And no matter how much money the Old Republic stuff made, no matter how much fans love that era and those stories, no matter how much they might make (at least internal) consistency and sense... Lucas will overwrite all of it in favor of what he cobbles together.
Lucas is a control freak -- that's not a bad thing when you're aiming for quality storytelling and you really are a top notch storyteller. It's a definite bad thing when you're a mediocre or moderate storyteller, and you don't trust anyone else with your creative work or ideas. He cannot at all stand anyone else playing in his sandbox, because they don't share his unique vision of the sandbox. So when a bunch of folks make a pretty keen sandcastle that's got flying buttresses and towers and complicated and exciting architecture, Lucas will kick it all down and replace it with his... adequate, technically good but nothing-to-write-home-about sand towers he makes from buckets. (Let's break the metaphor: He has good basic filmmaking skills, but not much more than that; I think he bought into the Joseph Campbell interview a bit too much. If he stuck with space opera instead of trying to make them deep mythological passion plays, his films would be a lot better. This of course is IMHO.) There's a reason why Empire Strikes Back is considered the best film of the franchise.
...that Jonathan Swift wrote "A Modest Proposal?" I mean, I've seen some people make rather ham-handed attempts at a satirical suggestion, and everyone goes 'Yeah, yeah, Modest Proposal, uh-huh," but are folks on/. actually thinking this guy is being anything but satirical? Yeesh.
You petty much nailed it on the head. An MMO has to make a great first impression. STO is struggling after a mediocre release and poor reception. (On the other hand, the devs there are really into the community interaction; other companies could do worse than do that, even if most of it is putting out fires and damage control.)
They also, if they happen to find that they're of a nontraditional gender role -- i.e. gay or just feminine or (heavens help them) transexual -- are stuck in a horrible cycle of recrimination, guilt, shunning, 'repatriation therapy,' depression, despair, and for too many, suicide. Yeah, a real bargain. Welcome to Omelas.
For those who 'fit in,' or are malleable enough to be molded to fit in, sure, it works for them. And there is a considerable support network. (At least, for most American Protestant denominations, if you're the right colored skin and of the right economic class.) But if you are off their beam? If you don't match their ideals? Consider that.
When they said they would not pull it, but would monitor it, they opened themselves up for litigation. This is the sort of thing that's allowed common carriers at least the illusion of immunity from persecution over what goes through their networks. As soon as Facebook said they would monitor it, that was a statement that they are not a common carrier. By "monitoring" it, they assumed responsibility for it.
Bad move on their part, no matter what you might think of the subject.
On a more serious note, really... I think it's some sort of corollary to Moore's law: Processing needs will always expand to fill the available processing capacity. In short, we're going to be using our pocket computers with quantum-state processors, and still be wondering why frickin' Outlook is running so slow.
You must not have been in many jobs that required managers. Or, more sympathetically, rarely had a good manager. Which is understandable, a good manager can be hard to find. I've been lucky, I guess; I've had two or three jobs with really good managers.
Yes, "At best they're coordinating things so that the employees can focus as much on production as possible." Don't piss on that; a good manager will set out your team's goals and let you go and do them, but they'll also keep THEIR bosses from getting on YOUR case. Can you do that? It's harder than it sounds. A LOT harder. A bad manager will let upper management filter through them to you. A good one lets your team do their thing.
And if it's not stressed enough: Don't piss on the value of having a manager lay out your team's goals. Not every team is 'Do X really well.' Most real world teams outside of project development have 'Do X, Y, and Z really well' as their mission and your manager can guide you towards which of those needs work, which is going just fine, and which is slipping.
Techies love groaning about managers, but as someone said, a good manager is almost invisible, and is a guide when the team knows what it's doing. When the team looses its way, when they have no focus, when they're falling apart, either the manager is failing, or there's a new manager coming on who needs to lay into the team. (Or the team is filled with a bunch of incompetent fuckwits.)
