Thanks o'Plenty to Taco & Katz for the reviews of The Matrix. When I first saw the ads for it, I was intrigued to the the point of salivation, but that one shot (you all know it) of Ted . . . er, Keanu . . . saying, "Whooooah!" with his typical stupified expression set the alarm bells a-clamoring.
Fortunately, every review I've read of it silences the bells more and more. I would recommend everyone interested hop over to CNN and read their review of it. It's done by an ex-English teacher, so it gives a slightly different perspective. The reviewer also loved it, but trumpets the literary qualities of the script instead of the movie's relevance to the geek/hacker scene.
I just did it this weekend, and it works flawlessly. Get the Aladdin Ghostscript. It will come with a whole slew of bjc610nX.upp files, where n=a or b and X= 0-7. There's a different driver for every resolution(360 & 720)/paper type combination.
This gets hairy, because the GS command to print, for example, 720x720 on coated paper is something like: gs @bjc610b2.upp -sOutputFile foo.pdf -c -quit So I made a bunch of shell scripts for different resolutions/paper types, which shortens the command to "7c foo.pdf" Much better. Simple, really.
I suppose if I wanted to work at being really lazy I could make multiple printer icons on my KDE desktop and have drag'n'drop printing for every resolution/paper type. =D Right now I have 1 icon set at a "rough draft" setting (360 dpi, high speed, plain paper).
Here is a listing of the BJC-610 uniprint drivers, what they do, etc.
This should do ya up right proper-like. Have fun! --
Bender started drinking because he found out he was bending girders for the suicide booths, I think. And I don't think he COULD quit, which is why he was trying to kill himself. Then he got zapped by the light socket and was able to override his programming.
I think. Just going from memory.
Anyone have an MP3 of the theme song yet? I like it. =) --
I was reading a review of Edtv by a competent* movie critic, and he said that it is similar to The Truman Show in that both are about guys on television a lot. Aside from that, they're worlds apart.
First off, I agree with most posters here that the English major's article was a lot better than the "techie"'s was. I really liked the ending, where she showed remorse for her until-now technically-ignorant, spoon-fed, over-hyphenated computer experience.
Secondly, I have a question that I will get to in a bit. I bought my computer in '95, and since then have been mixing and matching components as new toys/broken old ones dictate. Likewise at work. The point is, I haven't messed with a new, preassembled system in quite some time. So I wonder, how common is it for people to hook up the CD-ROM drive to the sound-card's IDE controller and disable the MB's secondary controller? I may be way off on this one, but that just seems odd. I don't like to feed conspiracies*, but to me that just reeks.
Third(ly?), I do have to agree with some points of this article. Linux really isn't ready for the "What's a BIOS?" crowd yet, which is where it needs to get for World Domination(tm). To expect all the tech-fearing, computer using people of the world to go out and get educated just so they can use an OS is delusional. It would be great, but it is not going to happen.
I think that Linux itself will be ready for the non-technical relatively soon. What's going to be more challenging is getting the Linux user base prepared for the onslaught of questions and demands from these people. That, more than anything, might be the biggest stumbling block on the road ahead. For most of the OS' existence, the Linux-savvy have been accustomed to answering questions, but from people that were knowledgeable about computers/tech in general. The road ahead is something entirely new. People asking "What's a BIOS?" Asking STUPID questions, and asking them about Linux. People not having a clue about anything at ALL wondering what they need to recompile their kernel.
So steel your patience, boys and girls. Even the ignorant have a right to use superior software, and it's up to the rest of us to help make it happen. If that can be accomplished, I think the world will be a much better place indeed.
*standard disclaimer made by anyone about to feed a conspiracy
I think the downfall of the Simpsons was/is the dumbifying of Homer to the extreme. He's always been a bit on the slow and ignorant side, but over the past few seasons it's just gotten worse and worse. And the show has been relying on it as a vehicle for laughs more and more, it seems.
Writer 1: What do we do this episode?
Writer 2: I dunno. Let's just have Homer do something stupid.
It gets old, really fast.
That frothing out of the way, I am holding high hopes for Futurama. Perhaps the Simpsons' slow decline towards mediocrity is because Groening has been concentrating on Futurama for quite some time? Yeah. That must be it.;)
I would certainly think that cassettes cost more to produce than CDs. CDs can just be stamped, fer cryin' out loud.
I thought CDs cost more because they cost more. To clarify, they cost this much initially because they were new, and the market wasn't established. The market took off, but at some time the industry realized that people would STILL pay "new item" prices for them. Having no need to lower the prices to move the product, they never did.
