George Washington Bridge, 520 bridge, bah. Let's try the Woodrow Wilson Bridge--the most heavily travelled bridge in the DC area is a *drawbridge*. As in "We bring traffic to a complete halt every day or two to open the bridge" drawbridge.
Your points on how an invasion of Taiwan would be incredibly detrimental to Chinese interests are correct, which is why I said it wasn't likely. But the Chinese aren't all that rational when it comes to subject of losing territory--they still learn in their schools about how the colonial powers nearly succeeded in dismembering China at the beginning of the 20th century (Hong Kong to Britain, this bit to Germany, that bit to the Netherlands, some other bits to Russia, all of Manchuria to Japan...). It runs deep. *If* Taiwan unilaterally delcared independence and China believed that there was a chance that we wouldn't fight and the stars aligned just wrong...well, it might happen.
> I think we'd be likely to let them have Taiwan. Yeah, we have a treaty, but we probably wouldn't > mind breaking it to avert war.
Er, no, we *don't* have a treaty. It's not possible for us to have a treaty with Taiwan, as we don't recognize it as a sovereign state. The whole thing is pretty damn complicated, really. If it ever does come down to a Chinese invasion (which it won't unless somebody *really* screws up), I hope we do the right thing and help them.
A missile has the *disadvantage* that it is slower--it can be shot down. A missile has the *disadvantage* that is self-guided--so the enemy can spoof that guidance and decoy the missile off target. This is easier than spoofing the firing ship because the ship has a lot more room for countermeasures. You mention battleships--battleships are big, and *very* expensive and nobody wants to use the big guns on battleships because they're too big to put on anything but those big, expensive battleships. The problem was never the guns, it was the fact that you had to have a battleship to use them. But a railgun you can put on a frigate--that changes things.
Yeah, that was good. The best episode of the second season, IMHO. Q is always fun, and there's always good chemistry between Patrick Stewart and John de Lancie.
> Then "Measure of a Man" about Data.
I'm sorry. This really could have been a great episode, done right. But the "legal regulations" for Data's arbitration board were so utterly contrived, so completely ludicrous, that they made no sense whatsoever. Legal proceedings are at least putatively designed to dispense justice, not to cause Cdr. William Riker and the rest of the Enterpise crew the maximum amount of angst possible. They totally destroyed my suspension of disbelief (and I can usually take a lot in the direction). It just didn't work.
> Also the one about Prof. Moriarty was pretty good as I'm also a Sherlock Holmes fan.
Meh. I'm a Holmes fan myself, but I didn't care for it much. Possibly because I'm allergic to holodeck episodes.
> But the crowning episodes in my mind was "The Inner Light" and "The Defector".
"The Defector" was pretty good, and "The Inner Light" was one of the finest pieces of SF ever produced for television. But neither is second season, so they can't be used to argue the quality of the second season.
> Mark my words, there will be a day that will come when you will all see many, many documents > that will directly contradict IBM's current public posturing.
> Is it just me, or is that a little bit...strange? They cost $180 before the price > drop, and then they cost $150 afterwards.
Actually, no. You can get the PS2 w/ online adapter for $150--those cost $200 before the price cut. I bought my first PS2 myself because of the price cut.
> This reminds of the GameCube thing that happened a while ago. I believe it was last > summer that Nintendo had a deal going with the Cube: > > Buy a $150 GameCube, and you get a free $50 game. > > Well, this was quite a deal, but sales were stagnant. Some months later, the marketing > geniuses at the big N decided to adopt a new tactic: > > Buy a $100 GameCube, and you don't get anything for free. > > Lo and behold, sales shot up. Why? Well, obviously, because now it's fifty dollars > cheaper!!! Never mind that you have to buy a game to play the stupid thing, it's > just a better deal.
Well, yes, it is. Could you get *any* fifty-dollar game? I bet you couldn't. With the new deal you can get *any* fifty-dollar game you want--or you can get a less-than-fifty-dollar game and spend less money.
> I thought that a degree/diploma is something you get for things you did in your past,
Correct. And it turned out that this guy hadn't actually done those things, so they came and took it away.
> If I go off in life and really suck, can I lose my high school diploma?
