My two cents on Andromeda... right off the bat it reminds me a great deal of Star
Control 2... a ship that can no longer be built due to the state of the galaxy
comes back with higher technology and is self-charged with the task of re-uniting
the galaxy.
The plots don't always have the serious *feel* of, say, Babylon 5 or some other
sci-fi soap opera, but it's that "Hercules" spin that makes the show so enjoyable.
There is a subliminal climax that has been building for the last several episodes
as well that has made the show thoroughly enjoyable, and the latest season finale
was just incredible... and Harper is one of the coolest characters in any sci-fi I've seen...
My short summary on Andromeda: An epic-style sci-fi show with amusing characters, decent
plot, great potential for an excellent plot (possibly on par with the plot of B5).
My only problem with it is the showtimes! I'm never home when it's on...:)
It seems to me that China crushes anything that even remotely suggests that their government is bad... the Internet of course could lead people to draw the same conclusion so it is only logical they'd want to crush it...
Here's another link to something I found infinitely amusing... about the Falun Gong cult... where people read its manuscripts and "go crazy" and think they are Buddhas and kill their family, well, all of that according to Chinese propoganda...
When I have LAN party, there usually is a lot of beer, occasionally drugs,
definately rock and roll, and occasionally chicks.
You just have to ditch the preconception that all people who play network
games are geeks. Go to college, look at the people there... there are
lots of 'non-geeks' who enjoy blowing people up... and surely some of
them would have to be willing to pick their shit up and go to a party and drink
and blow people up.
It beats playing Unreal Tournament online over a 56k connection, plus
it gives some of us obscenely white gamers a chance to get some
sun and some excersize.
Seriously though, it don't get much better than drinking heavily and
playing something like Carmageddon 2 and driving drunk legally...
;)
(NOTE: THIS REPLY DOES NOT ADVOCATE DRUNK DRIVING)
While I am not sure I am HAPPY about them scrapping
UO2, I know that the 3rd Dawn client is slower than all
hell.
Perhaps with UO2 cancelled they can get rid of the room
full of monkeys on keyboards trying to write code (this
is after all a universe with infinite possibilities)
and get those ole UO2 programmers in on 3rd Dawn and fix
the slow client issues.
For graphics this badly rendered to REQUIRE A 16 meg video
card... who'd they hire to do their programming? Emmanuel Lewis!?
Hopefully they just put all their eggs in UO2 and can move em back.
72 hours to remove all copyrighted material... i.e. Napster is dead at that point.
I, for one, believe in software/musical natural selection, which is one of the precepts of old school piracy.
If you are unsure if you will like something, you obtain it first, if you like it, you buy it, if you don't, then you don't. Piracy discourages the production of crappy software and music.
The only problem is 95% of people who pirate music and software don't abide by this rule.
Napster's going down, however, is a huge blow to the public image of piracy... and I wonder how many people will be lulled into a false sense of security by it's demise, and how many will go into an anti-piracy fervor?
I think, personally, that with Napster gone, people won't consider trading (C) MP3s a problem anymore... leaving the FTP sites and DCC bots a chance to flourish as they did before Napster existed... and to tell the truth, we're better off that way...
I disagree, Masters of Orion (or any other turn based strategy empire-building game similar
to it) can be very fun multiplayer with the
following things:
A LAN
A TV
A VCR or DVD Player
Booze
Let me explain further... say you have (for the sake of arguement, for some out there this
will be purely hypothetical) four friends
with computers.
So, you get these people to bring said computers
with them, and booze, too (unless you have the
cash to provide it, in which case, I'm your pal
too)... you set the PCs up so they can view the
television, you start said game, you put in a movie
and you play both the game and the movie. Those
who finish their turns, watch the movie, talk,
whatever, whilst the slow people finish up.
I've done this before with Alpha Centauri, and it
was pretty fun... though you can't do it every
weekend it is a good way to spend pass some time!
I know, it sounds a bit crass because most of us
happen to like Napster... but Napster killed the
great art of the MP3 hunt. It took away the thrill
of hunting down a rare song on IRC, the web, etc
(granted it also took away the frustration)...
...though I don't think it'll crash and burn, I
for one do not plan on subscribing!
