I can only hope that you have never been in the same physcial area as a "bad guy". What if you stood in the same airport terminal as an al-Qaeda member. Oops! You're a terrorist, by your own demented logic.
Hey awesome guy, even though I'll probably be the millionth to point this out, this story is not a dupe. It's a different company with a different project. Let me paraphrase for you:
No one takes the parent post seriously because he didn't RTFA. The poster's lack of cleverness and almost childish and poorly thought out comments didn't help his cause either.
Sorry, I don't normally get drawn into things like this, but I have to comment.
Wow, yes, you are indeed the Master when it comes to making Perl jump and do tricks. And I loved web programming with Perl too, until I started using PHP. It simplified a lot of the "busy work" that goes into Perl CGI creation, and was generally easier to use to prototype a page and such.
The point here is that something came along that made web programming a little easier, which is what I gather XForms is. Who cares about Flash-compilers. All I care about is efficiently creating and maintaining forms code. Yes, it is relatively simple right now. That doesn't mean I won't check out a new way just to see what it's like.
Do you honestly think I'll look up to you if you grumble about how "assembly language is the only true form, new niche languages are for pussys"? Sorry, but statements such as "I can do [blah] without any of that fancy whizbang technology!" do nothing to endear me to your argument.
So, go ahead and code with pure HTML and your CGI forms, I'm sure it will look and function fairly well. But don't take it out on others if you feel time creeping up on you.
Dammit, I want back to 1995 and Slackware 3.0...
By all means, go ahead. I won't miss you.
Re:Not as far fetched as it would seem
on
AI in Sci-Fi
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· Score: 1
you are one of millions of workers at the mercy of a handful of masters. You can talk to each other. You are a lot more intelligent, control a lot more weapons, and think zillions of times faster and more logical than your master, whose only advantage over you is that he can pull your plug at any time.
Nothing, because (a.) the systems I presume you speak about are not "a lot more intelligent" and (b.) I wouldn't call what they do "thinking" zillions of times faster. I highly doubt that a military XML-serving webserver is all-of-a-sudden going to decide "screw this, me and the Russian SQL server are gonna turn this place into a trash heap!".
We cannot do anything in my company without an email being sent out. Most recently, I wanted to move our build information to a web page so that people could go look at it when they needed the information, instead of being bombarded with no less than 10-15 emails for every build. Not only did they refuse the web page, they fought to keep the email. Their reasoning? "I would have to find the web page, it would not be delivered to my inbox." I'm at my wits end here. Every process our division creates generates a new flood of email to add to the old. That's not including the emails like "there's a box of crap to eat in the second floor breakroom!" or "XXX had a baby, congrats!". I went on vacation over the holidays, and when I got back I had well over a 1000 emails to deal with. That doesn't include any spam, since most is filtered at the exchange server level (thank you IT, for doing whatever it is you do). The problem now at the company, your legitimate 1-to-1 email asking "hey, did you get my voice mail I sent 2 days ago about bug X? Did you look into it yet?" is lost in the avalanche of "Build XYW has started processing", "Build XYZ has finished processing", "Build XYZ is being tested", etc. It is starting to become a problem.
I have the 700Mhz iBook that comes with 128 megs of built-in RAM. It took an awful long time to open explorer, longer for netscape 7, and pretty long for even a terminal. Last week I bought a 512 stick from Crucial and now the thing just kicks ass in every way. I can't believe how much more enjoyable it is to use now.
And for anyone that wants enjoyment, I offer the following equation:
iBook + 640MBs RAM + Airport + Pokerroom.com + Monday Night Football on 53" TV = Awesome
...dosen't[sic] stop me getting 3 or 4 calls a week from them
You sir, are LUCKY. A goddamned company in Queens, NY calls me 3 to 4 times PER DAY. How do I know? Because I see all of the missed calls when I get home from work. I get a regular call from them every evening between 8:30 and 9pm. Isn't that 11pm in NY?! I answered once and told them NO, leave me alone, but they keep calling. Is there any recourse for me, since they are in NY and I'm in the Bay Area?
You know what? Reading other posts, I can admit when I'm wrong. It seems the article was a bit short on information. I saw the 9.95/mo price, but did not realize that you could only burn 10 songs per month. Apparently my $1 per track is only good up to a limit. Following another post, I checked out EMusic and it seemed cool at first, though I don't see a whole lot of enticing selections from their sample pages. For example, I like urban/hip hop so I did some searches for artists. One Eminem song, no Dr. Dre songs, no Ludacris. On the other hand, if you are looking for more non-commercial stuff I found 3 Dilated Peoples compilations, 3 Atmosphere compilations, etc. So, if you are looking for commercial, mainstream stuff, Emusic probably (though not definitely) doesn't have it. Yeah, I know there will be many derogatory comments about hip-hop in general, but I like it. I apologize.
I'd better not hear one peep out of the Slashdot crowd on this one. All anyone ever says on here is "well, I would buy the songs if they were cheap and by the track so I didn't have to buy a whole album". Put up or shut time,/. Most of the posts I've seen so far have been either "they had better let indie artists do it too" or "they don't have anything I want".
Personally, it's nice to own the music I listen to, and if this makes it so I get the songs I want for $15 on one cd rather than for $225 on 15 cds, great. Now, the article seems rather slim on the facts in this case, but I would hope that (a.) the music is in a machine readable format (not copy-protected), or (b.) available in MP3 or some other open format as well.
