You know, I actually take offense to the remark "don't spell checkers catch this stuff?". A spell checker is a crutch or a safety when you already know how to spell and simply made a mistake. There are too many children today who will spit out a piece of work then spell check it, rather than learning to spell the word in the first place. I see this a lot with my friend's kids; the home work will be correct after having been typed on the computer and spelll checked, but notes they write will be full of spelling errors.
And of course, the other benefit, you lose weight! That's right kids, no more drinking 10 lb of sugar in a day, your body will start using good food for energy, and you will slim down.
I stopped drinking caffeine a year ago. At first I went hardcore, no caffeine at all, not even taking Excedrin for headaches because of the caffeine content. After about 6 months, I started havnig a Dew or Coke once in a while, and rarely drink anything except water any more.
No more headaches, no more jitteryness, more focused and it is easier to stay alert. And I have lost a lot of weight since the beginning of the year.
Of course, it is interesting to drink a 2 liter of Mountain Dew now, it's like crack for me.
I have noticed that quite a bit in this town, with all the college students and technology worker types. I myself do it all the time, I rarely plan anything with people any more. Anything my friends and I do usually has no more than 2 hours notice, and usually just a vague plan to meet somewhere. And when you are on your way, you get a half-dozen calls to update where everyone is or a change in plans.
I actually like it. I enjoy being able to just call up anyone and go do something whenever I am bored, and also have the ability to turn off my phone and ignore the world for a while. The only time I don't like it is when you have friends who will never make plans, just "go with the flow", and think nothing of changing those plans when the "bigger better deal" comes along. I have found this applies mostly to women.
Ohwell, I have never been a particularly rigid or structured person anyway.
God, I still remember when I bought my first big modem upgrade. I was going to buy a 9600, but they were out of stock, and had these "Brand New" 14,400 Bocamodems. I bought it anyway, and felt I got ripped off because the price was too high. Solid aluminum case, and wouldn't connect to a damn thing without at least 3 tries.
Man, those were the days. Just wishing you had the money for a USR Courier 16.8 modem just to squeeze that extra 2.4 out of your line.
Ok, this story is kinda tripping me out. I just finished reading the Illuminati trilogy yesterday, and am seeing fives and fnords everywhere I look. Damn Gruad.
"All You Base is an obvious example of the kind of thing I'm talking about - an in joke fostered by the online gaming community which went on to(breifly) take the net by storm."
Shit, not just the net. A few buddies from work and I went to a nudie bar last week, and one of the dancers was wearing an All Your Base mini-t. Looked damn good too:)
Are you kidding? Radio has been destroyed by corporate interests all over the country. In Dallas, the buyout of 2 or 3 key stations has ruined what used to be a great drive in that town. Every time I drive up there, I can't stand to listen to the radio now that Q102 has been bought and switched to a soul/R&B format, and 94.5 The Edge has died also. I live in Austin, and luckily Clearchannel has not destroyed radio in this town. I can still listen to KLBJ and 101X, and hear good music, local music, and not just pop top 40 crap or some corporate pinhead's idead of good music (politically correct, non-insulting, safe).
Here is a link to a State of Texas server archive of RealAudio recordings of House and Senate Committee meetings. The relevant audio is approx. 3 hrs 36 min into the file. Enjoy!
The Rep who introduced the bill has very choice comments, basically it appears to be a knee-jerk reaction to his kid seeing pr0n, with no real research into the underlying technology and the problems this bill would cause.
Hey now, we have javelina down here. Mean, strong big ass wild pigs with big teeth. YEAH! Need to do some more research on this, I propose a javelina/moose deathmatch league.
Ahh, my favorite subject. The main thing you need to look at is the space your system is in. Many people will tell you that one particular system is best no matter what, but it needs to be tailored to the room.
For instance, I live in an apartment, a space where too much power would kill the overall sound stage. My speakers are all KLH, no sub, the fronts deliver plenty of bass without pissing off my neighbors. Yes, I can get better ones, better sound reproduction, but KLH have always been very good for people on a budget. If you have plenty of money, I would go with Klipch or Cerwin-Vega. Main thing, stay away from Bose or any clone makers. Those cubes may look pretty, but the sound reproduction is sub-par. It's pretty simple physics, you need the large box for accurate sound.
Second, the reciever/decoder. At the moment, I have a Sony DE-835 Dolby Digital/DTS decoder. I have been very happy with this system, and I have always liked Sony. Like I said, I am on a budget, so it is not top of the line, but it works quite well and Sony has many other options for more money. Plus, it has tons of optical inputs. My only problem with it is the number of coax digital inputs; it only has one. Hope this helps you some.
