You know, it's entirely possible that the money collected to 'save Mir' was never going to be 'enough'. I wouldn't have been surprised to see MirCorp enlist the services of Sally Struthers and several tele-evangelists in their effort to collect adequate funds for 'saving the station', ahem, retiring in comfort.
Cynicism is just realism at a higher sampling-rate.
See, there you go.. You got me thinking.. Bad idea..
I'll tell you why Lem cuts off the climax the way he does, at least according to my theory...
Then Communism came to Poland after WWII, it held a huge promise of equality, prosperity, Utopia made real... Fscking Guess WHAT happened then...
A big gaping hole of a let-down!
Our grandparents (Lem's generation) fought and died, and helped bring in the Communists based on that promise, and got their beloved nation hung out to dry for it.
Lem's style is just a little bit of payback.
Same with Vonnegut, who repeatedly paints the world as mean, insensitive, discompassionate and nonesensical. His influence? Being a 19 year old soldier, fresh from 'the farm', cleaning up charred bodies in the fire-bombed ruins of Dresden.
Lem's experience of the world certainly coloured his work. Since Communism came into Poland, the cynical expectation of a let-down has become part of the culture.
The REAL jabber has the/. user id: 13196
Russian language in Poland
on
Solaris
·
· Score: 1
Up until recently (the fall of Soviet Communism), Russian was taught as a second language in Polish schools from the fourth grade up as a matter of course. It was a typical Soviet tactic of digesting/subverting/dilluting other cultures and making them part of their own.
The advantage of this was that the Polish people were well equipped to tell the Russians what we thought of them (or rather "their politics" of course as the are Good People), in their own language.
The problem is all inside your head she said to me
The answer is easy if you take it logically
I'd like to help you in your struggle to be free
There must be 50 ways to get your source code
She said it's really not my habit to intrude
Further more I hope my meaning won't be lost or mis-construed
But I'll repeat myself, at the risk of seeming rude
There must be 50 ways to get your source code
50 ways to get your source code
Just slip out the back (Orifice), Jack
Make a new.plan, Stan
You don't need to be coy, Roy
Just set your source free
Or you hop on the PCI bus, Gus
You don't need to discuss (NNTP) much
Just drop off the PGP key, Lee
And set your source free
When you have NO kids, you work for a living, live for your passion, work for fulfilment or for money. In the case of the latest, you work to buy toys, really; beyond obtaining the barest of essencials, I work to have play-money.
Now, if you DO have kids, why do you work? Assuming you are not dysfunctional (and who isn't these days?) you work not for YOUR quality of life but for theirs. You tear your guts out so that they would be raised in relative comfort as compared to your experience of the place which you once occupied and they occupy at present. You work (not 'go to work', but 'put in effort', so perhaps 'strive' is a better word) to provide them with a childhood and opportunities better than the ones you had in their position.
Now, I KNOW that you see where I'm going.. "What's WORK got to do with it"? Plenty. If you grew up poor, raising your kids with material possessions aplenty is your way of giving them more than you had as a child. If you grew up rich, but lacked affection (and are not dysfunctional, I say it again) then are your priorities still on the money? What if you grew up as a latch-key kid and you know the feeling of coming home to an empty house? Or you come from a broken home? Where are your priorities then?
As a hope-to-be future parent (I'm actually more looking forward to being a grand-father, but that's besides the point) I intend to raise my kids in a way which I consider to be better than my own up-bringing. This involves physical comfort, sure, I would die before I had them go hungry... But I will make damn sure that they grow up in emotional comfort as well; and if that means that their college degrees will not be paid for in advance, so be it.
Hard work builds character, no? Or is that just a myth that the rich tell the poor to keep them that way?
Australian porn is some of the best!
I did lots of research into this while in college.
I sure wish they set up a short-wave version of this system, so I could continue my research here in the States.
My respect for S.H. not withstanding... Future prediction is not exactly Hawking's field. Methinks the good doctor's concerns are a way of getting/keeping his name in the press and that he is trolling for a research grant.
On a less (or more) cynical note though, I hope this is all part of the concerted effort among scientists (asteroid impacts and global warning) to play-up the level of public FUD, thereby forcing the politicians to allocate more money on scietific research - keeping folks like S.H. employed in an age of Corporatism.
