Then there's also Bruce Sterling's Islands in the Net, Babel 17 and Nova by Samuel R. Delany, and you could also try The Diamond Age and The Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson if you haven't read them already.
That's all I can come up with off the top of my head for techie/cyberpunk, but I'll keep thinking on it.
If you want science fiction in general, I could give you a fairly sizable list.
Moekandu
"Don't pull on that. You don't know what it might be attached to." - Buckaroo Banzai
Hacked into the the network of the real world, I mean. Somehow, either through Agent Smith, or the Architect (personally, I'm betting on the latter), Neo has been able to move past the firewall separating the Matrix from the rest of the networked infrastructure that the machines live/operate in. My friend used the term wi-fi and I also saw it used in a couple of the posts here on/. Essentially, Neo, having been raised with the "crap sticking out of his skin", may also have a wireless connection as well.
There is also the possibility that the brain itself could be configured as a wireless device. After all, we really don't know how the AI brains are constructed within the W Brother's world. And before somebody starts up with the, "It must be another Matrix, 'cause Smith reprogrammed a human," pile of shit, humans can very much be programmed. Cults, mobs, suicide bombers, fanatics, etc. We humans do a pretty good job of programming ourselves. An AI could do it as well.
Now we get to Agent Smith. He's different now. I believe that he is the "inevitable" system crash the the Architect refers to. I may be wrong on this, but it was my understanding that when an agent takes over a human's matrix program, the human at the other end dies. Agent Smith is a virus. "It's all about me." And he will do everything in his power to make everyone him, and thereby killing off the entire human race.
The "choice" that the Architect gave to Neo was to select 17 women and 6 men (the 23 founders of Zion, and consequently the breeding stock for the new crop of humans to be inserted into the Matrix 7.0) or let everyone die. I am assuming that if Neo had made the expected choice, those 23 people would have been saved from a grisly death, while Smith crashed the Matrix and the sentinels fragged the Zionites. This is where Trinity and her fate come in.
I don't believe that the Architect expected or even wanted the choice that Neo made. The other five had given the proper choice. This comes down to the fundamental flaw of the machines' thinking. They don't really understand humans. They can model the humans' behavior scrupulously well, but they don't really understand them. There's this "Anomaly" thing: they see it, and they take steps to deal with it, and they believe that with each iteration, they are coming closer to eradicating it. But they're yanking on a lever they don't understand (Of course, as a complete tangent, you could say the same thing about the members of the RIAA and their fucking pop stars, or even the former execs of Enron, but that's neither here, nor there). And what is really happening, is that each One is getting more and more powerful in the true sense of the movie's theme: true power comes from being able to choose, not being manipulated into a choice. This is what the Oracle and Persephone's euro-trash boy-toy is hammering at Morpheus and Neo about. It's not, "pseudo-philisophical horse crap", it's the theme of the whole fucking movie! Neo has not actually made a true choice in the entire movie, up until his choice to attempt to save Trinity. He's been manipulated into thinking that he has made choices and then doing what others want. "Why are you here?" Euro-trash-boy asks them, and they can't answer! It doesn't stop any of our heroes, but then again, humans can be pretty bullheaded at times.
I particularly loved Persephone, partly because of, -begin drool- "OMFG! She's gorgeous!" -end drool-, but also because she's trapped in her own cage of manipulation vs. choice. No matter what choice she makes, the big end result is the same. The One gets the Keymaker. She just makes it easier. However, she gains a few little things by her actions. She gets a big hunka' piece of Neo (and a little of his love), and gets to simultaneously piss off Trinity and Euro-trash-boy. She can't affect the big picture, but she can certainly change the small things. I have a feeling that we'll s
There is a measurable psychological effect of the aspect ratio of a picture or film. Widescreen gives a more expansive, free, exciting effect, while narrow aspect ratios cause the viewer to feel more confined and pressured and trapped.
You can get the same effects with your composition. Vertical lines increase the drama in a scene. People arguing in a hallway, a conversation through jail bars, the cowboy showdown with the buildings looming on both sides of the characters.
Horizontal lines have the opposite effect. The angle and perspective you set your shot at will affect the audiences emotions.
