which sucked large. What did they call it? "Jay & Silent Bob's Excellent Adventure", or something similarly stupid?
What a waste of celluloid.
Of course, that's just my opinion. I know a lot of people really liked that one, but I was really disappointed. It was mindless and the jokes seemed juvenile and stupid. I was hoping for another thoughtful and insightful work like "Dogma".
--I'm certainly not a Christian or a Catholic, but I can appreciate the amount of personal exploration into those subjects that Kevin Smith invested. And with a sense of humor, too! That sort of film makes going to movies worth the $10 bucks or whatever it is these days!
How long ago did you watch it? Try again. Trust me!
This movie is one of the most brilliant I've ever seen. It doesn't use the same language as other films, and this throws a lot of people off, but the messages in it are stunning. I'm convinced that people who don't like this film are almost certainly victims of the very forces Joe was trying to overcome. This film, back when I was a teen, was pivotal in my own escape from the 'machine' of society which chews people up and makes their lives miserable.
One of the many lines in this movie:
"My father says that almost the whole world is asleep - everybody you know, everybody you see, everybody you talk to. He says that only a few people are awake, and that they live in a state of constant, total amazement."
Imagine you impale a cheap styrofoam cooler on your car's hood ornament and head out on the highway. At 70 MPH, the cooler pops off the hood ornament. What happens? Does it keep coasting along with little relative velocity with respect to the car? No. It smashes into your windshield at close to 70 MPH. Whether the car is accelerating or not has almost no effect on the outcome. It's the rapid deceleration of the foam that causes the significant relative velocity when it strikes the car. Only the relative velocity is important. Sorry the NASA engineers confused you by not suspending a block of foam motionless in the air and hurling a section of wing at it.
Well, a 2.67 pound foam block, (according to Boeing), and a styrofoam lid have somewhat different aerodynamic properties. --But then, I've noticed that the objects used in these kinds of arguments tend to vary depending on which way the person wants to bias his point. --As somebody else pointed out to me, if one were to hurl a styrofoam bicycle helmet at my face, air resistance would probably not prevent it from giving me a nose bleed.
I really don't think air resistance would be quite as big a deal as you suggest.
And just as importantly, I think, is that we're talking about an aircraft wing here. Many people seem to be under the impression that space shuttle wings were not built to withstand massive sheer forces, (like atmospheric re-entry), and object impacts, (ice pellets, rain drops, birds, etc.,), as ALL aircraft wings are designed to do, and in this case, almost certainly more so given the forces in question.
Remember; the Columbia exploded during launch, not re-entry. NASA tells us that a key machine part was damaged when a piece of foam struck the surface of one wing. I find this quite impossible to swallow given the facts available. Also, given the track record of honesty from the U.S. Government, doesn't it seem just a little naive for anybody to take explanations offered at face value without questioning them first?
As for your attempts at ridicule, re: the very tired, 'Tin Foil' routine. . , this is the most interesting thing of all. --Common, but always very revealing.
Consider. . . What exactly does it say about you that rather than look at the material, you engage instead in personal attacks. This is the weakest and most common form of argument when difficult questions are brought up. --And such reactions are quite automatic, stemming from sources within people which key on feelings of discomfort. Honestly! Think about this; look at the sources of those feelings; it is a very revealing study which most people simply don't have the spine for. Self-examination is one of the most difficult things to do; one must overcome false senses of ego and self-importance in order to discover that not all of their reactions are their own, or come from places which make sense.
Automatic responses of this sort are hard-wired into hundreds of millions of people specifically so that they are not able to look at certain questions as they constantly pop up.
And yet, despite my regrettably broken math, you still managed to understand the logic behind what I was saying. So why bother splitting hairs? Or are you one of those who really can't get past the details to see the full picture?
As for air resistance. ..
Sure. Air resistance will of course affect the situation, but I really don't think it's that big an issue. Heck, as the NASA scientists were able to fire foam blocks out of cannons and blow holes in test materials to demonstrate their point, it would seem to indicate that perhaps air resistance isn't enough of a factor when it comes to foam blocks moving through space.
And as for 'fragile' space craft. ..
You seem to be under the impression that space shuttle wings were not built to withstand massive sheer forces, (like atmospheric re-entry), and object impacts, (ice pellets, rain drops, birds, etc.,), as ALL aircraft wings are designed to do, (and in this case, probably much more so given the forces in question). I would suggest that perhaps you need to investigate at a few more details before you go about splitting hairs.
Remember; the Columbia exploded during launch, not re-entry. NASA tells us that a key piece of machinery was damaged when a piece of foam struck the surface of one wing. I find this very hard to swallow given the facts available. Just because a PR department for a government which has a long track-record of lying through its teeth offers me a questionable bit of data doesn't mean I'm going to eat it without looking at it first. But then I'm not normal.
The 'Foam' couldn't possibly have been traveling at the 400 km/h when it struck the Columbia's wing, as claimed. Consider. ..
Until the foam broke loose, it was traveling at the same speed as the shuttle. This means that the relative speed of the foam when it struck could only possibly have been the same as the amount of increased velocity made by the shuttle in the half second or so between when the foam broke loose and when it struck the wing. The Shuttle lifter, while enormously powerful, certainly doesn't accelerate at 400 km/second. Not even close. I looked it up last year, but I don't have the data handy now. It was something in the order of 35 meters per second, (but don't quote me.) In any case, it was not enough to cause damage to an aircraft wing, which is designed to put up with far more abuse than slow-moving foam blocks.
The NASA scientists, of course, knew this, but carried on with their public demonstrations where they fired foam from cannons and blew holes in stuff to demonstrate to the media that everything was okay, they know what's going on. Pretty insulting, if you ask me, but then again, the bulk of the American people did buy it.
Anyway, one of the news re-broadcasting and think-tank sites I've found features the ruminations of a channeling group set up in Florida, (the state where all things unusual seem to stem from, or at least pass through), has this to say regarding the Shuttle Columbia. ..
Session: February 2, 2003
Q: One of the first questions we want to ask tonight is about the event of the Space Shuttle that was lost. First, was it an explosion, or was it just disintegration, or breaking up? A: It was a "direct hit."
Q: A direct hit by what? A: EM pulse.