It's our fault, of course. If we weren't all scurvy music pirates (or pie rats, for you Richard Scarry fans) full of greed and lacking any consideration for the starving performers and the poor record executives, they wouldn't have to charge so much on a per-CD basis to just barely recoup their losses!
If they sold 97 billion CDs instead of the 33 billion they sell now**, I'm sure prices would come down to reflect this shift of scale.
Same with computer software. It's all our fault.
*Note: Author does not really believe a word of this post, except maybe for the Richard Scarry bit. You really shouldn't either. **Numbers made up.
Of course, they do have to account for the salaries of their no-talent hack performers that they signed to multi-million dollar, multi-record contracts.:P
Perhaps the solution is to not pay someone $15 million dollars just because they can sing! Oh, and look pretty. Gotta look pretty. Which can also be solved with money.
I had completely forgotten UF's references to M$ as the Evil Empire. When I saw on his site he was being served notices, and referred to the corporation as "The Evil Empire." I immediately latched on to an article on MattsHouse that drew a cool parallel between M$/Evil Empire, Linux community/Rebellion, and FUD/Death Star in Return of the Jedi.
But he was probably just referring to his own work.
Of course now I forget where I did read it. Too... much... Linux!
Anyway, someone was comparing MS to the Evil Empire, their FUD engine, which we of the Alliance thought wasn't complete (distracted by lawsuits, etc. etc. etc.) is, much to our chagrin, a fully operational Death Star.
This leads me to think Microsoft.
Also, if he was getting heckled by Lucas Arts, do you really think referring to them disparagingly using their own (property? stuff? creations?) is the smartest thing on earth?
You might have something there. I set up an account on my computer at home for my roommate (his computer got deepsixed) to use. After a recent usage session by him, it took me about three minutes to differentiate between hanging up the modem and logging out of his account on my computer. (Log on/off vs on/off-line)
Is it not legal to rip tracks off of one's own CDs? So I want to put my favorite songs (again, off of albums I own) on my hard drive. As long as I don't distribute them, that's all legit.
I can also then burn them onto a CD and listen to it in my car. Legit.
Whether or not this is what people actually do is another argument entirely, but I don't think that Lycos can be held responsible for that. If they CAN the precedent this stupid lawsuit sets is going to be a Horrendous Thing indeed.
Nitpicking aside, no the net doesn't obliterate the need for proper grammar and good journalism. But who's to say it can't also deliver them? Okay, most journalism these days sucks, but I don't think the web variety is any worse off than traditional media in that regard.
I get most of my news these days from mailing lists (no, News of the Weird doesn't count;) and various news pages. I'd agree that/. and Wired don't cut it, but I really don't think they claim to. They are both very limited in focus, do what they do well, and don't try to be anything different.
I really don't have a need to watch the evening news, since anything they say I've usually already heard about and read up on excessively. That, and the evening news is on at the same time as "The Simpsons.";)
I do still watch the nightly news, and I catch news on the radio on my way in to work. So yes, the more traditional media are still quite useful (until we get an affordable technology that lets me log in from my car and have CNN read to me while I drive), and aren't in any grave danger of becoming extinct yet. But I would believe that fewer and fewer people are relying on them as their primary sources of information.
I flip right past it everytime
on
Saving MST3K
·
· Score: 1
Argh! I can not believe you like that atrocious sock puppet show!!!! Now I'll admit, that sock puppets in and of themselves are inherently funny, but somehow they managed to make that show on MTV so awful that watching it makes my teeth hurt. Yuck.
I don't think any "ACLU types" are bitching and moaning in this case because the kiddies can't look at porn. The problem is the filtering system has been implemented in a terribly slipshod manner, and because of the laziness of the administratia involved, genuinely useful knowledge is being witheld.
If Smartfilter is as flexible as you are saying (don't know, haven't ever used it) then there really is no excuse for this. Someone (or lots of someones) isn't doing their job worth a damn, and needs to get off their lazy butt or else have it canned.
This whole incident is just stupid. Happy Dork Day, everyone.
Slashdot Mirror
Thanks o'Plenty to Taco & Katz for the reviews of The Matrix. When I first saw the ads for it, I was intrigued to the the point of salivation, but that one shot (you all know it) of Ted . . . er, Keanu . . . saying, "Whooooah!" with his typical stupified expression set the alarm bells a-clamoring.
Fortunately, every review I've read of it silences the bells more and more. I would recommend everyone interested hop over to CNN and read their review of it. It's done by an ex-English teacher, so it gives a slightly different perspective. The reviewer also loved it, but trumpets the literary qualities of the script instead of the movie's relevance to the geek/hacker scene.
And, of course, the bitchin' special effects. =)
I'm afeared I'm gonna have to go see this one.