The aspect ratio of the television is a hardware issue. Forcing an aspect ratio on a movie because of your TV screen is like diluting the gasoline in your car because you don't want to adjust the carburator when it's burning too rich. Or how about deliberately writing crappy code because you just can't handle the fact that the CPU isn't running at 100% when it's executing your software?
Ignore the black bars. You should be watching the movie, not the TV the movie is playing on.
What "those people" did was not illegal. The kid created a localized file search engine. Nothing more, nothing less.
This is not illegal.
Using the legal system to hurt others is also not illegal. But it is unethical.
I, personally, couldn't give a rats ass about what is legal. However, I am very much concerned with behaving ethically. But then, I'm not a member of the RIAA, or an executive of Enron, either. Of course, I can also supply a CD for nearly every.mp3 I have on my music server.
Moekandu
"It is a sad state of affairs when a family can be torn apart by something as simple as a pack of wild dogs."
Jean Grey's death kicks off probably the most famous story arc in X-Men history. Were you paying attention at the end of the movie? You know, the part where the camera is flying over the water of the new lake and you see these nebulous green wings?
That's the Phoenix. Imagine Jean Grey with the power to rip the planet in half. And then for an encore do the same thing to our sun.
Now imagine her going bad. Very bad. And wearing a black leather corset and thigh high boots. Can you say, "Spanking?"
You ain't seen nothin' yet, child.
Moekandu
Yes, I can't believe I'm responding to a -1 Offtopic either.
I don't think the Apollo missions were this complicated. Did any of you guys read the article? I mean, it's absolutely crazy....
Crazy? Hell, that's nothin'. You should try cutting a movie on film (aka celluloid). That's insane.
Gimme digital all the way. If I want 35mm quality, I'll rent a HDW-F900 (the same that they used on the actors in M:R, and also the primary cameras in Episode II). I can get one with a DIT (Digital Image Technician, isn't that a lovely acronym?) for $1500 for one day and discounts for multi-day shoots. And I live in Phoenix. That's 30 minutes of raw 35mm film.
Technology or not, I have to admit I'm starting to get excited.
Moekandu
"Even in a Democracy, Armor rocks." - Peabody, an observation of CivIII and Iraq
Okay, back on track. The results you're gonna get are directly related to the information you pump into this Hit-Maker Doohickey. GIGO. From their website, they are starting with a base dataset of over 250,00 songs. This encompasses way more than "pop".
Remember, a "hit" does not necessarily mean "pop".
Compare Brittney Spears' sharp spikes in sales and popularity with Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, which has the distinction of being on Billboard's Top 200 Albums continuously for over twenty years! For every Macarena abortion, you have groups like the Beatles. For every boy band, The Beach Boys. For every crotch rock band, Led Zeppelin and Rush. For every Unt ts Unt ts Unt ts dance tune, you have DJ Shadow and Thievery Corporation. For every Christina Aguillera, you have a Tori Amos and Loreena McKennitt. I could do this all day.
With The Machine in fine working order, you can pretty much guarantee a Platinum record. That's only one million suggestible morons out of the US population of 350 million. Strap The Machine to any horse's ass and you will get a damn fast horse. But it won't last.
IMNSHO, I think that the results will begin to show that the Labels have been backing the wrong horses. Music today doesn't suck, just the stuff they are trying to force down our gullets. It's a classic case of sacrificing the future for immediate satiation. Nothing would please me more to see all those marketing dollars going to good bands (and DJ's, the turntablist kind, not the radio personalities). The one's that will be around for a while.
We will see a change for the better, but only if the tool is used correctly. Confucius say, "He who use tool well, will dominate in the long run. He who use tool poorly have big horse ass."
"No, no, no, you don't understand. Toby got worked!"
We've been calling it by Nemesis's B-Movie name...
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Critics Pan Nemesis
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· Score: 1
Psychotic Romulan Vampires From Beyond The Neutral Zone!
This may be because it is the program that I started with, but Lightwave's interface makes the most sense to me. The Modeler is just that. Layout is essentially your virtual set. Set up your camera, lights, props and then off you go. Layout has a very good built-in renderer (there were 50 shots in Titanic that used Lightwave, and many other examples). There are also plugins you can get to enhance it, as well.