Q: (S) What was the source of the EM pulse? A: 3/4th density Consortium.
Q: Well, I thought Bush was a puppet of the Consortium? (A) Well, we know that the military are scrambling planes to go after UFOs...there are even reports of firing on them and there have been reports of military jets being disintegrated by UFOs. The UFOs are, somehow, in cahoots with the consortium. It seems that Bush and the gang are not in control of the Consortium and maybe they needed to be "reminded?" A: It is not so much that he needs to be reminded, as he needs to be stimulated to react.
Q: (L) You once before said that Bush knows very little anyway - or that the "White House" level is pretty much in the dark about the plans of the Consortium - even if they are carrying them out. So, you are suggesting that they are being driven by forces of which they are unaware and do not understand? A: Exactly. Bush is a "reaction machine."
Q: (L) I would like to know about this supposed "body guard" of Saddam recently presented by MOSSAD? Was he one of Saddam's former bodyguards? A: To an extent, yes. But certainly not in the way presented. Just remember this: if pilots can be conditioned to commandeer airliners that will fly into certain death, how hard is it to "Produce" a "bodyguard?"
Q: (L) Piece of cake to produce a bodyguard, I guess. (A) He is saying exactly what the Israelis want him to say. He is not revealing any particular data that counts. It is just general things. Anybody could say such things and be called a "bodyguard." (L) Exactly. Okay, you say that an EM pulse brought down the shuttle. (A) Where did the EM pulse come from? A: From space based satellite.
Q: (A) Does NASA know about the cause? A: There are some who suspect.
Q: (L) Which explains why they are so anxious to convince everyone that it was NOT sabotage. Like Wellstone's death, there was "no question" about it being a terrorist attack. The likelihood is that the Bush Junta was behind Wellstone's death. In both cases they "know" the cause and want to divert the attention away from it. But, in the case of the shuttle, they aren't "dirty," but they most definitely do NOT want anyone to
Oh, fer Christ's sake! Talk about taking yourself too seriously!
I have been posting to/. for 3 or 4 years now and I don't even have a UID. I have always posted AC. Now where does that leave me? I could say that it makes me superior because I don't particularly care whether anyone associates my posts with a particualr individual or history. Or I could say that it makes me better because I never got hung up in this whole smaller/bigger UID number thing. But all that would be rather pretentious, wouldn't it?
Sounds to me like you are hung up to some degree because you just did say all of that stuff.
The AC poster is a whole other type of animal! Registered users, by virtue of registering do indeed attach a level of importance to their names and 'histories', as it were. I know I do. This certainly carries with it a level of vanity. --But then I've always squinted rather at the concept of vanity being a sin in the biblical sense; seems suspiciously like yet another way of controlling people and stopping them from trying to excel and find their light.
--That's 'Vanity' in the sense of striving to be a unique individual who has found their sovereignty (what gall!) and doesn't particularly want to die on some cross a good little flock member who was miserable through life because they didn't want to 'offend' anybody by standing up and speaking out for the things they believe in. --Or doing the things they believed were right and special. There are a lot of people out there who are miserable because they did what they were told rather than listen to the inner voice. Joseph Campbell called it, "Following Your Bliss," and it seems to me that most people have been beaten down to the point where they are too terrified to do this. This isn't any way to run a planet!
Of course, there are negative ways of utilizing any sort of energy. This is why I don't judge the post on the UiD number, (or on an AC marker), but on the content. But I won't let this stop me from considering the why's and wherefor's of a pattern if somebody brings it up and I've never really noticed or thought on it before. Thinking is fun, after all!
Do people with low UIDs go around looking for Low UID threads, and reply?
I've not noticed that trend myself, but if there is a pattern, then perhaps it has something to do with experience on a couple of fronts. ..
For instance, low UID users automatically have at least 5 years of on-line experience by virtue of the fact that low UID's on/. were created five years ago.
Also, those who were 'in the know' then, had enough world-savvy to get on board with/. when it was first starting up. This means foresight and an instinctive sense for, 'being where it counts'. --Those who have low UID's who still post also suggests that they have spent the last 5 years honing their skills in how to contribute useful and well-written material.
Age and experience will always trump youth and beauty. Not that this says much about the/. crowd. I save all my most juvenile posts for this arena. There are few forums where I let myself swear and swagger and be very open about my thoughts and beliefs. Interestingly, it is this aspect which makes/. very powerful! This is truly a free-thought, no holds barred self-auditing arena. Quite a success, it seems to me.
It'll be interesting to see the day when the one millionth UiD is reached! At about 100,000 new users per year, it should happen around the end of 2006, assuming the internet doesn't alter significantly between now and then.
The focus has quietly shifted, (right on schedule), from suspecting and suppressing external 'terrorists' at borders and international airports, to suspecting and suppressing the general citizenry.
That was the plan all along. The Mossad in collusion with the American secret government orchestrated 9-11. Box-cutters, my arse. The object which hit the pentagon wasn't even a passenger jet. The engine parts photographed in the wreckage match a much smaller aircraft, for goodness sake! Anybody who thinks differently has simply not done any research into the subject. Lazy, lazy ostriches! Perhaps some people DO need those Dopamine blocking monkey pills from a few articles down the cue! --And probably something to cut through the fear as well.
Expect it to get worse, comrade. Pretending it's not there is what got us all where we are now, with unwelcome troops in Iraq, a false residing president and population monitoring systems installed *very deliberately* at the foundation of the symbol of American freedom itself! You think that wasn't on purpose? Sheesh. This is psy-ops 101!
If this does anything to undermine public respect for such a morally bankrupt institution as privacy, then I'm all for it.
Your argument regarding domestic violence is, unfortunately, a dressed up version of, "Well, why should I worry about a police state unless I have something to hide?"
A few years in Gitmo for stopping to tie your shoes in front of a bank ought to provide food for thought. Fingerprint readers are all part and parcel of the same monster. Fascism and fear-based population control. --The fact of the matter is that power really does corrupt; cops and soldiers with no accountability tend to abuse their positions. It's an historical fact which has even been proven clinically in cases, which, if you have studied the issue of domestic violence, you have probably even read yourself.
It's coming. And for an increasing number of individuals, it's already here.
If you are dead set against having your fingerprints recorded just don't bring any stuff to put into the locker.