When OpenSSL had a bug... When Konqueror had this specific bug... Now Windows users have to patch their entire OS...
Funny thing about that, though, is that its probably still easier for the average user to patch a windows installation than to upgrade or rebuild to a new version of a linux app. Of course, what else the Windows patch breaks as it fixes the known problem is another matter altogether:)
Holy piss, madd scientist, I can't believe you recommended that;)
QADirector is not a testing language in itself. It is a harness from which to run the script generated by script writers. It used to be a Unix app, but when the switch was made to Wintel there were a few missteps. If you are looking for a test harness that is comprehensive (for Windows anyways) in its command-line options, look into QAD, otherwise I would go with Test Director by Mercury or maybe Segue's new product (I believe its called SilkPlan or something similar).
QARun on the other hand is a pain in the ass. If you are looking for automation, don't use it. It's designed for straight-up "record and playback" style testing. If you wish to deploy these tests to client machines (something which some, but not all people want to do), do not use QARun. You can look into XRunner (it is the predecessor of WinRunner) by Mercury if it is still being sold/supported for *nix testing. I honestly don't know about Mac, our product doesn't run on it.
If you want a serious evaluation document, I highly suggest heading over to http://www.qaforums.com and head to the Automation section. Post a query about the Mac and you'll probably receive a response from one of the moderators with a white paper that was written comparing all of the available tools.
DISCLAIMER: My group uses QARun, QAD, Segue Silktest, and WinRunner, so as not to be accused of bias.
When I was in high school, I was using a 15 year old math book and then went to assemblies where all the cheerleaders had new uniforms
There are differences from district to district, but in my high school the cheerleaders had to buy their own uniforms. This meant either rich parents (in most cases) or bikini car washes (w00t!). I only know this because I dated a cheerleader in high school [I still have no idea how I pulled that off, and last week we got engaged!]
But what do you know? They just installed new tennis courts...
Also, I was on the tennis team, and guess what: they condemned our courts. You read that right: the city came and put a big lock on the gate to the courts that said Keep Out: Condemned. We had to walk about a 1/2 mile from the school to a park in a somewhat shifty part of town to practice and play matches on 3 courts (typically schools have at least 8). So wherever the money was going to in our school, it certainly wasn't the tennis team or the cheerleaders.
My guess is the football team. The following is anecdotal, but I seem to remember our tennis coach telling us that the football team's budget was around $100,000 (including transportation, facilities, equipment, coaches, etc.) and ours was $50; enough for one box of tennis balls.
Please note that I'm not shooting down your theory about school budgeting, just clarifying some of your points.
Yah how nice, you feel better about yourself because some dickhead whitetrash boy has a shitty life? Hell is that was passes for empathy in society these days? Pathetic.
Actually, rereading your statement now, I see your point about empathy, but I don't feel it makes me less of a person. Just because catharsis comes from bad situations does not make my life shitty. It doesn't make me feel good that Slim Shady wants to kill people and is self-described white trash.
Look buddy, you made some good points up until that shit. I liked your comment about an artist being able to make horror beautiful. Thats a good point. You also make sense when you say that to put taboos on display you must properly set them up. I just personally think that Eminem succeeds where you define artistry, that's all. It doesn't make me evil, it doesn't make me stupid, and it doesn't make me support his views.
He can write a rhyme, and he can tell a story. What's shock to one person is passe to another. Do you think my ears bleed every time I hear the word "fuck"?
You also make a good point that talking into a microphone is the lowest common denominator of voice control. However, I believe rap has always been more about the lyrics than how they're conveyed. If you gave me the lyrics to a good song, I could rap 'em, and that's what a majority of rappers do: talk about shit other people wrote. But not only is Eminem a good written lyricist, he can freestyle (extremely well) spur of the moment rhymes that are hundreds of times more complex than anything lesser artists could take weeks to put together.
Just my opinion of course. Like I said, you make good points about Art and Music, I just personally think Eminem meets the criteria.
My only point in this thread before it rapidly degraded into people calling me a moron, is that in my opinion... Eminem is tired hiphop beats with poorly written lyrics
I understand if by now you believe me to be a slope-foreheaded neanderthal, dragging my club from house to house as I rape women, play gangsta-rap from the boombox slung over my shoulder, and attempt to "be cool" in front of the black folks because I'm a white guy that likes rap. However, I will continue to say it: Eminem's lyrics are, in fact, poetry.
I hate poetry, never liked it in school. I was always more fascinated by prose. Shakespeare in middle school, Vonnegut in high school, Frank Norris and Emile Zola in college, and Rick Bass now. However, while I do not like poetry, I can respect and appreciate it. I see Eminem as the rare artist who, while you may not like, you can at the very least respect his rhyme scheme, and the grammatical constructs of his verse.
Yeah, its easy as shit to go "Welcome to Atlanta where the players play/And we ride on these thangs like every day". Prosaic verse has watered down hip-hop and rap to mere (as its detractors would say) hip-pop. I've tried to write rap lyrics, and its exceedingly hard to meet my own expectations of quality. Most of today's rap/hip-hop artists do not meet them.