Your scenes are text files. And the scripting language, LScript, lets you generate and modify scenes directly. You can define your own hot-keys, including calling up custom scripts and plugins.
There are also plugins that let you import models form different formats. So, if you have a preferred modeler. ..
We should always worry about robots and ethics. Hell, we should worry about ethics. Period.
However, what concerns me isn't whether the robots (AI, whatever) are behaving ethically, but whether the humans are.
Re:I turned down a well paying job at Walgreens
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Suit Up Or Ship Out?
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Hold on there pardner!
First, you state that dress code is just a control issue. Then you advise us to all buckle under and conform. What? That says to me, "I have no self-respect because you can walk all over me." There is a significant difference between casual and scruffy.
Corporate Management tends to like the "fake it 'til you make it" policy. It is almost as if they prefer the semblance of order and productivity as opposed to the reality.
The guy interviewed in the article stated that comfort is important, therefore we should wear business attire. Huh? How is that logical?
Does putting on a tie suddenly make one communicate better? Does cloaking one's anti-social behavior in "business-speak" make one less anti-social? Does wearing a nice suit keep one from behaving unethically? Does it make one a good person, or does it merely help to hide one's greed, prejudice and megalomaniacal ego?
On average, people work better with a set schedule and a reasonable number of hours during the week. That doesn't mean that it must be 8-5 or some other arbitrarily set schedule. Or that one can't crank out sixteen hours a day for 3 days and then take the rest of the week off. Just because most people prefer shift to start in the morning, doesn't mean that they work best for me. Business needs are one thing, arbitrary control is quite another.
Companies that enforce a strict dress code for all employees regardless of job duties, function or necessity show to me that the upper management is more concerned with appearances and control than productivity or innovation. I won't work for them and sure as hell won't buy their stock.
Moekandu
"It is a sad time when a family can be torn apart by something as simple as a pack of wild dogs."
Losing $0.20 per file shared? That's got to be complete bullshit! The total number of shared files is many many times the number of CD sold each year! If you took that number literally, they would have no fucking sales at all!
Sorry, that comment just tweaked me a bit.
Moekandu
Re:whoever wrote this artlcle is on crack.
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Open Blade Servers?
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A half million for 336 CPU's? Hell, compared to Sun, that's incredibly cheap! Sun would charge you $10K per blade, not 5 for that cost.
Oh, yeah. Don't forget the cabinets, the SAN storage enclosures, the SAN switches, cabling, tape libraries (and media), and UPS's. Now we're talking bucks. Welcome to the world of business.
Moekandu
Re:Completely Worthless Reply to the Post....
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Open Blade Servers?
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· Score: 3, Informative
First of all, the power consumption of an AMD XP running 1600Mhz (or even a 1600+) uses significantly more power than two of these 800Mhz CPU's. Talking about one CPU is one thing, but 40? Or 200? Now you're talking about enough heat generated to cause spontaneous combustion. Low power is a good thing.
Also, it is not just the Mhz that determines the usefulness of a given configuration. Case in point, for many large multi-user database applications the number of concurrent processes (so many per CPU based on the app itself) that the system can do is much more important than the clock speed of the CPU's. Hence the need for dual, quad and oct servers and clustering with shared storage.
Moekandu
"It is a sad time when a family can be torn apart by something as simple as a pack of wild dogs."
I believe, what he is asking, is whether or not someone will develop a "blade" hardware standard that in not proprietary. That way you can go down to Fry's, buy the parts and put together your own chassis with blade servers and storage enclosures.
Much like the ATX, NLX and FlexATC form factors. Off the shelf backplanes, barebones blades, etc.
Give it a couple years or so. 1U and 2U barebones server kits are getting pretty prevalent. I think it will come down to how quickly small/medium business will embrace blade servers before Intel and others will start putting out "whitebox" solutions.
Patiently waiting, Moekandu
"It is a sad time when a family can be torn apart by something as simple as a pack of wild dogs."
One thing I've noticed with all of this FUD floating around here, is that people constantly refer to users taking up a total of their bandwidth. But bandwidth is the theoretical total of how much that can be pushed through the pipeline.
When they say 1 percent of users are using 16 percent of the bandwidth, they really mean is the "hogs" are 16 percent of the total traffic.
