I want my money back. This isn't the future I was promised.
I had that phoney malware thing come in through a Flash/Javascript hole (thanks Microsoft for not rewriting or adopting Google's re-write, you jerks) and totally hose my PC a while back. I don't understand why this sort of behavior isn't being shut down promptly by the powers that be of the internet. They'll watch your music, the CIA will record every character transmitted or received (Hi, Bob!), but they can't seem to recognise the same stupid bogus anti-malware scan scam going from IP address A to IP address B.
Don't worry about 1984 and Big Brother, we aren't even close.
I heard France was even sending robots, the only question is are they to help aid or fight the malfunctioning Japanese robots?
I'm impressed France is that forward thinking and Japan is that unprepared. Not quite the image we expected, was it?
Japan would be full of clever robots which could do almost everything and France wouldn't have any because the robotic robot assemblers trade union is on strike.
So it turns out Japan has been trying to perfect a bunch of utterly useless, but highly marketable robots to beep, boop, dance and look cute, which France have been making industrial duty do-the-dirty-work jobs.
Hey, I think I saw that one. That's the one where the ugly garbage cleaning robot and the elegant, nimble robot fall in love.
And there was not a word of English (except the occasional one spoken by fat people)?
Yeah, but let's see that little garbage cleaning robot, or the cute little robot clean that mess up. This calls for robotic Caterpillar tractors, backhoes, graders and probably a cute little robotic coffee machine they can all hit on in the break room.
A physical connection is considerably more reliable in my experience.
Which is why you continue to develop wireless technology! Make it better, not run away from it!
I remember how impressed I was when a friend was working on technology to improve bandwidth over copper from the 56K baud modems everyone had in the mid 90's. Now you can get blitzed in and use the free wifi which utterly smokes 56K and everyone's taking it for granted!
Sigh. If only Godzilla were real he could pop up right now, waggle a clawed finger at the Japanese, as if to say "See what you get playing around recklessly with the atom?", pick up the reactors and take them to the Moon (unless you're one of those fans who see Flying Godzilla as the greatest sin perpetrated by Toho.)
You may love or hate Bill Gates but when he was hands on at Microsoft very few things passed by Microsoft without notice.
Now, not so much. They messed up on Windows CE in the PDA market, they messed up on Vista and now they are missing the boat on tablets/e-readers.
They have amazing engineers but the vision and focus is slowly going away. At least it will not be like Apple when Steve Jobs retires. Steve Jobs IS the vision and focus of Apple and I doubt that Apple would survive long after Steve Jobs' eventual retirement. Unlike Apple Microsoft will be a major player in the IT field for many decades to come in spite of themselves.
Past success, like failure, is no guarantee at Apple or Microsoft for that matter.
These days the typical response for an Apple iWossname is like...
Annoucing Apple's new iWossname! - *cheers*
With zibben und oct nano propeller power! - *cheers*
And Ultrawidget App Mangler! - *cheers*
And for only 800 Zorkmids - in a 2 year shackled-in contract for 100 Zorkmids per month through WeaselTel! - *cheers*
While Microsoft lauch is more like...
Announcing Microsoft's new Potrzebie! - *cheers*
With Intellium Lotsacores Processor Technology! - *cheers*
And pre-installed with Widdles Zowie and a bunch of other stuff! - *umm... er...*
And for only 600 in Cold-plated-batmanium - in an VirtualPeasant contract for 100 Cpb per lunar cycle through KissenTel! - *cheers*
How can anyone take what Microsoft says seriously?
They keep trying to barge into everyone's market and often fail, largely because they just don't get it - they don't understand the market, the product or the customers, but march in with their own Microsoft Brand and PR bandwagon going full-tilt, withdrawing quietly after a few years of marginal success or outright failure.
XBox is about the only thing they have going, but that didn't come cheaply and the one thing I know from decades as a video gamer - gamers are NOT loyal - as soon as a newer, better game shows up they're off to that platform and the old one is pushed to the back of the closet or flogged on eBay for what they can get.
Take away the revenues generated by The Windows Tax, Office software and Servers and they'd have gone bust a decade ago, with all the other phonus balonus dot coms and all their hubris about reshaping the world.
The one innovation which eludes Microsoft is getting their operating system off the home-brew legacy throttled model it has always been on. It may look glossy, but it's a cow, with security holes galore and all the important things users need to know safely buried in obscurity. At least Apple realized Mac OS was becoming a painfully large snowball to support and switched to a better model. The next version of Windows will again be completely unnecessary and try to copy everything Google has been doing, which will make it a real pain for desktop apps.
I remember when Michigan was vying for this project, touting how it would enhance Michigan's scienterrific credentials, bring more research bucks to University of Michigan, etc. Now that it's in ruins, it would still fit in with much of southeast Michigan - the rust belt - Bay City, Saginaw, Flint and the Detroit area. I wonder if they could somehow turn it into an underground D&D theme park?