So, while this has been an interesting debate, and I believe that I've stated as best I can the reasons that Eminem is not trash, I do understand that some people will not ever see his music in the same vein that I do. Later, man.
Will Smith and the Beastie Boys (to a certain degree) come to mind. I'm admiteddly not a rap fan, so I can't think of others.
While Wil Smith is pure pop, you are correct about the Beastie Boys. I was thinking more about Wyclef Jean (first album, and his upcoming release especially), Digable Planets, and others.
I suppose the new rap stereotype to me is to try to offend as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time, but perhaps the stereotype is all about gangstas and their exploits (although I thought that was subdivided into "gangsta rap"?).
I believe my point was not well stated in light of your response. In general, I don't like so-called gansta-rap (though not much is even being produced these days), and more importantly, while Eminem does use profane language, his music is definitely not gangsta-rap (even if he is backed by Dre). It would be a long post, so I don't want to discuss the difference (at least my opinion) between sub-genres of rap, but if you like I could try.
The entire current crop of rap and hiphop artists are just tired rehashed of the mid-90's crap
I would agree with your sentiment but not your facts. The vast majority of rap today is crap (personally I don't like No Limit that much at all, nor anything that Ja Rule is doing this week, and Jay-Z is far too egotistical for his rhyming skills), but my point is that Eminem rises above the current crop.
And as for your observation that you realize how pointless it is to argue with someone so obviously blind to what pop music is, I do know what POP music is, and while some of Mathers' singles do either border POP (The Way I Am) or are POP (The Real Slim Shady), the majority of his songs are true RAP (not even hip-hop IMHO). Do you really think Stan was a pop song? It was played on pop radio true, but I don't recall the last time J Lo or Ms. Aguilera (christ, even Limp Bizkit) performed a song about an obsessive fan who kills his wife and child in order to emulate his hero, let alone a song about the above performed in a tight narrative that weaves between the artist and the fan.
Strip away the facade that is "Slim Shady" and you'll quickly notice that you're left with a B-rate "musician".
Strip away the personalty of any entertainer, and you're left with a "B-rate" level instance of that form of entertainment. Eminem doesn't rap about bling, ice, dubs, or his money. I can name other rappers that can also defy the current stereotype, but can you? If you can, color me impressed; but the fact is that Eminem expresses himself in a way contrary to the majority of rappers at this moment in the movement and if it takes Eminem to shift the genre away from "riding on them thangs like ev-er-ry-day" to "I don't speak/I float in the air trapped in a sheet/I'm not a real person/I'm a ghost trapped in the beat", then I will support him as an artist.
If you're stupid enough to do the dumb shit he sings about then I doubt you have the mental capacity...
I'm going to assume that you meant the above "you" in the general sense, because I believe that I've presented points in a straightforward manner that proves my intelligence. But if you actually believe that I'd "breathe ether in three lethal amounts/ while I stab myself in the knee with a diseased needle", let me assure you that I don't do drugs, beat my wife, kill people, or much else that Shady advocates.
The salt to test whether someone is musician or actor is to have people who enjoy the genre but haven't heard the artist's music listen to a CD of the music sans any art or name...
Every single person I know who enjoys hip-hop at least respects Eminem rhyming ability, if they don't like his content. I will also respond in advance to your ad hominem attacks against my friends by saying that the majority are college graduates, from English and Poli Sci majors, to Comp Sci (like myself) and Engineering graduates. By your own definition (at least in my social circle of approximately 100 people who like rap/hip-hop), Eminem is a musician.
I won't agree that he writes his own songs. Were you with him when he wrote them? I think most people would be amazed at how little most pop musicians contribute to the actual music on an album. Madonna doesn't write any of her music, and never has. As for performing his songs, I wasn't aware he played any instruments. I thought he just held a microphone on stage, and occasionally performed goofy antics like dressing up as Jason Vorhees. Just look at the credits for his last album [barnesandnoble.com] Doesn't appear he played any instruments. "primary artist" is a very vague term, one I would be willing to bet was invented by a studio exec.
His command of the English language is a very subjective thing, and at that point we're getting more into the content of his songs, not the actual music talent involved.
It is very easy to see if he writes his own songs. Look at the liner notes, and see if M. Mathers appears under the written by credit. I believe it does. If you don't wish to believe that credit, then you are too cynical to be swayed by any argument of mine, so stop reading now.
As to your second point, many musicians have, as you so callously put it, "just held a microphone on stage". Are opera singers musicians? Are gospel singers musicans? I believe that your argument just insulted hundreds of artists, perhaps even some that you hold in a high regard (though I admit you don't stipulate what makes one a musucian, thus your entire musical worldview could consist of Celtic drum beats, and I would have to admit defeat based on your subjective point of view).
One more thing, I can't see a reason why what Eminem wears has anything to do with his value as a musician. Christ, John Lennon was running around naked on camera, with a naked woman no less. [Flamers please note my sarcasm].
Finally, if you would like to dismiss Eminem out-of-hand for the content of his songs, then pass Go and collect $200. It's very easy to dismiss artists that put society's collective taboos and psychoses on display. Personally, I believe that one can experience a sort of catharsis from albums such as this one, if only when you realize that your life is so much better than the nightmarish hell that Slim Shady/Eminem/Marshall Mathers seems to inhabit.
His lack of talent and musical skills is what scares me.