Yes. Some people go to the cinema for the plot, but I think that they are a small minority. Maybe it's my own personal view, but I've gone to see the re-release of the Trilogy for the visuals, and the experience. I already knew the story, but I went for the cinema experience.
If I read the script, I'd go anyway, for the experience. And while a movie is rarely as good as the book, the case is entirely different with a script.
Am I alone in thinking that the plot is only a small part of the movie experience? Would most people really choose not to pay their $8.50 if they knew the plot? Is the script that bad? Or is Lucas just being an 'artist' who needs to wait for a grand and celebrated unvailing?
Lucas WAS brillinat in retaining merchandising rights to Star Wars toys when the original Trilogy came out. He made MILLIONS on the toys and lunch-boxes.
What's the bug up his butt about now? Rumour-spreading is building anticipation. It's a great way of gathering public interest in the film. Even if the real script leaks, so what?? It's just more to look forward to.
Sure, let's teach people to assemble cars on an assembly line, and then when the job can be done by a machine, let's just lay them off, and let them fend for themselves.
If we teach a guy how to code HTML, and give him a job, and create a cottage industry around that job - then the whole thing can be cratered by a college edumacated coder who writes something like HoTMetaL.
From a business perspective, sure, let's make a buch of cogs and sprockets for the corporate machine. But from a humanitarian perspective, people should be taught how to think - so they could learn new skill as the world evolves around them.
What sort of prospects does a trade-school grad, taught to fix carburators have in a fuel-injected world? How about an internal-combusion engine rebuild specialist in a city full of Honda Insights??
People need a broad enough education to be able to choose their job - before their job chooses them.
I think there might be a rift at the Geek Compound(tm). After all, if C.T. and Hemos are no longer on speaking terms (how ELSE can you explain the 'oversight'?) what else might the future hold?
Will we see Karmic fluctuations on a daily basis, with everyone getting bitchslapped and reset every few minutes? Will JonKatz become UN-filterable? Will the two waring factions delete each-other's stories, leaving us to ponder only those posted by HeUnique and timothy?
It would certainly do what you suggest, but do you really want to open up that can of worms?
Consider the problems inherent in having any and all scenes of potential criminal activity under constand satellite surveillance.
Do you want the EPA to know that you change your own oil in your driveway?
Do you want your parents to be able to check that you are mowing the lawn while they're at work?
Do you want Joe Schmoe Cracker to be able to peep while your wife sunbathes in the buff in your back yard?
Do you want to drive a black Camry, just like everyone elses, in an effort to protect what little privacy you'd have left?
Do you really want to star in a Japanese version of "Big Brother" or "The Truman Show", without even realizing it?
We should not open a door unless we're prepared for what might come through it.
If everybody was worth gajillions than those gajillions wouldn't be worth a fart. This is exactly why we have shows like Rikki Lake and Judge Judy on the tube after business hours... To keep a significant portion of society from thinking...
Somebody HAS to dig the ditches you know... We HAVE to have crime, since that provides jobs for the cops and jailers.. We have to have the poor since that makes for jobs in the shelters. We have to have the sick since we can then have nurses and doctors... And to pay for it all we need taxes, so we'd better have inflation to scare the crap out of the working class. BTW: When's tee time?
Just as with the bleeding edge of science, just because we CAN solve a problem does not mean that we SHOULD solve the problem. The war on drugs could have been won long ago - but what of the soldiers fighting it?
Excuse me, I should put my handicap back on, before Janet Reno comes in here and shoots me in mid-flight.
Cramming all that functionality, whether phone and PDA, or phone and toaster, into the same enclosure, is nearsighted. Eventually one component is going to burn out, or you'll want to upgrade, and then what? You buy a whole new unit? Light overhead flickers on. Wow! What a way to make a few extra bucks!!
Now, with bluetooth networking, you can replace the phone, you can upgrade the PDA, you can replace the toaster with a toaster-oven, and they still talk to each other. AND, you can mix and match manufacturers of the components - but we wouldn't want THAT now, would we?
In an effort to provide a 'level playing field' for Olympic merchandizers, all merchandise for the Summer Games will be branded with DNA markers to assure their authenticity, and to provide all fans with some small part of the essence of their heroes.