--
Yeah, yeah . . . take your "it has awareness" argument to a Skinnerean and see how far it gets you. :P
Please note that I am NOT agreeing with the Skinnerean view of things. In fact, I think it's all hooey. Just playing devil's advocate. =)
--
That's pretty cool, I must say. How hard would it be to wire up the "storage space" to host a LAN party? A really BIG LAN party.
heh
--
I just did it this weekend, and it works flawlessly. Get the Aladdin Ghostscript. It will come with a whole slew of bjc610nX.upp files, where n=a or b and X= 0-7. There's a different driver for every resolution(360 & 720)/paper type combination.
This gets hairy, because the GS command to print, for example, 720x720 on coated paper is something like:
gs @bjc610b2.upp -sOutputFile foo.pdf -c -quit
So I made a bunch of shell scripts for different resolutions/paper types, which shortens the command to "7c foo.pdf" Much better. Simple, really.
I suppose if I wanted to work at being really lazy I could make multiple printer icons on my KDE desktop and have drag'n'drop printing for every resolution/paper type. =D Right now I have 1 icon set at a "rough draft" setting (360 dpi, high speed, plain paper).
Here is a listing of the BJC-610 uniprint drivers, what they do, etc.
This should do ya up right proper-like. Have fun!
--
Bender started drinking because he found out he was bending girders for the suicide booths, I think. And I don't think he COULD quit, which is why he was trying to kill himself. Then he got zapped by the light socket and was able to override his programming.
I think. Just going from memory.
Anyone have an MP3 of the theme song yet? I like it. =)
--
--
I was reading a review of Edtv by a competent* movie critic, and he said that it is similar to The Truman Show in that both are about guys on television a lot. Aside from that, they're worlds apart.
* As if any critic were really competent.
--
THAT was different, anyway. Of course, the article was still along the lines of of:
RH: Yes. We support the LSB. We dig it. We're down with it. Go Linux!!
IDG: BUT...they might not! And if they don't, thisandthisandthis could happen, and then Linux would suck! Be scared!!!
Wow. That was stunning journalism, a-yup.
--
=D --
I was wondering about that one, myself (my own post a few down). I sincerely doubt if Win98 setup could walk through that one without choking on it.
Currently my sound card's IDE controller isn't even working in Win98. IRQ conflict or something, not important enough to worry about.
--
First off, I agree with most posters here that the English major's article was a lot better than the "techie"'s was. I really liked the ending, where she showed remorse for her until-now technically-ignorant, spoon-fed, over-hyphenated computer experience.
Secondly, I have a question that I will get to in a bit. I bought my computer in '95, and since then have been mixing and matching components as new toys/broken old ones dictate. Likewise at work. The point is, I haven't messed with a new, preassembled system in quite some time. So I wonder, how common is it for people to hook up the CD-ROM drive to the sound-card's IDE controller and disable the MB's secondary controller? I may be way off on this one, but that just seems odd. I don't like to feed conspiracies*, but to me that just reeks.
Third(ly?), I do have to agree with some points of this article. Linux really isn't ready for the "What's a BIOS?" crowd yet, which is where it needs to get for World Domination(tm). To expect all the tech-fearing, computer using people of the world to go out and get educated just so they can use an OS is delusional. It would be great, but it is not going to happen.
I think that Linux itself will be ready for the non-technical relatively soon. What's going to be more challenging is getting the Linux user base prepared for the onslaught of questions and demands from these people. That, more than anything, might be the biggest stumbling block on the road ahead. For most of the OS' existence, the Linux-savvy have been accustomed to answering questions, but from people that were knowledgeable about computers/tech in general. The road ahead is something entirely new. People asking "What's a BIOS?" Asking STUPID questions, and asking them about Linux. People not having a clue about anything at ALL wondering what they need to recompile their kernel.
So steel your patience, boys and girls. Even the ignorant have a right to use superior software, and it's up to the rest of us to help make it happen. If that can be accomplished, I think the world will be a much better place indeed.
*standard disclaimer made by anyone about to feed a conspiracy
--
Maybe with a card BIOS hack . . .? --
I think the downfall of the Simpsons was/is the dumbifying of Homer to the extreme. He's always been a bit on the slow and ignorant side, but over the past few seasons it's just gotten worse and worse. And the show has been relying on it as a vehicle for laughs more and more, it seems.
;)
Writer 1: What do we do this episode?
Writer 2: I dunno. Let's just have Homer do something stupid.
It gets old, really fast.
That frothing out of the way, I am holding high hopes for Futurama. Perhaps the Simpsons' slow decline towards mediocrity is because Groening has been concentrating on Futurama for quite some time? Yeah. That must be it.