"At this rate Tunisia (which just abolished its state security) and Egypt (whose people raided their state security HQ) will be freer than the "land of the free"."
Unfortunately, a bit more than one quarter of the US identifies as Republican/right-wing/authoritarian-follower, or any two of those or all three. About the same amount identifies as Democratic/left-wing. The remaining half are ostensibly 'independant' but trend right-of-center.
This is a country just BEGGING for an authoritarian right-wing dictator.
That's because what schools teach isn't what IT employers want. They want experienced people, true; but more than that they want people who are skilled in the tools that the employer uses. Colleges and unis will teach a person the theory and processes behind the tools -- OSI model, networking, packet structure, etc. But it won't teach them how to use the specific network management tools or diagnostics that each employer uses.
Ultimately, employers -- or at least, those IT hiring managers who are distant from the actual workers and clueful IT managers -- want the colleges and unis to teach these tools. They don't want employees with college degrees (and college student loans which will keep them looking for better-paying jobs) whom they have to take the time to teach what tools they use and what the nuances of their network are. They want IT monkeys who somehow instinctively know every facet of their networks and can push the right buttons on whatever tool you put in front of them.
In ancient Athens, jury duty was actually pretty lucrative. A number of older citizens became semi-professional jurists, not only because the pay was decent -- for just this reason, that is, keeping them from being bribed -- but because it gave them some real personal power in a democratic* system. Currying favor with known jurists was not unknown.
* - For very narrow values of 'democratic,' to wit: Own land and be male.
While I agree that counter-protests are the only real answer, they don't work with the Phelps clan. These are people who have constructed a reality for themselves that is utterly impregnable to what everyone else calls 'reality.' Protesting them just makes them more convinced they're right; but not protesting them causes them to be disruptive and, yes, emotionally harmful at, for example, funerals.
Besides... duelling protests within hearing distance of a funeral is... rather tacky.
But the Phelps' clan lack of engagement notwithstanding, you are absolutely correct: Supporting free speech doesn't mean you have to be a doormat and let every intrinsically wrong statement pass without a reality check.
Mind you, I don't think Anony will accomplish much with this other than deface their website, claim victory, and call it a day. Though I'm curious as to if they're thinking of doing more, there's just not that much you can do to the Phelps clan. They're not really a small family, though -- they're about 30 people, almost all of them related to Patriarch Fred by blood or by marriage. And they are all, apparently, lawyers. It's probably part of their home-schooling curriculum.
The further problem is that not everyone is laughing at the Phelps clan. There are quite a few conservative religious groups which either agree with them or agree with their message that 'God hates fags.' Pat Robertson tried to distance himself from him but he was doing the same thing that they were: Blaming things like Hurricane Katrina and the Haiti disasters on homosexuals. Patty is not really representative of fringe Christianity.
The fact is, American Protestantism is becoming increasingly radicalized. The Phelps clan may look like they're 'out there' but only because they are shouting at soldiers' funerals what a lot of congregations and churches and so on, have been quietly saying all along. You see it in part in their statements, filled with 'we regret their delivery,' 'we cannot condone disrupting the funerals of our dead soldiers,' 'they were unwise in their method of communication.' If ultraconservative Christians In Name Only are decrying the way the Phelps clan is delivering their message, they certainly aren't decrying the message itself.
Well, let me throw in a total hypothetical.... So, yeah, this is going to be batshit.
Say that somehow in the US (or your Western nation of choice) there is a real asshole of a politico. As in, all but ate kittens on television. Doesn't matter what his party or politics were. Did the whole hypocritical politician thing with regards to his religion. Went to Christian church, accepted communion, had the blessings of his minister, yadda yadda. In short, total asshole hypocrite.
