I think this fits in just great with the previous story about new ad formats being used at ESPN. Who cares about a 2MB download when it takes more time to think about griping about it.
I dunno about ESPN, but I was looking something up on imdb this morning and got a black screen and something about "if the page did not load, click here" which had something on it which looked vaguely like some kind of advertising delivery failure. Maybe imdb is going to insert trailers? It killed my browser (firebird) so I had to terminate the job and start over.
It would be interesting to know how far out an implimentation of such a protocol on a large scale is.
As we all know, pr0n drives the technology bubble. Indicate that the average luser could watch internet pr0n real time over a 56K modem and it's just a matter of time.
I live in California, which is serviced by SBC. When I visited Michigan I was surprised to see that my parents are also serviced by SBC. At some point I expect all these to be one company again, competing with Telekom and others off-shore companies.
In the last couple of days there have been news stories heralding the fact that video gaming is cutting noticeable chunks out of TV viewership in the US. It might just be a reaction to the fact that TV these days doesn't suck - if it sucked it would be good for something.
Yeah, if it really did suck I wouldn't have to vacuum the carpet, just turn on the TV.
It might also be the case that video games have a fairly solid place in modern life that will endure even if we are on a technological plateau. Broadcast TV hasn't changed that much. Even though it's struggling it's still holding in there.
Where I live is a bit different. It's pretty much now summer and the weather will be excellent until December (for the most part) and few people will hang around inside. Too much surfing, cycling, hanging out, skateboarding, etc. to do (in short what many video games are themed on.) It's more enjoyable to do these in person.
When I lived in the midwest the winters could seem 6 months long. High time for TV and video games. (Hint to marketing: Push new stuff in September, not December!) I'll still play games, but for me there's nothing to match the adrenaline rush of being among 70-100 others on racing bikes tearing down country roads.
Video game industry the new Hollywood
Remember the first video game to gross $1 billion? NBA Jam, before it even made it into the home. This was after one of the prior 'crashes' in the home market. We all got burned out on Atari 2600/C64/Apple][ games and headed back to the arcade.
The video game industry may or may not be putting the player into the 'movie', but does it have to? My most feverish
moments of gaming usually involved a text CLI interface. Some used a joy stick. The game is what you make it, IMHO.
The game industry will grow. It's just waiting for the next big thing, which may actually be some old thing redone to be fresh or just captures the imagination of players.
The failings of the game industry isn't so much the tired old games redone, it's simply the lull between the peaks. There will be another peak, and another and another...
as he said, Something truly new and different and novel, dammit. The market is ripe for it.
It always will be. In the meantime, I continue to play treasures from the past.
Seriously, if you love freedom, you strive to protect it; not from King George, not from Ivan, because you did that already. Don't forget to defend your freedom no matter the threat. If your president and attorney general is the threat, you know what you have to do. You have no excuse.
I was reading James Mitchner's Iberia up to a couple months ago. It's terribly ironic considering what happened in Spain on the 11th and the political climate in the USA. The book was written, IIRC, in the late 60's and one spaniard told Mitchner, refering to the harsh governance of Franco, that the spaniards need a firm hand because (pardon if quote is not exact) "We're such bastards to govern."
I consider this phrase frequently when reading about autocratic or strong central governments and people apparently happy to be lead thusly. It's worrying.
Always wear your foil hat underneath a real hat, otherwise they'll know you know.
Good point. Thank you very much.
"Good manners aren't just a good idea, they're the law!"
"You're under arrest."
"What for?"
"You didn't thank him."
"Oh, sorry."
"Too late for that, Sir."
"Very well, thank you for arresting me."
"You're welcome."
Mod this post up. McCarthy would be spooging himself if he were alive today.
IIRC, McCarthy's quest began by seeking special treatment by the U.S. Army for Pvt G. David Schine, a former aide to Roy Cohn, friend and ally of McCarthy. McCarthy's list ("I have in my hand a list...") was BS, but once the lying for favoritism got going it was hard to stop and took on a life of it's own, alledging the Army was full of communist sympathisers because they refused special treatment to Schine. Pretty ugly, but today isn't quite that bad, yet.