That doesn't mean the total amount of traffic is consuming all of the bandwidth. If their network is configured well, the total traffic in any given region could very easily be a small fraction of total bandwidth.
This will also vary based on time of day, and other factors.
Moekandu
"It is a sad time when a family can be torn apart by something as simple as a pack of wild dogs."
Record companies make money from CD's. Hell, the profit margins are ridiculous compared to many other industries. Pressing a CD is $0.20, the jewel case is $0.05, and the printing may be as high as a dollar. Recording costs? Travel expenses? Venue fees? Those get charged back to the artists. It's the artists that lose money.
Moekandu
"It is a sad time when a family can be torn apart by something as simple as a pack of wild dogs."
In a recent article (don't remember where, been getting kinda blogged down), it was stated that the USPTO has been "rubber stamping" between 30 and 40% of the patents submitted each year. The USPTO, of course, is very worried because it used to be between 60 and 70% yearly, and their budget is based on the number of patents awarded, not the number reviewed.
That's the big one to email your Rep and Sen about. Get them to change the budget based on the work necessary (i.e. reviewing patent applications), not on the number of awarded.
And for the other, those people who believe what is legal is therefore ethical, well. . . nerfbats. An army of properly wielded nerfbats would go a long way to 'splainin' things 'round here.
Moekandu
"It is a sad time when a family can be torn apart by something as simple as a pack of wild dogs."
I do not believe what Clean Flicks is doing is inherently wrong. People should have the right to edit, modify or otherwise change any piece of art that they own. Like The Phanton Edit. . .
However!
I do believe that the director and editor(s) should have the option to take their name off the modified work before that work is sold or otherwise distributed to others. An "Alan Smithy" clause, as it exists between directors and producers.
I don't state that this would be simple or even cheap to enforce, but I sure as hell don't want someone creating an abomination based on my work and then distributing it with nothing more than a "Stuff was changed." disclaimer.
On the other hand, if someone pulls off a brilliant bit of re-editing, I may just hire them for my next film.
Moekandu
"It is a sad time when a family can be torn apart by something as simple as a pack of wild dogs."
It's the promotion, distribution and airplay that the big boys have a stranglehold on. As she stated in her answer, negotiating with distributors, trying to make sure you're getting your album into the Virgin Megastore (just because you have the album available from a distributor doesn't mean anyone will buy it to stock their stores), coming up with the advertising dollars, and convincing the radio stations to play your single are the major difficulties with making it big on your own.
Wow, that was a hell of a sentence. Sorry. Anyway. ..
This is a lot of work, but at first glance it seems to be something that could be accomplished. However, it seems that the prevailing attitude among those that distribute and sell music is that of the auto repair shop owner that is a hundred miles from the nearest town.
"How much is the new battery gonna cost?" you ask while picking at your salt stained shirt, grateful for the air conditioner blowing noisily in the grimy office.
The owner wipes a greasy hand on his pants and fixes you with his beady eyes. "How much you got?"
However convoluted it may be, payola from record companies to the radio station will not stop without some major, earth-shaking changes. Because the record companies don't trust each other. It's like two dogs with their jaws around the other's throat. What we need is someone with a garden hose.
The process is more difficult that it needs to be. But, until we weed the greed and avarice out of our society, it will be very difficult to change.
Moekandu
"It is a sad time when a family can be torn apart by something as simple as a pack of wild dogs."
I knew what you meant in the interview. I personally think arguing over semantics when trying to describe, refer to, in any case pigeonhole a growing and maturing art form is a waste of time.
If I don't know what the "proper" term for something, I'll make it up. If I get a blank look from someone, I'll use a different term; and continue on, until understanding is reached.
Whatever you wish to call it, it is wonderful to see that the scene means as much to you as it does me.
Moekandu
"The real hip-hop is over here!" - KRS One (with the help of the audience at Coachella, April 2002)
Somebody throws you an open line like this and all your can to is ask for is bug fixes, new versions of existing stuff, and BillG's head on a platter?
What happened to your imagination?
Aristoi Walter Jon Williams. The Diamond Age Neal Stephenson. Dreaming Metal Melissa Scott.
