Next they'll tell us we can't skip ahead to the conclusion when we read a book. Jeez.
Bullshit. You can still fast-forward through the movie, what you can't do is sell a book with thirty pages ripped out of the middle, unless authorized by the publisher. That's what's called an abridged version, and it's on the same ground as a director's cut.
I'm sick and tired of seeing all this paranoid crap on Slashdot. We're talking about creative control here. The artist did not intend for the film to be seen that way. People are SELLING a version of their work that they did not approve of. The movie isn't GPL'd yo.
I loved Evil Dead, although the scene you refer to was in Evil Dead 2, but you should remember that Luke lost his hand in the Empire Strikes Back, five years before Raimi made Dead 2.
All art imitates/copies. It's a natural thing to do. The Fifth Element owes a *lot* to Metropolis, Dune, and the long-standing visuals of Coruscant made long before Episode I.
Your post smacks of one searching desperatly for a stick with which to beat the movie, and I have to wonder why. The movie is the cinematic creation of George Lucas. No one made you see it. If you went and didn't like it, so what? I don't think the trailers were misleading.
Personally, I liked Episode II and found the underlying political undertones interesting. The notion that the Senate is being controlled by moneyed interests ought to play well here, and please note that Lucas had that idea some twenty years ago, so it's not like he's trying to pander to anyone.
Especially not do-nothing grumblers like the loud vocal minority on this site who think much is owed them.
I don't like to accuse people of out hand, but the Confederacy winning the Civil War was a fairly likely thing for the first few years. Most Union generals (McClellan, Banks, Burnside) measured up very poorly against their Confederate counterparts (Lee, Jackson, Johnston).
Had the south won the Battle of Antietam in 1862, as it almost did, the war would have likely ended. Even as late as 1864 Lincoln was in serious electoral trouble until Grant finally delivered. Had McClellan won, he would have pursued peace.
I can excuse spelling mistakes, but as a historian I am appalled at the ignorance of the editors.
I'm sure the Europeans would be most impressed to learn this. I'm sure you speak of the present, otherwise I'm not sure what to tell the Royal Navy, Red Army, Prussian/German General Staff...et al.
The Europeans don't field "decent" (I assume you mean large) armies because they don't need to. They do not conduct foreign policies that require substantial troop commitments. They don't have twelve aircraft carrier battlegroups like the US. They don't need them. Hell, we don't need them either.
Having read through the bill, I'd like to make some observations.
The bill defines a peer-to-peer network as being:
two or more computers which are connected by computer software that (A) is primarily designed to (i) enable the connected computers to transmit files or data to other connected computers...
(B) does not permanently route all file or data inquiries or searches through a designated, central computer located in the United States
This would seem to obviate any centralized file-trading system (like Napster). In fact, it would exclude any system not truly peer-to-peer. Odd.
The bill also includes provisions for suing the copyright holders if they cause at leaset "$50" in economic damages to you. However, it specifies "Monetary" damages. Does this mean hardware repair, as opposed to the less tangible lost bandwidth? If so, can we throw this back at their somewhat intangible "losses to piracy"?
They also must notify the Justice Department 7 days in advance, as I read it. Given the shitfting nature of the Internet, that seems useless to the **AA.
Okay, this bill sucks, but it doesn't seem nearly as dangerous (yet) as everyone makes it out to be.
True enough. I would like to suggest that this attitude simply reflects a phase in our national development. At various points in history Rome, France, England, Russia, China, Germany, and Japan have been or have striven to be pre-eminent in the world. Up until the 20th century the United States was relatively self-focused and isolationist. It's our turn now.
Is this right? Not for me to answer. I simply suggest that this isn't local to the United States.
That's a good point, and I agree completely. I meant my comment in a broader sense, in that I would like to see, in general, inventive stuff that is not simply a windows clone. But I would definitely agree that it's a starting point, and I do hope that it develops from that starting point.
Let me preface this comment by noting that I've been playing Civ2 since it came out, and that I have played FreeCiv as well. I run Windows but I admire Linux, GNU, Open Source...etc.
That said, what is the point of FreeCiv? To prove that a bunch of guys can, in their spare time, hack together an improved port of a game written some six years ago by another group of guys who happened to get paid for their work? Wowee. They've done a good job, but what for? The gameplay in Civ2 was good, as were the graphics. If you want good network play in a Civ-style game I heartily recommend Space Empires IV, which I think may get ported to Linux sometime (don't quote me, I read it somewhere).