"I'mm getting really tired of all the people saying that Freenet (or things analogous to it) won't work because you can't trust people, and therefore you can't trust the things that people share. These people are ignoring the other major use that Freenet has (and things like Napster, Scour, and Gnutella don't), and that is extra space for YOUR stuff. If you can promote Freenet by advertising it as free extra storage, then you can build a much larger user base to then focus on the sharing aspect."
Sure, and then we could cut out the "classics of literature, political screeds, 1980s pop music, Adobe software" part and make it just "Lots of porn"
and mp3s...
and warez...
etc... IMO, advertising freenet as just another free storage service will destroy the actual project.
I am not going to comment on some of the inconsitancies between the novel and the miniseries, us hardcore fans know what they are, and enjoyed laughing at them.
No, my main problem with the miniseries was with the acting. Among the main characters, very few actually seemed like they were thier character, like they had any passion at all. Paul seemed like a whining boy for most of the shows, Leto (William Hurt) was wooden as hell. The characters of Thufer and Yueh were nonexistant, just old guys in robes, and Gurney was the most passionless of all. I really got the feeling whenever Gurney was speaking (especially in part 3) that he was just reading from a cue card.
Now, I did enjoy the Baron most of the time, I thought he was what the Baron Harkonnen was supposed to be, evil, cunning, and a grand character. Feyd was good, Rabban was good.
My biggest problem with any characters in the miniseries were the guild representatives. What the hell were they doing with thier hands??? It seemed like the director couldn't think of any way to make them mysterious so he just said "weave your hands around and look mystical", standard head-humpie alien treatment that everything gets these days.
Overall, my rating is a W for "Whatever". I really don't care after watching all that, and don't think I could sit through another showing. Maybe I will just re-read the chronicles...
God, he is back... I worked at Internet America in Dallas for a while, and was around when Jovan Philyaw (sp?) and Doug Davis were hired. Doug is an ok guy, he is an old school hacker type, knows his stuff and likes tech. If you give him half a chance and work with him, he will probably ease up and maybe even help you. Unfortunately, Jovan is a snake. He is one of those PR media hack types who cares only about the companies image and how much publicity he can get. Chances are, while Jovan is CEO of this company, he is going to keep after this issue just so he can generate as much publicity as he can. Doug you can probably trust, Jovan should be thrown into the deepest part of the ocean. And Jovan, stop talking about those damn triple-edge wiper blades already, seems like that's all anyone hears about out of you.
Starcraft was in the top 10 for a long time simply because it offered well balanced gameplay (at least for a while), and a killer multiplayer game. But when you get down to it, the only new thing that has been added to any RTS since Dune 2 is networking. Everything else is just window dressing.
I am sitting here and trying to think of the last time I saw a truly revolutionary game, and I just can't think of one. I would say Half-Life, but when you come down to it, it's just another FPS with a great story. I think Thief was a wonderful game, what I call first person RPG instead of an FPS, but it got bogged down in the same old "walk the maze, flip a switch, avoid the zombies, get the prize, good mouse" formula that so many games seem to end up with. I think a large part of the problem is people who have great ideas, and make an incredibly fun game to start with, but then don't know where to go with it. In the end, the game then just becomes routine and the only reason you keep playing is to see the endgame video.
"reading books in eletronic [sic] form strikes me as extremely impersonal."
I must be a geek or something... but, sincerely, could you please explain how reading a paper book is *personal*? I could never understand this attitude (nor the probably unrelated attitude that mass-publishing a great book is like throwing pearls before swine).
It is an extremely personal feeling, it is simply the way I feel about books. I just seems to me when you have a book you are actually holding in your hands and turning pages, you are experiencing the story the way it should be. Books to me have a strong vibe to them, almost romanticism. For example, when I walk into a library, public or otherwise, I get the sense that there is knowledge in this room, that there is something more than just words on paper, an almost tangible feeling of... what I don't know, power, history, substance, take your pick. I don't get that same feeling when looking at a rack of electronic media:). I really can't explain it better than that, I just don't know how to put it in words.
"So far, the Internet seems to be largely amplifying the worst features of television's preoccupation with sex and violence, semi-literate chatter, shortened attention spans, and near-total subservience to commercial marketing," said Billington.