And fer fuck sake! Neuromancer!!!! (William Gibson, of course)
Can't we just wish a little?
How 'bout a completely new programming language? Not just different syntax, but completely redesigned from the basic theories on communication on up.
How 'bout the next generation OS built on this new language? Not Linux, not WinXP, not Java, not "some new flavor of" but the next step in OS evolution? Think cyberpunk, guys. (And, no, not the RPG, but the real stuff, Gibson, Sterling, Williams, Scott, Delany, etc). Only MS could make a 3D interface boring. A Hallway? Give me a break.
How 'bout computer circuitry embedded into clothing? Hell, how 'bout computer circuitry embedded in your head?
How 'bout Salma Hayek?
How 'bout pulling your thinking cap out of the closet, dusting it off and running wild with it?
Moekandu
"The object is not to bring your enemy to his knees, but his senses." - Ghandi.
"That man has a mind like a steel trap. It tends to slam shut at the slightest quiver, and things tend to come out mangled." - Me.
Of course, if your enemy has no senses, a proper use of WhoopAss will do the trick!
I've got a friend that has the Sprint Broadband service. He says that one, the LOS is negotiable, and two, Sprint's newsgroups are one of the most complete.
They offer porn, but you can't download it.
So, ya think this qualifies as class action material?
Hmmmmm. . .
Moekandu
"Think of it as evolution in action." Oath of Fealty - Niven & Pournelle
Slashdot Mirror
read some VOGON poetry!
.
It's probably better than the Poetry Slam down at the coffee house. .
Moekandu
Pay attention next time, cause the sig here was really funny.
If you want more cyberpunk, he's your man.
Voice of the Whirlwind
Hardwired
and for a little post-cyberpunk era:
Aristoi
Actually, all his stuff is primo-fantastico.
Then there's also Bruce Sterling's Islands in the Net, Babel 17 and Nova by Samuel R. Delany, and you could also try The Diamond Age and The Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson if you haven't read them already.
That's all I can come up with off the top of my head for techie/cyberpunk, but I'll keep thinking on it.
If you want science fiction in general, I could give you a fairly sizable list.
Moekandu
"Don't pull on that. You don't know what it might be attached to." - Buckaroo Banzai
Hacked into the the network of the real world, I mean. Somehow, either through Agent Smith, or the Architect (personally, I'm betting on the latter), Neo has been able to move past the firewall separating the Matrix from the rest of the networked infrastructure that the machines live/operate in. My friend used the term wi-fi and I also saw it used in a couple of the posts here on /. Essentially, Neo, having been raised with the "crap sticking out of his skin", may also have a wireless connection as well.
There is also the possibility that the brain itself could be configured as a wireless device. After all, we really don't know how the AI brains are constructed within the W Brother's world. And before somebody starts up with the, "It must be another Matrix, 'cause Smith reprogrammed a human," pile of shit, humans can very much be programmed. Cults, mobs, suicide bombers, fanatics, etc. We humans do a pretty good job of programming ourselves. An AI could do it as well.
Now we get to Agent Smith. He's different now. I believe that he is the "inevitable" system crash the the Architect refers to. I may be wrong on this, but it was my understanding that when an agent takes over a human's matrix program, the human at the other end dies. Agent Smith is a virus. "It's all about me." And he will do everything in his power to make everyone him, and thereby killing off the entire human race.
The "choice" that the Architect gave to Neo was to select 17 women and 6 men (the 23 founders of Zion, and consequently the breeding stock for the new crop of humans to be inserted into the Matrix 7.0) or let everyone die. I am assuming that if Neo had made the expected choice, those 23 people would have been saved from a grisly death, while Smith crashed the Matrix and the sentinels fragged the Zionites. This is where Trinity and her fate come in.