When debit card readers first arrived on the scene, they appeared in unique test markets as well. Now they are ubiquitous. --You still don't, (as of yet), NEED to leave the house armed with your debit card, but the difficulty factor is certainly increasing. I've seen tellers who are instructed by their bosses to refuse ANY cash which they suspected as being even sort of counterfeit-looking because of the hassles the banks give the supermarket when a counterfeit does show up during deposit.
RFID and biometrics are on their way, and the only consumer option other than starvation will be to grow your own.
Though, I'm actually not going to stress too much over it. --That's the primary goal in the long run; Stress. The 'Number of the Beast' thing is nothing but a fear-creating tactic designed to freak out all the foolish little Christians for the purpose of generating fear which the bad guys at the top of the food chain like to eat.
I copy and pasted the following from some cell phone company's website:
"WAP stands for Wireless Application Protocol and it means you can access specially written Internet pages on the screen of your digital mobile phone."
But apparently, this only counts for web pages which have been specially coded, not in HTML, but in a pared down version of the same called, WML, or "Wireless Markup-Language".
In my highly successful efforts to ignore all things 'Cell', the intricacies of WAP bypassed my give-a-hooey radar until I looked it up just now and pasted it here for the benefit of anybody else who doesn't keep up with the endless un-defined acronyms churned forth from the Slashdot forge.
(And yeah, I realize I'm probably in the minority in this particular instance, but that doesn't mean every last person out there isn't tripped up on an all-caps secret word from time to time!)
You gotta watch your step while tip-toeing through the web!
It's interesting that so many stories of this sort are bubbling to the surface in so many forms. The collective unconscious of the human race is on fire at the moment! --Just in big television and movie media alone, stories regarding genetics, mutations, secret government, our hidden past and the changes which are happening to not just us, but our whole planet. . , it's plentiful and it says something. --SG Atlantis, X-Files, Signs, Taken, X-Men, Spiderman, Day After Tomorrow, all those comet impact movies. Even our world leaders are shoring up resources and locking down controls in anticipation of. . , something.
Crop circles made by guys with planks and rope? Sure. But anybody who really wants to know rather than look away from taboo ideas will quickly run into certain facts. (Rats. Facts, eh? Those things hurt.) Those who have looked into the circle phenomenon have discovered that many of them contain features which cannot be reproduced with planks and rope. --All the plants forming the circle bending only at the stalk nodules, (the first, second or third one down the stalk depending on the distance from the middle of the formation,) or in those circles created by the 'dark-side' to mislead, stalk nodules exhibiting microwave scar damage. --Among many other little items which so many people would really rather not look at too closely for what it all implies. ..
Indeed, some believe that Alien life has already contacted us, (there are numerous modes through which this can happen, and none of them involve radio telescope dishes or Jodi Foster.)
Some also believe that the 90% 'junk' DNA has started in the last few years to re-bundle, and that the finished product will be 12 strands rather than just two. --That as the DNA re-builds itself, humans will properly regain what they have had genetically engineered out of them over the last 300,000 years of alien tinkering.
Some believe that reality is much more vast than we currently perceive, that time is an illusion, and that all of this is in the process of change. And that the changes started a few 'years' ago and will complete themselves within the next eight or so. That many of the strange new diseases and pains people are experiencing are actually the result of DNA re-activation. That 'psychic' phenomenon will only increase as the cycle continues to gather steam.
And some also believe that certain, powerful elements of our society find the idea of the populace growing aware and breaking free of their bondage so appalling that great energies have been invested in keeping people unaware. --And that to do this, many different methods are employed, one of the primary ones being the psychological programming of people with that strong internal feeling of guilt/worry/distaste/squeamishness whenever taboo subjects arise in conversation. (Or on message boards.) --That in fact, many of our internal reactions are automatic psychological programs not of our own making but deliberately installed through many vectors during our childhood years; through television, (the strobe effect which acts as a hypnotic opener to the thousands of messages which it bombards the viewer/listener with), such as the instant desire to ridicule and assume a 'rational' swamp-gas explanation for all things 'unnatural' like Crop Circles and UFO's or ideas of our history not being as we have been taught. --Or upon failing that, the simple desire to look away and, 'never think about it again'. A very, very effective system! What better way to maintain control over a population than to create a strong emotional negative reaction to the very idea of exploring the lies which hold the people chained?
--Deliberately litter the field with lots of genuine kooks, con-artists and gullible idiots, and you've just thrown a ton of reasons to rationalize away the scary possibility that something might really be happening. Interestingly, as the veils grow thinner and the DNA continues to re-bundle, and the instances of weird
Perhaps I'm way off here; I've not really followed the development of VoIP so perhaps this is an old question answered long ago, but. ..
I thought one of the major points of VoIP was to bypass telco companies altogether.
I was under the impression that once the technology advance beyond the party-trick stage, that it would essentially be an underground method of voice communication which all the Open Sorcerer types would get into specifically because it would do away with exactly the kind of bullshit clauses and user agreements and legal garbage which are in evidence in the posted article. --That and be a heckuvalot less expensive than paying some telco massive long distance charges.
Seemed to me that this would make the telcos very worried and that they would try to deter the use of VoIP any way possible, or at the very least attempt to trick everybody into thinking VoIP was a service which people can only properly buy under their corporate umbrella.
In other words, why would anybody sign up for this kind of 'service' at all? Isn't it just a matter of running some OS program on either end of a net connection?
But like I said. . , I could be missing something here.
You do realize id software did that for Doom3 as well, right? This has been public knowledge for at least two years now. (Looking at the credits, I believe it is Matthew J. Costello.)
Hm, well. ..
Either Matthew J. Costello was a real writer who was not allowed to do his job and was only paid so that id could put his name on the game box because id's marketing department told the CEO that, "All the cool games have writers!".
Or. .,
He was one of Carmack's D&D buddies from high school.
Either way, it sounds like the net effect of his 'writing' was pretty worthless.
Of course attacking people for being immature is a symptom of being stuck in the most obnoxious developmental stage known to man... that of a pretentious college student.
Nah. I never went to college. Going into debt for a worthless degree constructed from propagandic, out-moded knowledge, and wasting some of my most energy-filled years to do it seemed rather like the polar opposite of, 'higher learning'. But who knows? Maybe it depends on the courses you pick.
