Why does the academy love Mentally ill/challenged
on
LoTR Takes 4 Oscars
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· Score: 1
Why is it that the academy loves movies about the mentally ill/challenged? For example Rain Man, Forrest Gump, A Beautiful Mind. I'm sure there are others but those pop to mind first.
Perhaps it is a difficult role to play? I'm not sure, but it seems like a disproprotionate number of these sorts of movies make it to the oscars?
wasn't sam's vision the one of the scouring of the shire? as i understand it that part won't be in the return of the king so it makes no sense to show that scene.
I used to be a sales engineer, the company eventually changed its policy and we couldn't go to the development engineers to get technical info, we had to get the "marketing" approved version. Sufices to say, the marketing version was dumbed down and totally lacking technical detail. Long time clients weren't particualy happy about this.
It used to be that they hired engineers to sell the product, spent months training them on the software making you actually learn how to use the software so you could sell it (thereby giving you more credability). Eventually they switched over to more salesly types who totally depended on applications engineering support staff to answer any technical questions. These guys would promise the moon and some of them were quite successful without any real understanding of what the software did or how it worked. On the otherhand, sales engineers like myself were more likely to flat out tell you if you actually could use or need our product other than wasting your time on it.
What I would find amusing some times about the job was that when you would give a presentation that there was always one guy in the audience who wanted to be a jackass and ask stupid questions or attempt to make you(the sales engineer) look stupid, it was always funny to give him the correct answer to shut him up as the guy usually never realised that you were a real engineer at one point in your life. Kind of reminds me of the dilbert comic where he talks about abusing sales people as it is the one thing he can do in his life where its ok to be rude and demeaning to people(some sales people desirve it).
On a side note, the reason salespeople act the way they do for the most part is because it works. I always treated everyone with respect, but the salesguy constantly calls you once you express interest to force you to move on it else you forget or get distracted with something else (in sales your job is always on the line, sales is usually the first staff to get cut when times start to go bad).
If you wan't to get the real deal on anything, go speak with the applications engineer who supports the sales staff, they will usually give you an idea of the true capabilities of the product. Never trust the marketing guy, he will stretch the truth far more than the sales staff.
Lastly, if you are an engineer who can write and talk well and likes working with people, try sales or applications engineering at somepoint in your career. The money is VERY good. Besides you can always go back to your old job.
"All of the excuses I've heard for doing so is bullshit. Is the entertainment industry gouging the consumer with high DVD prices? Yep. Does that justify stealing their intelecual property? Nope."
Stealing IP is wrong, i don't doubt that, but it does show that the precieved value of that IP is lower than what the owner of the IP is selling it for.
If you go online to HK dvd website which sell legit stuff(as in don't deal in bootlegs) such as www.hivizone.com, you will notice that the hk native dvds are far cheaper than even the region 3 releases. theyalsodrop down to about 6 bucks or so 1-2 years after the movie has been released. i guess movies don't retain their valuein peoples minds over in HK.
A number of poster's have pointed out news/opninon pices on Fox.
I doubt though that you will see a "balanced" discussion though on any TV news program. It would be interesting to see a show of CNN's crossfire on this bill.
one reason HDTV hasn't takenoff is with the exception of one samsung 27" HDTV(which doesn't do all HDTV resolutions i understand) is the cost.
These tv's are 2k+ not soley because they are HD, but because they are BIG SCREEN TVs. As I have said before, once 27", 25", 19" and 13" HDTV's are sold right along next to regular resolutions then they will start to sell. sure they will still costmore, but not everyone has the space for a large screen TV, for example: small apartments, dorm rooms, or for those who want a smaller TV in the bedroom or kitchen.
it should not be difficult to build a small HDTV, but i would assume we don't see them because of the cost of shelf space in your favourite electronics retailer.