Said politician dies. His church for whatever reason is still singing his praises as the best leader EVAR and are planning a big, elaborate, ostentatious religious funeral for him. Epitome of his faith, model to look up to, he will be properly interred with all the honor due to such a great man. Folks might have some other thoughts about the 'great man' part. They may see such a thing as an affront, a tawdry display, a mockery of all the church supposedly holds dear.
At that point, I can see a protest of the funeral being pretty fitting, no matter what your politics. But this was a contrived exampled, albeit one I can see, sorta. I vaguely recal this happening in a couple of nations that made a very rocky transition from autarchy to something slightly more egalitarian.
That being said... yeah, the WBC are obnoxious douchenozzles. I admit if the dropped off the face of the memesphere tonight, I wouldn't miss them.
Good observation. I went to SUNY Maritime College at about the time they hired Joe Hazlewood as an instructor. The man was probably the most exacting officer on a deck watch. Granted, he was conning a ship full of cadets that had a big-ass 'STUDENT DRIVER' sign on the stern kingpost, but he knew his stuff, and like you said, paranoia will be eating him alive any time he's aboard a ship.
Burlusconi has been Prime Minister of Italy for a long time now, in part by owning most of the media -- he started with a radio station and a newspaper in the south, and pretty much came to control everything. When he wanted the job of PM, guess who every newspaper endorsed for the job? He's basically the William Randolph Hearst of Italy, except Hearst never managed to hold an office.
Burlusconi is in it only for the power and will stomp on anyone to get his way. In a way, though, this is extremely instructive: This is what happens when you allow one person or a handful of people unrestricted control of the media.
Slashdot Mirror
SHHHH! You're going to give ICANN ideas!
But all in all that's probably not a pro
And no matter how much money the Old Republic stuff made, no matter how much fans love that era and those stories, no matter how much they might make (at least internal) consistency and sense... Lucas will overwrite all of it in favor of what he cobbles together.
Lucas is a control freak -- that's not a bad thing when you're aiming for quality storytelling and you really are a top notch storyteller. It's a definite bad thing when you're a mediocre or moderate storyteller, and you don't trust anyone else with your creative work or ideas. He cannot at all stand anyone else playing in his sandbox, because they don't share his unique vision of the sandbox. So when a bunch of folks make a pretty keen sandcastle that's got flying buttresses and towers and complicated and exciting architecture, Lucas will kick it all down and replace it with his... adequate, technically good but nothing-to-write-home-about sand towers he makes from buckets. (Let's break the metaphor: He has good basic filmmaking skills, but not much more than that; I think he bought into the Joseph Campbell interview a bit too much. If he stuck with space opera instead of trying to make them deep mythological passion plays, his films would be a lot better. This of course is IMHO.) There's a reason why Empire Strikes Back is considered the best film of the franchise.
...that Jonathan Swift wrote "A Modest Proposal?" I mean, I've seen some people make rather ham-handed attempts at a satirical suggestion, and everyone goes 'Yeah, yeah, Modest Proposal, uh-huh," but are folks on /. actually thinking this guy is being anything but satirical? Yeesh.
You petty much nailed it on the head. An MMO has to make a great first impression. STO is struggling after a mediocre release and poor reception. (On the other hand, the devs there are really into the community interaction; other companies could do worse than do that, even if most of it is putting out fires and damage control.)
NO.
The Penis is Evil. The GUN is GOOD.
They also, if they happen to find that they're of a nontraditional gender role -- i.e. gay or just feminine or (heavens help them) transexual -- are stuck in a horrible cycle of recrimination, guilt, shunning, 'repatriation therapy,' depression, despair, and for too many, suicide. Yeah, a real bargain. Welcome to Omelas.
For those who 'fit in,' or are malleable enough to be molded to fit in, sure, it works for them. And there is a considerable support network. (At least, for most American Protestant denominations, if you're the right colored skin and of the right economic class.) But if you are off their beam? If you don't match their ideals? Consider that.
All operators are busy at the moment. Your Call is important to us. Please stay on the line, and Cthulu will be with you shortly. ... VERY shortly.