People who cavalierly wast resources should be paying this burden, not us people who are stuck with commutes, but thoughtful enough to buy vehicles which are misers on gas consumption.
I'm confounded when I drive through suburban neighborhoods and see 80% of the homes have at least one Pickup/SUV in the driveway - most of these are never going to be used for construction or off-road. They're the modern equivalent of the Station Wagon. If gas is so cheap these people are commuting with these, and I see them in large percentages on my daily commute, then gas is still too cheap. Get off that addiction, people!
Does this mean that companies will start selling IP addresses for increasing amounts of money? should I buy a block of 100 as an investment now? A bit like buying up domain names?
Not bloody likely. Most likely Microsoft will dump what they don't need. With IPv6 around the corner it's like buying 666,000 ice cream cones on a hot Summer day - better use them up before they are no use anymore.
the movie version of "Starship Troopers" was much better than the book. That's b/c you missed the point of the book, and what self respecting geek doesn't love powered armor?
Starship Troopers received the same treatment as Jurassic Park - all the interesting theory was stripped out for the action bits. "Hey, let's ditch most of that Ian Malcolm rubbish and make a movie about dinosaurs!!" Most of Heinlein's later works were similar to Cricton's, which is what real sci-fi is about, exploring morality plays, scientific theories, etc. through the vehicle of a fantasy world - "We could go to war against these aliens, and possibly beat them, but who's more fit to make such decisions - people with no stake or experience in military service or a load of Television watching, cheese doodle munching civilians?
I never got around to much of the Dr. Who universe and whether there was some actual depth to it or it was nothing more than a Sci-Fi soap opera.
Joss Whedon's inclusion of the killer pixie character ruined the show.
The source material was set in the time of Reconstruction after the Civil War, dealing with how the crew, essentially former Confederates dealt with becoming even a marginal part of the new "world" should have been the focus.
Killer Pixie - as you label her, was a real game changer and such changes will always upset the balance of a narrative. The dustbins of obscure works are populated with books, comics, etc, which could have sailed along smoothly, but for someone who thought they had a better idea - often the creator of the work itself.
River could at any moment appear in the role of Deus Ex Machina, to bail Mal and the good crew out of any jam. That's tough for any fan to swallow, it's like having a reset button you can press any time things get ugly. Build in some high degree of unreliability could restore some of that balance ("ah, crap she's suddenly in a coma and can't come save us, looks like we have to get out of this one ourselves!")
You aren't alone. I never got into this show, and I've just never been particularly interested in trying.
And you know what else--I thought "Lord of the Rings" was boring (both in book and movie form), "Babylon 5" was poorly written and acted, and the movie version of "Starship Troopers" was much better than the book. There, I said it.
I assert that being a geek doesn't mean having to like *everything* associated with geek life. And if you have to FORCE yourself to get into it, you're probably going to take all the fun out of it anyway.
I feel the same way about Red Dwarf - the books were kinda-sorta OK, though I felt highly derivative of H2G2. When I first saw the Red Dwarf shows on TV I wasn't so much non-plussed as mildly revolted - yet the series has a strong following. Not all things for all geeks.
The best way to stop this nonsense is to make it a huge story. Twitter it, facebook it, whatever... post it everywhere. The media doesn't care unless they think the people do. So make it go viral so the worthless people we call "the press" cover it... then all the companies involved will look like idiots and may fix it.
I think that only applies to politicians using Craigslist.
And the company handling these donations, mGive.com, has not waived the transaction fees it charges relief agencies.
These companies profit from situations like this. This is their business case. What did you expect?
Mega Corpco - Helping people in need - just send us your donations and we'll eventually route them along, meanwhile being recognized for the fine work we've done. Thanks little nobody person for making it all possible. By the way, we get to write this PR campaign off, too. Great advertising, huh?
Slashdot Mirror
I want my money back. This isn't the future I was promised.
I had that phoney malware thing come in through a Flash/Javascript hole (thanks Microsoft for not rewriting or adopting Google's re-write, you jerks) and totally hose my PC a while back. I don't understand why this sort of behavior isn't being shut down promptly by the powers that be of the internet. They'll watch your music, the CIA will record every character transmitted or received (Hi, Bob!), but they can't seem to recognise the same stupid bogus anti-malware scan scam going from IP address A to IP address B.
Don't worry about 1984 and Big Brother, we aren't even close.
So it seems, the mystery ain't a mystery after all...
That tends to happen when you solve them.
and like usual, the butler did it!
Ah, ha. But, who is the Butler?
When I first saw the splash paragraph I was expecting a Commodore PET was figuring into this somehow.
Am I the only one disappointed they didn't find an O'Neill cylinder 54Km in length?
