Although I can't disagree with that remark, I do have to ask: When was the last time your life was threatened because of your introversion and talent for mathematical thought?
Well, my reflexes are abnormally dull because I was never allowed to practice kickball with the other kids during recess, and as a result I nearly rear-ended an SUV on I-94 last summer. The driver of that vehicle was clearly of the stick-the-lawyers-let's-resolve-this-here-and-now variety. Does that count?
Stan Lee's a genius whose talents were tuned to the 1960's. Chris Claremont, although seemingly shunned by the comic book companies these days, is just as much a genius with a more contemporary talent.
Well, there's a reason for that -- Claremont's not nearly as sharp today as he was in the 80's. There's a whole newsgroup full of fans who will gladly explain the details of the argument, so I won't take the trouble right now.:-)
This being said, your analogy falls short for three reasons: Blacks do not choose to be black. Jews do not choose to be Jewish (at least not in an ethnic sense, religion is another matter) And homosexuals do not choose to be homosexual.
So you're saying there's no possibility that my introversion and talent for mathematical thought is genetic?
Half-kidding, of course. My only point is that while I've never been gay, Jewish, black, female, or a mutant, I've always felt like an "outcast" because, essentially, of what I like and what I don't -- which is part of the reason the X-Men always appealed to me. You don't have to be part of a legally-defined minority to feel prejudiced against.
...is anyone else getting annoyed at the reviewers and journalists who credit Stan Lee with creating these X-Men, when it's really Chris Claremont who spent fifteen years fleshing out the characters and stories that are actually used in this movie?
I can't seem to find it at newsweek.com, but they had a nice one-page article (not a review) on the movie discussing the pressure director Brian Singer has been under by the fans to make this an "accurate" representation of the X-Men. And believe me, thirty-five years worth of comic book history is not an easy thing for anyone to distill into a two-hour film.
One caveat about the salon.com article, however. The X-Men have always been about prejudice and living in a world that "hates and fears" you for being different. This has long had an appeal for teens and young adults who have felt like they were out of the mainstream for any reason, but the article seems to suggest that it's intended specifically as a parallel for Jews, or blacks, or homosexuals. It's not. It's a parallel for all of them, plus the geeks, nerds, wiccans, Arab-Americans, you name it -- not one or two specific groups. If you've ever felt like people didn't want "people like you" around, for any reason, then you can relate.
The good licenses flourish in the programmer's community, the bad ones get circumvented -- and eventually, the software that people really need gets made, one way or the other.
If SSH.com's "bad" license served them well, then it's only "bad" to other developers -- but a better software offering appeared with a better license, and all turned out well in the end.
I can't see anyone arguing that bad licenses are good for everyone concerned, though, since the only "benefit" it provided was the production of a parallel software development effort that may or may not be compatible in the future.
Personally I think that any Quebecer above the age of 12 who can't speak/understand english is severely restricting him/herself in an english-dominated country.
Keep in mind, though, that Quebec essentially views itself as a separate country. Kinda like Texas.:-)
I think it should be perfectly possible, legal, and reasonable to sell the personal data -- provided that it stays with the web site. In other words, anyone taking that personal data must use it in conjunction with the URL "toysmart.com" and whatever website they put up in its place.
What it looks like is someone trying to implement the "Hellraiser" box in digital form.:)
I've always thought that the BAT Keyboards were clever -- "a fully functioning keyboard for one hand." Not too practical for a Palm, of course, but perhaps for a tablet computer? I've always imagined that when you see folks on "Star Trek: TNG" typing away with one hand on a computer gadget they're holding, they're using a BAT layout.
One of the main advantages the PalmPilot has over the Apple Newton preceeding it, or the PocketPC attempting to replace it, is that it doesn't attempt to understand normal handwriting or reproduce a "typical" OS -- rather, it uses a minimal Graffiti handwriting and a simplified OS, thus making it far more portable and useable than the other palm computers.
The same logic should apply to robots. It's great that we have one that looks and walks like a bipedal human, but do we really need such a robot? The only reasons humans (and other primates) need bipedal locomotion is to free up their hands for other tasks -- but clearly, this robot is a long way from achieving that level of independence.
