Personally, I wouldn't mind if the government:
1. Raised tax on unleaded gas to make it about $4 a gallon ala Europe.
2. Removed most diesel gas taxes.
3. Banned the use of diesel engines for private transporation outside of public transportation and shipping - with a mandate that local municipalities attempt to convert to electric transportation and increase public transportation in order to sustain federal funding (and increase federal funding with the addition of higher gas taxes).
As far as I see, this system I just made up a second ago would both aid in relieving private truck drivers who can't saddle the burden of gas taxes as well as reduce the amount of gass-guzzlers driving around. It would also lead to an increase in efficient public transportation that would help to lower our reliance on foreign energy. As a side note, if this ever happens, everyone should buy stock in Honda because of their kick-ass incite:)
What do you mean he has yet to "climb the walls of the Black Iron Prison"? Are you implying that there is some other level beyond the robot controlled matrix... a matrix within a matrix? Subscribing to your theory (which I don't), it would seem that Neo leaves the BIP by taking the red pill.
Though honestly I haven't looked into it before, I can assure you that I'm not so dense to be ignorant of your Gnostic explanation. I doubt, however, that the brothers (sorry, last name's spelling eludes me) meant to refer to this theory in their movie. You can base your beliefs around a kung-fu movie for all I care, but you can also build up a theory about the meaning of life from The Meaning of Life if you try hard enough. By applying such heavily skewed a view to something completely seperate, you ignore how it might impact others that haven't reached your apparent "enlightenment".
That, my friend, was a well thought out load of shit. Just because The Matrix liberally, but stylishly, rips off of a multitude of previously established ideas doesn't make it the best movie ever. Sure, it is an homage to some of the most thought provoking work in sci-fi (cyberpunk, blade runner, etc), but the philosophical portions of the film are so hokey that I have trouble saying it "challenged my long-held beliefs." Just look at the Ghost in the Shell -> The Matrix comparison if you want to see how much of a homage-flick the Matrix is. Quite frankly, the fact that there was no spoon caused me to think more of the mentalist that tried to break spoons than how I could break my own psychological barriers.
Sure, Crouching Tiger follows a similar epic story line to about half of classic literature and epic films, but it's far more than that. Just as The Matrix took it's contrived backdrop to a new height with a stylized design and decent martial arts, Crouching Tiger does the same for the fantasy setting. No shit this is about a China that never existed, it's a FANTASY MOVIE. There is an entire genre built around this concept it the east. I doubt you've even seen the movie given your comment on "war and adversity" as it is more about the coming of age of someon than anything else - an event derived more from a sequence of experiences than any specific conflict.
I realize that Matrix-karma-whoring will get you some massive bonus points here, but you should at least see a movie before you compare it to something. Also, though I respect your opinion, I'd caution against building some sort of existentialist philosophy around the Matrix and avoiding anything else presented to you.
Yeah, but Hamlet does have the creepy clowns (err gravediggers) going for it. I think most people think clowns are incredibly scary - much more so than any puny witch.
Dude, do you remember earlier in the movie? The story about the kid who jumped off Wupan Mountain, lived, and was never seen again? That's what happened to her. I hope no one actually thought she committed suicide. Now why would she do that? She was just testing her faith or whatnot given that her master and potential master had just gone ka-put. I bet her desert trist feels really shafted right now though:)
As someone who plays string bass (or contrabass, bass fiddle, double bass, whatever) in an orchestra I can totally attest to this. Currently I'm using a shoddy machined bass and one thing that totally twerked me was the bridge design. After only half a year of (limited) use, the E string started popping off and I had to groove it down... obviously with any sort of quality standards this wouldn't have happenned (the bass is scheryl and roth and is a school loner btw). Even the older machined basses we have are far superior to the newer models.
So you're saying this WWII sword my grandpa got from a Japanese sub during his tour that is sitting in my closet right now is illegal? So much for my plan to tour the world Hiro Protagonist style with my crazy sword-fighting skills. Well, at least so much for stopping by Japan on my tour:)
Troll? WTF... I'm not even running linux right now, and I get moderation-flamed for quite justifiably lauding the benefits of an open-source based business. The one time I decide to post (usually I just stick to posting stories) and I get marked a troll... I thought the definition of troll was one who posts solely to either incite annoyance or for the sake of posting? Whatever...