I heard France was even sending robots, the only question is are they to help aid or fight the malfunctioning Japanese robots?
I'm impressed France is that forward thinking and Japan is that unprepared. Not quite the image we expected, was it?
Japan would be full of clever robots which could do almost everything and France wouldn't have any because the robotic robot assemblers trade union is on strike.
So it turns out Japan has been trying to perfect a bunch of utterly useless, but highly marketable robots to beep, boop, dance and look cute, which France have been making industrial duty do-the-dirty-work jobs.
Hey, I think I saw that one. That's the one where the ugly garbage cleaning robot and the elegant, nimble robot fall in love.
And there was not a word of English (except the occasional one spoken by fat people)?
Yeah, but let's see that little garbage cleaning robot, or the cute little robot clean that mess up. This calls for robotic Caterpillar tractors, backhoes, graders and probably a cute little robotic coffee machine they can all hit on in the break room.
A physical connection is considerably more reliable in my experience.
Which is why you continue to develop wireless technology! Make it better, not run away from it!
I remember how impressed I was when a friend was working on technology to improve bandwidth over copper from the 56K baud modems everyone had in the mid 90's. Now you can get blitzed in and use the free wifi which utterly smokes 56K and everyone's taking it for granted!
Sounds like the plot of an Anime movie...
Sigh. If only Godzilla were real he could pop up right now, waggle a clawed finger at the Japanese, as if to say "See what you get playing around recklessly with the atom?", pick up the reactors and take them to the Moon (unless you're one of those fans who see Flying Godzilla as the greatest sin perpetrated by Toho.)
But US robots can do more than just dance, they can sing badly, too !
Just the thing for the next big craze from the Land of the Rising Fun - Roboioke!
You may love or hate Bill Gates but when he was hands on at Microsoft very few things passed by Microsoft without notice.
Now, not so much. They messed up on Windows CE in the PDA market, they messed up on Vista and now they are missing the boat on tablets/e-readers.
They have amazing engineers but the vision and focus is slowly going away. At least it will not be like Apple when Steve Jobs retires. Steve Jobs IS the vision and focus of Apple and I doubt that Apple would survive long after Steve Jobs' eventual retirement. Unlike Apple Microsoft will be a major player in the IT field for many decades to come in spite of themselves.
Past success, like failure, is no guarantee at Apple or Microsoft for that matter.
These days the typical response for an Apple iWossname is like...
Annoucing Apple's new iWossname! - *cheers*
With zibben und oct nano propeller power! - *cheers*
And Ultrawidget App Mangler! - *cheers*
And for only 800 Zorkmids - in a 2 year shackled-in contract for 100 Zorkmids per month through WeaselTel! - *cheers*
While Microsoft lauch is more like...
Announcing Microsoft's new Potrzebie! - *cheers*
With Intellium Lotsacores Processor Technology! - *cheers*
And pre-installed with Widdles Zowie and a bunch of other stuff! - *umm... er...*
And for only 600 in Cold-plated-batmanium - in an VirtualPeasant contract for 100 Cpb per lunar cycle through KissenTel! - *cheers*
Or a reasonable facsimile thereof.
I can tell because the connection is slow :-(
In an increasingly wireless world I'm wondering why they're fooling around with physical infrastructure.
How can anyone take what Microsoft says seriously?
They keep trying to barge into everyone's market and often fail, largely because they just don't get it - they don't understand the market, the product or the customers, but march in with their own Microsoft Brand and PR bandwagon going full-tilt, withdrawing quietly after a few years of marginal success or outright failure.
XBox is about the only thing they have going, but that didn't come cheaply and the one thing I know from decades as a video gamer - gamers are NOT loyal - as soon as a newer, better game shows up they're off to that platform and the old one is pushed to the back of the closet or flogged on eBay for what they can get.
Take away the revenues generated by The Windows Tax, Office software and Servers and they'd have gone bust a decade ago, with all the other phonus balonus dot coms and all their hubris about reshaping the world.
The one innovation which eludes Microsoft is getting their operating system off the home-brew legacy throttled model it has always been on. It may look glossy, but it's a cow, with security holes galore and all the important things users need to know safely buried in obscurity. At least Apple realized Mac OS was becoming a painfully large snowball to support and switched to a better model. The next version of Windows will again be completely unnecessary and try to copy everything Google has been doing, which will make it a real pain for desktop apps.
Anyone want to buy some slightly used tin foil underwear?
I remember when Michigan was vying for this project, touting how it would enhance Michigan's scienterrific credentials, bring more research bucks to University of Michigan, etc. Now that it's in ruins, it would still fit in with much of southeast Michigan - the rust belt - Bay City, Saginaw, Flint and the Detroit area. I wonder if they could somehow turn it into an underground D&D theme park?