It's a pretty toy, but what can it do? It can walk like a person. Period. It would be more practical (and Palm-like) to keep robots on six legs, which gives them just as much all-terrain ability in a much smaller and faster package.
Hasn't anyone realized the potentially disastrous implications of this? If Dr. Who's Daleks ever get their hands on this technology and gain the ability to take over planets without elevators, there won't be any hope for any of us....
Here's the official answer as to "Why, Bungie, WHY!?!?!?", which I grudgingly admit makes good sense. Taken directly from Bungie's acquisition FAQ:
Why is this happening?
For two reasons:
A. Microsoft is offering us the opportunity to lead the way on a next-generation console system. We will not only be one of the premier developers for the platform, but we'll be working directly with the Xbox team, helping to optimize the hardware and software for each other. We'll influence the design of the system; we'll help to ensure that the Xbox is the best platform to code for, and the most impressive console on the block. Such an opportunity does not come often. Bungie has always tried to keep abreast of the industry, if not ahead of it, and next-gen consoles seem like the place to be if you develop games. This deal allows us to get into that market in a big way.
B. The business of publishing entertainment software independently has changed enormously since Bungie started. Bungie was not in immediate danger of going under, but we realized that within a few years we'd need a strong partner if we wanted to keep making games the way we always have. We opted to make what we saw as an inevitable move while we were still in a position of strength, rather than wait for circumstances to force our hand. The ultimate goal is to ensure Bungie continues to exist and continues to produce the high-caliber games for which it is known.
Danke Gott. I hate to think of what would happen if Microsoft had been responsible for continuing distribution of Oni.
Despite their assurances, though, I just know this will be the end of Bungie's innovative game ideas and storylines. You can't spend your career in the heart of the Microsoft campus and not be infected by their mindset: "Steal other people's ideas, improve on them, distribute it more widely, and call it innovation."
I *am* a Mac person, and most Mac fans of the game know that Doom had nothing on Marathon. Doom was essentially a "clear the level and shoot everything in sight" game, and nothing more. The Marathon trilogy had a complicated and interesting sci-fi story behind it, complete with semi-insane AI computers and aliens who would either fight against your or for you, depending on which AI was in charge at the moment. The dialogue between the AI's and your character was so intriguing that an entire website was created just to archive it as a single, collected story.
Oh, *that's* easy enough. While Microsoft wants people to think that they're all about innovation, their execs know that the best way to make money is really to find someone else who does it better and make them an offer they can't refuse. Which leaves me wondering what they offered Bungie. That company is already a landmark in the gamescape thanks to revolutionary games like Marathon and Myth, and is set to do it again with Oni and Halo -- and everyone says so. Why do they *need* Microsoft?
If Terry intends to continue this series (and he shows no signs of slowing down) he needs to do a few things
...unless you're a best-selling international author yourself, I don't think you're qualified to tell Terry Pratchett what he does or doesn't need to do to make his books popular. You're listing what he needs to do to make his books more popular with you, but sales figures indicate he's doing just fine as he is with the population at large.
Whenever a writer establishes a long and successful history with a particular universe, there are always, always, fans who insist that the writer needs to write more books exactly like their first one or first few. Pratchett is one of the few "enterprise" writers who sticks to his existing universe, yet is always trying to come up with something new to do in it. He doesn't make it new every time -- he often returns to Ankh-Morpork, the three witches and Lancre, and of course Death -- but every few novels he's managed to produce something genuinely new from the nearly unlimited creative potential that is the Disc.
Feel free to post reviews, critiques, and opinions. But please don't take it upon yourself to tell him how to do his job.
The last American publisher made dull covers; the current one makes them just plain awful. (The Fifth Elephant was pink, for Om's sake.) I order them from Amazon.co.uk just so I can appreciate decent art. Used to be I ordered them from overseas just so I could get them in time, but Pratchett finally seems to have landed a deal so that his books are released at the same time in America as they are in the rest of the world.
Five paragraphs, only two of which actually give information about this book as opposed to the rest of the Discworld? Oy.