I don't believe that the Architect expected or even wanted the choice that Neo made. The other five had given the proper choice. This comes down to the fundamental flaw of the machines' thinking. They don't really understand humans. They can model the humans' behavior scrupulously well, but they don't really understand them. There's this "Anomaly" thing: they see it, and they take steps to deal with it, and they believe that with each iteration, they are coming closer to eradicating it. But they're yanking on a lever they don't understand (Of course, as a complete tangent, you could say the same thing about the members of the RIAA and their fucking pop stars, or even the former execs of Enron, but that's neither here, nor there). And what is really happening, is that each One is getting more and more powerful in the true sense of the movie's theme: true power comes from being able to choose, not being manipulated into a choice. This is what the Oracle and Persephone's euro-trash boy-toy is hammering at Morpheus and Neo about. It's not, "pseudo-philisophical horse crap", it's the theme of the whole fucking movie! Neo has not actually made a true choice in the entire movie, up until his choice to attempt to save Trinity. He's been manipulated into thinking that he has made choices and then doing what others want. "Why are you here?" Euro-trash-boy asks them, and they can't answer! It doesn't stop any of our heroes, but then again, humans can be pretty bullheaded at times.
I particularly loved Persephone, partly because of, -begin drool- "OMFG! She's gorgeous!" -end drool-, but also because she's trapped in her own cage of manipulation vs. choice. No matter what choice she makes, the big end result is the same. The One gets the Keymaker. She just makes it easier. However, she gains a few little things by her actions. She gets a big hunka' piece of Neo (and a little of his love), and gets to simultaneously piss off Trinity and Euro-trash-boy. She can't affect the big picture, but she can certainly change the small things. I have a feeling that we'll s
There is a measurable psychological effect of the aspect ratio of a picture or film. Widescreen gives a more expansive, free, exciting effect, while narrow aspect ratios cause the viewer to feel more confined and pressured and trapped.
You can get the same effects with your composition. Vertical lines increase the drama in a scene. People arguing in a hallway, a conversation through jail bars, the cowboy showdown with the buildings looming on both sides of the characters.
Horizontal lines have the opposite effect. The angle and perspective you set your shot at will affect the audiences emotions.
The aspect ratio of the television is a hardware issue. Forcing an aspect ratio on a movie because of your TV screen is like diluting the gasoline in your car because you don't want to adjust the carburator when it's burning too rich. Or how about deliberately writing crappy code because you just can't handle the fact that the CPU isn't running at 100% when it's executing your software?
Ignore the black bars. You should be watching the movie, not the TV the movie is playing on.
Moekandu
"Action!"
This is not illegal.
Using the legal system to hurt others is also not illegal. But it is unethical.
I, personally, couldn't give a rats ass about what is legal. However, I am very much concerned with behaving ethically. But then, I'm not a member of the RIAA, or an executive of Enron, either. Of course, I can also supply a CD for nearly every .mp3 I have on my music server.
Moekandu
"It is a sad state of affairs when a family can be torn apart by something as simple as a pack of wild dogs."
Good God! Now I just feel old.
Jean Grey's death kicks off probably the most famous story arc in X-Men history. Were you paying attention at the end of the movie? You know, the part where the camera is flying over the water of the new lake and you see these nebulous green wings?
That's the Phoenix. Imagine Jean Grey with the power to rip the planet in half. And then for an encore do the same thing to our sun.
Now imagine her going bad. Very bad. And wearing a black leather corset and thigh high boots. Can you say, "Spanking?"
You ain't seen nothin' yet, child.
Moekandu
Yes, I can't believe I'm responding to a -1 Offtopic either.
Crazy? Hell, that's nothin'. You should try cutting a movie on film (aka celluloid). That's insane.
Gimme digital all the way. If I want 35mm quality, I'll rent a HDW-F900 (the same that they used on the actors in M:R, and also the primary cameras in Episode II). I can get one with a DIT (Digital Image Technician, isn't that a lovely acronym?) for $1500 for one day and discounts for multi-day shoots. And I live in Phoenix. That's 30 minutes of raw 35mm film.
Technology or not, I have to admit I'm starting to get excited.
Moekandu
"Even in a Democracy, Armor rocks." - Peabody, an observation of CivIII and Iraq
Okay, back on track. The results you're gonna get are directly related to the information you pump into this Hit-Maker Doohickey. GIGO. From their website, they are starting with a base dataset of over 250,00 songs. This encompasses way more than "pop".
Remember, a "hit" does not necessarily mean "pop".
Compare Brittney Spears' sharp spikes in sales and popularity with Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, which has the distinction of being on Billboard's Top 200 Albums continuously for over twenty years! For every Macarena abortion, you have groups like the Beatles. For every boy band, The Beach Boys. For every crotch rock band, Led Zeppelin and Rush.
