My favourite was the late one in which the Road Runner runs down a pipe that first narrows and the enlarges. Each animal shrinks to fit, but only the bird returns to his normal size. He pauses outside the pipe, and Wiley finally catches up to him, only to stand on his foot, perhaps two inches tall, and hold up a tiny sign that says something like, "You've always wanted me to catch him... now what do I do?"
Yeah, those were simpler times. Back then Atari thought they could keep a lid on it with NDA's and by refusing to print their programmers' names in the games. I think it was Activision (or maybe Imagic?) that was founded by ex-Atari programmers who left, not just for the money, but so they could get a little credit.
Of course, I think Atari figured the VCS for a lifetime of maybe two years and ten games. Had that been the case, maybe their approach would have kept the market exclusive to them. On the other hand, they sold a hell of a lot more consoles and carts the way it went down, even with the eventual glut (to which I contributed my little bit)
You didn't need to be licensed by Atari, and in fact nobody was. What the hell, it's not like there was an SDK, just lots of reverse engineering -- throw in some wirewrapped hardware and an Apple II and you too could join the videogame craze.
Question might have been whether the game got permission from the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" movie people.
I remember chasing my tail for a day or two because I made a minor change in some code at the top of the program (it might even have been a table up there), and suddenly the whole screen just fell apart and rolled furiously. Finally figured out that my change had pushed the code down a couple of bytes in memory, just enough to push a particular branch across a page boundry, making each execution one cycle longer, and destroying the timing everywhere. When I figured it out I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
The last time I left a movie to find a theater employee, it took nearly ten minutes to locate a live human. (And that was to get them to turn the film's sound on!)
Jeez, and they made you pay money for that?
See, I don't go to movies much, and there's only one place in town that I'll go for certain films (LOTR, for instance, or Star Wars), because they have a real screen and real people (and the manager has a dog who leaves toys in the lobby sometimes. I like any business better if there's a dog or cat on the premises). I don't know that they'd pummel somebody for talking, but I know I could get an usher to listen to me bitch.
Well, what do theatres do about people who talk loudly during the movie? That's the essence of the problem here, not cell phones per se but conversation during the show. If nobody can find the guy, then he can't be much of a nuisance.
If you really want to get into it, stop the movie, turn on the house lights, and crank up the PA: "You! Yes, you! Look at your neighbor! Is he using a phone? Stand up and point to him!" Don't restart the show until the body's been removed, though -- people might trip over it in the dark when they get up to get drinks.:)
So perhaps training should be made available, added to Driver's Ed courses, for instance. (While we're at it, though, we should probably add Arguing With Someone in the Back Seat, Fiddling With the Radio Stations, and Eating Cupcakes While Drinking Soda to the curriculum.)
In two-man cars, yes, I believe that the passenger generally handles the radio, and that seems sensible. But here in Maryland, at least, the state troopers always seem to operate solo, and judging from "Cops", dispatchers say what they say when they say it, although I agree that officers answer when they can.
All I'm saying is that talking while driving is not, in of itself, a disaster. Cops are not super-men, and if they can do this safely than so could other ordinary mortals. There's something about cell phones, though, that lifts peoples' hackles to an extraordinary extent, so that they immediately want to write laws about it.
How many accidents have occurred because of spilled coffee? Have we outlawed (or, alternatively, required) cupholders and cups with spill-proof lids? Has the thought ever even crossed your mind?
It seems to me that every juridistiction must have laws about unsafe driving, so that if a policeman observes you swerving all over the road he can pull you over and write you a ticket. It doesn't really matter why you're driving badly (with the possible exception of a heart attack or something), driving badly is already illegal, so write tickets for it. Why add laws?
I couldn't care less if you drink at the movies, 'long as you don't throw up on my shoes. Smoking is different, though. Besides the fire issue, the smoke rises and interferes with the projector.
Oh, you should try riding an urban bus. Guys yelling out the window, "Yo, Shorty!! Shorty!! Yo! Yo, man! Shorty, yo!", people yelling down the aisle, "Yolanda, hey man, I saw you on this bus yesterday, man, and the day before, and on Monday, too!", mothers yelling at their kids, "Sit down! I said, sit down! You'd better sit down, girl! Don't make me come back there...sit your ass down!"...after a while you start hoping the bus will hit something. Cell phone users are silent ninjas compared to the average citizen of Baltimore.
You know what I like about laws like that? When the cop sees you, what does he do? That's right, he leans down and picks up the microphone for his radio and calls in your tag number. Now, why is it that cops don't veer off the road into a bridge abutment every time they use their mobile communications?