Let's try doing this properly (minor SPOILERS ahead):
The Truth is Terry Pratchett's landmark 25th book in the Discworld series, and a very, very fine book it is. It's designed with plenty of appeal for longtime fans and new readers alike, plus the usual assortment of puns, historical allusions, digs at pop culture, and sarcasm that fans of Pratchett (not to mention Douglas Adams of Hitchhiker's Guide fame) have come to expect and love.
The book takes place in the well-established Discworld city of Ankh-Morpork, a parody of London, England with a few sprinklings of New York City thrown in. Ankh-Morpork is governed by the Patrician, a man who doesn't rule so much as check and balance the cities business and criminal interests against each other, and policed by the City Watch, who have had several Discworld books to themselves but this time ride along as guest stars. The main character is William de Worde, a young man who comes from a family of aristocrats but lacks the wealth and influence of aristocracy himself.
William has eeked out a living up until now by providing a monthly newsletter to foreign dignitaries regarding the major events in Ankh-Morpork society and politics. Ankh-Morpork has a Guild of Engravers who painstakingly produce metal plates of his letters in order to mass-produce several copies, but William is soon given the means and the motive to increase production when a team of dwarves smuggle a printing press into the city. (The Guild of Engravers had convinced the Patrician to make printing presses illegal within the city before now.)
That's the means. The motive is an apparent murder by the Patrician on one of his own employees, and the City Watch are unable to get to the bottom of it. It's up to William and his rapidly-evolving printing press to find out what's happening while the Watch, the Engravers, and assorted criminal elements try to (literally) dig his new newspaper out from under him.
William de Worde is a guy who's just trying to get to the truth, the real truth, while everyone around him is telling him the "real" truth just isn't important. Only the Patrician seems to be on his side, and with that man implicated in a murder, William's support is constantly unravelling around him. Even his own employees are caught between, alternately, their families, their heritage, or their need to make money and their desire to help William keep the paper alive.
Every Terry Pratchett fan has his or her own sliding scale as to what makes a book good or bad -- more jokes, less pop culture, more characterization, less mythology, more history, less sarcasm, more established characters, less unnecessary characters, and so on and so on. So far, The Truth seems to rate highly on just about every fan's meter due to a healthy blend of all of the above. The Ankh-Morpork Times encounters reformed vampires, tabloid competitors, Discworld photography (a little demon in a box paints whatever he sees, and magical eels provide the flash), family royalty, gangsters in black suits who keep saying "____ing", journalistic ethics, and of course the omnipresent Death (tall, black cloak, has a thing for sharp farming implements). Those who understand the cultural and historical parody will laugh twice as hard, and the rest will enjoy rereading it years later and picking up on jokes they didn't understand the first time.
The Discworld series began years ago with The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic, but a lot has happened to Ankh-Morpork since those days of mere sword-and-sorcery parody. The Truth is a good point to start if you're a new fan, and should be enough incentive to go back and get the rest. (The first books are being rereleased even now on paperback in the United States by the same publisher.)
Slashdot Mirror
Check out reviews (well, previews, technically) of the Aiwa and the Kenwood in-dash players at IGN.com as well.
Well, my reflexes are abnormally dull because I was never allowed to practice kickball with the other kids during recess, and as a result I nearly rear-ended an SUV on I-94 last summer. The driver of that vehicle was clearly of the stick-the-lawyers-let's-resolve-this-here-and-now variety. Does that count?
Well, there's a reason for that -- Claremont's not nearly as sharp today as he was in the 80's. There's a whole newsgroup full of fans who will gladly explain the details of the argument, so I won't take the trouble right now. :-)
So you're saying there's no possibility that my introversion and talent for mathematical thought is genetic?
Half-kidding, of course. My only point is that while I've never been gay, Jewish, black, female, or a mutant, I've always felt like an "outcast" because, essentially, of what I like and what I don't -- which is part of the reason the X-Men always appealed to me. You don't have to be part of a legally-defined minority to feel prejudiced against.
...is anyone else getting annoyed at the reviewers and journalists who credit Stan Lee with creating these X-Men, when it's really Chris Claremont who spent fifteen years fleshing out the characters and stories that are actually used in this movie?
Three trailers, two commercials. Geez, and you call yourself a fan....