For every Unt ts Unt ts Unt ts dance tune, you have DJ Shadow and Thievery Corporation. For every Christina Aguillera, you have a Tori Amos and Loreena McKennitt. I could do this all day.
With The Machine in fine working order, you can pretty much guarantee a Platinum record. That's only one million suggestible morons out of the US population of 350 million. Strap The Machine to any horse's ass and you will get a damn fast horse. But it won't last.
IMNSHO, I think that the results will begin to show that the Labels have been backing the wrong horses. Music today doesn't suck, just the stuff they are trying to force down our gullets. It's a classic case of sacrificing the future for immediate satiation. Nothing would please me more to see all those marketing dollars going to good bands (and DJ's, the turntablist kind, not the radio personalities). The one's that will be around for a while.
We will see a change for the better, but only if the tool is used correctly. Confucius say, "He who use tool well, will dominate in the long run. He who use tool poorly have big horse ass."
"No, no, no, you don't understand. Toby got worked!"
Psychotic Romulan Vampires From Beyond The Neutral Zone!
This was even before it came out. Seems fitting.
Moekandu
This may be because it is the program that I started with, but Lightwave's interface makes the most sense to me. The Modeler is just that. Layout is essentially your virtual set. Set up your camera, lights, props and then off you go. Layout has a very good built-in renderer (there were 50 shots in Titanic that used Lightwave, and many other examples). There are also plugins you can get to enhance it, as well.
.
Your scenes are text files. And the scripting language, LScript, lets you generate and modify scenes directly. You can define your own hot-keys, including calling up custom scripts and plugins.
There are also plugins that let you import models form different formats. So, if you have a preferred modeler. .
Moekandu
My cats would love another expensive toy to play with. Especially one that moves on it's own.
We should always worry about robots and ethics. Hell, we should worry about ethics. Period.
However, what concerns me isn't whether the robots (AI, whatever) are behaving ethically, but whether the humans are.
Hold on there pardner!
First, you state that dress code is just a control issue. Then you advise us to all buckle under and conform. What? That says to me, "I have no self-respect because you can walk all over me." There is a significant difference between casual and scruffy.
Corporate Management tends to like the "fake it 'til you make it" policy. It is almost as if they prefer the semblance of order and productivity as opposed to the reality.
The guy interviewed in the article stated that comfort is important, therefore we should wear business attire. Huh? How is that logical?
Does putting on a tie suddenly make one communicate better? Does cloaking one's anti-social behavior in "business-speak" make one less anti-social? Does wearing a nice suit keep one from behaving unethically? Does it make one a good person, or does it merely help to hide one's greed, prejudice and megalomaniacal ego?
On average, people work better with a set schedule and a reasonable number of hours during the week. That doesn't mean that it must be 8-5 or some other arbitrarily set schedule. Or that one can't crank out sixteen hours a day for 3 days and then take the rest of the week off. Just because most people prefer shift to start in the morning, doesn't mean that they work best for me. Business needs are one thing, arbitrary control is quite another.
Companies that enforce a strict dress code for all employees regardless of job duties, function or necessity show to me that the upper management is more concerned with appearances and control than productivity or innovation. I won't work for them and sure as hell won't buy their stock.
Moekandu
"It is a sad time when a family can be torn apart by something as simple as a pack of wild dogs."
Losing $0.20 per file shared? That's got to be complete bullshit! The total number of shared files is many many times the number of CD sold each year! If you took that number literally, they would have no fucking sales at all!
Sorry, that comment just tweaked me a bit.
Moekandu
A half million for 336 CPU's? Hell, compared to Sun, that's incredibly cheap! Sun would charge you $10K per blade, not 5 for that cost.
Oh, yeah. Don't forget the cabinets, the SAN storage enclosures, the SAN switches, cabling, tape libraries (and media), and UPS's. Now we're talking bucks. Welcome to the world of business.
Moekandu
First of all, the power consumption of an AMD XP running 1600Mhz (or even a 1600+) uses significantly more power than two of these 800Mhz CPU's. Talking about one CPU is one thing, but 40? Or 200? Now you're talking about enough heat generated to cause spontaneous combustion. Low power is a good thing.