Because a grocery store needs to hold on to customer information! How else can they... uh... well, er... PROFIT?
So what do I need to do to convince a corporation to get rid of all customer data they have on me? Oh... wait... nevermind.
When they said they would not pull it, but would monitor it, they opened themselves up for litigation. This is the sort of thing that's allowed common carriers at least the illusion of immunity from persecution over what goes through their networks. As soon as Facebook said they would monitor it, that was a statement that they are not a common carrier. By "monitoring" it, they assumed responsibility for it.
Bad move on their part, no matter what you might think of the subject.
And 640K is all we'll ever need. =)
On a more serious note, really... I think it's some sort of corollary to Moore's law: Processing needs will always expand to fill the available processing capacity. In short, we're going to be using our pocket computers with quantum-state processors, and still be wondering why frickin' Outlook is running so slow.
You must not have been in many jobs that required managers. Or, more sympathetically, rarely had a good manager. Which is understandable, a good manager can be hard to find. I've been lucky, I guess; I've had two or three jobs with really good managers.
Yes, "At best they're coordinating things so that the employees can focus as much on production as possible." Don't piss on that; a good manager will set out your team's goals and let you go and do them, but they'll also keep THEIR bosses from getting on YOUR case. Can you do that? It's harder than it sounds. A LOT harder. A bad manager will let upper management filter through them to you. A good one lets your team do their thing.
And if it's not stressed enough: Don't piss on the value of having a manager lay out your team's goals. Not every team is 'Do X really well.' Most real world teams outside of project development have 'Do X, Y, and Z really well' as their mission and your manager can guide you towards which of those needs work, which is going just fine, and which is slipping.
Techies love groaning about managers, but as someone said, a good manager is almost invisible, and is a guide when the team knows what it's doing. When the team looses its way, when they have no focus, when they're falling apart, either the manager is failing, or there's a new manager coming on who needs to lay into the team. (Or the team is filled with a bunch of incompetent fuckwits.)
"At this rate Tunisia (which just abolished its state security) and Egypt (whose people raided their state security HQ) will be freer than the "land of the free"."
That's... really rather fscking depressing. :(
Unfortunately, a bit more than one quarter of the US identifies as Republican/right-wing/authoritarian-follower, or any two of those or all three. About the same amount identifies as Democratic/left-wing. The remaining half are ostensibly 'independant' but trend right-of-center.
This is a country just BEGGING for an authoritarian right-wing dictator.
Well, yeah... but the line 'One of the last PDP-11s on the net!' made a few old-school computer folk in the audience grin. =)
That's because what schools teach isn't what IT employers want. They want experienced people, true; but more than that they want people who are skilled in the tools that the employer uses. Colleges and unis will teach a person the theory and processes behind the tools -- OSI model, networking, packet structure, etc. But it won't teach them how to use the specific network management tools or diagnostics that each employer uses.
Ultimately, employers -- or at least, those IT hiring managers who are distant from the actual workers and clueful IT managers -- want the colleges and unis to teach these tools. They don't want employees with college degrees (and college student loans which will keep them looking for better-paying jobs) whom they have to take the time to teach what tools they use and what the nuances of their network are. They want IT monkeys who somehow instinctively know every facet of their networks and can push the right buttons on whatever tool you put in front of them.
Interesting observatons. They tie into the concept of fifth-generation warfare rather well, actually. Thanks for sharing them; I'll look for Restrepo!
In ancient Athens, jury duty was actually pretty lucrative. A number of older citizens became semi-professional jurists, not only because the pay was decent -- for just this reason, that is, keeping them from being bribed -- but because it gave them some real personal power in a democratic* system. Currying favor with known jurists was not unknown.
* - For very narrow values of 'democratic,' to wit: Own land and be male.
There's all sorts of interesting correlations to Simlacra and Simulation here.
As (ironically) an AC said above: "Serious force is serious."