Paging Richard Garriott...
To turn keys that initiate the Minute Man launch sequence...
But this system can be triggered by someone with poor hand-eye coordination. This is why developing your FPS skills are more important than ever!
People who cavalierly wast resources should be paying this burden, not us people who are stuck with commutes, but thoughtful enough to buy vehicles which are misers on gas consumption.
I'm confounded when I drive through suburban neighborhoods and see 80% of the homes have at least one Pickup/SUV in the driveway - most of these are never going to be used for construction or off-road. They're the modern equivalent of the Station Wagon. If gas is so cheap these people are commuting with these, and I see them in large percentages on my daily commute, then gas is still too cheap. Get off that addiction, people!
So it isn't Big brother that you need to watch out for but Uncle CEO.
The worse part is your not even in the will.
I'm still trying to reconcile this with "Do no evil."
Google seem to be getting as close to doing evil as they can, without actually doing evil - like 0.99999 Evilons is just barely not 1 Evilon.
So, if I make an XKCD dress, it'll be like a full-body corset that crushes the vict... er... female with it's insanely thin design for stick people?
Hm. Been to the mall lately? There's some teenage girls in the malls here who could give XKCD a run for it's money in the stick-figure department.
Does this mean that companies will start selling IP addresses for increasing amounts of money? should I buy a block of 100 as an investment now? A bit like buying up domain names?
Not bloody likely. Most likely Microsoft will dump what they don't need. With IPv6 around the corner it's like buying 666,000 ice cream cones on a hot Summer day - better use them up before they are no use anymore.
the movie version of "Starship Troopers" was much better than the book.
That's b/c you missed the point of the book, and what self respecting geek doesn't love powered armor?
Starship Troopers received the same treatment as Jurassic Park - all the interesting theory was stripped out for the action bits. "Hey, let's ditch most of that Ian Malcolm rubbish and make a movie about dinosaurs!!" Most of Heinlein's later works were similar to Cricton's, which is what real sci-fi is about, exploring morality plays, scientific theories, etc. through the vehicle of a fantasy world - "We could go to war against these aliens, and possibly beat them, but who's more fit to make such decisions - people with no stake or experience in military service or a load of Television watching, cheese doodle munching civilians?
I never got around to much of the Dr. Who universe and whether there was some actual depth to it or it was nothing more than a Sci-Fi soap opera.
I'll take a shot at Firefly -
Joss Whedon's inclusion of the killer pixie character ruined the show.
The source material was set in the time of Reconstruction after the Civil War, dealing with how the crew, essentially former Confederates dealt with becoming even a marginal part of the new "world" should have been the focus.
Killer Pixie - as you label her, was a real game changer and such changes will always upset the balance of a narrative. The dustbins of obscure works are populated with books, comics, etc, which could have sailed along smoothly, but for someone who thought they had a better idea - often the creator of the work itself.
River could at any moment appear in the role of Deus Ex Machina, to bail Mal and the good crew out of any jam. That's tough for any fan to swallow, it's like having a reset button you can press any time things get ugly. Build in some high degree of unreliability could restore some of that balance ("ah, crap she's suddenly in a coma and can't come save us, looks like we have to get out of this one ourselves!")
You aren't alone. I never got into this show, and I've just never been particularly interested in trying.
And you know what else--I thought "Lord of the Rings" was boring (both in book and movie form), "Babylon 5" was poorly written and acted, and the movie version of "Starship Troopers" was much better than the book. There, I said it.
I assert that being a geek doesn't mean having to like *everything* associated with geek life. And if you have to FORCE yourself to get into it, you're probably going to take all the fun out of it anyway.
I feel the same way about Red Dwarf - the books were kinda-sorta OK, though I felt highly derivative of H2G2. When I first saw the Red Dwarf shows on TV I wasn't so much non-plussed as mildly revolted - yet the series has a strong following. Not all things for all geeks.
Perhaps they found the tools of GOD?!
More like BP
The best way to stop this nonsense is to make it a huge story. Twitter it, facebook it, whatever... post it everywhere. The media doesn't care unless they think the people do. So make it go viral so the worthless people we call "the press" cover it... then all the companies involved will look like idiots and may fix it.
I think that only applies to politicians using Craigslist.
It never goes to the intended need anyways. If it is not lining someone's pocket it gets slapped with administrative costs, etc.
Charity has to be the next biggest scam to organized religion.
That's rather unfair. I'm a volunteer myself and often give. I usually do it directly, which is the best way to see it gets where it's needed.
These companies profit from situations like this. This is their business case. What did you expect?
Mega Corpco - Helping people in need - just send us your donations and we'll eventually route them along, meanwhile being recognized for the fine work we've done. Thanks little nobody person for making it all possible. By the way, we get to write this PR campaign off, too. Great advertising, huh?