, I hope China and India both make it, and establish bases there.
More people might then go to the moon and ask "What do you fancy tonight? Chinese or a curry?"
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Lunar Lander on the side of a NASA building!
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
I suspect the only reason we haven't already reposessed it is because nobody has paid any attention to it - nobody wanted the hassle. It's a bunch of metal and concrete in the north sea, so long as it's not being used for illegal purposes (drug running or terrorism), it's harmless and eccentric - and we love eccentrics.
Picture this: Offended party complains to FBI. US Gov. asks UK Gov. to do something. UK Gov. closes down Sealand and probably demolishes it. After all, it is government property, and the only reason it hasn't been knocked down is because there's been no real need to.
The idea that Sealand is going to be some kind of wonderful free data haven outside the reach of governments is a pipe-dream for inhabitants of cloud cuckoo land.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Balance of Power. I had that on my Atari ST. One of the few games where I didn't have to disconnect the monochrome monitor and go back to the TV.
I always lost. The losing message was quite chilling. This was the 80's - where Reagan and Brezhnev were practically daring each other to cross the line, and the nukes could have started flying any time.
Actually, it would be kind of cool for someone to design an updated version. No more Soviet Union, of course, but you could handle conflicts such as India/Pakistan, China, N. Korea, all the other nuclear powers in the world.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Ronald Reagan swore under oath that he pretty much didn't know anything about what went on in his office!
Perhaps so, but in Ronnie's case that was quite true!
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Astrologers have already had to make up new rules. When people started doing astrology, they didn't know about the outer planets. So they kind of added them on as they went along
Astrology is bunk, as any decent Astronomer will tell you.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Mickey, of course.
Now all we have to do is find another one and call it Goofy.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
I think you'll find that e=mc^2 doesn't destroy matter - it converts it into energy. That's what the e stands for!
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Which states that the universe is the way that it is because if it wasn't, we wouldn't be here to see it.
Is the Hubble Constant still 42, by the way?
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Lem's stuff is brilliant,that which I've read, and I'm sure he'd be far more well known had he not been from eastern Europe. Which is a shame. More of his books should be reprinted as they're quite hard to find.
Someone mentioned Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (sp?) - Their novel "Roadside Picnic" has been reprinted (in the UK, at least) in Gollancz's new classic SF range - the return of the yellow jacketed SF books I used to seek out at the library when I were a lad.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
You missed out that people who use the word "grok" come across as sad bastards with no lives.
While we're at it. "The GIMP" - Oh joy, it's Gnu Stupid Acronymic Name Syndrome again. I mean, could nobody think of a decent name for it? "FreePaint", "Photo4Free", whatever, something more descriptive and catchy-sounding.
(Yes, I know it's Gnu Image Manipulation Program, but nobody ever calls it that and it's a bit of a mouthful, as the actress said to the bishop.)
As for the book "Grokking The Gimp", the title practically screams "GEEKS ONLY". Don't get me wrong, I like the Gimp - Linux and Windows versions alike. It's actually quite decent software - OK, it may lack the features that professionals need, CYMK etc, but for the ordinary guy who wants to play around with photos and make cool designs for their web page, it's the dog's bollocks.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Talking about Quake - the BBC are supposed to be developing a Deathmatch game show where celebs battle each other in Quake III Arena with skins modelled on themselves in a special arena designed for the programme.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
George Bush (the old one) had two terms in control behind senile old fart Reagan, one term in power as himself, and could end up being the first President to have four terms in control of the USA behind his idiot son.
From where I'm standing it's all highly entertaining, but then again our political parties aren't much better.
What happened to politicians with charisma and values?
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Well, Alanis Morissette IS God!* She could terraform the planet in the wave of a hand...
*What do you mean, you've never seen Dogma?
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
First, there was the hands free set, and we were besieged with people wandering along the street having a conversation with thin air.
But this idea is guaranteed to make users look even stupider! I can bet you that if this sees production, you WILL see besuited yuppie scum wandering down the street talking to their wrist with their finger in their ear - just not realising how completly zarking stupid this makes them look!
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
...and this time, it's personal.
Sorry - couldn't resist it.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
ESR will just take the credit
At gunpoint, presumably.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Yeah. The movie was supposed to have been this year's summer blockbuster... Although I suspect if it had been, X-Men may have beaten it at the box office.
I find it very hard to get excited at the film. Mainly because I've heard it all before. They've been going to make a film since the early '80s - each attempt got to about the stage it's at now, dragged on, and on, and on, and was quietly dropped.
When I see it I'll believe it.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
I am sure (although I don't have references handy) that MIR has provided lots of useful research
Loads - Through MIR, the Russians know more about long-term exposure to a microgravity habitat than anyone. They've worked on exercise devices designed to try and counteract these effects - lack of muscle tone, loss of calcium from bone structure, etc. They also know more about the psychology of long-term space habitation than anyone else. (I believe they had a captain on Mir who went a bit mad after a while?)
Make no mistake, the research done by the Russians with MIR will be invaluable, not only for people on the ISS, but for any long term space flight - i.e. going to Mars.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Not a shield, a surfboard!!!
Remember Dark Star?
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Jesus H. Christ on a motherfucking bicycle!
I wish the rapture *would* come - we'd get rid of all you arseholes and maybe the world would be a better place without your stupidty and bigotry.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
Hey look! It's a pig-ignorant right wing arsehole!
There has *NOT* always been a hole in the ozone over the poles. And it *IS* getting bigger.
The climate *IS* changing, and you *ARE* a tosser.
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems