I wake up every morning and thank my lucky stars that I don't have a golden ear. My not-absurdly-expensive stereo sounds GREAT to me. If I need music to sound better than that, I'll go perform it. : )
I understand that Microsoft gets away with the "this program is not suitable for any use at any time" crap with the public, but the Navy must demand higher performance.
Is it Microsoft's fault? Depends on how involved they were with the systemn integration. The ISV bears primary responsibility for this problem.
Look, I don't care WHAT the problem was. A military vessel is explicitly designed to keep working even if parts of it get destroyed. I would expect the vessel to continue functioning, albeit at a decreased efficiency, if I shot the computer with my sidearm.
I don't care whose code broke...the fact that a software problem could cripple a ship is unconscionable.
So you don't think it's appropriate to acknowledge America's involvement in WW2? But you're going to pout and stamp your feet about some stupid movie? You have an odd set of values.
A significant fraction of those lives were American, and those Americans were sacrificing their lives to protect other people's lands and other people's freedoms.
You seem to think that America's sacrifices in the war were somehow irrelevant. If that's what you think, I can't understand how you can be so ignorant.
Why are you getting so bent out of shape about a fictional movie, and a mediocre one at that?
1) Hollywood is not a monopoly. It has no power to crush products coming out of Hong Kong and India.
2) Hollywood movies enjoy overwhelming popularity overseas. Like it or not, lots of people all over the world actively seek out these products. Microsoft is accepted only because there's no viable alternative.
How would I like it if the British made a British film that fictionalizes real events? Dunno. Depends on if the movie sucks. Anybody in the world is free to tell any story they want. As long as they don't bill it as a documentary (and U-571 wasn't) they're free to take whatever license they want. I'll like the movie if I like the movie. When I want to learn history, I do so. When I want to be entertained, I go to the movies. Never the twain shall meet...
Yes, but there was a substantial and effective resistance movement, and French workers were not terrifically productive. (Why should they be?) Germany would have had to do a better job of integrating the workforce in order to realize large advances in production capacity. I guesstimate that this would have taken 4-10 years.
Do you really, seriously, think that if France (never mind the rest of Western Europe) were to have been integrated into Germany, and Germany's industrial base thusly expanded, that Britain would have stayed independant?
If the danger had come and gone, why was Churchill absolutely desperate for American intervention? Perhaps because he saw a strategic threat to his country that you are glossing over.
Re:Well I'll be damned...
on
Review: U-571
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· Score: 1
I liked the way he complained about the set for the opening scene being too big and too small at the same time. Apparently, until Hollywood set designers figure out how to use radically non-Euclidean spaces, HE'S GOING TO BE MADDER THAN HELL AND HE'S NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!
If the British want their stories told, nobody's going to stop them from telling them.
And if we're going to cry about how the Americans steal other peoples' histories for our movies, don't you think it would be appropriate to acknowledge that Britain (and France and most of Western Europe) would still be controlled by Germany were it not for America's intervention?
I mean, crying about revisionist history is one thing, but I don't like to imagine what history would be like were Hitler to have won.
There are plenty of games like that, and I don't typically find myself buying them. There are, of course, exceptions, but for the most part I like games where I can imagine I'm in some interesting situation that I can use my wits to get out of. Games without backstory and characters make it harder for me to imagine the game world.
Don't get me wrong...there are tons of good games without a hint of backstory or plot. I'm just saying that, as a rule, I enjoy myself more when I understand why I'm doing what I'm doing.
*raises hand* Me. Good writing in a game improves the feeling of immersion, which is very important to my enjoyment of the game.
Sure, there are people who skip cut-scenes and don't read the docs, but I'm not one of them. When I pay $50 for a game, I want the whole kit and caboodle...good story, good art, good gameplay, good documentation, good UI...everything.
Gameplay and UI are what made Total Annihilation great. Storyline and memorable characters are what set Warcraft (and Starcraft) above the pack.
It didn't look like scaling artifacts, the COLORS were grainy. Like a badly-dithered GIF. Whatever it was, it was yuck. I enjoyed the movie enough to want to see it again, so I'll be looking for tickets in the digital theatre.
The thing that surprised me is that DLPs are on the order of 1280x1024 resolution. I'm shocked that that's enough image data to look good on the screen. We'll see...
I was very distracted by the graininess of the colors in parts of the movie. Looked like a poorly-mastered DVD, only 40 feet tall. I'd be interested in seeing how it looks on a DLP.
Ebert hated Star Wars too, until he figured out that he was the only person on the damn planet who didn't like that movie. His opinion is worth exactly zero.
If you go into this movie with a chip on your shoulder, you'll find plenty to hate. If you just give it a chance, it'll deliver.
I handle that by having a) an inassailable self-confidence, where I don't really give a damn about WHAT people think, and b) looking people straight in the eye when I speak to them. It's hard to be confused about who I'm talking to then. : )
Who decided that one "looks like a dweeb" when one is talking on a phone with a headset? I won't buy a phone without a provision for a headset at home, so why wouldn't I use one on the road? I don't understand why standing there talking into a piece of plastic is any more or less dweeby than using a headset.
I mean come on, it's not like people haven't seen them before...geez!
I read the article. We've also studied the video and the incident report. That's what you get for letting British Aerospace write your flight control software. You could also include the one where the A300 (I think) was flying, parallel to the ground, at about 10 degrees AOA, with the pilot firewalling the engines, and the plane dutifully (and erroneously) trimming the plane for level flight with that attitude. All at an altitude of about 20 feet. Lots of trees were uprooted at the end of the runway. Real bad for the airplane.
I don't believe I was the one who said that fighter jet cockpits are growing more complicated. As a matter of fact, I was refuting that contention.
And we're ALL talking out of our asses, except for the four posters who have actually USED iDrive.
Might be a pretty thing to think, but I guarantee the flight computer on an F-16 has a much better idea of what the airplane is doing than the pilot does. Seat-of-the-pants flying works fine for Tiger Moths and hang-gliders, but in a nine-gee turning fight, or flying NOE at night in a rainstorm, you have to be able to count on the airplane to do a lot of looking after itself.
Yes, this is the universal opinion of all four test pilots I spoke with during my flight dynamics class last semester.
Your point that UI can be over-cluttered is true, but your association from that to combat aviation is flawed. Modern airplanes, like the F-22, F-35, and even the newer blocks of the F-15 and F-16 do a tremendous amount of data processing and collating before presenting it (concisely) to the pilot. You simply can't run an air battle with just your eyes and your copy of Stick and Rudder.
Wow. I sure am glad the Founders understood people much better than you do. You really think that the law is the direct expression of the Will of the People? Jefferson and Madison and all those guys specifically didn't want a democracy, because they felt like The People would be prone to making unwise decisions in the short to medium term. Like lynching Communists. So they put in a buffer...a legislature composed of well-regarded members of the community who are chartered not to simply parrot back whatever The People want, but to act as an intermediary. The job of the legislature is in fact to protect the people...even to protect the people from their own short-sightedness.
Again, I wouldn't argue that this system works as designed. Your (erroneous) definition of a Republic is just a democracy by another name. When was the last time your Congresscritter asked you for your opinion?
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I wake up every morning and thank my lucky stars that I don't have a golden ear. My not-absurdly-expensive stereo sounds GREAT to me. If I need music to sound better than that, I'll go perform it. : )
If they're like me, they forgot to pay for it too. : )
You think it's funny, but the Canadians do just that. See?
I think the Aussies do the same with their F-18's.
I understand that Microsoft gets away with the "this program is not suitable for any use at any time" crap with the public, but the Navy must demand higher performance.
Is it Microsoft's fault? Depends on how involved they were with the systemn integration. The ISV bears primary responsibility for this problem.
Look, I don't care WHAT the problem was. A military vessel is explicitly designed to keep working even if parts of it get destroyed. I would expect the vessel to continue functioning, albeit at a decreased efficiency, if I shot the computer with my sidearm.
I don't care whose code broke...the fact that a software problem could cripple a ship is unconscionable.
So you don't think it's appropriate to acknowledge America's involvement in WW2? But you're going to pout and stamp your feet about some stupid movie? You have an odd set of values.
A significant fraction of those lives were American, and those Americans were sacrificing their lives to protect other people's lands and other people's freedoms.
You seem to think that America's sacrifices in the war were somehow irrelevant. If that's what you think, I can't understand how you can be so ignorant.
Why are you getting so bent out of shape about a fictional movie, and a mediocre one at that?
Your argument breaks in two places.
1) Hollywood is not a monopoly. It has no power to crush products coming out of Hong Kong and India.
2) Hollywood movies enjoy overwhelming popularity overseas. Like it or not, lots of people all over the world actively seek out these products. Microsoft is accepted only because there's no viable alternative.
How would I like it if the British made a British film that fictionalizes real events? Dunno. Depends on if the movie sucks. Anybody in the world is free to tell any story they want. As long as they don't bill it as a documentary (and U-571 wasn't) they're free to take whatever license they want. I'll like the movie if I like the movie. When I want to learn history, I do so. When I want to be entertained, I go to the movies. Never the twain shall meet...
Yes, but there was a substantial and effective resistance movement, and French workers were not terrifically productive. (Why should they be?) Germany would have had to do a better job of integrating the workforce in order to realize large advances in production capacity. I guesstimate that this would have taken 4-10 years.
Do you really, seriously, think that if France (never mind the rest of Western Europe) were to have been integrated into Germany, and Germany's industrial base thusly expanded, that Britain would have stayed independant?
If the danger had come and gone, why was Churchill absolutely desperate for American intervention? Perhaps because he saw a strategic threat to his country that you are glossing over.
I liked the way he complained about the set for the opening scene being too big and too small at the same time. Apparently, until Hollywood set designers figure out how to use radically non-Euclidean spaces, HE'S GOING TO BE MADDER THAN HELL AND HE'S NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!
Or something. What a nob.
If the British want their stories told, nobody's going to stop them from telling them.
And if we're going to cry about how the Americans steal other peoples' histories for our movies, don't you think it would be appropriate to acknowledge that Britain (and France and most of Western Europe) would still be controlled by Germany were it not for America's intervention?
I mean, crying about revisionist history is one thing, but I don't like to imagine what history would be like were Hitler to have won.
There are plenty of games like that, and I don't typically find myself buying them. There are, of course, exceptions, but for the most part I like games where I can imagine I'm in some interesting situation that I can use my wits to get out of. Games without backstory and characters make it harder for me to imagine the game world.
Don't get me wrong...there are tons of good games without a hint of backstory or plot. I'm just saying that, as a rule, I enjoy myself more when I understand why I'm doing what I'm doing.
*raises hand* Me. Good writing in a game improves the feeling of immersion, which is very important to my enjoyment of the game.
Sure, there are people who skip cut-scenes and don't read the docs, but I'm not one of them. When I pay $50 for a game, I want the whole kit and caboodle...good story, good art, good gameplay, good documentation, good UI...everything.
Gameplay and UI are what made Total Annihilation great. Storyline and memorable characters are what set Warcraft (and Starcraft) above the pack.
It didn't look like scaling artifacts, the COLORS were grainy. Like a badly-dithered GIF. Whatever it was, it was yuck. I enjoyed the movie enough to want to see it again, so I'll be looking for tickets in the digital theatre.
The thing that surprised me is that DLPs are on the order of 1280x1024 resolution. I'm shocked that that's enough image data to look good on the screen. We'll see...
I was very distracted by the graininess of the colors in parts of the movie. Looked like a poorly-mastered DVD, only 40 feet tall. I'd be interested in seeing how it looks on a DLP.
You're wrong. They're not robots.
Oh yeah, and Mr. Lucas? If you're reading this, your apology is accepted.
Ebert hated Star Wars too, until he figured out that he was the only person on the damn planet who didn't like that movie. His opinion is worth exactly zero.
If you go into this movie with a chip on your shoulder, you'll find plenty to hate. If you just give it a chance, it'll deliver.
Indeed. Thank you, George! Thank you!
I don't think I meant it the way you did, though.
I handle that by having a) an inassailable self-confidence, where I don't really give a damn about WHAT people think, and b) looking people straight in the eye when I speak to them. It's hard to be confused about who I'm talking to then. : )
That doesn't really answer my question, though. I really don't care HOW many people use them. I'm trying to figure out where this stigma came from.
OK, maybe I need some help here.
Who decided that one "looks like a dweeb" when one is talking on a phone with a headset? I won't buy a phone without a provision for a headset at home, so why wouldn't I use one on the road? I don't understand why standing there talking into a piece of plastic is any more or less dweeby than using a headset.
I mean come on, it's not like people haven't seen them before...geez!
I read the article. We've also studied the video and the incident report. That's what you get for letting British Aerospace write your flight control software. You could also include the one where the A300 (I think) was flying, parallel to the ground, at about 10 degrees AOA, with the pilot firewalling the engines, and the plane dutifully (and erroneously) trimming the plane for level flight with that attitude. All at an altitude of about 20 feet. Lots of trees were uprooted at the end of the runway. Real bad for the airplane.
I don't believe I was the one who said that fighter jet cockpits are growing more complicated. As a matter of fact, I was refuting that contention.
And we're ALL talking out of our asses, except for the four posters who have actually USED iDrive.
Might be a pretty thing to think, but I guarantee the flight computer on an F-16 has a much better idea of what the airplane is doing than the pilot does. Seat-of-the-pants flying works fine for Tiger Moths and hang-gliders, but in a nine-gee turning fight, or flying NOE at night in a rainstorm, you have to be able to count on the airplane to do a lot of looking after itself.
Yes, this is the universal opinion of all four test pilots I spoke with during my flight dynamics class last semester.
Your point that UI can be over-cluttered is true, but your association from that to combat aviation is flawed. Modern airplanes, like the F-22, F-35, and even the newer blocks of the F-15 and F-16 do a tremendous amount of data processing and collating before presenting it (concisely) to the pilot. You simply can't run an air battle with just your eyes and your copy of Stick and Rudder.
So you have to pay, what, $80k for a beta user interface? Musta been designed by SAP users.
Wow. I sure am glad the Founders understood people much better than you do. You really think that the law is the direct expression of the Will of the People? Jefferson and Madison and all those guys specifically didn't want a democracy, because they felt like The People would be prone to making unwise decisions in the short to medium term. Like lynching Communists. So they put in a buffer...a legislature composed of well-regarded members of the community who are chartered not to simply parrot back whatever The People want, but to act as an intermediary. The job of the legislature is in fact to protect the people...even to protect the people from their own short-sightedness.
Again, I wouldn't argue that this system works as designed. Your (erroneous) definition of a Republic is just a democracy by another name. When was the last time your Congresscritter asked you for your opinion?