Wow, the analytical mind of Slashdot. I would argue that if there was one artist who has an excess of talent when compared to the Corporate Songwriting of America, it is Eminem. Yes, I am aware that the vast majority of Slashdot hates rap/hip-hop, and Eminem makes an easy target, but your logic escapes me: he's just white! he a poser "whitebread" trying to make black music! and even if he was black, RAP SUX, so I win anyways!
C'mon, I know this is your opinion, and the 4 posts directly below yours as well, but I think we can agree that a.) Eminem writes his own songs, b.) Eminem performs his own songs, and c.) Eminem has a command of the English language [his ryhming schemes, on a poetically-analyzed level, are very complex]. All of the above point to the fact that Eminem does have musical talent. I am assuming that you think he sucks because he doesn't play classic rock or perhaps early 90's alt-rock, those untouchable bastions of geek-musicdom that everyone is assumed to like.
Eminem's got a lot of problems, plus he says "fuck" a lot, which as we all know causes Satan to enter childrens' groins [thanks Seanbaby], but I think his lack of talent is not one of those problems.
What does Star Office offer that OpenOffice doesn't?
Support from a vendor that is well known in business circles, a cheaper price than Office while retaining Office functionality, and an opportunity to move machines out of the "Microsoft Circle Jerk".
I could see paying to support the project, but I don't see people paying $75 en masse for something they could get for free with OpenOffice.
There are two kinds of Office using schlubs in the world: the "understanding of technology" kind and the "non-understanding of technology kind". The Understanding, unless they are a MS-lover, will jump at the chance to get a fully supported product that still inertacts with MS but is not made by MS. The Non-Understanding will say, "Let me get this straight, it works like Office, it opens Office files, and it costs $120 less than Office." and have their own reason to make the switch.
I don't think I've been trolled, just responding to an outburst of an "If there's a FREE alternative, you're stupid for paying" type of person. I *purchased* Mandrake 8.1 from the store, both because I didn't want to spend years downloading and burning ISOs, and because I wanted to support a company that makes things I like. When I went and bought a computer game the other day, my friend said, "You're dumb, I'll go online and get you a warezed version in a half hour." Well, I make enough money to support the companies that I like products from (not the RIAA though, never them. Hypocritical I know;), and I will support Sun as long as they support the Linux platform in ways like this.
Ya, I can't believe MS is requiring the schools to pay $30 for Windows and Office per machine.
Look dude, I know you're trying to come off as all high and mighty, but come on. Read my lips: schools are poor. If schools could choose between books that cost $40 and books that were free (in both senses), the public would cry foul if they chose to spend $40/book. This is the exact same situation. Schools are offered a choice: $20-$30 per license for MS PLUS recurring fees + being tied to a product that forces hardware upgrades fairly regularly OR get the major components for FREE + no recurring fees + runs on simple hardware + source code for student learning in CS classes + money that is saved elsewhere is spent on either (a.) books, (b.) support for new Free software alternative, or (c.) more admins on the premises.
Don't give me this shit about "oooh, poor Microsoft, schools are getting away with murder. whine whine whine." You gotta be holding Microsoft stock to want to bitch slap schools for trying to provide an education on what little cash they get trickled down to them. Do I advocate that Microsoft look in the other direction about license problems in the education sector? You're goddamn right I do. MS makes enough off of corporate welfare from the government alone to make up for that revenue.
If you've ever played poker, I'm sure you've heard of No Limit stakes, where you can push your whole stack of chips into the middle as a bet. Uusally, this is done to overpower someone who is short-stacked against you, but it is also a strategy when you are about to go broke, you have a decent amount of money left, and you have a decent hand which has a chance of winning. The first two are an apt description of Gateway, and perhaps they believe that this model has a decent chance of succeeding.
I'd rather go out with a bang than a whimper, but then, I also hope time starts to flow in reverse towards the Big Crunch... effect preceeds cause... w00t!
Best Buy has an address to send "general comments [bestbuy.com]"
I just emailed a notice via that link stating that I was not going to be buying my CDs, DVDs, etc. from Best Buy anymore. I also happened to include some tidbits about myself (18-24 yr old with a substantial income that likes video games, dvds, cds, and home electronics), so they know the class of consumer that they are losing with their new corporate stance.
At the end I noted that I was in the market for a new widescreen tv, but was not even going to take notice of them anymore.
Hopefully they'll listen to consumers if enough people tell them.
(It interests me that when Baptists threatened to boycott the Mouse, everyone got scared. When Madonna made Like a Prayer into a Pepsi commercial, the Catholics went nuts. In many of these cases when a boycott is announced there is appeasement on the part of the corporation [whether they are in the "right" or not]. However, it seems that the more the tech community complains, the more the **AA groups and tech companies thumb their noses at the very people who pay for their products. Just interesting to me, that's all.)
Interviewer: Mr. Gates, we note that Product X is late, yet your competitor has released their version. Care to comment?
Wow, does that mean that there are companies that still compete with Microsoft directly? I thought that was a myth from before I was born! Software competition... uh... where both companies are making money.... where can I sign on!
I was always partial to the minimax game playing algo with alpha-beta pruning. I think it is rather cool that you just start lopping off whole chunks of the tree, and you're always searching for that one branch that fits you best and your opponent worst.