I agree with many of his statemtents regarding the isolation the Internet can cause, and reading books in eletronic form strikes me as extremely impersonal. I am an avid book reader, I probably read at least 3 new books a week, and I couldn't imagine having to read them on a computer screen. Think, no more handy little paperbacks to carry around for an idle moment, no more kicking back under a tree with a book and just losing yourself for a few hours, no more reading on the throne:). Granted, technology may make these arguments obsolete, someday someone will create a cheap, reusable display device the size of a Palm, with easily swappable modules that can take the place of a book, however to me it just wouldn't feel right. (I know, really subjective, but hey).
Now the part I do not agree with is his apparent presumption that nobody would want to search the library electronically for research and such. Digitizing the contents of the library is a very good idea for these purposes, it would make actually finding the information you want orders of magnitude easier. But I doubt electronic books will ever completely replace traditional wood pulp, nor would I want it to.
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You know, I actually take offense to the remark "don't spell checkers catch this stuff?". A spell checker is a crutch or a safety when you already know how to spell and simply made a mistake. There are too many children today who will spit out a piece of work then spell check it, rather than learning to spell the word in the first place. I see this a lot with my friend's kids; the home work will be correct after having been typed on the computer and spelll checked, but notes they write will be full of spelling errors.
What is this? You are being PRACTICAL? Jesus...
Someone call in the geek re-education coucil.
Huh?
And of course, the other benefit, you lose weight! That's right kids, no more drinking 10 lb of sugar in a day, your body will start using good food for energy, and you will slim down.
I stopped drinking caffeine a year ago. At first I went hardcore, no caffeine at all, not even taking Excedrin for headaches because of the caffeine content. After about 6 months, I started havnig a Dew or Coke once in a while, and rarely drink anything except water any more.
No more headaches, no more jitteryness, more focused and it is easier to stay alert. And I have lost a lot of weight since the beginning of the year.
Of course, it is interesting to drink a 2 liter of Mountain Dew now, it's like crack for me.
I am assuming you are in Austin :)
I have noticed that quite a bit in this town, with all the college students and technology worker types. I myself do it all the time, I rarely plan anything with people any more. Anything my friends and I do usually has no more than 2 hours notice, and usually just a vague plan to meet somewhere. And when you are on your way, you get a half-dozen calls to update where everyone is or a change in plans.
I actually like it. I enjoy being able to just call up anyone and go do something whenever I am bored, and also have the ability to turn off my phone and ignore the world for a while. The only time I don't like it is when you have friends who will never make plans, just "go with the flow", and think nothing of changing those plans when the "bigger better deal" comes along. I have found this applies mostly to women.
Ohwell, I have never been a particularly rigid or structured person anyway.
Man, those were the days. Just wishing you had the money for a USR Courier 16.8 modem just to squeeze that extra 2.4 out of your line.
Ok, this story is kinda tripping me out. I just finished reading the Illuminati trilogy yesterday, and am seeing fives and fnords everywhere I look. Damn Gruad.
Shit, not just the net. A few buddies from work and I went to a nudie bar last week, and one of the dancers was wearing an All Your Base mini-t. Looked damn good too :)
Are you kidding? Radio has been destroyed by corporate interests all over the country. In Dallas, the buyout of 2 or 3 key stations has ruined what used to be a great drive in that town. Every time I drive up there, I can't stand to listen to the radio now that Q102 has been bought and switched to a soul/R&B format, and 94.5 The Edge has died also. I live in Austin, and luckily Clearchannel has not destroyed radio in this town. I can still listen to KLBJ and 101X, and hear good music, local music, and not just pop top 40 crap or some corporate pinhead's idead of good music (politically correct, non-insulting, safe).
The Rep who introduced the bill has very choice comments, basically it appears to be a knee-jerk reaction to his kid seeing pr0n, with no real research into the underlying technology and the problems this bill would cause.
http://www.house.state.tx.us/audio/comitramfiles/1 0320p03.ram
Hey now, we have javelina down here. Mean, strong big ass wild pigs with big teeth. YEAH! Need to do some more research on this, I propose a javelina/moose deathmatch league.
For instance, I live in an apartment, a space where too much power would kill the overall sound stage. My speakers are all KLH, no sub, the fronts deliver plenty of bass without pissing off my neighbors. Yes, I can get better ones, better sound reproduction, but KLH have always been very good for people on a budget. If you have plenty of money, I would go with Klipch or Cerwin-Vega. Main thing, stay away from Bose or any clone makers. Those cubes may look pretty, but the sound reproduction is sub-par. It's pretty simple physics, you need the large box for accurate sound.