I guess you really don't understand how the patent process works. 95% of patent examinations are rejected, you are making it sound as though everything that goes into the PTO is rubber stamped and given a patent. When an examiner recieves an application, it usually takeson the order of months-years for it to be approved, that is if it is approved. its by no means a quick process.
software prior art isn't nearly as well documented as hardware for one thing. the claims of the application can be worded to get around specific pieces of prior art which the attorny who prepares it might be aware of. there are a number of factors. the big thing about examining is is it ovbious to do what the applicant is claiming? That is you find two pieces of prior art which do features of the application, its it ovbious to combine them? sometimes yes, sometimes no.
besides if you find prior art to invalidate the patent and itis effecting you, there is a court you can go to.
if you are the inventor of the application, yes your own work can't be held against you, but you can only declare priority for your applicaton for up to one year before it was filed.
it gives you an incentive to file earlier.
an examiner can use nearly anything to reject a patent claim. ive used page pages and even a video game screenshot.
"They allow patents on things for which prior art exists, even things for which prior PATENTS exist. IBM got a patent on LZW and then Unisys was granted their patent on it - the patent office either didn't check for a prior patent or didn't realize the 2 patents described the same thing."
the new patent application can have sufficently different claims or the new application could be more narrow in its scope than the previous patents. its hard to tell why it was approved without seeing the claims
How did starcraft innovate besides building queues? It was a change of pace for blizzard in that they didnt create 2 identical races just with different sprites, but that had already been done by a number of previous games.
I do hope that WC3 will be different enough, but im sure its enough for most people just to rehash the same gameplay. What i would suggest is to steal some things from the C&C games, allow for a very exspensive unit which can take over an enemy building, a commando unit which can blow up buildings very quickly, far stronger defensive buildings, get rid of unit caps, include crates (which allow you to have an enemy unit, or special power/weapon. In C&C this could allow someone who was almost beaten to come back and win the game!)
Some other improvements i would love to see, have an alliance mean something by enabling you to give money/resources to a teammate, give control of units to a teammate that would certainly change the dynamics of a game!
Thats one reason while i prefer westwoods series of games. In a westwood RTS, if you knock out the power supply of a base, defenses go down, things build more slowly or not at all etc. In some westwood games like the Original C&C, the defensive units are far better in that a rush doesn't necesscairly work because it gets torn apart by the defense (i.e. the rocket towers). In C&C it actually makes sense to try to destroy these support units as it slows down your opponents production signifigantly.
What i really would like to see is a blizzard RTS without a unit cap, i usually run it to it fairly quickly because your peons count towards your unit cap.
don't forget e-machines! I believe Best Buy still sells them.
To the general public, a computer is an appliance. Unless you are playing games or doing graphics, you don't need a fast machine to surf the web, email or word process. Hence, computer makers need to find some other way of differentiating themselves. Things like service go a long way.
Sound? I am the only one?
on
Resident Evil
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· Score: 1
there wasn't any problems with sound where i went. They did rely on sound though for every "scary" moment, there werent any scary visuals.
I agree with you on michelle rodriguez, i havent really liked her performances in any of her movies, RE, FATF, and girlfight
Correction to the above Not SWAT or STARS
on
Resident Evil
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· Score: 1
Correction: The "SWAT" team works for umbrella. Actually if you look at their uniform, it says sanitation on their sleave. I would assume that is the name of their unit.
I certainly don't doubt carbon dixoide levels rising. However, wasn't it back in the 70's that scientists predicted a new iceage coming and made a big deal about global cooling?
I'm all for helping the environment as it helps the earth and everyone's health anyways, but I'm in doubt about the impending doom of global warning. Anyways its always the naysayers that get the spotlight since the media likes a sensational story (it sells).
Anyone remember how there was a mini iceage during the 18/19th centuries? Perhaps it is the advent of human industry that brought us out of that. However, it could go to far.
sure, you should teach everyone how to behave responsibly, but are you going to go telloff the CEO? If so i'd kiss your job goodbye, unless you work for a very small company.
Hmm, your comment reminds me of when I used to work at Allied Signal. The IT staff came in and uninstalled all engineering related programs because they weren't "approved" to work with Windows 95/NT (this was back in 98). Never mind that these were the development environment and laser control programs.