The only unfortunate thing is that Napster decreased
the popularity of MP3 FTP Search Engine... so
it will be harder to hunt!
I was driving down the highway a few monthes ago when I noticed a truck, nothing special, until I drove by and checked my rear view... it had an AUTOBOTS LOGO! (which I thought was totally cool)
So I went and checked and found this site...
http://www.insaniteesonline.com/
Which sells both stickers and decals of Transformers (and even Thundercats, which I was more excited about)... (as well as a bunch of other crap)
This was just waiting to happen since the 1st desktop PC hit the 1st desk.
Now, with all of this cooperation with the NSA and what not, one has to figure... why is Bill Gates in so much trouble? Now, I don't mean to be so paranoid, but I can't help it... but it seems to me that the government has a very distinct interest in taking down Microsoft... and I certainly can see the reason why they would be considered a monopoly (hell, I consider them one)
But what if one of the driving forces behind this FINALLY occuring was Microsoft refusing to cooperate with the NSA?
I have to agree with you on this one Lucas, looks more like a PR move than anything.
My big problem with it is that they chose such a stupid time frame to claim that they were ahead by and provided nothing but their own word as evidence that they were ahead.
Perhaps if I really felt motivated to find out
about them beyond that single article, I might
just find that, but their initial statement has turned me off toward them in general.
Anyone who would make outrageous claims to bolster business should've gotten into disk jockeying or rock stardom, because that's where that sort of PR belongs.
Since the rate of development of technology is so rapid, its very difficult to tell where it'll be in 5 years.
Having a mystical, magical chip that doubles battery duration and what not may very well not be 5 years away, rather one, or it may be 10 (though unlikely)
The point I am trying to make is they may have well have said 'We're a bagillion years ahead.' --- its all still meaningless... and until I see numerous OTHER companies (its very easy to gloat about your own product) say it... [or see it for myself] --- then I will just ignore their boasts as just that.
Thats just my opinion, I could be wrong...
My feelings on this are simple.
I would never go to college to learn something that I could learn myself (in a reasonable amount of time) without having to spend more than I would've at a university.
So this rules out philosophy, psychology, computer science, criminal justice, and a whole heck of a lot more.
I *would* go to school to learn a science like chemistry, biology, or physics (or any sub-class of these broad sciences). In that case, it would take considerable time (and likely, considerable amounts of money and connections) to learn on my own...... and don't get me wrong, I've taken college level philosophy courses, and I've had a lot of fun with them (Philosophy and of course my favorite, Logic, in which I had a blast) --- and would do so again simply because they were fun, there are a number of courses that are, in my opinion, wastes of money and time.
On the path to a Computer Science degree, I had to take English Comp I and II. These are by far the biggest wastes of my time and money so far in my schooling.
They were essentially going over (albeit a little more systematically) everything I learned in my high school English courses.
It's classes like those which a Computer Science major doesn't need.
Now I work in the field as a project coordinator, I've abandoned my computer science path, at least for now, simply because I am learning *far* more in the field than I ever did in school.
I am not saying school isn't right for EVERYONE, there are some individuals who *need* that group environment and homework, and all of those things in which they had become used to for 12 years, but I am saying that as far as techies go, if you have to go to school to learn this, then once you are in the field... you are going to have a very hard time.
Just my two cents, anyway.
Which is the most hated and feared? Though Coca-Cola may have what some may consider to be the most annoying commercials and jingles in the whole of the United States... can they rival the loathing that Microsoft and their villanous transferring of user's hard drives, registry scans, and future licensing measures? I think not.
This software sounds very inefficient, while its motives might be good (excepting the fact that Microsoft would download the contents of your brain and store them on their mainframe somewhere in downtown hell)...
I, for one, find it a blessing to have a short attention span and have to change through things to get to what I want. I can't begin to count how many problems I may have overlooked if it wasn't for my happening across a piece of information at a chance glance that would otherwise not have been noticed if I was taken directly where I wanted to go.