No, that's not the same thing. The equivalent would be that they find out that you didn't actually take and pass the courses indicated on your high school record, in which case they might well take away you high school diploma.
But the X server implementation often isn't. XFree86 will refuse to start if you don't have a pointing device. Your window manager is irrelevant; it never even gets a chance to load.
Asprin's a fun writer, but his poker knowledge needs work badly. I don't play poker and even *I* could see that Skeeve's strategy actually wouldn't work. The Sen-Sen Ante Kid (yes, yes, I know, Asprin does like his puns...) should've simply folded and given up his ante until he had an unbeatable hand. Then he calls Skeeve's bet and wipes him out.
Chris Mattern
Re:Data from Startrek TNG played poker
on
Geeks and Poker?
·
· Score: 1
> I assume your obvious reasons being she was hot and female...
I think he was think more along the lines of "right and left"...
Slashdot Mirror
George Washington Bridge, 520 bridge, bah. Let's try the Woodrow Wilson Bridge--the most heavily travelled bridge in the DC area is a *drawbridge*. As in "We bring traffic to a complete halt every day or two to open the bridge" drawbridge.
Chris Mattern
> He states that currently, we are in the Bronze Age of the Internet
We are? Well, *somebody* needs to pony up 1000 food and 800 gold to get us into the Iron Age. I wanna build a Wonder, here!
Chris Mattern
Smathers' spam scheme skimmed screennames? A shocking scam.
Crhis Mattern
> about a bot that plays Star Wars Galaxies.
I thought they didn't serve his kind in there.
Wait a minute, no, that's droids.
Chris Mattern
Your points on how an invasion of Taiwan would be incredibly detrimental to Chinese interests are correct, which is why I said it wasn't likely. But the Chinese aren't all that rational when it comes to subject of losing territory--they still learn in their schools about how the colonial powers nearly succeeded in dismembering China at the beginning of the 20th century (Hong Kong to Britain, this bit to Germany, that bit to the Netherlands, some other bits to Russia, all of Manchuria to Japan...). It runs deep. *If* Taiwan unilaterally delcared independence and China believed that there was a chance that we wouldn't fight and the stars aligned just wrong...well, it might happen.
Chris Mattern
> I think we'd be likely to let them have Taiwan. Yeah, we have a treaty, but we probably wouldn't
> mind breaking it to avert war.
Er, no, we *don't* have a treaty. It's not possible for us to have a treaty with Taiwan, as we don't recognize it as a sovereign state. The whole thing is pretty damn complicated, really. If it ever does come down to a Chinese invasion (which it won't unless somebody *really* screws up), I hope we do the right thing and help them.
Chris Mattern
A missile has the *disadvantage* that it is slower--it can be shot down. A missile has the *disadvantage* that is self-guided--so the enemy can spoof that guidance and decoy the missile off target. This is easier than spoofing the firing ship because the ship has a lot more room for countermeasures. You mention battleships--battleships are big, and *very* expensive and nobody wants to use the big guns on battleships because they're too big to put on anything but those big, expensive battleships. The problem was never the guns, it was the fact that you had to have a battleship to use them. But a railgun you can put on a frigate--that changes things.
Chris Mattern
> when they first meet the Borg via Q.
Yeah, that was good. The best episode of the second season, IMHO. Q is always fun, and there's always good chemistry between Patrick Stewart and John de Lancie.
> Then "Measure of a Man" about Data.
I'm sorry. This really could have been a great episode, done right. But the "legal regulations" for Data's arbitration board were so utterly contrived, so completely ludicrous, that they made no sense whatsoever. Legal proceedings are at least putatively designed to dispense justice, not to cause Cdr. William Riker and the rest of the Enterpise crew the maximum amount of angst possible. They totally destroyed my suspension of disbelief (and I can usually take a lot in the direction). It just didn't work.
> Also the one about Prof. Moriarty was pretty good as I'm also a Sherlock Holmes fan.
Meh. I'm a Holmes fan myself, but I didn't care for it much. Possibly because I'm allergic to holodeck episodes.
> But the crowning episodes in my mind was "The Inner Light" and "The Defector".
"The Defector" was pretty good, and "The Inner Light" was one of the finest pieces of SF ever produced for television. But neither is second season, so they can't be used to argue the quality of the second season.
