Exactly. The banal face of evil. You look at most of the guys who ran Treblinka, or Bergen-Belsen, and they're largely ordinary looking guys, who could be accountants or repair men or car salesmen. They're *us*...and this was designed to remind us of that. The evil, mustache-twirling villain is too easy, and too far from the truth of it.
This was one of the elements that made the episode interesting for me; most SF tends to ignore the darker sides of the common person. They deal with the big bad guys, the evil federations and Darth Vaders and all the other major forces out there, but all too often the real damage is done not by the single Evil Leader, but by the ten million people who *follow* him, the bookkeepers who track the bodies and the trains and the pain by placing the right figures in all the right columns, who make the trains run on time, who run the gulags, who build the new state empires that will be built with slave labor, any or all of whom could say, as many have, "I was just doing my job."
Not so much "following orders," we've heard that before, applied to the military...but just "doing my job." To the interrogator, he was simply doing his job, and doing it to the best of his ability. It is something he does, then he goes home to his wife and kids, and has dinner, and sits out on the porch trying to forget what he does because he thinks he *has* to do it...assuming he thinks about it at all.
Bart Beavers, a member of the task force based out of the FBI office in Toledo, said search warrants obtained for six other residences were not served because the occupants were not home or for various other reasons.
My inner cynic thinks raiding unoccupied apartments makes for lousy press and lousier video footage.
(Self-moderating down due to troll capability for Det Beavers' name)
Gaining celebrity out of being on the wrong side of the law (whether justly or unjustly) has been long prevalent, from Jesse James to Bonnie & Clyde to Al Capone to John Gotti to 'Mayflower Madam' Sydney Biddles Barrow and beyond (with Winona in the on-deck circle).
Why should we surprised by whoring notorious characters on the tech side?
Methinks the aliens saw the scene in "Braveheart" where William Wallace and his men mooned the English, and considered it a welcoming invitation to visit.
Catalogued as 2002MN, the asteroid was travelling at over 10 kilometres a second (23,000 miles per hour) when it passed Earth at a distance of around 120,000 km (75,000 miles).
Anything within Lunar Orbit is too damn close, IMHO.
That's a nice bit of advice.... if you aren't subjected to mandatum from higher-ups who decide unilaterally to upgrade.
Complaining because of the new Toyota? Try finding your mid-size automatic company car replaced by a SUV with a stick because the boss likes the shiny chrome bumpers.
Just think about what would happen if this was in the US. Kids die in illegal net cafe/pub/dance party warehouse because there aren't any fire exits. Wouldn't you think the parents will all be in an outrage to close all these unsafe places down?
It happened in 1942, but rather than close down all the bars, it was the start of the enforcement of modern fire codes.
Go to IMdB to check out the formats for latest releases. The usual drill is that VHS tapes are released to rent, but DVDs are available to own. That alone may be impetus to get the DVD version, but add in clarity, physical space, bonus scenes and features, and a good comparative price, andpeople will choose DVD over VHS if given the opportunity.
VHS is making its way to the 8-track and reel-to-reel dustbin of obsolesence.
Inspector: Nevertheless, I advise you in future to replace the words 'Compact Disks' with the legend, 'Technically Flawed Compact Disks that could impinge on consumers' rights to copy music for their own use' if you wish to avoid prosecution!
SuiteSisterMary: MAKE DAMN SURE YOUR BACKUPS WORK, OR YOU'LL LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT.
Speaking as a former idiot *koff*, that goes without saying.
Any backup system should be tested and shaken-down to verify that data is recoverable. (Then again, any good autobackup system should have a Verify Mode, and a log of the backup to review the morning after.)
The amount of blood, sweat, toil, tears, and non-comped off hours will be worth it.
Changing people's philosphy on where to store data goes a long way.
We have a server with a large-enough tape drive to back up users' data. We then encourage people EXTREMELY to save important data to their personal LAN Drive, and eeinforce the idea that the Hard Drive should be considered expendible. No excuses, no tears.
We then back up the data nightly and rotate tapes daily during the work week (M-T-W-TH, and Weekly Friday Tapes, with the Last Friday of the Month going on rotating Monthly Tapes.