In short, high cost and lack of utility will cause this concept to fade away (much like VR goggles/gloves)
This development doesn't suprise me in the least, gradually everything will be saturated with electronic monitoring... A computer in every house, jacked into the net 24-7 with modern connections... a lovely goal, as a geek, I love the idea, as a paranoid citizen of a great country with an unfortunately corrupt and evil government, I despise the implications this might have in the future. Right now our phone calls are scanned for dirty words "bomb", "assassinate", Presidents... a search for dissidents. The same sort of privacy invasion could certainly apply to Carnivore. Not to commit another slippery slope fallacy, but its so easy when you are thinking about the actions of the government...... from there, its a hop skip and a jump to sedition profiling by the NSA... this making any future changes to our government structure next to impossible as they know who to watch and remove. Its a scary thought, perhaps I am too paranoid, but I've a reason to be!
I think its high time someone constructs a simple substitution language based on key words that Echelon picks up....
for example:
Bomb assassinate Libya
Would be "how are you?"
This way those of us with nothing to hide who just don't like the whole East German-esque gestapo tactic of recording any conversation/E-mail I make... can ensure that our rights as human beings to have some sembelance of privacy are thoroughly destroyed.
The East German regime used to do this to its citizens... only it would store physical things, saliva, mucus, hair, skin samples, etc... this is worse, it is intellectual sampling... I don't want to slide down any slippery slopes, but the implications of this are wide spread. The best and most opressive tyrannies slide slow on you...
Slashdot Mirror
My two cents on Andromeda... right off the bat it reminds me a great deal of Star
:)
Control 2... a ship that can no longer be built due to the state of the galaxy
comes back with higher technology and is self-charged with the task of re-uniting
the galaxy.
The plots don't always have the serious *feel* of, say, Babylon 5 or some other
sci-fi soap opera, but it's that "Hercules" spin that makes the show so enjoyable.
There is a subliminal climax that has been building for the last several episodes
as well that has made the show thoroughly enjoyable, and the latest season finale
was just incredible... and Harper is one of the coolest characters in any sci-fi I've seen...
My short summary on Andromeda: An epic-style sci-fi show with amusing characters, decent
plot, great potential for an excellent plot (possibly on par with the plot of B5).
My only problem with it is the showtimes! I'm never home when it's on...
1996 isn't an olderster, my friend... that's about when the world hopped
on the Internet bandwagon...
As for free Internet... there are a lot of kids out there who
could've used something back in 91 or 92 to provide access
(this is back when my favorite browser was Lynx, until I found the
joy of a SLIP connection...) for free...
Just because you're bandwidth hungry doesn't mean the service isn't valid.
If 5K/s is something that bugs you so much, I highly recommend just
logging off and junking your computer because it isn't going to get any better.
... a true "oldster".
It seems to me that China crushes anything that even remotely suggests that their government is bad... the Internet of course could lead people to draw the same conclusion so it is only logical they'd want to crush it...
e x. htm
Here's another link to something I found infinitely amusing... about the Falun Gong cult... where people read its manuscripts and "go crazy" and think they are Buddhas and kill their family, well, all of that according to Chinese propoganda...
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/ztbd/jpflg/ind
They have Yahoo! for individual cities... I could care less about that...
What I'm waiting for is Yahoo! for individual FETISHES!
YAHOOOOOOOOOOO!
I for one plan on patenting the NO CLICK shopping method. It randomly puts items into your cart for you...
Tired of thinking of what to get someone? Let Llah.com's NO CLICK shopping work for YOU!
You forgot the 3rd option. Get some high explosives and pay
the corporate headquarters a visit.
Does it help get you some money back? No. But it makes you feel better...
(eat your heart out echelon... EMBASSY! DETONATOR!)
I wonder what company's spell-checker these goons proofed their document with?
Why, good ole Webster's 1909 Collegiate edition, good sir!
Indubidably old chap!
Whatever did happen to that 'I Kiss You' guy?
welcome to my message. I kiss you!
When I have LAN party, there usually is a lot of beer, occasionally drugs,
definately rock and roll, and occasionally chicks.
You just have to ditch the preconception that all people who play network
games are geeks. Go to college, look at the people there... there are
lots of 'non-geeks' who enjoy blowing people up... and surely some of
them would have to be willing to pick their shit up and go to a party and drink
and blow people up.
I mean, that's what life's all about...
