I had a chance to experience this at this summer's Street of Dreams in Portland, OR ($750K-$2M+ spec homes open to the public for a few weeks). They were showing part of the Quidditch match from Harry Potter. After sitting through about as much time of ads as they showed of the clip, it actually did a respectable job, but I don't think I'd actually like to watch an entire movie being bounced around --- it's much better technology for a few minute ride than a 2-hr movie.
You have a point, he does a lot of "angry young man" roles, but never anything with the range of, say, Robin Williams (though that's a hard act to follow). I did think he was great in Devil's Advocate, but again, he's playing his character. And I agree, Superman isn't for him. Now give Tom Welling a few more years as Superboy and then a few years to age into the role...
What makes Keanu a worse actor than say Sean Connery? As near as I can tell, what most people mean when they say he can't act is that he has a particular style that tends to come through no matter the role. That's definitely true of Sean, and he's one of the world's favorites. I'm really curious, because I think he's done a good job in a wide variety of roles.
I personally would pay Berman/Braga et al $20 if they never have a holodeck or time-travel-based plot ever again.
Au contraire! I was afraid the holodeck would be terribly misused when they introduced it, but some of the most interesting and creative episodes involve the holodeck, albeit in the series, not the movies:
Ship In A Bottle
Moriarity makes the crew think they're not in the holodeck, then <spoiler deleted>
It's Only A Paper Moon
Holodeck lounge singer Vic shows Nog a reason for living
A Matter Of Perspective
Using the holodeck to recreate testimony and look at different viewpoints
Hollow Pursuits
Holodeck addiction --- something that would be a real problem
Booby Trap
Using the holodeck as a simulator, what would probably be one of its most useful uses
While they aren't always the best episodes otherwise, it's not because of the holodeck, and some are among the best...
Absolutely! That's why I use them --- it makes taking credit cards painless. I don't keep much in the paypal account, so I'm not out much if some turkey manages to get it frozen somehow...
1. It's often not hard to find a place to plug in if you ask around...
2. I suggest you actually track your daily mileage. I think you'll find an EV is a lot more practical than you expect. They aren't for everyone, but how often do you actually go more than 50 miles at a shot? Or even a day?
3. The Think was definitely under-designed, but that's not inherent in the species. Check out http://www.commutercars.com/.
4. Actually, though I don't want a BIG truck, an electric truck makes perfect sense except for towing: usually when you haul a load, it's relatively short distance. I plan on converting a small pickup for a variety of reasons, but one of them is trips to Home Depot. Even so, I know one guy who used to tow EV drag racer to the races with his EV pickup (he's since sold the pickup to work on other EVs).
You're right --- it's a clear example of how the automakers not only have their heels dug in against EVs, they've thrown out a few anchors as well. I used to have a Sparrow --- an odd looking 3-wheel 1-person EV that cost $15,000. They couldn't build them fast enough. Unfortunately, they've got a number of design problems specific to the Sparrow that make them impractical, but it clearly shows there's a market out there, as even I thought they cost about twice what they should. But 1-person was only a minor annoyance on occasion, and the range was sufficient for 90% of my driving needs, which also means that my Explorer would last much longer, not only in time, but miles (short trips are murder on ICE's). If GM would put battery warmers in the lead-acid version of the EV-1 (lead-acid batteries don't like getting below about 60) and actually sell and support it nationwide, it would be kick-ass: it has good performance and decent range. My Sparrow was extremely peppy and nimble and was a blast to drive. Tomorrow, I'm going to the EV Drag races in Woodburn, OR, where it's common to see 1/4 miles in the low teens and a few specialty vehicles get under 10 seconds.
The only thing keeping us from having commercial EVs is the will to produce them.
1. Most, if not all, power plants are much more efficient that ICE's (Internal Combustion Engines). 2. Most power plants are located away from pollution centers, distributing the pollution load so that it has less of an impact. 3. As the power plant mix improves effeciency and produces lower pollution, so do all the EVs they supply. 4. It's easier to retrofit pollution controls on one power plant than the thousands of cars it could support.
I'm looking up the study that backs this up and will post a link as followup...
Because they're tied specifically to Verizon, you have to have Verizon CDPD in your local area to even sign up. Here in Portland, OR, we have "excellent" CDPD coverage (according to the Zaurus Mobile web site), yet they won't let me sign up because Verizon doesn't do CDPD here. If they did, I'd have to pay roaming charges of $.05/Mb (which really isn't *that* bad if I'm careful). Apparently I might be able to arm-twist them into letting me signup if I call them on the phone, but the web site checks your billing zipcode and if it's not a blessed one, you're outta luck.
From my quick scan of the actual IETF draft, it takes the existing PPP authentication model and wraps it in TLS for security, which seems like a reasonable quick-fix. Given that it's being run through the IETF, which from a quick search, LEAP isn't, it would seem to me that PEAP is the better option of the two...