Lawsuits, lulz.... this should be interesting.
While I agree that counter-protests are the only real answer, they don't work with the Phelps clan. These are people who have constructed a reality for themselves that is utterly impregnable to what everyone else calls 'reality.' Protesting them just makes them more convinced they're right; but not protesting them causes them to be disruptive and, yes, emotionally harmful at, for example, funerals.
Besides... duelling protests within hearing distance of a funeral is... rather tacky.
But the Phelps' clan lack of engagement notwithstanding, you are absolutely correct: Supporting free speech doesn't mean you have to be a doormat and let every intrinsically wrong statement pass without a reality check.
Well, it's more complicated than that.
Mind you, I don't think Anony will accomplish much with this other than deface their website, claim victory, and call it a day. Though I'm curious as to if they're thinking of doing more, there's just not that much you can do to the Phelps clan. They're not really a small family, though -- they're about 30 people, almost all of them related to Patriarch Fred by blood or by marriage. And they are all, apparently, lawyers. It's probably part of their home-schooling curriculum.
The further problem is that not everyone is laughing at the Phelps clan. There are quite a few conservative religious groups which either agree with them or agree with their message that 'God hates fags.' Pat Robertson tried to distance himself from him but he was doing the same thing that they were: Blaming things like Hurricane Katrina and the Haiti disasters on homosexuals. Patty is not really representative of fringe Christianity.
The fact is, American Protestantism is becoming increasingly radicalized. The Phelps clan may look like they're 'out there' but only because they are shouting at soldiers' funerals what a lot of congregations and churches and so on, have been quietly saying all along. You see it in part in their statements, filled with 'we regret their delivery,' 'we cannot condone disrupting the funerals of our dead soldiers,' 'they were unwise in their method of communication.' If ultraconservative Christians In Name Only are decrying the way the Phelps clan is delivering their message, they certainly aren't decrying the message itself.
Well, let me throw in a total hypothetical.... So, yeah, this is going to be batshit.
Say that somehow in the US (or your Western nation of choice) there is a real asshole of a politico. As in, all but ate kittens on television. Doesn't matter what his party or politics were. Did the whole hypocritical politician thing with regards to his religion. Went to Christian church, accepted communion, had the blessings of his minister, yadda yadda. In short, total asshole hypocrite.
Said politician dies. His church for whatever reason is still singing his praises as the best leader EVAR and are planning a big, elaborate, ostentatious religious funeral for him. Epitome of his faith, model to look up to, he will be properly interred with all the honor due to such a great man. Folks might have some other thoughts about the 'great man' part. They may see such a thing as an affront, a tawdry display, a mockery of all the church supposedly holds dear.
At that point, I can see a protest of the funeral being pretty fitting, no matter what your politics. But this was a contrived exampled, albeit one I can see, sorta. I vaguely recal this happening in a couple of nations that made a very rocky transition from autarchy to something slightly more egalitarian.
That being said... yeah, the WBC are obnoxious douchenozzles. I admit if the dropped off the face of the memesphere tonight, I wouldn't miss them.
Good observation. I went to SUNY Maritime College at about the time they hired Joe Hazlewood as an instructor. The man was probably the most exacting officer on a deck watch. Granted, he was conning a ship full of cadets that had a big-ass 'STUDENT DRIVER' sign on the stern kingpost, but he knew his stuff, and like you said, paranoia will be eating him alive any time he's aboard a ship.
Burlusconi has been Prime Minister of Italy for a long time now, in part by owning most of the media -- he started with a radio station and a newspaper in the south, and pretty much came to control everything. When he wanted the job of PM, guess who every newspaper endorsed for the job? He's basically the William Randolph Hearst of Italy, except Hearst never managed to hold an office.
Burlusconi is in it only for the power and will stomp on anyone to get his way. In a way, though, this is extremely instructive: This is what happens when you allow one person or a handful of people unrestricted control of the media.