But I DO sound a bit pretentious; that I'll give you. --Though, it's pretty hard not to when trying to come up with something interesting to say about a Carmack game.
Duct tape got old fast. --Which, btw, was just another way of saying, "Carmack is a goof".
Hm. There's saber rattling going on and Bush is a complete asshole. . . I think I'll buy some gold.
(Bought at $330 back before Iraq. Now gold is scratching $400. It'll probably go well over $400 when the economy totally melts down. Although, after that happens, where do you sell it and what currency do you ask for? And anyway, who the heck wants gold when food is now the important thing? Can't eat metal no matter how precious.)
And so. . . Sugar and Spice and everything nice. Invest in reliable food sources. When all else fails, people will still want to eat. Of course, again, if things totally fail in the expected way, then farming will probably be done at gun point. Any investors who don't have their own security team will be chumped.
So then let's see. . . Military stocks are worth something. Why not buy stock in the same company where the Bushes and their friends have controlling shares? I hear Carlyle Group is a mover these days. Of course, you'd have to have bought pre 9-11 to have really cashed in. Though, the kind of people who predicted this, (hello!), are also not the sort who want to invest in blood and murder.
You can apply that same logic to the Bio/pharmaceutical industry.
My point is that anybody can gamble with unknown quantities on the stock market, or you can take your cash and invest it in something you KNOW will make money.
But better yet, by a LONG shot. . . Take your money while it's still worth something, and build your own business venture and make sure you plan and research properly. Playing chaos theory with the stock market is like clutching at lottery tickets; seems childish and lazy to me. Though, to be fair, as I understand it Mandelbrot was thinking more academically than anything else.
Martian bases and demons from a bad place, and no writing skills to speak of?
Carmack and his crew are kids. In fact, they're a certain type of kid. --Still locked in that Tod McFarlane brand of, "Like, there's this Fuckin' Demon, and he's like, Really Tuff!", state. I played D&D with guys like that in highschool. Friendly enough, but. . . Hooo boy. Hang out with guys like that for long enough, and your brain will either start shutting down core functions in order to prevent itself from going insane with boredom, or you'll become fed up and start getting snide and bitter with people who are simply not in the same place as you and neither can nor need to comprehend the shit you're trying to come to terms with.
Ah. Highschool. Where everybody is immature and overbearing in their own special ways.
The best option, of course, is to just find the people you ARE supposed to fit with. Water finds its own level, as they say, and everybody needs to explore the things they need to explore. Including the John Carmacks of the world.
Halflife was a bit more mature. They hired an actual writer. When you realized those marines were not there to rescue you, but were actually on a 'clean up' mission. . , THAT was an exciting bit of interactive game-play! --At least for where my head was at the time. "Now THIS is what the X-Files is trying to be!" I thought.
Bloody monsters on Mars and stuff that jumps out of the shadows? id games are for kids who still have boogey-man issues.
To be fair, though. . . We can all appreciate the cool-value of id. It took a long time and a lot of work to train my subconscious to allow me access to a light-saber on demand in my dreams.
Shotguns provided through a good user interface are a nice way to reclaim power over the Dark!
Q: "Okay you lot! Look sharp! You call this an army? I call this a travesty!"
V: "Hey, Boss! The shipment of weapons has arrived!"
Q: "Excellent! We'll begin target practice immediately! Distribute munitions to all the enlisted men!"
T: "We don't have any enlisted men. Everybody was conscripted."
Q: "Eh?"
T: "Nobody wanted to be in your stupid war, so you held a draft and forced them to join."
Q: "What!? Is this true?"
V: "That's how I remember it, Boss."
Q: "This is terrible! Drafts are very unpopular. How am I doing in the polls?"
V: "How should I know? We've never bothered taking any. It's not like you were actually elected."
Q: "Phew! Well that's a relief. But we'd better come up with some numbers anyway before the people start getting anxious. Polls can have a soothing effect on a worried populace during times of war. --So long as you make sure the numbers aren't all messed up." [pause] "Actually, multiple choice surveys about dating and dieting are also in vogue right now. We must hire a publishing staff to handle this stuff! To protect the citizens from undue fretting. Fretting is unhealthy. Bad for moral. Finnly! Take a memo! It's time to create a new ministry!"
T: "Er. . . My name is Tuckly, actually."
Q: "We'll call it The Ministry of. . , um. .."
T: "Propaganda?"
Q: "No, no. . . No big words. Remember? This is the friendly government. We'll call it the Ministry of. . . er. .."
T: "Lying Through Your Teeth?"
Q: "Nah. That implies I might not be telling the truth."
T: "Yeah. You usually use your whole mouth, anyway."
V: "What we need is a way to MAKE people believe!"
Q: "Oh, well that's it! 'The Ministry of Make-Believe'. Did you get that Finnly?"
T: "sigh. Yes sir. Shall I write it down next to, 'The Ministry of Sneaking Around', and 'The Ministry of Taking Your Hard Earned Money'?"
Q: "Absolutely! Good Job!"
V: "You know, when you first talked about starting up a government, I thought it was going to be a lot more effort."
Q: "It's all in how you delegate. If you do it right, the government starts running itself and you don't even have to think about it!"
V: "Cool."
Q: "Most people just don't like to think. It's a rule you can live by!"
V: "I'll say. If people ever started thinking, they'd have killed you ages ago!"
I solidly believe that there is a deliberate gap in the computer market. There are simply no decent devices being currently made which allow one to easily and effortlessly write on the go. The technology is there, and it is entirely possible to build a good word-processor with a good screen and a good keyboard which can last forever on AA's. They used to make them. (The TRS-80 Model 100)
They still sort of do. Alphasmart's Dana is workable tool. But at $700 Canadian for the bottom end model, Alphasmart can go right to hell. Basic LCD with a keyboard and rudimentary electronics? The thing should sell for no more than $100 tops.
I ended up getting myself a Psion 5 from Ebay for $75 bucks.
Nice big sreen, lasts about 25 hours on a pair of AA's and it's got the best key-board I've seen for a palm. It's tight, but with small hands you can touch-type, and with bigger hands, you can do a six-finger version of the same at a fair clip. But it's still not the best solution.