That isn't what I meant, and I should clarify that I don't want the crap either. The specific ruling appeared to be saying that if they send SMS messages, they don't have to append the "paid for by so and so" message that most political ads have on them. That's reasonable, given the small size of the messages and assuming they send them in the first place. But if the SMS system doesn't give you a way to figure out who sent the message in the first place, then it's broken because it opens the system up to the same spam nonsense that we're subjected to in email. If you can tell who sent it, people will let them know in no uncertain terms how unwise an idea is is to use that "marketing" method.
I don't have a problem with them leaving out "paid for by" stuff as long as the SMS headers say who sent it, just like email (well, presuming it can't be forged like email). If you can't tell who sent it, then that's a problem with SMS itself that needs to be remedied, irrespective of who's sending them.
.asp? That's just asking to be slashdotted. As has been discussed elsewhere, it really doesn't take that much to handle slashdot if you don't burden the site with a bunch of stuff that shouldn't be there in the first place.
...those copy protection devices only work against copy protected bits. All it takes is someone with enough backbone to release media with reasonable settings, ala WB taking the lead in releasing DVDs, and those devices will be 8-tracks. Unless of course, we're all sheep and eat what's fed us, in which case we deserve what we get.
Installing java apps has become practically worthless because you have to go back to Sun and manually click through every one of a bazillion different pieces. I've given up on tomcat and am going back to CGI for my web applications (though there's more to it than just the hassle of getting the pieces --- the whole java framework is crumbling under its mass IMHO, but that's another issue entirely).
...but a long time ago, in an era far far away (the late 80's, pre-public internet when bbs's were king), there was a BBS in Portland, OR that was basically a simple front to two CPM 8" floppy disks in append-only mode. As each floppy filled up, the system would switch to the other and the full one would be replaced with an empty one. People posted anonymously and creatively and it had a loyal following for several years... A limited audience probably helped the signal-to-noise ratio, but it sounds like a less structured version of what you're talking about here, and it worked pretty well...
...but until Tivo et al can do it, there's no point as nothing I want to watch is on when I can (or want to) watch it. And any omniscient being will know that I can't stand to watch live TV any more anyhow.
Since Biden's bill prohibits "illicit authentication features" attached to software, it could become unlawful to distribute software that would run on a Palladium-outfitted computer without Microsoft's permission.
I think the best possible outcome would be for Palladium to not be able to run free software. I can't think of anything that would kill it faster.
Jamie Kellner, chairman of Turner Broadcasting System, told the Television Critics Association this month that DVR users should pay an extra $250 a year for ad-free TV.
If they would put in a "commercial flag" so my Tivo could accurately skip the commercials completely automatically and seamlessly so I truly got "ad-free TV", I would willingly pay $250/year for it. But it would have to be on all channels...
Slashdot Mirror
I had a chance to experience this at this summer's Street of Dreams in Portland, OR ($750K-$2M+ spec homes open to the public for a few weeks). They were showing part of the Quidditch match from Harry Potter. After sitting through about as much time of ads as they showed of the clip, it actually did a respectable job, but I don't think I'd actually like to watch an entire movie being bounced around --- it's much better technology for a few minute ride than a 2-hr movie.
You have a point, he does a lot of "angry young man" roles, but never anything with the range of, say, Robin Williams (though that's a hard act to follow). I did think he was great in Devil's Advocate, but again, he's playing his character. And I agree, Superman isn't for him. Now give Tom Welling a few more years as Superboy and then a few years to age into the role...
What makes Keanu a worse actor than say Sean Connery? As near as I can tell, what most people mean when they say he can't act is that he has a particular style that tends to come through no matter the role. That's definitely true of Sean, and he's one of the world's favorites. I'm really curious, because I think he's done a good job in a wide variety of roles.
Au contraire! I was afraid the holodeck would be terribly misused when they introduced it, but some of the most interesting and creative episodes involve the holodeck, albeit in the series, not the movies:
Moriarity makes the crew think they're not in the holodeck, then <spoiler deleted>
Holodeck lounge singer Vic shows Nog a reason for living
Using the holodeck to recreate testimony and look at different viewpoints
Holodeck addiction --- something that would be a real problem
Using the holodeck as a simulator, what would probably be one of its most useful uses
While they aren't always the best episodes otherwise, it's not because of the holodeck, and some are among the best...
Absolutely! That's why I use them --- it makes taking credit cards painless. I don't keep much in the paypal account, so I'm not out much if some turkey manages to get it frozen somehow...
...in the people who revel at putting down anything that is popular.
John already did that on Ally McBeal...
The study I'm looking for takes into account the entire cycle, including transmission losses.
1. It's often not hard to find a place to plug in if you ask around...
2. I suggest you actually track your daily mileage. I think you'll find an EV is a lot more practical than you expect. They aren't for everyone, but how often do you actually go more than 50 miles at a shot? Or even a day?
3. The Think was definitely under-designed, but that's not inherent in the species. Check out http://www.commutercars.com/.