Impress me. Create something new and original, something to hang one's hat on. No-one outside of Slashdot will be impressed by this. Many inside Slashdot are not. We need innovative games, innovative design. Not ports. Give people a reason to switch.
I've grown tired of responding to incessant peer-to-peer/music industry/IP/Congress (they all seem to revolve around the same issue) stories, so I will simply state my position on the whole matter once and for all.
1. Filesharing networks are a tool, as is a car or a firearm or an aircraft. There are legal and illegal uses for all of them. The fact that a majority of users misuse filesharing networks is no more relevant than the fact that a majority of American motorists break the speed limit. Period. End of story.
2. Certain songs are copyright their respective copyright holders, in this case the Recording Industry Association of America. Those songs are their intellectual property. This is not a gray area. Now, should it be demonstrated and upheld in a court of law that they, the RIAA, have abused this copyright, this may change. Hasn't happened yet.
3. End users that have not paid for said music or otherwise acquired a LEGAL license to said music do not have the legal right to possess their own distinct digital copy of said music for any purpose other than parody. In English: If you didn't buy it you don't own it.
4. End users who download music that they do not otherwise own are committing theft, recognized as a crime in most countries. End users who back up their music are not, so long as they have purchased said music.
5. End users who make available copyrighted material that they have paid for but others may not are abetting theft. Analogy: You set up a card table outside a record store. You offer CD's burned with music. You put up a notice stating that you may only take the CD if you already have bought the music legally. You do not attempt to verify whether or not anyone has done so. Right. Sure.
6. Suing someone for engaging in the above practice is indeed legal. That person is willfully distributing something that is not theirs to distribute. This is illegal.
7. To copy-protect a CD to prevent ripping is a violation of fair-use. However, fair-use is not defined in stone. Moreover, to circumvent the copy-protection is a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (1998). Like the law or not (I don't), it is law. It conflicts with fair use, therefore the courts must decide boundaries.
I could go on, but that about sums it up. I dislike the RIAA intensly for the way they treat artists, end-users, et al., but they do have legal standing here. As for CD-ripping, I can only hope they get knocked ass-over-teakettle.
This is not a troll, but what I hope is a clear stating of the matter as I see it.
The Declaration of Independence really doesn't have an bearing on the matter. It was written in 1776, some thirteen years before the adoption of the current constitution. The Declaration and the Constitution were drawn up by different people. The Declaration has no legal standing. You'll notice there is no mention of God in the Constitution.
Never mind that it is a generally accepted practice for mottos to be written in Latin. Also never mind that Latin was the language of educated men at the time. Your argument seems rather similar to stating that if people fileshare and CD sales go down, one causes the other, regardless of other factors.
I would like to draw everyone's attention to "Nature's God", "Creator", and "Supreme Judge". These phrases are non-specific. They imply a superior power of some sort, but they do not imply the standard Judeo-Christian God. Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence, was a Deist (they believe in a non-specific Creator but don't pray to him), so this seems entirely appropriate.
However, the phrase "under God", was inserted into the Pledge during the Eisenhower Administration as a bulwark against atheist Communism. Hardly the same thing.
As I see, George Lucas is staring at a fundamental problem for his movies. Yes, his. They aren't mine, they aren't yours, they aren't even the MPAA's.
The problem is that Trilogy 1 (I-III) and Trilogy 2 (IV-VI) occur in substantially different parts of the galaxy, with substantially different characters. Episode I and II have featured politicians, the fucking amazing artistry that is Coruscant, the Jedi Order, battle droids, massive factory worlds. Episodes IV through IV feature mainly military men, on both sides, a lot of backwaters, a few rare Force-users...does anyone else see a glaring problem?
Let me first say, before this next section of my post, that Empire Strikes Back is my favorite of the series, followed by A New Hope and Attack of the Clones. But really, what there needs to be is something else tying the trilogies. Where is the galaxy from Episode II to be found in the original three? Nowhere. We never see Coruscant, or Naboo, or Kimono, Geneosis. Logically, we should see these places. The Emperor, such an important figure in the first three movies, is not even see until Episode VI, and is only hinted at before then. It was a good storytelling technique, until prequels that brought him to the forefront. These and many other issues need to be reconciled (if anything is to be changed at all, of course).
For those that skipped to the bottom, the creation of the new trilogy has made the point of view of the old trilogy problematic. There, I've said it.