The keyboard, while quite amazing as compared to similar devices, could be better. (If you press the edge of a key rather than the middle of the key, you don't always get a contact. This is needlessly annoying.) Plus the LCD screen is far too reflective for my tastes. If the wall behind you is painted white, chances are you're going to be irritated.
There's a good back-light system on the Psion 5 which fixes this, but it reduced the effective battery life down to, (drum roll please), about 6 hours, which is no better than the average laptop. Thanks guys.
Interestingly, I still find myself using the Psion 5 all the damned time. It does have a couple of features which I have found in no other device. --The primary one being the big screen which allows you to read the thing comfortably while lying in bed. --I don't care who you are, if you're a geek, then you've probably pissed yourself off trying to read in bed with a laptop. The Psion 5 is the first time I've ever comfortably been able to do this. With a fully programmable key-board, (using freeware off the web), you can configure the buttons to match exactly where your fingers fall. Not bad!
I've also done a lot of writing work on the thing since I got mine. It's nowhere nearly as comfortable as a full desktop PC, but it does the job in a pinch. I just don't like to be pinched. Still, if you want to write a term paper in a coffee shop, then you can certainly do so. The batteries will last longer than you. It's just that the device could be better. The sad part is that, as far as I know, it's the best solution currently available in a conusmer product available on the surface of the Earth. And that's pretty lame, because it could be better and it could be better with the technology currently available.
If the keyboard was maybe an inch wider and worked a little better, and if the LCD was just slightly less reflective; why, then the Psion 5 would be a dream come true!
As it is, though, for an average $75 bucks on Ebay, I can't complain too much. You can read the thing while lying in bed, and you can type a paper while sitting at any convenient table top where your PC isn't. Then you can put it in your backpack and move on. If you run out of batteries, you can buy a new set at any convenience store and you're good for another twenty-odd hours. Takes Compact Flash cards, too. That's not bad.
It could just be better. And a part of me thinks that this is entirely by design. Why is it so important that people not be allowed to easily, comfortably and reliably record their thoughts during the day while away from their ugly work stations? --Is there some reason people are required to always be subtly stressing over battery life? How does this affect the over-all tempurature of culture?)
Slashdot Mirror
I wanted to, but my brain took one look and shut down in protest. I couldn't access any higher functions, or my legs, until the credits had rolled.
This from the same guy who directed Ed Wood! --Which, actually, upon reflection. .
-FL
-FL
What a waste of celluloid.
Of course, that's just my opinion. I know a lot of people really liked that one, but I was really disappointed. It was mindless and the jokes seemed juvenile and stupid. I was hoping for another thoughtful and insightful work like "Dogma".
--I'm certainly not a Christian or a Catholic, but I can appreciate the amount of personal exploration into those subjects that Kevin Smith invested. And with a sense of humor, too! That sort of film makes going to movies worth the $10 bucks or whatever it is these days!
-FL
Brrr. I'd successfully blocked the memory until now. Owww. Head-ache returning. .
-FL
Stand by Me,
The Shawshank Redemption,
The Green Mile.
-FL
This movie is one of the most brilliant I've ever seen. It doesn't use the same language as other films, and this throws a lot of people off, but the messages in it are stunning. I'm convinced that people who don't like this film are almost certainly victims of the very forces Joe was trying to overcome. This film, back when I was a teen, was pivotal in my own escape from the 'machine' of society which chews people up and makes their lives miserable.
One of the many lines in this movie:
"My father says that almost the whole world is asleep - everybody you know, everybody you see, everybody you talk to. He says that only a few people are awake, and that they live in a state of constant, total amazement."
-FL
Well, a 2.67 pound foam block, (according to Boeing), and a styrofoam lid have somewhat different aerodynamic properties. --But then, I've noticed that the objects used in these kinds of arguments tend to vary depending on which way the person wants to bias his point. --As somebody else pointed out to me, if one were to hurl a styrofoam bicycle helmet at my face, air resistance would probably not prevent it from giving me a nose bleed.
I really don't think air resistance would be quite as big a deal as you suggest.
And just as importantly, I think, is that we're talking about an aircraft wing here. Many people seem to be under the impression that space shuttle wings were not built to withstand massive sheer forces, (like atmospheric re-entry), and object impacts, (ice pellets, rain drops, birds, etc.,), as ALL aircraft wings are designed to do, and in this case, almost certainly more so given the forces in question.
Remember; the Columbia exploded during launch, not re-entry. NASA tells us that a key machine part was damaged when a piece of foam struck the surface of one wing. I find this quite impossible to swallow given the facts available. Also, given the track record of honesty from the U.S. Government, doesn't it seem just a little naive for anybody to take explanations offered at face value without questioning them first?
As for your attempts at ridicule, re: the very tired, 'Tin Foil' routine. . , this is the most interesting thing of all. --Common, but always very revealing.
Consider. . . What exactly does it say about you that rather than look at the material, you engage instead in personal attacks. This is the weakest and most common form of argument when difficult questions are brought up. --And such reactions are quite automatic, stemming from sources within people which key on feelings of discomfort. Honestly! Think about this; look at the sources of those feelings; it is a very revealing study which most people simply don't have the spine for. Self-examination is one of the most difficult things to do; one must overcome false senses of ego and self-importance in order to discover that not all of their reactions are their own, or come from places which make sense.
Automatic responses of this sort are hard-wired into hundreds of millions of people specifically so that they are not able to look at certain questions as they constantly pop up.
I dare you to try.
-FL
As for air resistance. .
Sure. Air resistance will of course affect the situation, but I really don't think it's that big an issue. Heck, as the NASA scientists were able to fire foam blocks out of cannons and blow holes in test materials to demonstrate their point, it would seem to indicate that perhaps air resistance isn't enough of a factor when it comes to foam blocks moving through space.
And as for 'fragile' space craft. .
You seem to be under the impression that space shuttle wings were not built to withstand massive sheer forces, (like atmospheric re-entry), and object impacts, (ice pellets, rain drops, birds, etc.,), as ALL aircraft wings are designed to do, (and in this case, probably much more so given the forces in question). I would suggest that perhaps you need to investigate at a few more details before you go about splitting hairs.