And in related news, the Olympic comittee has unanimously voted to begin charging athletes for the privilege of competing in the Olympiad.
Beginning in 2000, the ability to perform to World Class(tm) standards is still required, as is the new entry fee of "an arm and a leg".
Especially for international business, web designers ought to be aware of the psychological payload of color schemes.
You would NEVER, for example, expect to do business with someone whom you pick up in a white limo in China - White is a color reserved for funerals, and typically associated with death.
Also, keep in mind the industry you are dealing with. For example, in Nuclear circles, where many people started out in the Navy, red means ON(hot) and green means OFF(cold)... So a flashing red marker might get misinterpreted.
But then again, developing a web site with your audience in mind is common sense, isn't it? Well, isn't it?
Slashdot Mirror
Cynicism is just realism at a higher sampling-rate.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
I'll tell you why Lem cuts off the climax the way he does, at least according to my theory...
Then Communism came to Poland after WWII, it held a huge promise of equality, prosperity, Utopia made real... Fscking Guess WHAT happened then...
A big gaping hole of a let-down!
Our grandparents (Lem's generation) fought and died, and helped bring in the Communists based on that promise, and got their beloved nation hung out to dry for it.
Lem's style is just a little bit of payback.
Same with Vonnegut, who repeatedly paints the world as mean, insensitive, discompassionate and nonesensical. His influence? Being a 19 year old soldier, fresh from 'the farm', cleaning up charred bodies in the fire-bombed ruins of Dresden.
Lem's experience of the world certainly coloured his work. Since Communism came into Poland, the cynical expectation of a let-down has become part of the culture.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
The advantage of this was that the Polish people were well equipped to tell the Russians what we thought of them (or rather "their politics" of course as the are Good People), in their own language.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
The answer is easy if you take it logically
I'd like to help you in your struggle to be free
There must be 50 ways to get your source code
She said it's really not my habit to intrude
Further more I hope my meaning won't be lost or mis-construed
But I'll repeat myself, at the risk of seeming rude
There must be 50 ways to get your source code
50 ways to get your source code
Just slip out the back (Orifice), Jack
Make a new
You don't need to be coy, Roy
Just set your source free
Or you hop on the PCI bus, Gus
You don't need to discuss (NNTP) much
Just drop off the PGP key, Lee
And set your source free
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
When you have NO kids, you work for a living, live for your passion, work for fulfilment or for money. In the case of the latest, you work to buy toys, really; beyond obtaining the barest of essencials, I work to have play-money.
Now, if you DO have kids, why do you work? Assuming you are not dysfunctional (and who isn't these days?) you work not for YOUR quality of life but for theirs. You tear your guts out so that they would be raised in relative comfort as compared to your experience of the place which you once occupied and they occupy at present. You work (not 'go to work', but 'put in effort', so perhaps 'strive' is a better word) to provide them with a childhood and opportunities better than the ones you had in their position.
Now, I KNOW that you see where I'm going.. "What's WORK got to do with it"? Plenty. If you grew up poor, raising your kids with material possessions aplenty is your way of giving them more than you had as a child. If you grew up rich, but lacked affection (and are not dysfunctional, I say it again) then are your priorities still on the money? What if you grew up as a latch-key kid and you know the feeling of coming home to an empty house? Or you come from a broken home? Where are your priorities then?
As a hope-to-be future parent (I'm actually more looking forward to being a grand-father, but that's besides the point) I intend to raise my kids in a way which I consider to be better than my own up-bringing. This involves physical comfort, sure, I would die before I had them go hungry... But I will make damn sure that they grow up in emotional comfort as well; and if that means that their college degrees will not be paid for in advance, so be it.
Hard work builds character, no? Or is that just a myth that the rich tell the poor to keep them that way?
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
I did lots of research into this while in college.
I sure wish they set up a short-wave version of this system, so I could continue my research here in the States.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
I dunno, I mean, after what Earth had to say about Hawking's Lifespan, and the quality thereof - it sounds like he's just being bitter.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
On a less (or more) cynical note though, I hope this is all part of the concerted effort among scientists (asteroid impacts and global warning) to play-up the level of public FUD, thereby forcing the politicians to allocate more money on scietific research - keeping folks like S.H. employed in an age of Corporatism.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
DON'T READ THEM.