This is what ushers are for. Cell phone rings, creating a disturbance? Toss the patron out of the theatre. A few lost $8 movie tickets, never mind $50 Broadway tickets, and people will learn to put the phone on vibrate.
We didn't need fire-supression fields to stop people from smoking in theatres, and we don't need cellular-supression fields to stop this problem.
Is this the first time you've noticed that cell companies make money on both sides of a call if both phones are in their system?
As a side note, though, Cingular's fees are not "taxes", they are fees for a service. The distinguishing feature of most taxes is that they are levied by governments (and therefore enforcable by Men With Guns) and that they aren't necessarily linked to any particular product or service. Your gas taxes, for instance, are often spent on roads and whatnot, but pretty much go into general funds, and your income taxes certainly aren't directly tied to the cost of printing money or something.
With emphasis on "at least". Here in the States, anyway, few cities have an airport in the center of town, whereas most train stations are just exactly there, so unless your business is at the airport, the train can knock off another 45 minutes or more just getting into town.
God how I wish I still had my Beyond the Fringe albums. That wonderful Peter Cooke monologue comparing the life of a judge with that of a coal miner...I'd love to quote it correctly, but the line in question concerned that marked lack of falling coal in court rooms, such that judges often commented on it: "Well, no falling coal again today, eh?"
We've all met computer people with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, but I've met very few who've actually lost fingers due to a computing accident (although I did cut my finger rather badly on some case sheet-metal once -- had to wear a Band-Aid for several days.:))
I guess you've forgotten, but Apple also released some James Taylor, Badfinger, Ravi Shankar, Jackie Lomax, and the Modern Jazz Quartet, as well as, yes, Mary Hopkin.
As for naming the computer company, well, this was the year when "Kentucky Fried Computer" seemed like a reasonable name, as did "Dr. Dobb's Journal of Computer Calisthenics and Orthodontia". Maybe it was the Bicentennial fever which gripped us all...
Wouldn't, say, nerve gas have much the same effect and last longer? People can fuck for only so long, but they stay dead forever.
Mind you, there's a certain weird poetry to the pheromone idea, but I think it would be less grand orgy and more mass rape, as such triggers would inevitably fire at different rates for different people.
And really, you could get a similar effect with, for instance, LSD.
Footing the bill might not be an option. If you're in Cleveland and in a hurry and the surgeon you want is in Hamburg, then time becomes the issue, not money.
Now "fortnight" I know, but only because I read a bunch of Enid Blyton novels as a child (long story, but they were around the house and I'd read just about anything.) Of course, "fortnight" kind of makes sense, in the same way the "bedlam" does, whereas "stone" seems to be as arbitrary as any other unit, and therefore opaque to reason.
Hey, sounds like you could answer a question for me: I sometimes watch those "World's Worst Drivers" shows (you know, when I'm feeling too smart and need to drain off a few IQ points.) Aside from driving on the wrong side all the time, which would qualify all of the UK for the show if you ask me, one other thing puzzles me. I see occasional jagged lane dividers, sort of saw-toothed or like lightning bolts. I'm guessing they don't mark the electric vehicle lane, but what do they mean?
Slashdot Mirror
And when you're shopping for a TV, make sure to turn the set off and look at the screen, 'cause that's as black as you'll ever see on that set.
My favourite was the late one in which the Road Runner runs down a pipe that first narrows and the enlarges. Each animal shrinks to fit, but only the bird returns to his normal size. He pauses outside the pipe, and Wiley finally catches up to him, only to stand on his foot, perhaps two inches tall, and hold up a tiny sign that says something like, "You've always wanted me to catch him... now what do I do?"
Of course, I think Atari figured the VCS for a lifetime of maybe two years and ten games. Had that been the case, maybe their approach would have kept the market exclusive to them. On the other hand, they sold a hell of a lot more consoles and carts the way it went down, even with the eventual glut (to which I contributed my little bit)
Question might have been whether the game got permission from the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" movie people.
I remember chasing my tail for a day or two because I made a minor change in some code at the top of the program (it might even have been a table up there), and suddenly the whole screen just fell apart and rolled furiously. Finally figured out that my change had pushed the code down a couple of bytes in memory, just enough to push a particular branch across a page boundry, making each execution one cycle longer, and destroying the timing everywhere. When I figured it out I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Jeez, and they made you pay money for that?
See, I don't go to movies much, and there's only one place in town that I'll go for certain films (LOTR, for instance, or Star Wars), because they have a real screen and real people (and the manager has a dog who leaves toys in the lobby sometimes. I like any business better if there's a dog or cat on the premises). I don't know that they'd pummel somebody for talking, but I know I could get an usher to listen to me bitch.