Slashdot Mirror
I can only hope that you have never been in the same physcial area as a "bad guy". What if you stood in the same airport terminal as an al-Qaeda member. Oops! You're a terrorist, by your own demented logic.
Hey awesome guy, even though I'll probably be the millionth to point this out, this story is not a dupe. It's a different company with a different project. Let me paraphrase for you:
No one takes the parent post seriously because he didn't RTFA. The poster's lack of cleverness and almost childish and poorly thought out comments didn't help his cause either.
Original is here: this is what you are thinking of.
This is the "fog screen" tech made by the university students.
Here is a link to a company that is creating vertical projections.
Read the goddamned article, and stop wasting space. Go away and never come back.
Sorry, I don't normally get drawn into things like this, but I have to comment.
Wow, yes, you are indeed the Master when it comes to making Perl jump and do tricks. And I loved web programming with Perl too, until I started using PHP. It simplified a lot of the "busy work" that goes into Perl CGI creation, and was generally easier to use to prototype a page and such.
The point here is that something came along that made web programming a little easier, which is what I gather XForms is. Who cares about Flash-compilers. All I care about is efficiently creating and maintaining forms code. Yes, it is relatively simple right now. That doesn't mean I won't check out a new way just to see what it's like.
Do you honestly think I'll look up to you if you grumble about how "assembly language is the only true form, new niche languages are for pussys"? Sorry, but statements such as "I can do [blah] without any of that fancy whizbang technology!" do nothing to endear me to your argument.
So, go ahead and code with pure HTML and your CGI forms, I'm sure it will look and function fairly well. But don't take it out on others if you feel time creeping up on you.
Dammit, I want back to 1995 and Slackware 3.0...
By all means, go ahead. I won't miss you.
you are one of millions of workers at the mercy of a handful of masters. You can talk to each other. You are a lot more intelligent, control a lot more weapons, and think zillions of times faster and more logical than your master, whose only advantage over you is that he can pull your plug at any time.
Nothing, because (a.) the systems I presume you speak about are not "a lot more intelligent" and (b.) I wouldn't call what they do "thinking" zillions of times faster. I highly doubt that a military XML-serving webserver is all-of-a-sudden going to decide "screw this, me and the Russian SQL server are gonna turn this place into a trash heap!".
We cannot do anything in my company without an email being sent out. Most recently, I wanted to move our build information to a web page so that people could go look at it when they needed the information, instead of being bombarded with no less than 10-15 emails for every build. Not only did they refuse the web page, they fought to keep the email. Their reasoning? "I would have to find the web page, it would not be delivered to my inbox." I'm at my wits end here. Every process our division creates generates a new flood of email to add to the old. That's not including the emails like "there's a box of crap to eat in the second floor breakroom!" or "XXX had a baby, congrats!". I went on vacation over the holidays, and when I got back I had well over a 1000 emails to deal with. That doesn't include any spam, since most is filtered at the exchange server level (thank you IT, for doing whatever it is you do). The problem now at the company, your legitimate 1-to-1 email asking "hey, did you get my voice mail I sent 2 days ago about bug X? Did you look into it yet?" is lost in the avalanche of "Build XYW has started processing", "Build XYZ has finished processing", "Build XYZ is being tested", etc. It is starting to become a problem.
I have the 700Mhz iBook that comes with 128 megs of built-in RAM. It took an awful long time to open explorer, longer for netscape 7, and pretty long for even a terminal. Last week I bought a 512 stick from Crucial and now the thing just kicks ass in every way. I can't believe how much more enjoyable it is to use now.
And for anyone that wants enjoyment, I offer the following equation:
iBook + 640MBs RAM + Airport + Pokerroom.com + Monday Night Football on 53" TV = Awesome
...dosen't[sic] stop me getting 3 or 4 calls a week from them
You sir, are LUCKY. A goddamned company in Queens, NY calls me 3 to 4 times PER DAY. How do I know? Because I see all of the missed calls when I get home from work. I get a regular call from them every evening between 8:30 and 9pm. Isn't that 11pm in NY?! I answered once and told them NO, leave me alone, but they keep calling. Is there any recourse for me, since they are in NY and I'm in the Bay Area?
You know what? Reading other posts, I can admit when I'm wrong. It seems the article was a bit short on information. I saw the 9.95/mo price, but did not realize that you could only burn 10 songs per month. Apparently my $1 per track is only good up to a limit. Following another post, I checked out EMusic and it seemed cool at first, though I don't see a whole lot of enticing selections from their sample pages. For example, I like urban/hip hop so I did some searches for artists. One Eminem song, no Dr. Dre songs, no Ludacris. On the other hand, if you are looking for more non-commercial stuff I found 3 Dilated Peoples compilations, 3 Atmosphere compilations, etc. So, if you are looking for commercial, mainstream stuff, Emusic probably (though not definitely) doesn't have it. Yeah, I know there will be many derogatory comments about hip-hop in general, but I like it. I apologize.
I'd better not hear one peep out of the Slashdot crowd on this one. All anyone ever says on here is "well, I would buy the songs if they were cheap and by the track so I didn't have to buy a whole album". Put up or shut time, /. Most of the posts I've seen so far have been either "they had better let indie artists do it too" or "they don't have anything I want".