It beats playing Unreal Tournament online over a 56k connection, plus
;)
it gives some of us obscenely white gamers a chance to get some
sun and some excersize.
Seriously though, it don't get much better than drinking heavily and
playing something like Carmageddon 2 and driving drunk legally...
(NOTE: THIS REPLY DOES NOT ADVOCATE DRUNK DRIVING)
While I am not sure I am HAPPY about them scrapping
UO2, I know that the 3rd Dawn client is slower than all
hell.
Perhaps with UO2 cancelled they can get rid of the room
full of monkeys on keyboards trying to write code (this
is after all a universe with infinite possibilities)
and get those ole UO2 programmers in on 3rd Dawn and fix
the slow client issues.
For graphics this badly rendered to REQUIRE A 16 meg video
card... who'd they hire to do their programming? Emmanuel Lewis!?
Hopefully they just put all their eggs in UO2 and can move em back.
72 hours to remove all copyrighted material...
i.e. Napster is dead at that point.
I, for one, believe in software/musical natural
selection, which is one of the precepts of
old school piracy.
If you are unsure if you will like something, you
obtain it first, if you like it, you buy it,
if you don't, then you don't. Piracy
discourages the production of crappy software and
music.
The only problem is 95% of people who pirate
music and software don't abide by this rule.
Napster's going down, however, is a huge blow to
the public image of piracy... and I wonder
how many people will be lulled into a false
sense of security by it's demise, and
how many will go into an anti-piracy fervor?
I think, personally, that with Napster gone,
people won't consider trading (C) MP3s a
problem anymore... leaving the FTP sites and
DCC bots a chance to flourish as they did
before Napster existed... and to tell the
truth, we're better off that way...
I disagree, Masters of Orion (or any other turn
based strategy empire-building game similar
to it) can be very fun multiplayer with the
following things:
A LAN
A TV
A VCR or DVD Player
Booze
Let me explain further... say you have (for the
sake of arguement, for some out there this
will be purely hypothetical) four friends
with computers.
So, you get these people to bring said computers
with them, and booze, too (unless you have the
cash to provide it, in which case, I'm your pal
too)... you set the PCs up so they can view the
television, you start said game, you put in a movie
and you play both the game and the movie. Those
who finish their turns, watch the movie, talk,
whatever, whilst the slow people finish up.
I've done this before with Alpha Centauri, and it
was pretty fun... though you can't do it every
weekend it is a good way to spend pass some time!
-Llah
I know, it sounds a bit crass because most of us
...though I don't think it'll crash and burn, I
happen to like Napster... but Napster killed the
great art of the MP3 hunt. It took away the thrill
of hunting down a rare song on IRC, the web, etc
(granted it also took away the frustration)...
for one do not plan on subscribing!
The only unfortunate thing is that Napster decreased
the popularity of MP3 FTP Search Engine... so
it will be harder to hunt!
Modernly following the instinct of the hunt...
On the subject of Transformers...
I was driving down the highway a few monthes ago
when I noticed a truck, nothing special,
until I drove by and checked my rear view...
it had an AUTOBOTS LOGO! (which I thought was
totally cool)
So I went and checked and found this site...
http://www.insaniteesonline.com/
Which sells both stickers and decals of
Transformers (and even Thundercats, which I
was more excited about)... (as well as a
bunch of other crap)
Yay!
Cheerio!
-Llah
This was just waiting to happen since the 1st
desktop PC hit the 1st desk.
Now, with all of this cooperation with the NSA and
what not, one has to figure... why is Bill Gates
in so much trouble? Now, I don't mean to be
so paranoid, but I can't help it... but it seems to
me that the government has a very distinct
interest in taking down Microsoft... and I
certainly can see the reason why they would be
considered a monopoly (hell, I consider them one)
But what if one of the driving forces behind this FINALLY
occuring was Microsoft refusing to cooperate with
the NSA?
Just something to keep you up and night..
I have to agree with you on this one Lucas, looks
more like a PR move than anything.
My big problem with it is that they chose such a
stupid time frame to claim that they were ahead
by and provided nothing but their own word
as evidence that they were ahead.
Perhaps if I really felt motivated to find out
about them beyond that single article, I might
just find that, but their initial statement has
turned me off toward them in general.