Remember; the Columbia exploded during launch, not re-entry. NASA tells us that a key piece of machinery was damaged when a piece of foam struck the surface of one wing. I find this very hard to swallow given the facts available. Just because a PR department for a government which has a long track-record of lying through its teeth offers me a questionable bit of data doesn't mean I'm going to eat it without looking at it first. But then I'm not normal.
-FL
Until the foam broke loose, it was traveling at the same speed as the shuttle. This means that the relative speed of the foam when it struck could only possibly have been the same as the amount of increased velocity made by the shuttle in the half second or so between when the foam broke loose and when it struck the wing. The Shuttle lifter, while enormously powerful, certainly doesn't accelerate at 400 km/second. Not even close. I looked it up last year, but I don't have the data handy now. It was something in the order of 35 meters per second, (but don't quote me.) In any case, it was not enough to cause damage to an aircraft wing, which is designed to put up with far more abuse than slow-moving foam blocks.
The NASA scientists, of course, knew this, but carried on with their public demonstrations where they fired foam from cannons and blew holes in stuff to demonstrate to the media that everything was okay, they know what's going on. Pretty insulting, if you ask me, but then again, the bulk of the American people did buy it.
Anyway, one of the news re-broadcasting and think-tank sites I've found features the ruminations of a channeling group set up in Florida, (the state where all things unusual seem to stem from, or at least pass through), has this to say regarding the Shuttle Columbia. .
I have been posting to
Sounds to me like you are hung up to some degree because you just did say all of that stuff.
The AC poster is a whole other type of animal! Registered users, by virtue of registering do indeed attach a level of importance to their names and 'histories', as it were. I know I do. This certainly carries with it a level of vanity. --But then I've always squinted rather at the concept of vanity being a sin in the biblical sense; seems suspiciously like yet another way of controlling people and stopping them from trying to excel and find their light.
--That's 'Vanity' in the sense of striving to be a unique individual who has found their sovereignty (what gall!) and doesn't particularly want to die on some cross a good little flock member who was miserable through life because they didn't want to 'offend' anybody by standing up and speaking out for the things they believe in. --Or doing the things they believed were right and special. There are a lot of people out there who are miserable because they did what they were told rather than listen to the inner voice. Joseph Campbell called it, "Following Your Bliss," and it seems to me that most people have been beaten down to the point where they are too terrified to do this. This isn't any way to run a planet!
Of course, there are negative ways of utilizing any sort of energy. This is why I don't judge the post on the UiD number, (or on an AC marker), but on the content. But I won't let this stop me from considering the why's and wherefor's of a pattern if somebody brings it up and I've never really noticed or thought on it before. Thinking is fun, after all!
-FL
I've not noticed that trend myself, but if there is a pattern, then perhaps it has something to do with experience on a couple of fronts. .
For instance, low UID users automatically have at least 5 years of on-line experience by virtue of the fact that low UID's on
Also, those who were 'in the know' then, had enough world-savvy to get on board with
Age and experience will always trump youth and beauty. Not that this says much about the
It'll be interesting to see the day when the one millionth UiD is reached! At about 100,000 new users per year, it should happen around the end of 2006, assuming the internet doesn't alter significantly between now and then.
-FL
That was the plan all along. The Mossad in collusion with the American secret government orchestrated 9-11. Box-cutters, my arse. The object which hit the pentagon wasn't even a passenger jet. The engine parts photographed in the wreckage match a much smaller aircraft, for goodness sake! Anybody who thinks differently has simply not done any research into the subject. Lazy, lazy ostriches! Perhaps some people DO need those Dopamine blocking monkey pills from a few articles down the cue! --And probably something to cut through the fear as well.
Expect it to get worse, comrade. Pretending it's not there is what got us all where we are now, with unwelcome troops in Iraq, a false residing president and population monitoring systems installed *very deliberately* at the foundation of the symbol of American freedom itself! You think that wasn't on purpose? Sheesh. This is psy-ops 101!
And we're just getting started, comrade!
-FL
Your argument regarding domestic violence is, unfortunately, a dressed up version of, "Well, why should I worry about a police state unless I have something to hide?"
A few years in Gitmo for stopping to tie your shoes in front of a bank ought to provide food for thought. Fingerprint readers are all part and parcel of the same monster. Fascism and fear-based population control. --The fact of the matter is that power really does corrupt; cops and soldiers with no accountability tend to abuse their positions. It's an historical fact which has even been proven clinically in cases, which, if you have studied the issue of domestic violence, you have probably even read yourself.
It's coming. And for an increasing number of individuals, it's already here.
-FL
When debit card readers first arrived on the scene, they appeared in unique test markets as well. Now they are ubiquitous. --You still don't, (as of yet), NEED to leave the house armed with your debit card, but the difficulty factor is certainly increasing. I've seen tellers who are instructed by their bosses to refuse ANY cash which they suspected as being even sort of counterfeit-looking because of the hassles the banks give the supermarket when a counterfeit does show up during deposit.
RFID and biometrics are on their way, and the only consumer option other than starvation will be to grow your own.
Though, I'm actually not going to stress too much over it. --That's the primary goal in the long run; Stress. The 'Number of the Beast' thing is nothing but a fear-creating tactic designed to freak out all the foolish little Christians for the purpose of generating fear which the bad guys at the top of the food chain like to eat.
Fear is food. Starve the bastards.
-FL
I copy and pasted the following from some cell phone company's website:
But apparently, this only counts for web pages which have been specially coded, not in HTML, but in a pared down version of the same called, WML, or "Wireless Markup-Language".
In my highly successful efforts to ignore all things 'Cell', the intricacies of WAP bypassed my give-a-hooey radar until I looked it up just now and pasted it here for the benefit of anybody else who doesn't keep up with the endless un-defined acronyms churned forth from the Slashdot forge.
(And yeah, I realize I'm probably in the minority in this particular instance, but that doesn't mean every last person out there isn't tripped up on an all-caps secret word from time to time!)
You gotta watch your step while tip-toeing through the web!
-FL
It's interesting that so many stories of this sort are bubbling to the surface in so many forms. The collective unconscious of the human race is on fire at the moment! --Just in big television and movie media alone, stories regarding genetics, mutations, secret government, our hidden past and the changes which are happening to not just us, but our whole planet. . , it's plentiful and it says something. --SG Atlantis, X-Files, Signs, Taken, X-Men, Spiderman, Day After Tomorrow, all those comet impact movies. Even our world leaders are shoring up resources and locking down controls in anticipation of. . , something.