Whatever we need to stop these bastards. The ones who fear these things are the ones who really have something to hide. I dunno about you, but I didn't enjoy the Spain incident.
I don't know if it's on the web, but there was a wonderful series of Pogo (by Walt Kelly) strips from the early 70's where Spiro Agnew (then Vice President) was portrayed (appropriately) as a hyena in military uniform. For the good of the country all suspect people were rounded up and jailed. The end result was everyone in jail except him, including his cronies and assistants.
Sounds like history repeating itself.
Spiro Agnew later resigned due to mounting pressure over scandal for tax evasion and bribe taking.
Administration doesnt' give a damn if the tax payers dont give a damn
I remember when I thought 'Audit' was a bad thing. After watching audits uncover all kinds of screw-ups at at former employer, I learned they are a good thing, a very good thing. Particularly when the results are made public or brought to the attention of share holders. (Unless your auditor was Arthur Anderson, then it could be lies.)
In a company I once worked for was a rather nice fellow who worked in the Accounts Payable department. It was discovered that
he would have checks issued for as many times as an invoice arrived. Apparently some vendors noticed this and items were paid for as many as 4 times. That they knew what was going on
and didn't report it back suggests ethics is a broad problem. Many refused to return the money once it was revealed they had collected multiple times.
How the heck the guy didn't have any indication something was already paid I have no clue, but others in the finance department
would try to catch as many duplicate checks on the way out as they could. As you might have guessed, the company is long gone.
How is it that the government spent $160-million, got nothing in return and no one noticed?"
Boy, and I thought houses in housing developments were too cookie-cutter now.
What's to say they still will be? I find one of the worst trends in neighborhoods is houses that stand out (either they are ugly or make the rest look so). Can you imagine every house on the block looking like some artwork, worse, of different genres?
"Turn left onto Cherryh Street and keep going until you get to the Picasso-blue-period..."
What's this do for builders? Go learn CNC so you can take the spec from the architect and put the house together? Hmm. Since distance could be removed from the equation, how about the architect does the programming, and he or she could be anywhere in the world...
Honestly, it's interesting, but the coolest thing I saw was on Nova years ago, where some japanese company built modules which were hauled out on a flatbed truck lifted into place and bolted together. Pick out your house by the pieces and have it assembled in a day. Don't like a part? Have it swapped out for one you do like.
MicroSoft makes an OS to make money, Linux is designed to be an effective OS
Close. Microsoft makes something which runs like and O/S, but includes massive amounts of code for things you may never use, but fill up the disk and memory anyway. It's like the joke that inside every fat person is a skinny person trying to get out, but with Windows there's a bloated pile of software smothering an operating system.
Having been deprived of it by this little spat I've discovered the joys of the great outdoors, birdsong and the gentle patter of rain on the windowsill.
Too Britney, Justin, P. Diddy and all, I say, "Foo"
S'cuse me while I go frolic naked in the periwinkle. Woo!
With a handful of dialects & Mandarin being the mainstream language, a Chinese search engine will have a comparitively smaller problem sifting through the problem space...
For this you can thank the will of the CCP, which desired a uniform chinese language for the country. Notice Taiwanese use the old language. While it may seem a great loss, the advantage is people can communicate more easily. India's myriad little kingdoms of the past few centuries did little to create a unified language. China is well prepared for an actual great technological leap forward. India has it's work cut out for it.
But does it really exist? The government has shown a marked distaste for anything that may threaten their power/viewpoint, and with many poor people in china (farmers, et al) does this market really exist, or are large corps. trying to forcibly open them up like they did with Japan in the early times?
Mao, back during the 1920's fond his support in the overlooked and abused peasants, abused first by the outgoing Manchu Dynasty then by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. In the backwaters of the country the party has always drawn its strength and support. However, expect in a generation or so (and probably already well seeded) factions which draw support from other sources to make themselves known and carve out their own spheres of power and influence. Expect the peasants to lose considerable clout.
I wonder what effect this will have on the number of spam messages we get daily?
Six spammers is probably a drop in the desert, and shutting them down won't cause a noticable impact, but at least it's a start.