I doubt this comment will get noticed amid the Screamings of an Outraged Slashdot (TM), but here goes...
This is in a report provided by the MPAA to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is looking into the matter. The chair of the committie is Senator Leahy (D-Vermont), an old-school proponent of citizen's rights who has delayed the SSSCA by a whole year. The ranking minority member is Senator Hatch (R-Utah), who is most definitly not in the pocket of the MPAA or RIAA.
This isn't even a bill yet. Be alert, but don't lose your heads.
While it is true that, for a 15 track CD, it could be just as expensive, you won't be buying the whole CD. You will be buying those tracks that you actually want to listen to. As for quality issues, I see people argue for lossless quality, I see the rampant popularity of the MP3 format, and I draw my own conclusion.
What kind of user do you get out of a Microsoft environment (hint:DUMB) compared to the kind of user you get form a Linux environment (hint:Skilled).
That's exactly the kind of crap that will keep Linux from achieving widespread popularity. Too many *nix people assume that anyone who uses MS (or learned on it) is some clueless troll.
I run Windows 98 SE as my primary operating system. Why? Because I play a lot of games, including a lot of wonderful old DOS games that can barely be made to run on a Windows box, let alone *nix. I use MS Word, IMHO a very good word processing program. Outlook has been burned off my machine, and I have email on a friend's Linux box. I have an old 486 with Linux on it serving as a router/firewall.
I can hear it now: why don't you have a Linux partition with Open Office? I used to. But really, consider the absurdity of it. Why would I run two different operating systems when one, and one alone, meets all my needs? What possible justification, other than Microsoft is evil, is there?
Disclaimer: I am a fan of Open Source/Free Software/Linux/GNU/et al. I admire everything they stand for. I admire their technical superiority to MS. However, they do not meet my needs. Nor do they meet the needs of John Q. Public. Until that time, this sort of thing should be expected. And countered.
As a self appointed Star Wars demigod, I'll address this quite reasonable point. Something established in the books and hopefully cemented in Episode III is that the initial revolt against Palpatine and the New Order was led by Galactic/Imperial Senators. Leia Organa, Mon Mothman, Garm Bel Iblis, Bail Organa...they channeled funds and weapons to the first resistors.
The ships from Return of the Jedi that you speak of were supplied by the Mon Calamari, of Calamari, who were in open revolt against the Empire. Also visible were Corellian Covettes, comercially available, and Nebulon-B frigates hijacked from the Empire. This is a galaxy at war, there is a LOT of surplus hardware floating around. It doesn't seem all that unreasonable that the rebels could get their hands on old clonetrooper weapons.
The people of Naboo have a democratically elected leader who happens to be a monarch. That is, they elect a monarch. Swap in President for monarch and give that President absolute authority. Note that she stepped down at the end of her term, thus preserving the constitution.
There seems to be some confusion as to Leia. Leia is Princess Leia Organa, of the Royal House Organa of Alderaan. Her mother having been Queen of Naboo has *nothing* to do with this.
This gentleman has made what is, on the surface, a reasonably sound argument, and one that will no doubt appeal to many on this site. Yes, it is true that the Empire maintained law and order. Yes it is true that the Alliance to Restore the Republic was in rebellion against the technically legitimate government.
However, the coming to power of this government must be examined. It's head, former Senator Palpatine, engineered several diplomatic crisis and instigated a full-scale war in order to achieve dictatorial powers. He dabbled in the Sith teachings, long abhorred by the galactic public. These are not the actions of a "good guy."
I also find it interesting that he states he will not use the Expanded Universe because it was not in the movies. All well and good, except that in excluding the Expanded Universe one omits a lot of crucial detail about the nature of the Empire. The Expanded Universe was created with Lucas' blessing, and information relating to it can be found on the official Star Wars website. I'd say that this information is safe to use. Of course, it goes without saying that said information demonstrates beyond a doubt the inherent cruelty of the Galactic Empire. So there.
I take it this applies only to Microsoft's implementation and not to Sun's Virtual Machine? Not that Sun's is any more stable...(I run Win98 SE, and it dies on me all the time).
I may be alone here, but I'm tired of all the attention paid to Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity. So what if they happen to be the good guys? So what if they're fighting the "establishment?" So what if Trinity is damned hot in leather (okay, I cede that one)?