Anyone who would make outrageous claims to bolster
business should've gotten into disk jockeying
or rock stardom, because that's where
that sort of PR belongs.
I'm just mean today, I guess... oh well!
Since the rate of development of technology is so rapid, its very difficult to tell where it'll be in 5 years. Having a mystical, magical chip that doubles battery duration and what not may very well not be 5 years away, rather one, or it may be 10 (though unlikely) The point I am trying to make is they may have well have said 'We're a bagillion years ahead.' --- its all still meaningless... and until I see numerous OTHER companies (its very easy to gloat about your own product) say it... [or see it for myself] --- then I will just ignore their boasts as just that. Thats just my opinion, I could be wrong...
My feelings on this are simple. I would never go to college to learn something that I could learn myself (in a reasonable amount of time) without having to spend more than I would've at a university. So this rules out philosophy, psychology, computer science, criminal justice, and a whole heck of a lot more. I *would* go to school to learn a science like chemistry, biology, or physics (or any sub-class of these broad sciences). In that case, it would take considerable time (and likely, considerable amounts of money and connections) to learn on my own... ... and don't get me wrong, I've taken college level philosophy courses, and I've had a lot of fun with them (Philosophy and of course my favorite, Logic, in which I had a blast) --- and would do so again simply because they were fun, there are a number of courses that are, in my opinion, wastes of money and time.
On the path to a Computer Science degree, I had to take English Comp I and II. These are by far the biggest wastes of my time and money so far in my schooling.
They were essentially going over (albeit a little more systematically) everything I learned in my high school English courses.
It's classes like those which a Computer Science major doesn't need.
Now I work in the field as a project coordinator, I've abandoned my computer science path, at least for now, simply because I am learning *far* more in the field than I ever did in school.
I am not saying school isn't right for EVERYONE, there are some individuals who *need* that group environment and homework, and all of those things in which they had become used to for 12 years, but I am saying that as far as techies go, if you have to go to school to learn this, then once you are in the field... you are going to have a very hard time.
Just my two cents, anyway.
Which is the most hated and feared? Though Coca-Cola may have what some may consider to be the most annoying commercials and jingles in the whole of the United States... can they rival the loathing that Microsoft and their villanous transferring of user's hard drives, registry scans, and future licensing measures? I think not.
This software sounds very inefficient, while its
motives might be good (excepting the fact that
Microsoft would download the contents of your
brain and store them on their mainframe
somewhere in downtown hell)...
I, for one, find it a blessing to have a short
attention span and have to change through
things to get to what I want. I can't begin to
count how many problems I may have overlooked
if it wasn't for my happening across a piece
of information at a chance glance that would
otherwise not have been noticed if I was taken
directly where I wanted to go.
In short, high cost and lack of utility will
cause this concept to fade away (much like VR
goggles/gloves)
This development doesn't suprise me in the least, gradually everything will be saturated with electronic monitoring... A computer in every house, jacked into the net 24-7 with modern connections... a lovely goal, as a geek, I love the idea, as a paranoid citizen of a great country with an unfortunately corrupt and evil government, I despise the implications this might have in the future. Right now our phone calls are scanned for dirty words "bomb", "assassinate", Presidents... a search for dissidents. The same sort of privacy invasion could certainly apply to Carnivore. Not to commit another slippery slope fallacy, but its so easy when you are thinking about the actions of the government... ... from there, its a hop skip and a jump to sedition profiling by the NSA... this making any future changes to our government structure next to impossible as they know who to watch and remove. Its a scary thought, perhaps I am too paranoid, but I've a reason to be!
I think its high time someone constructs a simple substitution language based on key words that Echelon picks up....
for example:
Bomb assassinate Libya
Would be "how are you?"
This way those of us with nothing to hide who just don't like the whole East German-esque gestapo tactic of recording any conversation/E-mail I make... can ensure that our rights as human beings to have some sembelance of privacy are thoroughly destroyed.
The East German regime used to do this to its citizens... only it would store physical things, saliva, mucus, hair, skin samples, etc... this is worse, it is intellectual sampling... I don't want to slide down any slippery slopes, but the implications of this are wide spread. The best and most opressive tyrannies slide slow on you...