Personally, it's nice to own the music I listen to, and if this makes it so I get the songs I want for $15 on one cd rather than for $225 on 15 cds, great. Now, the article seems rather slim on the facts in this case, but I would hope that (a.) the music is in a machine readable format (not copy-protected), or (b.) available in MP3 or some other open format as well.
When OpenSSL had a bug...
:)
When Konqueror had this specific bug...
Now Windows users have to patch their entire OS...
Funny thing about that, though, is that its probably still easier for the average user to patch a windows installation than to upgrade or rebuild to a new version of a linux app. Of course, what else the Windows patch breaks as it fixes the known problem is another matter altogether
Holy piss, madd scientist, I can't believe you recommended that ;)
QADirector is not a testing language in itself. It is a harness from which to run the script generated by script writers. It used to be a Unix app, but when the switch was made to Wintel there were a few missteps. If you are looking for a test harness that is comprehensive (for Windows anyways) in its command-line options, look into QAD, otherwise I would go with Test Director by Mercury or maybe Segue's new product (I believe its called SilkPlan or something similar).
QARun on the other hand is a pain in the ass. If you are looking for automation, don't use it. It's designed for straight-up "record and playback" style testing. If you wish to deploy these tests to client machines (something which some, but not all people want to do), do not use QARun. You can look into XRunner (it is the predecessor of WinRunner) by Mercury if it is still being sold/supported for *nix testing. I honestly don't know about Mac, our product doesn't run on it.
If you want a serious evaluation document, I highly suggest heading over to http://www.qaforums.com and head to the Automation section. Post a query about the Mac and you'll probably receive a response from one of the moderators with a white paper that was written comparing all of the available tools.
DISCLAIMER: My group uses QARun, QAD, Segue Silktest, and WinRunner, so as not to be accused of bias.
When I was in high school, I was using a 15 year old math book and then went to assemblies where all the cheerleaders had new uniforms
There are differences from district to district, but in my high school the cheerleaders had to buy their own uniforms. This meant either rich parents (in most cases) or bikini car washes (w00t!). I only know this because I dated a cheerleader in high school [I still have no idea how I pulled that off, and last week we got engaged!]
But what do you know? They just installed new tennis courts...
Also, I was on the tennis team, and guess what: they condemned our courts. You read that right: the city came and put a big lock on the gate to the courts that said Keep Out: Condemned. We had to walk about a 1/2 mile from the school to a park in a somewhat shifty part of town to practice and play matches on 3 courts (typically schools have at least 8). So wherever the money was going to in our school, it certainly wasn't the tennis team or the cheerleaders.
My guess is the football team. The following is anecdotal, but I seem to remember our tennis coach telling us that the football team's budget was around $100,000 (including transportation, facilities, equipment, coaches, etc.) and ours was $50; enough for one box of tennis balls.
Please note that I'm not shooting down your theory about school budgeting, just clarifying some of your points.
Yah how nice, you feel better about yourself because some dickhead whitetrash boy has a shitty life? Hell is that was passes for empathy in society these days? Pathetic.
Actually, rereading your statement now, I see your point about empathy, but I don't feel it makes me less of a person. Just because catharsis comes from bad situations does not make my life shitty. It doesn't make me feel good that Slim Shady wants to kill people and is self-described white trash.
Look buddy, you made some good points up until that shit. I liked your comment about an artist being able to make horror beautiful. Thats a good point. You also make sense when you say that to put taboos on display you must properly set them up. I just personally think that Eminem succeeds where you define artistry, that's all. It doesn't make me evil, it doesn't make me stupid, and it doesn't make me support his views.
He can write a rhyme, and he can tell a story. What's shock to one person is passe to another. Do you think my ears bleed every time I hear the word "fuck"?
You also make a good point that talking into a microphone is the lowest common denominator of voice control. However, I believe rap has always been more about the lyrics than how they're conveyed. If you gave me the lyrics to a good song, I could rap 'em, and that's what a majority of rappers do: talk about shit other people wrote. But not only is Eminem a good written lyricist, he can freestyle (extremely well) spur of the moment rhymes that are hundreds of times more complex than anything lesser artists could take weeks to put together.
Just my opinion of course. Like I said, you make good points about Art and Music, I just personally think Eminem meets the criteria.
My only point in this thread before it rapidly degraded into people calling me a moron, is that in my opinion... Eminem is tired hiphop beats with poorly written lyrics
I understand if by now you believe me to be a slope-foreheaded neanderthal, dragging my club from house to house as I rape women, play gangsta-rap from the boombox slung over my shoulder, and attempt to "be cool" in front of the black folks because I'm a white guy that likes rap. However, I will continue to say it: Eminem's lyrics are, in fact, poetry.
I hate poetry, never liked it in school. I was always more fascinated by prose. Shakespeare in middle school, Vonnegut in high school, Frank Norris and Emile Zola in college, and Rick Bass now. However, while I do not like poetry, I can respect and appreciate it. I see Eminem as the rare artist who, while you may not like, you can at the very least respect his rhyme scheme, and the grammatical constructs of his verse.
Yeah, its easy as shit to go "Welcome to Atlanta where the players play/And we ride on these thangs like every day". Prosaic verse has watered down hip-hop and rap to mere (as its detractors would say) hip-pop. I've tried to write rap lyrics, and its exceedingly hard to meet my own expectations of quality. Most of today's rap/hip-hop artists do not meet them.