Chris Mattern
> Mark my words, there will be a day that will come when you will all see many, many documents > that will directly contradict IBM's current public posturing.
And that day isn't today because...?
Chris Mattern
> Is it just me, or is that a little bit...strange? They cost $180 before the price
> drop, and then they cost $150 afterwards.
Actually, no. You can get the PS2 w/ online adapter for $150--those cost $200 before the price cut. I bought my first PS2 myself because of the price cut.
> This reminds of the GameCube thing that happened a while ago. I believe it was last
> summer that Nintendo had a deal going with the Cube:
>
> Buy a $150 GameCube, and you get a free $50 game.
>
> Well, this was quite a deal, but sales were stagnant. Some months later, the marketing
> geniuses at the big N decided to adopt a new tactic:
>
> Buy a $100 GameCube, and you don't get anything for free.
>
> Lo and behold, sales shot up. Why? Well, obviously, because now it's fifty dollars
> cheaper!!! Never mind that you have to buy a game to play the stupid thing, it's
> just a better deal.
Well, yes, it is. Could you get *any* fifty-dollar game? I bet you couldn't. With the new deal you can get *any* fifty-dollar game you want--or you can get a less-than-fifty-dollar game and spend less money.
Chris Mattern
A great, great game, and a great, great strategy game, but it's not a strategy RPG (where's the levelling?)
Chris Mattern
> I thought that a degree/diploma is something you get for things you did in your past,
Correct. And it turned out that this guy hadn't actually done those things, so they came and took it away.
> If I go off in life and really suck, can I lose my high school diploma?
No, that's not the same thing. The equivalent would be that they find out that you didn't actually take and pass the courses indicated on your high school record, in which case they might well take away you high school diploma.
Chris Mattern
> 128K, maybe. There's no way an Odyssey had 128 megs, is there?
There's not even any way it had 128K. I'm betting he meant to say it had 128 *BYTES*.
Chris Mattern
It's robots all the way down.
Chris Mattern
Yep, Debian it'd be. I was installing Sarge from the ground up, so it's still there.
Chris Mattern
> X itself is input device agnostic.
But the X server implementation often isn't. XFree86 will refuse to start if you don't have a pointing device. Your window manager is irrelevant; it never even gets a chance to load.
Chris Mattern
Asprin's a fun writer, but his poker knowledge needs work badly. I don't play poker and even *I* could see that Skeeve's strategy actually wouldn't work. The Sen-Sen Ante Kid (yes, yes, I know, Asprin does like his puns...) should've simply folded and given up his ante until he had an unbeatable hand. Then he calls Skeeve's bet and wipes him out.
Chris Mattern
> I assume your obvious reasons being she was hot and female...
I think he was think more along the lines of "right and left"...
Chris Mattern
> I would actually say that playing poker w/others is the only way to beat the house pretty consistently,
But you're *not* beating the house; you're beating the other players. The house takes its rake and goes away happy.
Casinos have been at this a long time now. It doesn't matter who you are, the casino gets its cut.
Chris Mattern
> If you keep this crusade up, you'll be able to nip that problem in the butt
> Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to remove my tongue from my cheek.
Well, aren't *you* limber! (and rather disgusting...)
Chris Mattern
> The moral: Casinos are not places where skill is rewarded.
Of course not. Casinos are places where suckers are separated from their money. Is there anybody stupid enough to think it's anything different?
Chris Mattern
> Yeah surfing on lava isn't quite how I imagined the final showdown
> between Anakin and Obi-Wan
Er, it's NOT the "final showdown." We've already SEEN the final showdown...
Chris Mattern
> No sane army in the world would use real weapons with real live ammo in a non-combat situation.
Argh, frickin' HTML. Try again
Real Rifles != Real Live Ammo. Or any ammo at all, for that matter.
Chris Mattern
> No sane army in the world would use real weapons with real live ammo in a non-combat situation.
Real Rifles Real Live Ammo. Or any ammo at all, for that matter.
Chris Mattern
No.
Book Like Stew.
Chris Mattern
Life Like Stew...
stupididiotbakamoronicmotherf***inglamefilter