I wasn't aware of fan-boys running around, pointing guns to people's heads, forcing them to read ANYTHING...
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
If I read the script, I'd go anyway, for the experience. And while a movie is rarely as good as the book, the case is entirely different with a script.
Am I alone in thinking that the plot is only a small part of the movie experience? Would most people really choose not to pay their $8.50 if they knew the plot? Is the script that bad? Or is Lucas just being an 'artist' who needs to wait for a grand and celebrated unvailing?
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
What's the bug up his butt about now? Rumour-spreading is building anticipation. It's a great way of gathering public interest in the film. Even if the real script leaks, so what?? It's just more to look forward to.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
If we teach a guy how to code HTML, and give him a job, and create a cottage industry around that job - then the whole thing can be cratered by a college edumacated coder who writes something like HoTMetaL.
From a business perspective, sure, let's make a buch of cogs and sprockets for the corporate machine. But from a humanitarian perspective, people should be taught how to think - so they could learn new skill as the world evolves around them.
What sort of prospects does a trade-school grad, taught to fix carburators have in a fuel-injected world? How about an internal-combusion engine rebuild specialist in a city full of Honda Insights??
People need a broad enough education to be able to choose their job - before their job chooses them.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
Will we see Karmic fluctuations on a daily basis, with everyone getting bitchslapped and reset every few minutes? Will JonKatz become UN-filterable? Will the two waring factions delete each-other's stories, leaving us to ponder only those posted by HeUnique and timothy?
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
Consider the problems inherent in having any and all scenes of potential criminal activity under constand satellite surveillance.
Do you want the EPA to know that you change your own oil in your driveway?
Do you want your parents to be able to check that you are mowing the lawn while they're at work?
Do you want Joe Schmoe Cracker to be able to peep while your wife sunbathes in the buff in your back yard?
Do you want to drive a black Camry, just like everyone elses, in an effort to protect what little privacy you'd have left?
Do you really want to star in a Japanese version of "Big Brother" or "The Truman Show", without even realizing it?
We should not open a door unless we're prepared for what might come through it.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
If everybody was worth gajillions than those gajillions wouldn't be worth a fart. This is exactly why we have shows like Rikki Lake and Judge Judy on the tube after business hours... To keep a significant portion of society from thinking...
Somebody HAS to dig the ditches you know... We HAVE to have crime, since that provides jobs for the cops and jailers.. We have to have the poor since that makes for jobs in the shelters. We have to have the sick since we can then have nurses and doctors... And to pay for it all we need taxes, so we'd better have inflation to scare the crap out of the working class. BTW: When's tee time?
Just as with the bleeding edge of science, just because we CAN solve a problem does not mean that we SHOULD solve the problem. The war on drugs could have been won long ago - but what of the soldiers fighting it?
Excuse me, I should put my handicap back on, before Janet Reno comes in here and shoots me in mid-flight.
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
Cramming all that functionality, whether phone and PDA, or phone and toaster, into the same enclosure, is nearsighted. Eventually one component is going to burn out, or you'll want to upgrade, and then what? You buy a whole new unit? Light overhead flickers on. Wow! What a way to make a few extra bucks!!
Now, with bluetooth networking, you can replace the phone, you can upgrade the PDA, you can replace the toaster with a toaster-oven, and they still talk to each other. AND, you can mix and match manufacturers of the components - but we wouldn't want THAT now, would we?
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
A: Lots of Dollar Signs!
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
And in related news, the Olympic comittee has unanimously voted to begin charging athletes for the privilege of competing in the Olympiad.
Beginning in 2000, the ability to perform to World Class(tm) standards is still required, as is the new entry fee of "an arm and a leg".
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
Jeez people, get with the program... You're forgetting your priorities!
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196
You would NEVER, for example, expect to do business with someone whom you pick up in a white limo in China - White is a color reserved for funerals, and typically associated with death.
Also, keep in mind the industry you are dealing with. For example, in Nuclear circles, where many people started out in the Navy, red means ON(hot) and green means OFF(cold)... So a flashing red marker might get misinterpreted.
But then again, developing a web site with your audience in mind is common sense, isn't it? Well, isn't it?
The REAL jabber has the /. user id: 13196