--
I would certainly think that cassettes cost more to produce than CDs. CDs can just be stamped, fer cryin' out loud.
;)
I thought CDs cost more because they cost more. To clarify, they cost this much initially because they were new, and the market wasn't established. The market took off, but at some time the industry realized that people would STILL pay "new item" prices for them. Having no need to lower the prices to move the product, they never did.
Stupid supply and demand economics.
It's our fault, of course. If we weren't all scurvy music pirates (or pie rats, for you Richard Scarry fans) full of greed and lacking any consideration for the starving performers and the poor record executives, they wouldn't have to charge so much on a per-CD basis to just barely recoup their losses!
If they sold 97 billion CDs instead of the 33 billion they sell now**, I'm sure prices would come down to reflect this shift of scale.
Same with computer software. It's all our fault.
*Note: Author does not really believe a word of this post, except maybe for the Richard Scarry bit. You really shouldn't either.
**Numbers made up.
I'm sure the record companies do. ;)
:P
Of course, they do have to account for the salaries of their no-talent hack performers that they signed to multi-million dollar, multi-record contracts.
Perhaps the solution is to not pay someone $15 million dollars just because they can sing! Oh, and look pretty. Gotta look pretty. Which can also be solved with money.
Dorks.
I had completely forgotten UF's references to M$ as the Evil Empire. When I saw on his site he was being served notices, and referred to the corporation as "The Evil Empire." I immediately latched on to an
article on MattsHouse that drew a cool parallel between M$/Evil Empire, Linux community/Rebellion, and FUD/Death Star in Return of the Jedi.
But he was probably just referring to his own work.
Of course now I forget where I did read it. Too ... much ... Linux!
Anyway, someone was comparing MS to the Evil Empire, their FUD engine, which we of the Alliance thought wasn't complete (distracted by lawsuits, etc. etc. etc.) is, much to our chagrin, a fully operational Death Star.
This leads me to think Microsoft.
Also, if he was getting heckled by Lucas Arts, do you really think referring to them disparagingly using their own (property? stuff? creations?) is the smartest thing on earth?
Just my thoughts.
You might have something there. I set up an account on my computer at home for my roommate (his computer got deepsixed) to use. After a recent usage session by him, it took me about three minutes to differentiate between hanging up the modem and logging out of his account on my computer. (Log on/off vs on/off-line)
Who'd a thunk it?
--
Is it not legal to rip tracks off of one's own CDs? So I want to put my favorite songs (again, off of albums I own) on my hard drive. As long as I don't distribute them, that's all legit.
I can also then burn them onto a CD and listen to it in my car. Legit.
Whether or not this is what people actually do is another argument entirely, but I don't think that Lycos can be held responsible for that. If they CAN the precedent this stupid lawsuit sets is going to be a Horrendous Thing indeed.
--
Nitpicking aside, no the net doesn't obliterate the need for proper grammar and good journalism. But who's to say it can't also deliver them? Okay, most journalism these days sucks, but I don't think the web variety is any worse off than traditional media in that regard.
I get most of my news these days from mailing lists (no, News of the Weird doesn't count ;) and various news pages. I'd agree that /. and Wired don't cut it, but I really don't think they claim to. They are both very limited in focus, do what they do well, and don't try to be anything different.
I really don't have a need to watch the evening news, since anything they say I've usually already heard about and read up on excessively. That, and the evening news is on at the same time as "The Simpsons." ;)
I do still watch the nightly news, and I catch news on the radio on my way in to work. So yes, the more traditional media are still quite useful (until we get an affordable technology that lets me log in from my car and have CNN read to me while I drive), and aren't in any grave danger of becoming extinct yet. But I would believe that fewer and fewer people are relying on them as their primary sources of information.
Just my 2 worth. Or it might be a plugged nickel.
--That seems more of a "realist" approach to me!
Argh! I can not believe you like that atrocious sock puppet show!!!! Now I'll admit, that sock puppets in and of themselves are inherently funny, but somehow they managed to make that show on MTV so awful that watching it makes my teeth hurt. Yuck.
I don't think any "ACLU types" are bitching and moaning in this case because the kiddies can't look at porn. The problem is the filtering system has been implemented in a terribly slipshod manner, and because of the laziness of the administratia involved, genuinely useful knowledge is being witheld.
If Smartfilter is as flexible as you are saying (don't know, haven't ever used it) then there really is no excuse for this. Someone (or lots of someones) isn't doing their job worth a damn, and needs to get off their lazy butt or else have it canned.
This whole incident is just stupid. Happy Dork Day, everyone.
We're all individuals.
I'm not!
Sorry. Couldn't resist.