It seems obvious to me that the truly interesting character is Agent Smith, not to mention the entity he represents. First of all, Smith shows interesting emotional development throughout the movie. When interrogating Neo, he's completely cool and collected, while by the subway fight he's pissed off. He's losing emotional control, I'm really annoyed they didn't do more with this.
Now, to address the anti-establishment concept that people seem to like: you've got it backwards. The Matrix was created by machines that were created by establishment humanity. They rebelled against their masters and installed a society based on cool logic and reason. Smith, before being "infected" by humanity, was the model of composure.
Sorry to rant, but I'm tired of all those Neo-worshippers.
I attend a small midwestern liberal arts college. Most students here aren't really what I'd call computer literate. They can use KaZaa/Morpheus, they can read email, they can surf the web, but if anything goes wrong they're absolutely clueless. Most freshmen didn't own their own computers beforehand and bought new ones last summer. Naturally, that means that almost all of them have Dell or Gateway craptops running ME. But I digress.
The school provides tech support in the form of "Residential Computer Consultants". These are students, one per dorm, that other students can call if they have problems. Sounds great, right? It would be, except that they're a bunch of clueless dolts. Case in point: last month, a friend of mine's girlfriend was having troubles with her HP box. Seems there was a hell of a lot of noise coming from the back of the machine. The RCC had been and gone, reluctant to open the case and having no theories as to the problem. Upon arriving, things became apparent:
The noise started when the machine booted.
If one actually listened close, the sound seemed to come from the graphics card.
She doesn't have an onboard graphics card. Ergo, her card probably has a fan. Hmm, that noise reminds me of when the fan died on my old 133.
Taking things to their logical conclusion, I opened the case and observed that the fan was vibrating (removing the card killed the noise, hmmm).
Some tightening of the screws later, things were fine. It took me maybe 10 minutes at most.
Moral of the story? Don't call tech support. Call some geek buddy. Chances are, they're had your problem before or worked with someone who has. They'll probably fix it for free out of pity, hell, they might even donate excess parts they might have lying around. I have before. Even better, for the geeks, it's a great way to pick up girls...
Slashdot Mirror
Next they'll tell us we can't skip ahead to the conclusion when we read a book. Jeez.
Bullshit. You can still fast-forward through the movie, what you can't do is sell a book with thirty pages ripped out of the middle, unless authorized by the publisher. That's what's called an abridged version, and it's on the same ground as a director's cut.
I'm sick and tired of seeing all this paranoid crap on Slashdot. We're talking about creative control here. The artist did not intend for the film to be seen that way. People are SELLING a version of their work that they did not approve of. The movie isn't GPL'd yo.
~Chazzf
And your point is?
I loved Evil Dead, although the scene you refer to was in Evil Dead 2, but you should remember that Luke lost his hand in the Empire Strikes Back, five years before Raimi made Dead 2.
All art imitates/copies. It's a natural thing to do. The Fifth Element owes a *lot* to Metropolis, Dune, and the long-standing visuals of Coruscant made long before Episode I.
Your post smacks of one searching desperatly for a stick with which to beat the movie, and I have to wonder why. The movie is the cinematic creation of George Lucas. No one made you see it. If you went and didn't like it, so what? I don't think the trailers were misleading.
Personally, I liked Episode II and found the underlying political undertones interesting. The notion that the Senate is being controlled by moneyed interests ought to play well here, and please note that Lucas had that idea some twenty years ago, so it's not like he's trying to pander to anyone.
Especially not do-nothing grumblers like the loud vocal minority on this site who think much is owed them.
~Chazzf
I don't like to accuse people of out hand, but the Confederacy winning the Civil War was a fairly likely thing for the first few years. Most Union generals (McClellan, Banks, Burnside) measured up very poorly against their Confederate counterparts (Lee, Jackson, Johnston).
Had the south won the Battle of Antietam in 1862, as it almost did, the war would have likely ended. Even as late as 1864 Lincoln was in serious electoral trouble until Grant finally delivered. Had McClellan won, he would have pursued peace.
I can excuse spelling mistakes, but as a historian I am appalled at the ignorance of the editors.
~Chazzf
I'm sure the Europeans would be most impressed to learn this. I'm sure you speak of the present, otherwise I'm not sure what to tell the Royal Navy, Red Army, Prussian/German General Staff...et al.
The Europeans don't field "decent" (I assume you mean large) armies because they don't need to. They do not conduct foreign policies that require substantial troop commitments. They don't have twelve aircraft carrier battlegroups like the US. They don't need them. Hell, we don't need them either.