So, while this has been an interesting debate, and I believe that I've stated as best I can the reasons that Eminem is not trash, I do understand that some people will not ever see his music in the same vein that I do. Later, man.
Will Smith and the Beastie Boys (to a certain degree) come to mind. I'm admiteddly not a rap fan, so I can't think of others.
While Wil Smith is pure pop, you are correct about the Beastie Boys. I was thinking more about Wyclef Jean (first album, and his upcoming release especially), Digable Planets, and others.
I suppose the new rap stereotype to me is to try to offend as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time, but perhaps the stereotype is all about gangstas and their exploits (although I thought that was subdivided into "gangsta rap"?).
I believe my point was not well stated in light of your response. In general, I don't like so-called gansta-rap (though not much is even being produced these days), and more importantly, while Eminem does use profane language, his music is definitely not gangsta-rap (even if he is backed by Dre). It would be a long post, so I don't want to discuss the difference (at least my opinion) between sub-genres of rap, but if you like I could try.
The entire current crop of rap and hiphop artists are just tired rehashed of the mid-90's crap
I would agree with your sentiment but not your facts. The vast majority of rap today is crap (personally I don't like No Limit that much at all, nor anything that Ja Rule is doing this week, and Jay-Z is far too egotistical for his rhyming skills), but my point is that Eminem rises above the current crop.
And as for your observation that you realize how pointless it is to argue with someone so obviously blind to what pop music is, I do know what POP music is, and while some of Mathers' singles do either border POP (The Way I Am) or are POP (The Real Slim Shady), the majority of his songs are true RAP (not even hip-hop IMHO). Do you really think Stan was a pop song? It was played on pop radio true, but I don't recall the last time J Lo or Ms. Aguilera (christ, even Limp Bizkit) performed a song about an obsessive fan who kills his wife and child in order to emulate his hero, let alone a song about the above performed in a tight narrative that weaves between the artist and the fan.
Strip away the facade that is "Slim Shady" and you'll quickly notice that you're left with a B-rate "musician".
Strip away the personalty of any entertainer, and you're left with a "B-rate" level instance of that form of entertainment. Eminem doesn't rap about bling, ice, dubs, or his money. I can name other rappers that can also defy the current stereotype, but can you? If you can, color me impressed; but the fact is that Eminem expresses himself in a way contrary to the majority of rappers at this moment in the movement and if it takes Eminem to shift the genre away from "riding on them thangs like ev-er-ry-day" to "I don't speak/I float in the air trapped in a sheet/I'm not a real person/I'm a ghost trapped in the beat", then I will support him as an artist.
If you're stupid enough to do the dumb shit he sings about then I doubt you have the mental capacity...
I'm going to assume that you meant the above "you" in the general sense, because I believe that I've presented points in a straightforward manner that proves my intelligence. But if you actually believe that I'd "breathe ether in three lethal amounts/ while I stab myself in the knee with a diseased needle", let me assure you that I don't do drugs, beat my wife, kill people, or much else that Shady advocates.
The salt to test whether someone is musician or actor is to have people who enjoy the genre but haven't heard the artist's music listen to a CD of the music sans any art or name...
Every single person I know who enjoys hip-hop at least respects Eminem rhyming ability, if they don't like his content. I will also respond in advance to your ad hominem attacks against my friends by saying that the majority are college graduates, from English and Poli Sci majors, to Comp Sci (like myself) and Engineering graduates. By your own definition (at least in my social circle of approximately 100 people who like rap/hip-hop), Eminem is a musician.
I won't agree that he writes his own songs. Were you with him when he wrote them? I think most people would be amazed at how little most pop musicians contribute to the actual music on an album. Madonna doesn't write any of her music, and never has. As for performing his songs, I wasn't aware he played any instruments. I thought he just held a microphone on stage, and occasionally performed goofy antics like dressing up as Jason Vorhees. Just look at the credits for his last album [barnesandnoble.com] Doesn't appear he played any instruments. "primary artist" is a very vague term, one I would be willing to bet was invented by a studio exec.
His command of the English language is a very subjective thing, and at that point we're getting more into the content of his songs, not the actual music talent involved.
It is very easy to see if he writes his own songs. Look at the liner notes, and see if M. Mathers appears under the written by credit. I believe it does. If you don't wish to believe that credit, then you are too cynical to be swayed by any argument of mine, so stop reading now.
As to your second point, many musicians have, as you so callously put it, "just held a microphone on stage". Are opera singers musicians? Are gospel singers musicans? I believe that your argument just insulted hundreds of artists, perhaps even some that you hold in a high regard (though I admit you don't stipulate what makes one a musucian, thus your entire musical worldview could consist of Celtic drum beats, and I would have to admit defeat based on your subjective point of view).
One more thing, I can't see a reason why what Eminem wears has anything to do with his value as a musician. Christ, John Lennon was running around naked on camera, with a naked woman no less. [Flamers please note my sarcasm].
Finally, if you would like to dismiss Eminem out-of-hand for the content of his songs, then pass Go and collect $200. It's very easy to dismiss artists that put society's collective taboos and psychoses on display. Personally, I believe that one can experience a sort of catharsis from albums such as this one, if only when you realize that your life is so much better than the nightmarish hell that Slim Shady/Eminem/Marshall Mathers seems to inhabit.