It also didn't help that they didnt give the engineers access to install these programs again. I (as the lowly intern at the time) had to watch the IT guys keystrokes to figure out the password so my boss could reinstall the stuff he needed to get the work done. As a result, I don't have too much respect for IT guys elitest attidutes. Then again I'm an Electrical ENGINEER. If you can't "trust" an engineer with their own computer to run the applications they need to do their job, something is totally screwed up.
That brought an angry retort from Andrew S. Grove, the chairman of Intel. "Is it the responsibility of the world at large to protect an industry whose business model is facing a strategic challenge?" he said in an interview. "Or is it up to the entertainment industry to adapt to a new technical reality and a new set of consumers who want to take advantage of it?"
It is nice to see a more "mainstream" opinon which echos the sentiments of slashdot posters. This really is the core of the issue: Media companies don't want to deal with the new dynamics as to what people (the "consumer") want to do with the content that they percieve they own (i.e. i bought it in the store, i can do whatever i want with it). I don't see how digital rights should be any different than rights in the analog world. Asides from preceieved quality issues, all the move to digital has done, is make it easier for people to do stuff that they had done previously, i.e. the new term "space shift".
In my younger days i "spaceshifted" a record or cd to a tape or MD to listen to in my walkman or in my parents car. How is this any different than when I download a copy of a cd i own to my mp3 player?
The question I have, is who has more lobbyists? The hardware or media industires? That will probably be the deciding factor.
FYI, in the US, patents last 20 years from the date of filing. Since the pendency time of an application takes several years between the filing date and whenthe patent is approved is several years on average, it is more or less the same time limit as before.
The models with the sustainer cost a lot more than the models without it, but it think the cost difference between buying a sustainer enabled guitar and a pedal is about the same.
Anyways, i mostly just play my fernandes bass, there are better basses out there, but for the money, the sound is really quite good.
Slashdot Mirror
Why is it that the academy loves movies about the mentally ill/challenged? For example Rain Man, Forrest Gump, A Beautiful Mind. I'm sure there are others but those pop to mind first.
Perhaps it is a difficult role to play? I'm not sure, but it seems like a disproprotionate number of these sorts of movies make it to the oscars?
wasn't sam's vision the one of the scouring of the shire? as i understand it that part won't be in the return of the king so it makes no sense to show that scene.
they probably took bombadils part out for time
I used to be a sales engineer, the company eventually changed its policy and we couldn't go to the development engineers to get technical info, we had to get the "marketing" approved version. Sufices to say, the marketing version was dumbed down and totally lacking technical detail. Long time clients weren't particualy happy about this.
It used to be that they hired engineers to sell the product, spent months training them on the software making you actually learn how to use the software so you could sell it (thereby giving you more credability). Eventually they switched over to more salesly types who totally depended on applications engineering support staff to answer any technical questions. These guys would promise the moon and some of them were quite successful without any real understanding of what the software did or how it worked. On the otherhand, sales engineers like myself were more likely to flat out tell you if you actually could use or need our product other than wasting your time on it.
What I would find amusing some times about the job was that when you would give a presentation that there was always one guy in the audience who wanted to be a jackass and ask stupid questions or attempt to make you(the sales engineer) look stupid, it was always funny to give him the correct answer to shut him up as the guy usually never realised that you were a real engineer at one point in your life. Kind of reminds me of the dilbert comic where he talks about abusing sales people as it is the one thing he can do in his life where its ok to be rude and demeaning to people(some sales people desirve it).
On a side note, the reason salespeople act the way they do for the most part is because it works. I always treated everyone with respect, but the salesguy constantly calls you once you express interest to force you to move on it else you forget or get distracted with something else (in sales your job is always on the line, sales is usually the first staff to get cut when times start to go bad).
If you wan't to get the real deal on anything, go speak with the applications engineer who supports the sales staff, they will usually give you an idea of the true capabilities of the product. Never trust the marketing guy, he will stretch the truth far more than the sales staff.
Lastly, if you are an engineer who can write and talk well and likes working with people, try sales or applications engineering at somepoint in your career. The money is VERY good. Besides you can always go back to your old job.
"All of the excuses I've heard for doing so is bullshit. Is the entertainment industry gouging the consumer with high DVD prices? Yep. Does that justify stealing their intelecual property? Nope."