If you really want to get into it, stop the movie, turn on the house lights, and crank up the PA: "You! Yes, you! Look at your neighbor! Is he using a phone? Stand up and point to him!" Don't restart the show until the body's been removed, though -- people might trip over it in the dark when they get up to get drinks. :)
In two-man cars, yes, I believe that the passenger generally handles the radio, and that seems sensible. But here in Maryland, at least, the state troopers always seem to operate solo, and judging from "Cops", dispatchers say what they say when they say it, although I agree that officers answer when they can.
All I'm saying is that talking while driving is not, in of itself, a disaster. Cops are not super-men, and if they can do this safely than so could other ordinary mortals. There's something about cell phones, though, that lifts peoples' hackles to an extraordinary extent, so that they immediately want to write laws about it.
How many accidents have occurred because of spilled coffee? Have we outlawed (or, alternatively, required) cupholders and cups with spill-proof lids? Has the thought ever even crossed your mind?
It seems to me that every juridistiction must have laws about unsafe driving, so that if a policeman observes you swerving all over the road he can pull you over and write you a ticket. It doesn't really matter why you're driving badly (with the possible exception of a heart attack or something), driving badly is already illegal, so write tickets for it. Why add laws?
I couldn't care less if you drink at the movies, 'long as you don't throw up on my shoes. Smoking is different, though. Besides the fire issue, the smoke rises and interferes with the projector.
Oh, you should try riding an urban bus. Guys yelling out the window, "Yo, Shorty!! Shorty!! Yo! Yo, man! Shorty, yo!", people yelling down the aisle, "Yolanda, hey man, I saw you on this bus yesterday, man, and the day before, and on Monday, too!", mothers yelling at their kids, "Sit down! I said, sit down! You'd better sit down, girl! Don't make me come back there...sit your ass down!"...after a while you start hoping the bus will hit something. Cell phone users are silent ninjas compared to the average citizen of Baltimore.
You know what I like about laws like that? When the cop sees you, what does he do? That's right, he leans down and picks up the microphone for his radio and calls in your tag number. Now, why is it that cops don't veer off the road into a bridge abutment every time they use their mobile communications?
We didn't need fire-supression fields to stop people from smoking in theatres, and we don't need cellular-supression fields to stop this problem.
Do the names Atari, Mattel, Magnavox, Coleco, or Fairchild ring a bell? Hell, the Intellivision was a 16-bit system before the NES.
Was the bonus $lOOO? :)
That may explain why it's your previous job.
Are the first pair going to be called Lennon and McCartney?
As a side note, though, Cingular's fees are not "taxes", they are fees for a service. The distinguishing feature of most taxes is that they are levied by governments (and therefore enforcable by Men With Guns) and that they aren't necessarily linked to any particular product or service. Your gas taxes, for instance, are often spent on roads and whatnot, but pretty much go into general funds, and your income taxes certainly aren't directly tied to the cost of printing money or something.
With emphasis on "at least". Here in the States, anyway, few cities have an airport in the center of town, whereas most train stations are just exactly there, so unless your business is at the airport, the train can knock off another 45 minutes or more just getting into town.
We've all met computer people with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, but I've met very few who've actually lost fingers due to a computing accident (although I did cut my finger rather badly on some case sheet-metal once -- had to wear a Band-Aid for several days.:))
As for naming the computer company, well, this was the year when "Kentucky Fried Computer" seemed like a reasonable name, as did "Dr. Dobb's Journal of Computer Calisthenics and Orthodontia". Maybe it was the Bicentennial fever which gripped us all...
And they say porn isn't educational! Thanks. I thought at first it was a typo, but I could see it repeated elsewhere on the page.
(And why no 1 year credit card?)
Mind you, there's a certain weird poetry to the pheromone idea, but I think it would be less grand orgy and more mass rape, as such triggers would inevitably fire at different rates for different people.
And really, you could get a similar effect with, for instance, LSD.
Footing the bill might not be an option. If you're in Cleveland and in a hurry and the surgeon you want is in Hamburg, then time becomes the issue, not money.
Hey, sounds like you could answer a question for me: I sometimes watch those "World's Worst Drivers" shows (you know, when I'm feeling too smart and need to drain off a few IQ points.) Aside from driving on the wrong side all the time, which would qualify all of the UK for the show if you ask me, one other thing puzzles me. I see occasional jagged lane dividers, sort of saw-toothed or like lightning bolts. I'm guessing they don't mark the electric vehicle lane, but what do they mean?