Sure, just load linux into RAM rather than running it off the disc, then swap out the cd for your game of choice. Than just ftp to your favorite locale using the included modem or potentially the soon to be released ethernet add-on and do a cp/dev/gd-rom_or_whatever/* mounted_remote_file_system and you are set. Really shouldn't be that difficult assuming whatever cd-drivers this thing uses work correctly with the DC's drive. Alternatively you could make a serial link-up using the data port on the back of the machine to score bonus points.
I imagine that most third world countries aren't terribly reliant on cable television, cellular phones, and microwave ovens. I believe that the water will still run (which may not even exist in said country) throughout this event.
That said, this kicks ass that the usually horrid Kansas City paper actually picked up on something interesting... the last interesting thing I read in that sucker was in a review of the Grinch - quote: "Jim Carrey's acting is like being hit repeatedly with nerf bats."... something to that effect anyway.
Pffft... I can already sign up for the 8mbps (yeah you heard me) Sprint ION service today for 119 a month. And that includes 2 local phone lines, a free "hub" (really a dsl modem and 2 ethernet cards in a box), and 400 minutes a month of domestic long distance. The world will never need more than 8mbps! (wow, that sounds a lot like Bill Gates). Of course, I can't afford 119 a month so I'm just getting the 1.5mbps plan.
100mbps would be cool though, download 10 dvd streams in real time... and that's with minimum compression... that's like 100 mpeg-4 streams in real time. The possibilities are endless.
In my high school (in, of all places, Kansas), we payed 25,000 dollars to get services from embark.com for all 1600 students. The "customization" we recieve for all this cash is solely limited to our logo on the page, and a calendar as far as I can tell. All other services are available free of charge to anyone who visits the site. As far as I can tell (from my one visit to the site), we are free from visible advertising. However, this does not preclude embark.com from advertising in the future, nor does it preclude them from selling our information to colleges interested in applicants, or pitching Kaplan SAT preperation books (or something of that nature). Whatever the case, I did not approve this expenditure of my tax money, and I think the employee that could have been hired using this money would have been far more valuable to my education. (25,000 dollars + the time spent on maintaining the site is plenty to hire a new teacher). Not to mention that embark.com should easily be able to give out the service for free based on the high number of opportunities they have to exploit its users for economic gain.
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Personally, I wouldn't mind if the government:
:)
1. Raised tax on unleaded gas to make it about $4 a gallon ala Europe. 2. Removed most diesel gas taxes. 3. Banned the use of diesel engines for private transporation outside of public transportation and shipping - with a mandate that local municipalities attempt to convert to electric transportation and increase public transportation in order to sustain federal funding (and increase federal funding with the addition of higher gas taxes).
As far as I see, this system I just made up a second ago would both aid in relieving private truck drivers who can't saddle the burden of gas taxes as well as reduce the amount of gass-guzzlers driving around. It would also lead to an increase in efficient public transportation that would help to lower our reliance on foreign energy. As a side note, if this ever happens, everyone should buy stock in Honda because of their kick-ass incite
But whatever you do, don't take said prospective feminine friend to said movie! Big mistake! Trust me :)
What do you mean he has yet to "climb the walls of the Black Iron Prison"? Are you implying that there is some other level beyond the robot controlled matrix... a matrix within a matrix? Subscribing to your theory (which I don't), it would seem that Neo leaves the BIP by taking the red pill. Though honestly I haven't looked into it before, I can assure you that I'm not so dense to be ignorant of your Gnostic explanation. I doubt, however, that the brothers (sorry, last name's spelling eludes me) meant to refer to this theory in their movie. You can base your beliefs around a kung-fu movie for all I care, but you can also build up a theory about the meaning of life from The Meaning of Life if you try hard enough. By applying such heavily skewed a view to something completely seperate, you ignore how it might impact others that haven't reached your apparent "enlightenment".
That, my friend, was a well thought out load of shit. Just because The Matrix liberally, but stylishly, rips off of a multitude of previously established ideas doesn't make it the best movie ever. Sure, it is an homage to some of the most thought provoking work in sci-fi (cyberpunk, blade runner, etc), but the philosophical portions of the film are so hokey that I have trouble saying it "challenged my long-held beliefs." Just look at the Ghost in the Shell -> The Matrix comparison if you want to see how much of a homage-flick the Matrix is. Quite frankly, the fact that there was no spoon caused me to think more of the mentalist that tried to break spoons than how I could break my own psychological barriers. Sure, Crouching Tiger follows a similar epic story line to about half of classic literature and epic films, but it's far more than that. Just as The Matrix took it's contrived backdrop to a new height with a stylized design and decent martial arts, Crouching Tiger does the same for the fantasy setting. No shit this is about a China that never existed, it's a FANTASY MOVIE. There is an entire genre built around this concept it the east. I doubt you've even seen the movie given your comment on "war and adversity" as it is more about the coming of age of someon than anything else - an event derived more from a sequence of experiences than any specific conflict. I realize that Matrix-karma-whoring will get you some massive bonus points here, but you should at least see a movie before you compare it to something. Also, though I respect your opinion, I'd caution against building some sort of existentialist philosophy around the Matrix and avoiding anything else presented to you.