Do you think it's at least as good as doing nothing? Set some examples, drag some faces before the cameras, tell how their houses on Minnow Pond Drive have been seized, things like that. I've got no sympathy. I do hope they really nail the right people. I wish I could bill Alan Ralsky for all the time I've wasted deleting his deluge.
Slashdot Mirror
Hey, the guy only makes 40K a year and lives in Manhattan, he can only afford to send so many dollars to "Happy Guy"
He prbably doesn't need a belt.
I can't help but wonder how many worms and virii are on his computer, not to mention spyware.
I've got some old junk around the house I could probably dress up in an ad. I should mail him, "Do not miss out on this opportunity! xcxzxczx"
I dunno about ESPN, but I was looking something up on imdb this morning and got a black screen and something about "if the page did not load, click here" which had something on it which looked vaguely like some kind of advertising delivery failure. Maybe imdb is going to insert trailers? It killed my browser (firebird) so I had to terminate the job and start over.
And clever you, you were probably sucking down a dangerous quantities of Hydrogen Hydroxide at the time!
As we all know, pr0n drives the technology bubble. Indicate that the average luser could watch internet pr0n real time over a 56K modem and it's just a matter of time.
An Electronic Thumb
The Guide
Last, but not least, a towel
It's like watching the T2000 come back together.
Yeah, if it really did suck I wouldn't have to vacuum the carpet, just turn on the TV.
It might also be the case that video games have a fairly solid place in modern life that will endure even if we are on a technological plateau. Broadcast TV hasn't changed that much. Even though it's struggling it's still holding in there.
Where I live is a bit different. It's pretty much now summer and the weather will be excellent until December (for the most part) and few people will hang around inside. Too much surfing, cycling, hanging out, skateboarding, etc. to do (in short what many video games are themed on.) It's more enjoyable to do these in person.
When I lived in the midwest the winters could seem 6 months long. High time for TV and video games. (Hint to marketing: Push new stuff in September, not December!) I'll still play games, but for me there's nothing to match the adrenaline rush of being among 70-100 others on racing bikes tearing down country roads.
Remember the first video game to gross $1 billion? NBA Jam, before it even made it into the home. This was after one of the prior 'crashes' in the home market. We all got burned out on Atari 2600/C64/Apple][ games and headed back to the arcade.
The video game industry may or may not be putting the player into the 'movie', but does it have to? My most feverish moments of gaming usually involved a text CLI interface. Some used a joy stick. The game is what you make it, IMHO.
The game industry will grow. It's just waiting for the next big thing, which may actually be some old thing redone to be fresh or just captures the imagination of players. The failings of the game industry isn't so much the tired old games redone, it's simply the lull between the peaks. There will be another peak, and another and another... as he said, Something truly new and different and novel, dammit. The market is ripe for it.
It always will be. In the meantime, I continue to play treasures from the past.
I was reading James Mitchner's Iberia up to a couple months ago. It's terribly ironic considering what happened in Spain on the 11th and the political climate in the USA. The book was written, IIRC, in the late 60's and one spaniard told Mitchner, refering to the harsh governance of Franco, that the spaniards need a firm hand because (pardon if quote is not exact) "We're such bastards to govern."
I consider this phrase frequently when reading about autocratic or strong central governments and people apparently happy to be lead thusly. It's worrying.
Always wear your foil hat underneath a real hat, otherwise they'll know you know.
Good point. Thank you very much.
"Good manners aren't just a good idea, they're the law!"
"You're under arrest."
"What for?"
"You didn't thank him."
"Oh, sorry."
"Too late for that, Sir."
"Very well, thank you for arresting me."
"You're welcome."
IIRC, McCarthy's quest began by seeking special treatment by the U.S. Army for Pvt G. David Schine, a former aide to Roy Cohn, friend and ally of McCarthy. McCarthy's list ("I have in my hand a list...") was BS, but once the lying for favoritism got going it was hard to stop and took on a life of it's own, alledging the Army was full of communist sympathisers because they refused special treatment to Schine. Pretty ugly, but today isn't quite that bad, yet.