It a bit of habit-breaking for people used to saving everything to C-Drive, but a little Pavlovian experience of "Ohmigosh, my file is gone!/Oh wow, you got my file back!" will reinforce people that Hard Drives Are Bad/LAN Drive is Good.
You can even reinforce the idea with encouraging people backing up files on floppies/CD R/W Drives.
Leading financial services firms here have formed a private database company that will compile information about criminals, terrorists and other suspicious people, for use in screening new customers and weeding out those who may pose a risk.
Obviously, that's the catch-all phrase for anti-globalization wife beaters who make intricate gadgets from tropical bamboo and powered by cocnut cream pies.
We can expect the Bureau to be used for more overtly political uses in the future - spying on the not-in-power political parties is no longer prohibited and will, therefore, occur.
.... Richard Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover enjoy a final, hearty laugh.
Plus Extended Towing up to 100 Miles: When your vehicle cannot be started or driven safely, free towing is provided up to 100 miles from the point where your vehicle is disabled to the destination of your choice. This extended benefit includes one tow per disablement using appropriate equipment to safely transport your vehicle.
Plus Lock & Key Services: This service provides up to $100 in parts and labor coverage for lock and key service needed to gain access to your vehicle and make it operable.
Plus Free Fuel Delivery: A sufficient amount of fuel will be delivered free of charge to enable you to reach the nearest open service station.
Plus Alternative Service Reimbursement: Extends your benefits to include full reimbursement for covered services based on the prevailing commercial rate for the region where the vehicle was disabled, if AAA services was requested by unavailable. Lock and key services will be reimbursed up to $100. To apply for reimbursement, submit an itemized receipt for service to the Member Relations Dept., 2040 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103 within 30 days.
Plus Legal Defense Reimbursement: If you are charged with a motor vehicle violation which you believe is unjust and require an attorney, AAA Plus will reimburse you for your attorney's fees in accordance with the following schedule:
Manslaughter by Automobile Representation in Primary Court $800 Representation in any Higher Court (an additional) $1,200 Maximum Benefit $2,000
Assault & Battery by Automobile Representation in Primary Court $200 Representation in any Higher Court (an additional) $300 Maximum Benefit $500
Moving Traffic Violation Representation in Primary Court $100 Representation in any Higher Court (an additional) $150 Maximum Benefit $250
Plus Free International Guides: AAA Plus Members can obtain our renowned international guidebooks and maps absolutely free. Certain restrictions may apply.
Plus Crime Prevention Reward Plus Free International Guides: AAA Plus offers a reward up to $2,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone who steals your vehicle.
Plus Auto Travel Accident Reimbursement Service: If the vehicle you are driving is disabled in a traffic accident 100 or more miles from home, you will receive up to $700 for car rental, commercial transportation, meals and lodging expense occurring within 72 hours of your accident or within the time it takes for you to return home or to arrive at your final destination, whichever is less.
Plus Extended Extrication Service: This services extends Basic benefits to include a second truck and operator for one hour at the scene of disablement.
---
I believe AAA also sells an emergency cellphone which can contact police/911/AAA.
Slashdot Mirror
He was Hanoverian....
Geck, erhalten Sie ein Dell!
The interviewee added that question, not some sexually repressed teenage nerd. Oh, and it was humour. Yep.
;P
And besides, it's Craig with the tight sweaters and gets all the g00gle pr0n fanwomen.
I suppose this depends on your definition of evil.
From J. Michael Straczynski's notes on the episode Intersections in Real Time:
The interrogator looked like an ordinary person.
Exactly. The banal face of evil. You look at most of the guys who ran Treblinka, or Bergen-Belsen, and they're largely ordinary looking guys, who could be accountants or repair men or car salesmen. They're *us*...and this was designed to remind us of that. The evil, mustache-twirling villain is too easy, and too far from the truth of it.
This was one of the elements that made the episode interesting for me; most SF tends to ignore the darker sides of the common person. They deal with the big bad guys, the evil federations and Darth Vaders and all the other major forces out there, but all too often the real damage is done not by the single Evil Leader, but by the ten million people who *follow* him, the bookkeepers who track the bodies and the trains and the pain by placing the right figures in all the right columns, who make the trains run on time, who run the gulags, who build the new state empires that will be built with slave labor, any or all of whom could say, as many have, "I was just doing my job."