Yeah, but Hamlet does have the creepy clowns (err gravediggers) going for it. I think most people think clowns are incredibly scary - much more so than any puny witch.
Dude, do you remember earlier in the movie? The story about the kid who jumped off Wupan Mountain, lived, and was never seen again? That's what happened to her. I hope no one actually thought she committed suicide. Now why would she do that? She was just testing her faith or whatnot given that her master and potential master had just gone ka-put. I bet her desert trist feels really shafted right now though :)
Why not mp3 them for us and provide the whole thing? Can it really be copywrite violation if the material is so old?
As someone who plays string bass (or contrabass, bass fiddle, double bass, whatever) in an orchestra I can totally attest to this. Currently I'm using a shoddy machined bass and one thing that totally twerked me was the bridge design. After only half a year of (limited) use, the E string started popping off and I had to groove it down... obviously with any sort of quality standards this wouldn't have happenned (the bass is scheryl and roth and is a school loner btw). Even the older machined basses we have are far superior to the newer models.
So you're saying this WWII sword my grandpa got from a Japanese sub during his tour that is sitting in my closet right now is illegal? So much for my plan to tour the world Hiro Protagonist style with my crazy sword-fighting skills. Well, at least so much for stopping by Japan on my tour :)
Troll? WTF... I'm not even running linux right now, and I get moderation-flamed for quite justifiably lauding the benefits of an open-source based business. The one time I decide to post (usually I just stick to posting stories) and I get marked a troll... I thought the definition of troll was one who posts solely to either incite annoyance or for the sake of posting? Whatever...
Sure, just load linux into RAM rather than running it off the disc, then swap out the cd for your game of choice. Than just ftp to your favorite locale using the included modem or potentially the soon to be released ethernet add-on and do a cp /dev/gd-rom_or_whatever/* mounted_remote_file_system and you are set. Really shouldn't be that difficult assuming whatever cd-drivers this thing uses work correctly with the DC's drive. Alternatively you could make a serial link-up using the data port on the back of the machine to score bonus points.
I imagine that most third world countries aren't terribly reliant on cable television, cellular phones, and microwave ovens. I believe that the water will still run (which may not even exist in said country) throughout this event. That said, this kicks ass that the usually horrid Kansas City paper actually picked up on something interesting... the last interesting thing I read in that sucker was in a review of the Grinch - quote: "Jim Carrey's acting is like being hit repeatedly with nerf bats." ... something to that effect anyway.
Pffft... I can already sign up for the 8mbps (yeah you heard me) Sprint ION service today for 119 a month. And that includes 2 local phone lines, a free "hub" (really a dsl modem and 2 ethernet cards in a box), and 400 minutes a month of domestic long distance. The world will never need more than 8mbps! (wow, that sounds a lot like Bill Gates). Of course, I can't afford 119 a month so I'm just getting the 1.5mbps plan. 100mbps would be cool though, download 10 dvd streams in real time... and that's with minimum compression... that's like 100 mpeg-4 streams in real time. The possibilities are endless.
In my high school (in, of all places, Kansas), we payed 25,000 dollars to get services from embark.com for all 1600 students. The "customization" we recieve for all this cash is solely limited to our logo on the page, and a calendar as far as I can tell. All other services are available free of charge to anyone who visits the site. As far as I can tell (from my one visit to the site), we are free from visible advertising. However, this does not preclude embark.com from advertising in the future, nor does it preclude them from selling our information to colleges interested in applicants, or pitching Kaplan SAT preperation books (or something of that nature). Whatever the case, I did not approve this expenditure of my tax money, and I think the employee that could have been hired using this money would have been far more valuable to my education. (25,000 dollars + the time spent on maintaining the site is plenty to hire a new teacher). Not to mention that embark.com should easily be able to give out the service for free based on the high number of opportunities they have to exploit its users for economic gain.