Second, the reciever/decoder. At the moment, I have a Sony DE-835 Dolby Digital/DTS decoder. I have been very happy with this system, and I have always liked Sony. Like I said, I am on a budget, so it is not top of the line, but it works quite well and Sony has many other options for more money. Plus, it has tons of optical inputs. My only problem with it is the number of coax digital inputs; it only has one. Hope this helps you some.
Sure, and then we could cut out the "classics of literature, political screeds, 1980s pop music, Adobe software" part and make it just "Lots of porn"
and mp3s...
and warez...
etc... IMO, advertising freenet as just another free storage service will destroy the actual project.
No, my main problem with the miniseries was with the acting. Among the main characters, very few actually seemed like they were thier character, like they had any passion at all. Paul seemed like a whining boy for most of the shows, Leto (William Hurt) was wooden as hell. The characters of Thufer and Yueh were nonexistant, just old guys in robes, and Gurney was the most passionless of all. I really got the feeling whenever Gurney was speaking (especially in part 3) that he was just reading from a cue card.
Now, I did enjoy the Baron most of the time, I thought he was what the Baron Harkonnen was supposed to be, evil, cunning, and a grand character. Feyd was good, Rabban was good.
My biggest problem with any characters in the miniseries were the guild representatives. What the hell were they doing with thier hands??? It seemed like the director couldn't think of any way to make them mysterious so he just said "weave your hands around and look mystical", standard head-humpie alien treatment that everything gets these days.
Overall, my rating is a W for "Whatever". I really don't care after watching all that, and don't think I could sit through another showing. Maybe I will just re-read the chronicles...
God, he is back... I worked at Internet America in Dallas for a while, and was around when Jovan Philyaw (sp?) and Doug Davis were hired. Doug is an ok guy, he is an old school hacker type, knows his stuff and likes tech. If you give him half a chance and work with him, he will probably ease up and maybe even help you. Unfortunately, Jovan is a snake. He is one of those PR media hack types who cares only about the companies image and how much publicity he can get. Chances are, while Jovan is CEO of this company, he is going to keep after this issue just so he can generate as much publicity as he can. Doug you can probably trust, Jovan should be thrown into the deepest part of the ocean. And Jovan, stop talking about those damn triple-edge wiper blades already, seems like that's all anyone hears about out of you.
I am sitting here and trying to think of the last time I saw a truly revolutionary game, and I just can't think of one. I would say Half-Life, but when you come down to it, it's just another FPS with a great story. I think Thief was a wonderful game, what I call first person RPG instead of an FPS, but it got bogged down in the same old "walk the maze, flip a switch, avoid the zombies, get the prize, good mouse" formula that so many games seem to end up with. I think a large part of the problem is people who have great ideas, and make an incredibly fun game to start with, but then don't know where to go with it. In the end, the game then just becomes routine and the only reason you keep playing is to see the endgame video.
I must be a geek or something... but, sincerely, could you please explain how reading a paper book is *personal*? I could never understand this attitude (nor the probably unrelated attitude that mass-publishing a great book is like throwing pearls before swine).
It is an extremely personal feeling, it is simply the way I feel about books. I just seems to me when you have a book you are actually holding in your hands and turning pages, you are experiencing the story the way it should be. Books to me have a strong vibe to them, almost romanticism. For example, when I walk into a library, public or otherwise, I get the sense that there is knowledge in this room, that there is something more than just words on paper, an almost tangible feeling of ... what I don't know, power, history, substance, take your pick. I don't get that same feeling when looking at a rack of electronic media :). I really can't explain it better than that, I just don't know how to put it in words.
I agree with many of his statemtents regarding the isolation the Internet can cause, and reading books in eletronic form strikes me as extremely impersonal. I am an avid book reader, I probably read at least 3 new books a week, and I couldn't imagine having to read them on a computer screen. Think, no more handy little paperbacks to carry around for an idle moment, no more kicking back under a tree with a book and just losing yourself for a few hours, no more reading on the throne :). Granted, technology may make these arguments obsolete, someday someone will create a cheap, reusable display device the size of a Palm, with easily swappable modules that can take the place of a book, however to me it just wouldn't feel right. (I know, really subjective, but hey).
Now the part I do not agree with is his apparent presumption that nobody would want to search the library electronically for research and such. Digitizing the contents of the library is a very good idea for these purposes, it would make actually finding the information you want orders of magnitude easier. But I doubt electronic books will ever completely replace traditional wood pulp, nor would I want it to.
Can I volunteer?