~Chazzf
Having read through the bill, I'd like to make some observations.
The bill defines a peer-to-peer network as being:
two or more computers which are connected by computer software that (A) is primarily designed to (i) enable the connected computers to transmit files or data to other connected computers... (B) does not permanently route all file or data inquiries or searches through a designated, central computer located in the United States
This would seem to obviate any centralized file-trading system (like Napster). In fact, it would exclude any system not truly peer-to-peer. Odd.
The bill also includes provisions for suing the copyright holders if they cause at leaset "$50" in economic damages to you. However, it specifies "Monetary" damages. Does this mean hardware repair, as opposed to the less tangible lost bandwidth? If so, can we throw this back at their somewhat intangible "losses to piracy"?
They also must notify the Justice Department 7 days in advance, as I read it. Given the shitfting nature of the Internet, that seems useless to the **AA.
Okay, this bill sucks, but it doesn't seem nearly as dangerous (yet) as everyone makes it out to be.
~Chazzf
True enough. I would like to suggest that this attitude simply reflects a phase in our national development. At various points in history Rome, France, England, Russia, China, Germany, and Japan have been or have striven to be pre-eminent in the world. Up until the 20th century the United States was relatively self-focused and isolationist. It's our turn now.
Is this right? Not for me to answer. I simply suggest that this isn't local to the United States.
~Chazzf
A computer which can do oh so much more than a SINGLE COMPACT DISC ... this isn't even worth a reply.
That's a good point, and I agree completely. I meant my comment in a broader sense, in that I would like to see, in general, inventive stuff that is not simply a windows clone. But I would definitely agree that it's a starting point, and I do hope that it develops from that starting point.
Let me preface this comment by noting that I've been playing Civ2 since it came out, and that I have played FreeCiv as well. I run Windows but I admire Linux, GNU, Open Source...etc.
That said, what is the point of FreeCiv? To prove that a bunch of guys can, in their spare time, hack together an improved port of a game written some six years ago by another group of guys who happened to get paid for their work? Wowee. They've done a good job, but what for? The gameplay in Civ2 was good, as were the graphics. If you want good network play in a Civ-style game I heartily recommend Space Empires IV, which I think may get ported to Linux sometime (don't quote me, I read it somewhere).
Impress me. Create something new and original, something to hang one's hat on. No-one outside of Slashdot will be impressed by this. Many inside Slashdot are not. We need innovative games, innovative design. Not ports. Give people a reason to switch.
~Chazzf
I've grown tired of responding to incessant peer-to-peer/music industry/IP/Congress (they all seem to revolve around the same issue) stories, so I will simply state my position on the whole matter once and for all.
1. Filesharing networks are a tool, as is a car or a firearm or an aircraft. There are legal and illegal uses for all of them. The fact that a majority of users misuse filesharing networks is no more relevant than the fact that a majority of American motorists break the speed limit. Period. End of story.
2. Certain songs are copyright their respective copyright holders, in this case the Recording Industry Association of America. Those songs are their intellectual property. This is not a gray area. Now, should it be demonstrated and upheld in a court of law that they, the RIAA, have abused this copyright, this may change. Hasn't happened yet.
3. End users that have not paid for said music or otherwise acquired a LEGAL license to said music do not have the legal right to possess their own distinct digital copy of said music for any purpose other than parody. In English: If you didn't buy it you don't own it.
4. End users who download music that they do not otherwise own are committing theft, recognized as a crime in most countries. End users who back up their music are not, so long as they have purchased said music.
5. End users who make available copyrighted material that they have paid for but others may not are abetting theft. Analogy: You set up a card table outside a record store. You offer CD's burned with music. You put up a notice stating that you may only take the CD if you already have bought the music legally. You do not attempt to verify whether or not anyone has done so. Right. Sure.
6. Suing someone for engaging in the above practice is indeed legal. That person is willfully distributing something that is not theirs to distribute. This is illegal.
7. To copy-protect a CD to prevent ripping is a violation of fair-use. However, fair-use is not defined in stone. Moreover, to circumvent the copy-protection is a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (1998). Like the law or not (I don't), it is law. It conflicts with fair use, therefore the courts must decide boundaries.
I could go on, but that about sums it up. I dislike the RIAA intensly for the way they treat artists, end-users, et al., but they do have legal standing here. As for CD-ripping, I can only hope they get knocked ass-over-teakettle.