I don't know if it's on the web, but there was a wonderful series of Pogo (by Walt Kelly) strips from the early 70's where Spiro Agnew (then Vice President) was portrayed (appropriately) as a hyena in military uniform. For the good of the country all suspect people were rounded up and jailed. The end result was everyone in jail except him, including his cronies and assistants.
Sounds like history repeating itself.
Spiro Agnew later resigned due to mounting pressure over scandal for tax evasion and bribe taking.
Mouth shut, eyes forward, do what you're told. Don't question authority.
Smile for the cameras. They're everywhere and they're watching you.
Secure all zippers, buttons, tie clips, etc. Wardrobe Malfunction isn't funny anymore, it's subversive.
Turn in your neighbors on the slightest hint they're trouble makers. You won't get a pair a blue jeans, but you help keep your country safe.
Pokemon: Catch 'em all, otherwise you never know where they are or what they are up to.
Cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing to avoid Germ Warfare Terrorist label.
Vote for the most patriotic sounding politician, no matter what their platform.
Remember, we're all in this together.
I remember when I thought 'Audit' was a bad thing. After watching audits uncover all kinds of screw-ups at at former employer, I learned they are a good thing, a very good thing. Particularly when the results are made public or brought to the attention of share holders. (Unless your auditor was Arthur Anderson, then it could be lies.)
How the heck the guy didn't have any indication something was already paid I have no clue, but others in the finance department would try to catch as many duplicate checks on the way out as they could. As you might have guessed, the company is long gone.
How is it that the government spent $160-million, got nothing in return and no one noticed?"
It happens and not just in the public sector.
The past should serve as a warning.
Still, someone's going to have to move, assemble and disassemble that gantry, someone will also have to make the material they build with.
"This House Proudly Built By Dow Chemical and General Motors"
What's to say they still will be? I find one of the worst trends in neighborhoods is houses that stand out (either they are ugly or make the rest look so). Can you imagine every house on the block looking like some artwork, worse, of different genres?
"Turn left onto Cherryh Street and keep going until you get to the Picasso-blue-period ..."
What's this do for builders? Go learn CNC so you can take the spec from the architect and put the house together? Hmm. Since distance could be removed from the equation, how about the architect does the programming, and he or she could be anywhere in the world...
Honestly, it's interesting, but the coolest thing I saw was on Nova years ago, where some japanese company built modules which were hauled out on a flatbed truck lifted into place and bolted together. Pick out your house by the pieces and have it assembled in a day. Don't like a part? Have it swapped out for one you do like.
Now, all I have to do is get Fred out of the way...
Close. Microsoft makes something which runs like and O/S, but includes massive amounts of code for things you may never use, but fill up the disk and memory anyway. It's like the joke that inside every fat person is a skinny person trying to get out, but with Windows there's a bloated pile of software smothering an operating system.
Too Britney, Justin, P. Diddy and all, I say, "Foo"
S'cuse me while I go frolic naked in the periwinkle. Woo!
For this you can thank the will of the CCP, which desired a uniform chinese language for the country. Notice Taiwanese use the old language. While it may seem a great loss, the advantage is people can communicate more easily. India's myriad little kingdoms of the past few centuries did little to create a unified language. China is well prepared for an actual great technological leap forward. India has it's work cut out for it.
But does it really exist? The government has shown a marked distaste for anything that may threaten their power/viewpoint, and with many poor people in china (farmers, et al) does this market really exist, or are large corps. trying to forcibly open them up like they did with Japan in the early times?
Mao, back during the 1920's fond his support in the overlooked and abused peasants, abused first by the outgoing Manchu Dynasty then by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. In the backwaters of the country the party has always drawn its strength and support. However, expect in a generation or so (and probably already well seeded) factions which draw support from other sources to make themselves known and carve out their own spheres of power and influence. Expect the peasants to lose considerable clout.
Six spammers is probably a drop in the desert, and shutting them down won't cause a noticable impact, but at least it's a start.
Do you think it's at least as good as doing nothing? Set some examples, drag some faces before the cameras, tell how their houses on Minnow Pond Drive have been seized, things like that. I've got no sympathy. I do hope they really nail the right people. I wish I could bill Alan Ralsky for all the time I've wasted deleting his deluge.