Stealing IP is wrong, i don't doubt that, but it does show that the precieved value of that IP is lower than what the owner of the IP is selling it for.
If you go online to HK dvd website which sell legit stuff(as in don't deal in bootlegs) such as www.hivizone.com, you will notice that the hk native dvds are far cheaper than even the region 3 releases. theyalsodrop down to about 6 bucks or so 1-2 years after the movie has been released. i guess movies don't retain their valuein peoples minds over in HK.
A number of poster's have pointed out news/opninon pices on Fox.
I doubt though that you will see a "balanced" discussion though on any TV news program. It would be interesting to see a show of CNN's crossfire on this bill.
one reason HDTV hasn't takenoff is with the exception of one samsung 27" HDTV(which doesn't do all HDTV resolutions i understand) is the cost.
These tv's are 2k+ not soley because they are HD, but because they are BIG SCREEN TVs. As I have said before, once 27", 25", 19" and 13" HDTV's are sold right along next to regular resolutions then they will start to sell. sure they will still costmore, but not everyone has the space for a large screen TV, for example: small apartments, dorm rooms, or for those who want a smaller TV in the bedroom or kitchen.
it should not be difficult to build a small HDTV, but i would assume we don't see them because of the cost of shelf space in your favourite electronics retailer.
believe it or not there is a wait that long
thepatent term lasts 20 years from the date of filing, since it takes 3-4 years to get a patent the term isn't as long as you think.
besides, all applications filed after 2001 are published after 18months
I guess you really don't understand how the patent process works. 95% of patent examinations are rejected, you are making it sound as though everything that goes into the PTO is rubber stamped and given a patent. When an examiner recieves an application, it usually takeson the order of months-years for it to be approved, that is if it is approved. its by no means a quick process.
software prior art isn't nearly as well documented as hardware for one thing. the claims of the application can be worded to get around specific pieces of prior art which the attorny who prepares it might be aware of. there are a number of factors. the big thing about examining is is it ovbious to do what the applicant is claiming? That is you find two pieces of prior art which do features of the application, its it ovbious to combine them? sometimes yes, sometimes no.
besides if you find prior art to invalidate the patent and itis effecting you, there is a court you can go to.
actualy im a patent examiner and he is correct.
if you are the inventor of the application, yes your own work can't be held against you, but you can only declare priority for your applicaton for up to one year before it was filed.
it gives you an incentive to file earlier.
an examiner can use nearly anything to reject a patent claim. ive used page pages and even a video game screenshot.
"They allow patents on things for which prior art exists, even things for which prior PATENTS exist. IBM got a patent on LZW and then Unisys was granted their patent on it - the patent office either didn't check for a prior patent or didn't realize the 2 patents described the same thing."
the new patent application can have sufficently different claims or the new application could be more narrow in its scope than the previous patents. its hard to tell why it was approved without seeing the claims
that is some what accurate. examiners can use almost anything with a few restrictions.
most people don't realize thatthe amount of time that the examiner has to dedicate to each case is fairly limited.
it also doesn't help that with respect to patent literature, there isn't nearly as much available in the software realm as there is to hardware.
How did starcraft innovate besides building queues? It was a change of pace for blizzard in that they didnt create 2 identical races just with different sprites, but that had already been done by a number of previous games.
I do hope that WC3 will be different enough, but im sure its enough for most people just to rehash the same gameplay. What i would suggest is to steal some things from the C&C games, allow for a very exspensive unit which can take over an enemy building, a commando unit which can blow up buildings very quickly, far stronger defensive buildings, get rid of unit caps, include crates (which allow you to have an enemy unit, or special power/weapon. In C&C this could allow someone who was almost beaten to come back and win the game!)
Some other improvements i would love to see, have an alliance mean something by enabling you to give money/resources to a teammate, give control of units to a teammate that would certainly change the dynamics of a game!
Thats one reason while i prefer westwoods series of games. In a westwood RTS, if you knock out the power supply of a base, defenses go down, things build more slowly or not at all etc. In some westwood games like the Original C&C, the defensive units are far better in that a rush doesn't necesscairly work because it gets torn apart by the defense (i.e. the rocket towers).