.
Crop circles made by guys with planks and rope? Sure. But anybody who really wants to know rather than look away from taboo ideas will quickly run into certain facts. (Rats. Facts, eh? Those things hurt.) Those who have looked into the circle phenomenon have discovered that many of them contain features which cannot be reproduced with planks and rope. --All the plants forming the circle bending only at the stalk nodules, (the first, second or third one down the stalk depending on the distance from the middle of the formation,) or in those circles created by the 'dark-side' to mislead, stalk nodules exhibiting microwave scar damage. --Among many other little items which so many people would really rather not look at too closely for what it all implies. .
Indeed, some believe that Alien life has already contacted us, (there are numerous modes through which this can happen, and none of them involve radio telescope dishes or Jodi Foster.)
Some also believe that the 90% 'junk' DNA has started in the last few years to re-bundle, and that the finished product will be 12 strands rather than just two. --That as the DNA re-builds itself, humans will properly regain what they have had genetically engineered out of them over the last 300,000 years of alien tinkering.
Some believe that reality is much more vast than we currently perceive, that time is an illusion, and that all of this is in the process of change. And that the changes started a few 'years' ago and will complete themselves within the next eight or so. That many of the strange new diseases and pains people are experiencing are actually the result of DNA re-activation. That 'psychic' phenomenon will only increase as the cycle continues to gather steam.
And some also believe that certain, powerful elements of our society find the idea of the populace growing aware and breaking free of their bondage so appalling that great energies have been invested in keeping people unaware. --And that to do this, many different methods are employed, one of the primary ones being the psychological programming of people with that strong internal feeling of guilt/worry/distaste/squeamishness whenever taboo subjects arise in conversation. (Or on message boards.) --That in fact, many of our internal reactions are automatic psychological programs not of our own making but deliberately installed through many vectors during our childhood years; through television, (the strobe effect which acts as a hypnotic opener to the thousands of messages which it bombards the viewer/listener with), such as the instant desire to ridicule and assume a 'rational' swamp-gas explanation for all things 'unnatural' like Crop Circles and UFO's or ideas of our history not being as we have been taught. --Or upon failing that, the simple desire to look away and, 'never think about it again'. A very, very effective system! What better way to maintain control over a population than to create a strong emotional negative reaction to the very idea of exploring the lies which hold the people chained?
--Deliberately litter the field with lots of genuine kooks, con-artists and gullible idiots, and you've just thrown a ton of reasons to rationalize away the scary possibility that something might really be happening. Interestingly, as the veils grow thinner and the DNA continues to re-bundle, and the instances of weird
I thought one of the major points of VoIP was to bypass telco companies altogether.
I was under the impression that once the technology advance beyond the party-trick stage, that it would essentially be an underground method of voice communication which all the Open Sorcerer types would get into specifically because it would do away with exactly the kind of bullshit clauses and user agreements and legal garbage which are in evidence in the posted article. --That and be a heckuvalot less expensive than paying some telco massive long distance charges.
Seemed to me that this would make the telcos very worried and that they would try to deter the use of VoIP any way possible, or at the very least attempt to trick everybody into thinking VoIP was a service which people can only properly buy under their corporate umbrella.
In other words, why would anybody sign up for this kind of 'service' at all? Isn't it just a matter of running some OS program on either end of a net connection?
But like I said. . , I could be missing something here.
-FL
Says you.
Any particular reason you think this, or do you consider your job done?
-FL
Hm, well. .
Either Matthew J. Costello was a real writer who was not allowed to do his job and was only paid so that id could put his name on the game box because id's marketing department told the CEO that, "All the cool games have writers!".
Or. .
He was one of Carmack's D&D buddies from high school.
Either way, it sounds like the net effect of his 'writing' was pretty worthless.
-FL
Nah. I never went to college. Going into debt for a worthless degree constructed from propagandic, out-moded knowledge, and wasting some of my most energy-filled years to do it seemed rather like the polar opposite of, 'higher learning'. But who knows? Maybe it depends on the courses you pick.
But I DO sound a bit pretentious; that I'll give you. --Though, it's pretty hard not to when trying to come up with something interesting to say about a Carmack game.
Duct tape got old fast. --Which, btw, was just another way of saying, "Carmack is a goof".
-FL
Hm. There's saber rattling going on and Bush is a complete asshole. . . I think I'll buy some gold.
(Bought at $330 back before Iraq. Now gold is scratching $400. It'll probably go well over $400 when the economy totally melts down. Although, after that happens, where do you sell it and what currency do you ask for? And anyway, who the heck wants gold when food is now the important thing? Can't eat metal no matter how precious.)
And so. . . Sugar and Spice and everything nice. Invest in reliable food sources. When all else fails, people will still want to eat. Of course, again, if things totally fail in the expected way, then farming will probably be done at gun point. Any investors who don't have their own security team will be chumped.
So then let's see. . . Military stocks are worth something. Why not buy stock in the same company where the Bushes and their friends have controlling shares? I hear Carlyle Group is a mover these days. Of course, you'd have to have bought pre 9-11 to have really cashed in. Though, the kind of people who predicted this, (hello!), are also not the sort who want to invest in blood and murder.
You can apply that same logic to the Bio/pharmaceutical industry.
My point is that anybody can gamble with unknown quantities on the stock market, or you can take your cash and invest it in something you KNOW will make money.
But better yet, by a LONG shot. . . Take your money while it's still worth something, and build your own business venture and make sure you plan and research properly. Playing chaos theory with the stock market is like clutching at lottery tickets; seems childish and lazy to me. Though, to be fair, as I understand it Mandelbrot was thinking more academically than anything else.
-FL
Oooh. That's good. I am humbled and bow before the superior wit. I probably owe you coffee now.
-FL
Carmack and his crew are kids. In fact, they're a certain type of kid. --Still locked in that Tod McFarlane brand of, "Like, there's this Fuckin' Demon, and he's like, Really Tuff!", state. I played D&D with guys like that in highschool. Friendly enough, but. . . Hooo boy. Hang out with guys like that for long enough, and your brain will either start shutting down core functions in order to prevent itself from going insane with boredom, or you'll become fed up and start getting snide and bitter with people who are simply not in the same place as you and neither can nor need to comprehend the shit you're trying to come to terms with.