This is not a troll, but what I hope is a clear stating of the matter as I see it.
~Chazzf
The Declaration of Independence really doesn't have an bearing on the matter. It was written in 1776, some thirteen years before the adoption of the current constitution. The Declaration and the Constitution were drawn up by different people. The Declaration has no legal standing. You'll notice there is no mention of God in the Constitution.
~Chazzf
Never mind that it is a generally accepted practice for mottos to be written in Latin. Also never mind that Latin was the language of educated men at the time. Your argument seems rather similar to stating that if people fileshare and CD sales go down, one causes the other, regardless of other factors.
~Chazzf
I would like to draw everyone's attention to "Nature's God", "Creator", and "Supreme Judge". These phrases are non-specific. They imply a superior power of some sort, but they do not imply the standard Judeo-Christian God. Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence, was a Deist (they believe in a non-specific Creator but don't pray to him), so this seems entirely appropriate.
However, the phrase "under God", was inserted into the Pledge during the Eisenhower Administration as a bulwark against atheist Communism. Hardly the same thing.
~Chazzf
As I see, George Lucas is staring at a fundamental problem for his movies. Yes, his. They aren't mine, they aren't yours, they aren't even the MPAA's.
The problem is that Trilogy 1 (I-III) and Trilogy 2 (IV-VI) occur in substantially different parts of the galaxy, with substantially different characters. Episode I and II have featured politicians, the fucking amazing artistry that is Coruscant, the Jedi Order, battle droids, massive factory worlds. Episodes IV through IV feature mainly military men, on both sides, a lot of backwaters, a few rare Force-users...does anyone else see a glaring problem?
Let me first say, before this next section of my post, that Empire Strikes Back is my favorite of the series, followed by A New Hope and Attack of the Clones. But really, what there needs to be is something else tying the trilogies. Where is the galaxy from Episode II to be found in the original three? Nowhere. We never see Coruscant, or Naboo, or Kimono, Geneosis. Logically, we should see these places. The Emperor, such an important figure in the first three movies, is not even see until Episode VI, and is only hinted at before then. It was a good storytelling technique, until prequels that brought him to the forefront. These and many other issues need to be reconciled (if anything is to be changed at all, of course).
For those that skipped to the bottom, the creation of the new trilogy has made the point of view of the old trilogy problematic. There, I've said it.
~Chazzf
I doubt this comment will get noticed amid the Screamings of an Outraged Slashdot (TM), but here goes...
This is in a report provided by the MPAA to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is looking into the matter. The chair of the committie is Senator Leahy (D-Vermont), an old-school proponent of citizen's rights who has delayed the SSSCA by a whole year. The ranking minority member is Senator Hatch (R-Utah), who is most definitly not in the pocket of the MPAA or RIAA.
This isn't even a bill yet. Be alert, but don't lose your heads.
~Chazzf
While it is true that, for a 15 track CD, it could be just as expensive, you won't be buying the whole CD. You will be buying those tracks that you actually want to listen to. As for quality issues, I see people argue for lossless quality, I see the rampant popularity of the MP3 format, and I draw my own conclusion.
~Chazzf
What kind of user do you get out of a Microsoft environment (hint:DUMB) compared to the kind of user you get form a Linux environment (hint:Skilled).
That's exactly the kind of crap that will keep Linux from achieving widespread popularity. Too many *nix people assume that anyone who uses MS (or learned on it) is some clueless troll.
I run Windows 98 SE as my primary operating system. Why? Because I play a lot of games, including a lot of wonderful old DOS games that can barely be made to run on a Windows box, let alone *nix. I use MS Word, IMHO a very good word processing program. Outlook has been burned off my machine, and I have email on a friend's Linux box. I have an old 486 with Linux on it serving as a router/firewall.
I can hear it now: why don't you have a Linux partition with Open Office? I used to. But really, consider the absurdity of it. Why would I run two different operating systems when one, and one alone, meets all my needs? What possible justification, other than Microsoft is evil, is there?
Disclaimer: I am a fan of Open Source/Free Software/Linux/GNU/et al. I admire everything they stand for. I admire their technical superiority to MS. However, they do not meet my needs. Nor do they meet the needs of John Q. Public. Until that time, this sort of thing should be expected. And countered.
Ugh, end rant.
~Chazzf
Why don't you just not click through the link until you've seen the finale? There, was that so hard now?