4. Actually, though I don't want a BIG truck, an electric truck makes perfect sense except for towing: usually when you haul a load, it's relatively short distance. I plan on converting a small pickup for a variety of reasons, but one of them is trips to Home Depot. Even so, I know one guy who used to tow EV drag racer to the races with his EV pickup (he's since sold the pickup to work on other EVs).
You're right --- it's a clear example of how the automakers not only have their heels dug in against EVs, they've thrown out a few anchors as well. I used to have a Sparrow --- an odd looking 3-wheel 1-person EV that cost $15,000. They couldn't build them fast enough. Unfortunately, they've got a number of design problems specific to the Sparrow that make them impractical, but it clearly shows there's a market out there, as even I thought they cost about twice what they should. But 1-person was only a minor annoyance on occasion, and the range was sufficient for 90% of my driving needs, which also means that my Explorer would last much longer, not only in time, but miles (short trips are murder on ICE's). If GM would put battery warmers in the lead-acid version of the EV-1 (lead-acid batteries don't like getting below about 60) and actually sell and support it nationwide, it would be kick-ass: it has good performance and decent range. My Sparrow was extremely peppy and nimble and was a blast to drive. Tomorrow, I'm going to the EV Drag races in Woodburn, OR, where it's common to see 1/4 miles in the low teens and a few specialty vehicles get under 10 seconds.
The only thing keeping us from having commercial EVs is the will to produce them.
Not at all, for a number of reasons:
1. Most, if not all, power plants are much more efficient that ICE's (Internal Combustion Engines).
2. Most power plants are located away from pollution centers, distributing the pollution load so that it has less of an impact.
3. As the power plant mix improves effeciency and produces lower pollution, so do all the EVs they supply.
4. It's easier to retrofit pollution controls on one power plant than the thousands of cars it could support.
I'm looking up the study that backs this up and will post a link as followup...
Because they're tied specifically to Verizon, you have to have Verizon CDPD in your local area to even sign up. Here in Portland, OR, we have "excellent" CDPD coverage (according to the Zaurus Mobile web site), yet they won't let me sign up because Verizon doesn't do CDPD here. If they did, I'd have to pay roaming charges of $.05/Mb (which really isn't *that* bad if I'm careful). Apparently I might be able to arm-twist them into letting me signup if I call them on the phone, but the web site checks your billing zipcode and if it's not a blessed one, you're outta luck.
From my quick scan of the actual IETF draft, it takes the existing PPP authentication model and wraps it in TLS for security, which seems like a reasonable quick-fix. Given that it's being run through the IETF, which from a quick search, LEAP isn't, it would seem to me that PEAP is the better option of the two...
That isn't what I meant, and I should clarify that I don't want the crap either. The specific ruling appeared to be saying that if they send SMS messages, they don't have to append the "paid for by so and so" message that most political ads have on them. That's reasonable, given the small size of the messages and assuming they send them in the first place. But if the SMS system doesn't give you a way to figure out who sent the message in the first place, then it's broken because it opens the system up to the same spam nonsense that we're subjected to in email. If you can tell who sent it, people will let them know in no uncertain terms how unwise an idea is is to use that "marketing" method.
I don't have a problem with them leaving out "paid for by" stuff as long as the SMS headers say who sent it, just like email (well, presuming it can't be forged like email). If you can't tell who sent it, then that's a problem with SMS itself that needs to be remedied, irrespective of who's sending them.
...those copy protection devices only work against copy protected bits. All it takes is someone with enough backbone to release media with reasonable settings, ala WB taking the lead in releasing DVDs, and those devices will be 8-tracks. Unless of course, we're all sheep and eat what's fed us, in which case we deserve what we get.
At the risk of replying to what I would mod "Troll", I would ask just what sort of system you think would work better?
Tom's Quotes:
"SHERIFF BART:" (in a deep voice) Hold it. That next man makes a move, the nigger gets it.
"OLSON JOHNSON:" Hold it men. He's NOT bluffing.
Installing java apps has become practically worthless because you have to go back to Sun and manually click through every one of a bazillion different pieces. I've given up on tomcat and am going back to CGI for my web applications (though there's more to it than just the hassle of getting the pieces --- the whole java framework is crumbling under its mass IMHO, but that's another issue entirely).
...but a long time ago, in an era far far away (the late 80's, pre-public internet when bbs's were king), there was a BBS in Portland, OR that was basically a simple front to two CPM 8" floppy disks in append-only mode. As each floppy filled up, the system would switch to the other and the full one would be replaced with an empty one. People posted anonymously and creatively and it had a loyal following for several years... A limited audience probably helped the signal-to-noise ratio, but it sounds like a less structured version of what you're talking about here, and it worked pretty well...
...but until Tivo et al can do it, there's no point as nothing I want to watch is on when I can (or want to) watch it. And any omniscient being will know that I can't stand to watch live TV any more anyhow.
I think the best possible outcome would be for Palladium to not be able to run free software. I can't think of anything that would kill it faster.
If they would put in a "commercial flag" so my Tivo could accurately skip the commercials completely automatically and seamlessly so I truly got "ad-free TV", I would willingly pay $250/year for it. But it would have to be on all channels...