Ah. Highschool. Where everybody is immature and overbearing in their own special ways.
The best option, of course, is to just find the people you ARE supposed to fit with. Water finds its own level, as they say, and everybody needs to explore the things they need to explore. Including the John Carmacks of the world.
Halflife was a bit more mature. They hired an actual writer. When you realized those marines were not there to rescue you, but were actually on a 'clean up' mission. . , THAT was an exciting bit of interactive game-play! --At least for where my head was at the time. "Now THIS is what the X-Files is trying to be!" I thought.
Bloody monsters on Mars and stuff that jumps out of the shadows? id games are for kids who still have boogey-man issues.
To be fair, though. . . We can all appreciate the cool-value of id. It took a long time and a lot of work to train my subconscious to allow me access to a light-saber on demand in my dreams.
Shotguns provided through a good user interface are a nice way to reclaim power over the Dark!
-FL
V: "Hey, Boss! The shipment of weapons has arrived!"
Q: "Excellent! We'll begin target practice immediately! Distribute munitions to all the enlisted men!"
T: "We don't have any enlisted men. Everybody was conscripted."
Q: "Eh?"
T: "Nobody wanted to be in your stupid war, so you held a draft and forced them to join."
Q: "What!? Is this true?"
V: "That's how I remember it, Boss."
Q: "This is terrible! Drafts are very unpopular. How am I doing in the polls?"
V: "How should I know? We've never bothered taking any. It's not like you were actually elected."
Q: "Phew! Well that's a relief. But we'd better come up with some numbers anyway before the people start getting anxious. Polls can have a soothing effect on a worried populace during times of war. --So long as you make sure the numbers aren't all messed up." [pause] "Actually, multiple choice surveys about dating and dieting are also in vogue right now. We must hire a publishing staff to handle this stuff! To protect the citizens from undue fretting. Fretting is unhealthy. Bad for moral. Finnly! Take a memo! It's time to create a new ministry!"
T: "Er. . . My name is Tuckly, actually."
Q: "We'll call it The Ministry of. . , um. .
T: "Propaganda?"
Q: "No, no. . . No big words. Remember? This is the friendly government. We'll call it the Ministry of. . . er. .
T: "Lying Through Your Teeth?"
Q: "Nah. That implies I might not be telling the truth."
T: "Yeah. You usually use your whole mouth, anyway."
V: "What we need is a way to MAKE people believe!"
Q: "Oh, well that's it! 'The Ministry of Make-Believe'. Did you get that Finnly?"
T: "sigh. Yes sir. Shall I write it down next to, 'The Ministry of Sneaking Around', and 'The Ministry of Taking Your Hard Earned Money'?"
Q: "Absolutely! Good Job!"
V: "You know, when you first talked about starting up a government, I thought it was going to be a lot more effort."
Q: "It's all in how you delegate. If you do it right, the government starts running itself and you don't even have to think about it!"
V: "Cool."
Q: "Most people just don't like to think. It's a rule you can live by!"
V: "I'll say. If people ever started thinking, they'd have killed you ages ago!"
-FL
I solidly believe that there is a deliberate gap in the computer market. There are simply no decent devices being currently made which allow one to easily and effortlessly write on the go. The technology is there, and it is entirely possible to build a good word-processor with a good screen and a good keyboard which can last forever on AA's. They used to make them. (The TRS-80 Model 100)
They still sort of do. Alphasmart's Dana is workable tool. But at $700 Canadian for the bottom end model, Alphasmart can go right to hell. Basic LCD with a keyboard and rudimentary electronics? The thing should sell for no more than $100 tops.
I ended up getting myself a Psion 5 from Ebay for $75 bucks.
Nice big sreen, lasts about 25 hours on a pair of AA's and it's got the best key-board I've seen for a palm. It's tight, but with small hands you can touch-type, and with bigger hands, you can do a six-finger version of the same at a fair clip. But it's still not the best solution.
The keyboard, while quite amazing as compared to similar devices, could be better. (If you press the edge of a key rather than the middle of the key, you don't always get a contact. This is needlessly annoying.) Plus the LCD screen is far too reflective for my tastes. If the wall behind you is painted white, chances are you're going to be irritated.
There's a good back-light system on the Psion 5 which fixes this, but it reduced the effective battery life down to, (drum roll please), about 6 hours, which is no better than the average laptop. Thanks guys.
Interestingly, I still find myself using the Psion 5 all the damned time. It does have a couple of features which I have found in no other device. --The primary one being the big screen which allows you to read the thing comfortably while lying in bed. --I don't care who you are, if you're a geek, then you've probably pissed yourself off trying to read in bed with a laptop. The Psion 5 is the first time I've ever comfortably been able to do this. With a fully programmable key-board, (using freeware off the web), you can configure the buttons to match exactly where your fingers fall. Not bad!
I've also done a lot of writing work on the thing since I got mine. It's nowhere nearly as comfortable as a full desktop PC, but it does the job in a pinch. I just don't like to be pinched. Still, if you want to write a term paper in a coffee shop, then you can certainly do so. The batteries will last longer than you. It's just that the device could be better. The sad part is that, as far as I know, it's the best solution currently available in a conusmer product available on the surface of the Earth. And that's pretty lame, because it could be better and it could be better with the technology currently available.
If the keyboard was maybe an inch wider and worked a little better, and if the LCD was just slightly less reflective; why, then the Psion 5 would be a dream come true!
As it is, though, for an average $75 bucks on Ebay, I can't complain too much. You can read the thing while lying in bed, and you can type a paper while sitting at any convenient table top where your PC isn't. Then you can put it in your backpack and move on. If you run out of batteries, you can buy a new set at any convenience store and you're good for another twenty-odd hours. Takes Compact Flash cards, too. That's not bad.
It could just be better. And a part of me thinks that this is entirely by design. Why is it so important that people not be allowed to easily, comfortably and reliably record their thoughts during the day while away from their ugly work stations? --Is there some reason people are required to always be subtly stressing over battery life? How does this affect the over-all tempurature of culture?)
What end does this serve?
And what th