Not so much "following orders," we've heard that before, applied to the military...but just "doing my job." To the interrogator, he was simply doing his job, and doing it to the best of his ability. It is something he does, then he goes home to his wife and kids, and has dinner, and sits out on the porch trying to forget what he does because he thinks he *has* to do it...assuming he thinks about it at all.
Bart Beavers, a member of the task force based out of the FBI office in Toledo, said search warrants obtained for six other residences were not served because the occupants were not home or for various other reasons.
My inner cynic thinks raiding unoccupied apartments makes for lousy press and lousier video footage.
(Self-moderating down due to troll capability for Det Beavers' name)
Just in from OSCAR 7:
Grrrrr.... argh..... solid transisitors.... must have... transistors.... argh....
Gaining celebrity out of being on the wrong side of the law (whether justly or unjustly) has been long prevalent, from Jesse James to Bonnie & Clyde to Al Capone to John Gotti to 'Mayflower Madam' Sydney Biddles Barrow and beyond (with Winona in the on-deck circle).
Why should we surprised by whoring notorious characters on the tech side?
Come for the Haggis, stay for the anal probes.
Methinks the aliens saw the scene in "Braveheart" where William Wallace and his men mooned the English, and considered it a welcoming invitation to visit.
"Get half off on Jello Tom Cruise!"
Punctuation is correct. In the future, celebrity endorsement of dessert producuts will have a whole new meaning.
Try our new Soylent Charlton Heston! In the Freezer Geezer Section!
For the metrically-challenged:
Catalogued as 2002MN, the asteroid was travelling at over 10 kilometres a second (23,000 miles per hour) when it passed Earth at a distance of around 120,000 km (75,000 miles).
Anything within Lunar Orbit is too damn close, IMHO.
If you don't want the change, don't upgrade.
That's a nice bit of advice.... if you aren't subjected to mandatum from higher-ups who decide unilaterally to upgrade.
Complaining because of the new Toyota? Try finding your mid-size automatic company car replaced by a SUV with a stick because the boss likes the shiny chrome bumpers.
.... if you hack the game. :)
Kobyashi Maru, anyone?
Just think about what would happen if this was in the US. Kids die in illegal net cafe/pub/dance party warehouse because there aren't any fire exits. Wouldn't you think the parents will all be in an outrage to close all these unsafe places down?
It happened in 1942, but rather than close down all the bars, it was the start of the enforcement of modern fire codes.
Go to IMdB to check out the formats for latest releases. The usual drill is that VHS tapes are released to rent, but DVDs are available to own. That alone may be impetus to get the DVD version, but add in clarity, physical space, bonus scenes and features, and a good comparative price, andpeople will choose DVD over VHS if given the opportunity.
VHS is making its way to the 8-track and reel-to-reel dustbin of obsolesence.
Just replace "CD" with "Crunchy Frog" and --
Inspector: Nevertheless, I advise you in future to replace the words 'Compact Disks' with the legend, 'Technically Flawed Compact Disks that could impinge on consumers' rights to copy music for their own use' if you wish to avoid prosecution!
(It's been discussed in a previous /. thread, I know)
In 1999, the late and lamented Boston Computer Museum closed its doors and moved organizationally to the Museum of Science, while its artifacts moved to The Computer Museum History Center in Moffett Field, California.
Here's a last-gasp look at its virtual existance, thanks to archive.org.
SuiteSisterMary:
MAKE DAMN SURE YOUR BACKUPS WORK, OR YOU'LL LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT.
Speaking as a former idiot *koff*, that goes without saying.
Any backup system should be tested and shaken-down to verify that data is recoverable. (Then again, any good autobackup system should have a Verify Mode, and a log of the backup to review the morning after.)
The amount of blood, sweat, toil, tears, and non-comped off hours will be worth it.
Changing people's philosphy on where to store data goes a long way.