As a self appointed Star Wars demigod, I'll address this quite reasonable point. Something established in the books and hopefully cemented in Episode III is that the initial revolt against Palpatine and the New Order was led by Galactic/Imperial Senators. Leia Organa, Mon Mothman, Garm Bel Iblis, Bail Organa...they channeled funds and weapons to the first resistors.
The ships from Return of the Jedi that you speak of were supplied by the Mon Calamari, of Calamari, who were in open revolt against the Empire. Also visible were Corellian Covettes, comercially available, and Nebulon-B frigates hijacked from the Empire. This is a galaxy at war, there is a LOT of surplus hardware floating around. It doesn't seem all that unreasonable that the rebels could get their hands on old clonetrooper weapons.
~Chazzf
The people of Naboo have a democratically elected leader who happens to be a monarch. That is, they elect a monarch. Swap in President for monarch and give that President absolute authority. Note that she stepped down at the end of her term, thus preserving the constitution.
There seems to be some confusion as to Leia. Leia is Princess Leia Organa, of the Royal House Organa of Alderaan. Her mother having been Queen of Naboo has *nothing* to do with this.
~Chazzf
This gentleman has made what is, on the surface, a reasonably sound argument, and one that will no doubt appeal to many on this site. Yes, it is true that the Empire maintained law and order. Yes it is true that the Alliance to Restore the Republic was in rebellion against the technically legitimate government.
However, the coming to power of this government must be examined. It's head, former Senator Palpatine, engineered several diplomatic crisis and instigated a full-scale war in order to achieve dictatorial powers. He dabbled in the Sith teachings, long abhorred by the galactic public. These are not the actions of a "good guy."
I also find it interesting that he states he will not use the Expanded Universe because it was not in the movies. All well and good, except that in excluding the Expanded Universe one omits a lot of crucial detail about the nature of the Empire. The Expanded Universe was created with Lucas' blessing, and information relating to it can be found on the official Star Wars website. I'd say that this information is safe to use. Of course, it goes without saying that said information demonstrates beyond a doubt the inherent cruelty of the Galactic Empire. So there.
~Chazzf
I take it this applies only to Microsoft's implementation and not to Sun's Virtual Machine? Not that Sun's is any more stable...(I run Win98 SE, and it dies on me all the time).
I may be alone here, but I'm tired of all the attention paid to Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity. So what if they happen to be the good guys? So what if they're fighting the "establishment?" So what if Trinity is damned hot in leather (okay, I cede that one)?
It seems obvious to me that the truly interesting character is Agent Smith, not to mention the entity he represents. First of all, Smith shows interesting emotional development throughout the movie. When interrogating Neo, he's completely cool and collected, while by the subway fight he's pissed off. He's losing emotional control, I'm really annoyed they didn't do more with this.
Now, to address the anti-establishment concept that people seem to like: you've got it backwards. The Matrix was created by machines that were created by establishment humanity. They rebelled against their masters and installed a society based on cool logic and reason. Smith, before being "infected" by humanity, was the model of composure.
Sorry to rant, but I'm tired of all those Neo-worshippers.
~Chazzf
Help, I'm a Slashbot and I'm confused. Does this mean that to hurt the Recording Industry I have to buy more music?
~Chazzf (today masquerading as SlashBot#1138)
The school provides tech support in the form of "Residential Computer Consultants". These are students, one per dorm, that other students can call if they have problems. Sounds great, right? It would be, except that they're a bunch of clueless dolts. Case in point: last month, a friend of mine's girlfriend was having troubles with her HP box. Seems there was a hell of a lot of noise coming from the back of the machine. The RCC had been and gone, reluctant to open the case and having no theories as to the problem. Upon arriving, things became apparent:
The noise started when the machine booted.
If one actually listened close, the sound seemed to come from the graphics card.
She doesn't have an onboard graphics card. Ergo, her card probably has a fan. Hmm, that noise reminds me of when the fan died on my old 133.
Taking things to their logical conclusion, I opened the case and observed that the fan was vibrating (removing the card killed the noise, hmmm).
Some tightening of the screws later, things were fine. It took me maybe 10 minutes at most.
Moral of the story? Don't call tech support. Call some geek buddy. Chances are, they're had your problem before or worked with someone who has. They'll probably fix it for free out of pity, hell, they might even donate excess parts they might have lying around. I have before. Even better, for the geeks, it's a great way to pick up girls...
~Chazzf