One caveat about the salon.com article, however. The X-Men have always been about prejudice and living in a world that "hates and fears" you for being different. This has long had an appeal for teens and young adults who have felt like they were out of the mainstream for any reason, but the article seems to suggest that it's intended specifically as a parallel for Jews, or blacks, or homosexuals. It's not. It's a parallel for all of them, plus the geeks, nerds, wiccans, Arab-Americans, you name it -- not one or two specific groups. If you've ever felt like people didn't want "people like you" around, for any reason, then you can relate.
If SSH.com's "bad" license served them well, then it's only "bad" to other developers -- but a better software offering appeared with a better license, and all turned out well in the end.
I can't see anyone arguing that bad licenses are good for everyone concerned, though, since the only "benefit" it provided was the production of a parallel software development effort that may or may not be compatible in the future.
Keep in mind, though, that Quebec essentially views itself as a separate country. Kinda like Texas. :-)
Or you could simply add to each page a footer link a French "homepage" which says, translated: "Sorry, but I don't speak French."
The news.com article you were looking for is here.
I think it should be perfectly possible, legal, and reasonable to sell the personal data -- provided that it stays with the web site. In other words, anyone taking that personal data must use it in conjunction with the URL "toysmart.com" and whatever website they put up in its place.
I've always thought that the BAT Keyboards were clever -- "a fully functioning keyboard for one hand." Not too practical for a Palm, of course, but perhaps for a tablet computer? I've always imagined that when you see folks on "Star Trek: TNG" typing away with one hand on a computer gadget they're holding, they're using a BAT layout.
...It's called the Morse code telegraph. :)
One of the main advantages the PalmPilot has over the Apple Newton preceeding it, or the PocketPC attempting to replace it, is that it doesn't attempt to understand normal handwriting or reproduce a "typical" OS -- rather, it uses a minimal Graffiti handwriting and a simplified OS, thus making it far more portable and useable than the other palm computers.
The same logic should apply to robots. It's great that we have one that looks and walks like a bipedal human, but do we really need such a robot? The only reasons humans (and other primates) need bipedal locomotion is to free up their hands for other tasks -- but clearly, this robot is a long way from achieving that level of independence.
It's a pretty toy, but what can it do? It can walk like a person. Period. It would be more practical (and Palm-like) to keep robots on six legs, which gives them just as much all-terrain ability in a much smaller and faster package.
Hasn't anyone realized the potentially disastrous implications of this? If Dr. Who's Daleks ever get their hands on this technology and gain the ability to take over planets without elevators, there won't be any hope for any of us....
Despite their assurances, though, I just know this will be the end of Bungie's innovative game ideas and storylines. You can't spend your career in the heart of the Microsoft campus and not be infected by their mindset: "Steal other people's ideas, improve on them, distribute it more widely, and call it innovation."
DOOM was a fun game. Marathon was a *great* game.
Oh, *that's* easy enough. While Microsoft wants people to think that they're all about innovation, their execs know that the best way to make money is really to find someone else who does it better and make them an offer they can't refuse. Which leaves me wondering what they offered Bungie. That company is already a landmark in the gamescape thanks to revolutionary games like Marathon and Myth, and is set to do it again with Oni and Halo -- and everyone says so. Why do they *need* Microsoft?
Whenever a writer establishes a long and successful history with a particular universe, there are always, always, fans who insist that the writer needs to write more books exactly like their first one or first few. Pratchett is one of the few "enterprise" writers who sticks to his existing universe, yet is always trying to come up with something new to do in it. He doesn't make it new every time -- he often returns to Ankh-Morpork, the three witches and Lancre, and of course Death -- but every few novels he's managed to produce something genuinely new from the nearly unlimited creative potential that is the Disc.
Feel free to post reviews, critiques, and opinions. But please don't take it upon yourself to tell him how to do his job.
The last American publisher made dull covers; the current one makes them just plain awful. (The Fifth Elephant was pink, for Om's sake.) I order them from Amazon.co.uk just so I can appreciate decent art. Used to be I ordered them from overseas just so I could get them in time, but Pratchett finally seems to have landed a deal so that his books are released at the same time in America as they are in the rest of the world.
Let's try doing this properly (minor SPOILERS ahead):