We have a server with a large-enough tape drive to back up users' data. We then encourage people EXTREMELY to save important data to their personal LAN Drive, and eeinforce the idea that the Hard Drive should be considered expendible. No excuses, no tears.
We then back up the data nightly and rotate tapes daily during the work week (M-T-W-TH, and Weekly Friday Tapes, with the Last Friday of the Month going on rotating Monthly Tapes.
It a bit of habit-breaking for people used to saving everything to C-Drive, but a little Pavlovian experience of "Ohmigosh, my file is gone!/Oh wow, you got my file back!" will reinforce people that Hard Drives Are Bad/LAN Drive is Good.
You can even reinforce the idea with encouraging people backing up files on floppies/CD R/W Drives.
Does Miss Parker and the Centre know about this?
When they do crack the files, they'll just find his grocery lists.
Earth is more like the Roll-Up Security Patch.
As far as the Universe being the largest computer, the great master, Issac Asimov, explored the concept first in The Last Question
Leading financial services firms here have formed a private database company that will compile information about criminals, terrorists and other suspicious people, for use in screening new customers and weeding out those who may pose a risk.
Obviously, that's the catch-all phrase for anti-globalization wife beaters who make intricate gadgets from tropical bamboo and powered by cocnut cream pies.
We can expect the Bureau to be used for more overtly political uses in the future - spying on the not-in-power political parties is no longer prohibited and will, therefore, occur.
.... Richard Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover enjoy a final, hearty laugh.
I'll wait for DARPA (or maybe USAMRIID) to develop translator microbes for instanteous communication.
From AAA Plus Member Benefits, which includes Emergency Roadside Assistance:
Plus Extended Towing up to 100 Miles: When your vehicle cannot be started or driven safely, free towing is provided up to 100 miles from the point where your vehicle is disabled to the destination of your choice. This extended benefit includes one tow per disablement using appropriate equipment to safely transport your vehicle.
Plus Lock & Key Services: This service provides up to $100 in parts and labor coverage for lock and key service needed to gain access to your vehicle and make it operable.
Plus Free Fuel Delivery: A sufficient amount of fuel will be delivered free of charge to enable you to reach the nearest open service station.
Plus Alternative Service Reimbursement: Extends your benefits to include full reimbursement for covered services based on the prevailing commercial rate for the region where the vehicle was disabled, if AAA services was requested by unavailable. Lock and key services will be reimbursed up to $100. To apply for reimbursement, submit an itemized receipt for service to the Member Relations Dept., 2040 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103 within 30 days.
Plus Legal Defense Reimbursement: If you are charged with a motor vehicle violation which you believe is unjust and require an attorney, AAA Plus will reimburse you for your attorney's fees in accordance with the following schedule:
Manslaughter by Automobile
Representation in Primary Court $800
Representation in any Higher Court (an additional) $1,200
Maximum Benefit $2,000
Assault & Battery by Automobile
Representation in Primary Court $200
Representation in any Higher Court (an additional) $300
Maximum Benefit $500
Moving Traffic Violation
Representation in Primary Court $100
Representation in any Higher Court (an additional) $150
Maximum Benefit $250
Plus Free International Guides: AAA Plus Members can obtain our renowned international guidebooks and maps absolutely free. Certain restrictions may apply.
Plus Crime Prevention Reward Plus Free International Guides: AAA Plus offers a reward up to $2,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone who steals your vehicle.
Plus Auto Travel Accident Reimbursement Service: If the vehicle you are driving is disabled in a traffic accident 100 or more miles from home, you will receive up to $700 for car rental, commercial transportation, meals and lodging expense occurring within 72 hours of your accident or within the time it takes for you to return home or to arrive at your final destination, whichever is less.
Plus Extended Extrication Service: This services extends Basic benefits to include a second truck and operator for one hour at the scene of disablement.
---
I believe AAA also sells an emergency cellphone which can contact police/911/AAA.
AICN also reported a wild rumor that the reviled computer-animated character Jar Jar Binks may wind up in a new, revised version of Episode IV.
In this version, Han does shoot Greedo first, but misses and hits Jar Jar, causing the Gungan to explode into pixelated goo.