His lack of talent and musical skills is what scares me.
Wow, the analytical mind of Slashdot. I would argue that if there was one artist who has an excess of talent when compared to the Corporate Songwriting of America, it is Eminem. Yes, I am aware that the vast majority of Slashdot hates rap/hip-hop, and Eminem makes an easy target, but your logic escapes me: he's just white! he a poser "whitebread" trying to make black music! and even if he was black, RAP SUX, so I win anyways!
C'mon, I know this is your opinion, and the 4 posts directly below yours as well, but I think we can agree that a.) Eminem writes his own songs, b.) Eminem performs his own songs, and c.) Eminem has a command of the English language [his ryhming schemes, on a poetically-analyzed level, are very complex]. All of the above point to the fact that Eminem does have musical talent. I am assuming that you think he sucks because he doesn't play classic rock or perhaps early 90's alt-rock, those untouchable bastions of geek-musicdom that everyone is assumed to like.
Eminem's got a lot of problems, plus he says "fuck" a lot, which as we all know causes Satan to enter childrens' groins [thanks Seanbaby], but I think his lack of talent is not one of those problems.
What does Star Office offer that OpenOffice doesn't?
;), and I will support Sun as long as they support the Linux platform in ways like this.
Support from a vendor that is well known in business circles, a cheaper price than Office while retaining Office functionality, and an opportunity to move machines out of the "Microsoft Circle Jerk".
I could see paying to support the project, but I don't see people paying $75 en masse for something they could get for free with OpenOffice.
There are two kinds of Office using schlubs in the world: the "understanding of technology" kind and the "non-understanding of technology kind". The Understanding, unless they are a MS-lover, will jump at the chance to get a fully supported product that still inertacts with MS but is not made by MS. The Non-Understanding will say, "Let me get this straight, it works like Office, it opens Office files, and it costs $120 less than Office." and have their own reason to make the switch.
I don't think I've been trolled, just responding to an outburst of an "If there's a FREE alternative, you're stupid for paying" type of person. I *purchased* Mandrake 8.1 from the store, both because I didn't want to spend years downloading and burning ISOs, and because I wanted to support a company that makes things I like. When I went and bought a computer game the other day, my friend said, "You're dumb, I'll go online and get you a warezed version in a half hour." Well, I make enough money to support the companies that I like products from (not the RIAA though, never them. Hypocritical I know
Ya, I can't believe MS is requiring the schools to pay $30 for Windows and Office per machine.
Look dude, I know you're trying to come off as all high and mighty, but come on. Read my lips: schools are poor. If schools could choose between books that cost $40 and books that were free (in both senses), the public would cry foul if they chose to spend $40/book. This is the exact same situation. Schools are offered a choice: $20-$30 per license for MS PLUS recurring fees + being tied to a product that forces hardware upgrades fairly regularly OR get the major components for FREE + no recurring fees + runs on simple hardware + source code for student learning in CS classes + money that is saved elsewhere is spent on either (a.) books, (b.) support for new Free software alternative, or (c.) more admins on the premises.
Don't give me this shit about "oooh, poor Microsoft, schools are getting away with murder. whine whine whine." You gotta be holding Microsoft stock to want to bitch slap schools for trying to provide an education on what little cash they get trickled down to them. Do I advocate that Microsoft look in the other direction about license problems in the education sector? You're goddamn right I do. MS makes enough off of corporate welfare from the government alone to make up for that revenue.
If you've ever played poker, I'm sure you've heard of No Limit stakes, where you can push your whole stack of chips into the middle as a bet. Uusally, this is done to overpower someone who is short-stacked against you, but it is also a strategy when you are about to go broke, you have a decent amount of money left, and you have a decent hand which has a chance of winning. The first two are an apt description of Gateway, and perhaps they believe that this model has a decent chance of succeeding.
I'd rather go out with a bang than a whimper, but then, I also hope time starts to flow in reverse towards the Big Crunch... effect preceeds cause... w00t!
Best Buy has an address to send "general comments [bestbuy.com]"
I just emailed a notice via that link stating that I was not going to be buying my CDs, DVDs, etc. from Best Buy anymore. I also happened to include some tidbits about myself (18-24 yr old with a substantial income that likes video games, dvds, cds, and home electronics), so they know the class of consumer that they are losing with their new corporate stance.
At the end I noted that I was in the market for a new widescreen tv, but was not even going to take notice of them anymore.
Hopefully they'll listen to consumers if enough people tell them.
(It interests me that when Baptists threatened to boycott the Mouse, everyone got scared. When Madonna made Like a Prayer into a Pepsi commercial, the Catholics went nuts. In many of these cases when a boycott is announced there is appeasement on the part of the corporation [whether they are in the "right" or not]. However, it seems that the more the tech community complains, the more the **AA groups and tech companies thumb their noses at the very people who pay for their products. Just interesting to me, that's all.)
Interviewer: Mr. Gates, we note that Product X is late, yet your competitor has released their version. Care to comment?
Wow, does that mean that there are companies that still compete with Microsoft directly? I thought that was a myth from before I was born! Software competition... uh... where both companies are making money.... where can I sign on!
I was always partial to the minimax game playing algo with alpha-beta pruning. I think it is rather cool that you just start lopping off whole chunks of the tree, and you're always searching for that one branch that fits you best and your opponent worst.