In C&C it actually makes sense to try to destroy these support units as it slows down your opponents production signifigantly.
What i really would like to see is a blizzard RTS without a unit cap, i usually run it to it fairly quickly because your peons count towards your unit cap.
don't forget e-machines! I believe Best Buy still sells them.
To the general public, a computer is an appliance. Unless you are playing games or doing graphics, you don't need a fast machine to surf the web, email or word process. Hence, computer makers need to find some other way of differentiating themselves. Things like service go a long way.
there wasn't any problems with sound where i went. They did rely on sound though for every "scary" moment, there werent any scary visuals.
I agree with you on michelle rodriguez, i havent really liked her performances in any of her movies, RE, FATF, and girlfight
Correction: The "SWAT" team works for umbrella. Actually if you look at their uniform, it says sanitation on their sleave. I would assume that is the name of their unit.
I certainly don't doubt carbon dixoide levels rising. However, wasn't it back in the 70's that scientists predicted a new iceage coming and made a big deal about global cooling?
I'm all for helping the environment as it helps the earth and everyone's health anyways, but I'm in doubt about the impending doom of global warning. Anyways its always the naysayers that get the spotlight since the media likes a sensational story (it sells).
Anyone remember how there was a mini iceage during the 18/19th centuries? Perhaps it is the advent of human industry that brought us out of that. However, it could go to far.
sure, you should teach everyone how to behave responsibly, but are you going to go telloff the CEO? If so i'd kiss your job goodbye, unless you work for a very small company.
Hmm, your comment reminds me of when I used to work at Allied Signal. The IT staff came in and uninstalled all engineering related programs because they weren't "approved" to work with Windows 95/NT (this was back in 98). Never mind that these were the development environment and laser control programs.
It also didn't help that they didnt give the engineers access to install these programs again. I (as the lowly intern at the time) had to watch the IT guys keystrokes to figure out the password so my boss could reinstall the stuff he needed to get the work done. As a result, I don't have too much respect for IT guys elitest attidutes. Then again I'm an Electrical ENGINEER. If you can't "trust" an engineer with their own computer to run the applications they need to do their job, something is totally screwed up.
That brought an angry retort from Andrew S. Grove, the chairman of Intel. "Is it the responsibility of the world at large to protect an industry whose business model is facing a strategic challenge?" he said in an interview. "Or is it up to the entertainment industry to adapt to a new technical reality and a new set of consumers who want to take advantage of it?"
It is nice to see a more "mainstream" opinon which echos the sentiments of slashdot posters. This really is the core of the issue: Media companies don't want to deal with the new dynamics as to what people (the "consumer") want to do with the content that they percieve they own (i.e. i bought it in the store, i can do whatever i want with it). I don't see how digital rights should be any different than rights in the analog world. Asides from preceieved quality issues, all the move to digital has done, is make it easier for people to do stuff that they had done previously, i.e. the new term "space shift".
In my younger days i "spaceshifted" a record or cd to a tape or MD to listen to in my walkman or in my parents car. How is this any different than when I download a copy of a cd i own to my mp3 player?
The question I have, is who has more lobbyists? The hardware or media industires? That will probably be the deciding factor.
"Patents only good for 7 years, no extension. ---note period. ;) "
That doesn't work for drug companies.A patent might be granted by the USPTO, but it still needs FDA approval before it comes to market.
Its concieveable that the whole process might take 10-15 years, leaving only 5 years of patent protection.
FYI, in the US, patents last 20 years from the date of filing. Since the pendency time of an application takes several years between the filing date and whenthe patent is approved is several years on average, it is more or less the same time limit as before.
Looks like the whole movie is one giant mass of CG.
Its a big fighting anime, just like dragonballz. its 100+ episodes. just wait for it to pick up a bit.
The models with the sustainer cost a lot more than the models without it, but it think the cost difference between buying a sustainer enabled guitar and a pedal is about the same.
Anyways, i mostly just play my fernandes bass, there are better basses out there, but for the money, the sound is really quite good.