Also, it is not just the Mhz that determines the usefulness of a given configuration. Case in point, for many large multi-user database applications the number of concurrent processes (so many per CPU based on the app itself) that the system can do is much more important than the clock speed of the CPU's. Hence the need for dual, quad and oct servers and clustering with shared storage.
Moekandu
"It is a sad time when a family can be torn apart by something as simple as a pack of wild dogs."
I believe, what he is asking, is whether or not someone will develop a "blade" hardware standard that in not proprietary. That way you can go down to Fry's, buy the parts and put together your own chassis with blade servers and storage enclosures.
Much like the ATX, NLX and FlexATC form factors. Off the shelf backplanes, barebones blades, etc.
Give it a couple years or so. 1U and 2U barebones server kits are getting pretty prevalent. I think it will come down to how quickly small/medium business will embrace blade servers before Intel and others will start putting out "whitebox" solutions.
Patiently waiting,
Moekandu
"It is a sad time when a family can be torn apart by something as simple as a pack of wild dogs."
One thing I've noticed with all of this FUD floating around here, is that people constantly refer to users taking up a total of their bandwidth. But bandwidth is the theoretical total of how much that can be pushed through the pipeline.
When they say 1 percent of users are using 16 percent of the bandwidth, they really mean is the "hogs" are 16 percent of the total traffic.
That doesn't mean the total amount of traffic is consuming all of the bandwidth. If their network is configured well, the total traffic in any given region could very easily be a small fraction of total bandwidth.
This will also vary based on time of day, and other factors.
Moekandu
"It is a sad time when a family can be torn apart by something as simple as a pack of wild dogs."
They lied.
Record companies make money from CD's. Hell, the profit margins are ridiculous compared to many other industries. Pressing a CD is $0.20, the jewel case is $0.05, and the printing may be as high as a dollar. Recording costs? Travel expenses? Venue fees? Those get charged back to the artists. It's the artists that lose money.
Moekandu
"It is a sad time when a family can be torn apart by something as simple as a pack of wild dogs."
In a recent article (don't remember where, been getting kinda blogged down), it was stated that the USPTO has been "rubber stamping" between 30 and 40% of the patents submitted each year. The USPTO, of course, is very worried because it used to be between 60 and 70% yearly, and their budget is based on the number of patents awarded, not the number reviewed.
That's the big one to email your Rep and Sen about. Get them to change the budget based on the work necessary (i.e. reviewing patent applications), not on the number of awarded.
And for the other, those people who believe what is legal is therefore ethical, well. . . nerfbats. An army of properly wielded nerfbats would go a long way to 'splainin' things 'round here.
Moekandu
"It is a sad time when a family can be torn apart by something as simple as a pack of wild dogs."
However!
I do believe that the director and editor(s) should have the option to take their name off the modified work before that work is sold or otherwise distributed to others. An "Alan Smithy" clause, as it exists between directors and producers.
I don't state that this would be simple or even cheap to enforce, but I sure as hell don't want someone creating an abomination based on my work and then distributing it with nothing more than a "Stuff was changed." disclaimer.
On the other hand, if someone pulls off a brilliant bit of re-editing, I may just hire them for my next film.
Moekandu
"It is a sad time when a family can be torn apart by something as simple as a pack of wild dogs."
It's the promotion, distribution and airplay that the big boys have a stranglehold on. As she stated in her answer, negotiating with distributors, trying to make sure you're getting your album into the Virgin Megastore (just because you have the album available from a distributor doesn't mean anyone will buy it to stock their stores), coming up with the advertising dollars, and convincing the radio stations to play your single are the major difficulties with making it big on your own.
.
Wow, that was a hell of a sentence. Sorry. Anyway. .
This is a lot of work, but at first glance it seems to be something that could be accomplished. However, it seems that the prevailing attitude among those that distribute and sell music is that of the auto repair shop owner that is a hundred miles from the nearest town.
"How much is the new battery gonna cost?" you ask while picking at your salt stained shirt, grateful for the air conditioner blowing noisily in the grimy office.
The owner wipes a greasy hand on his pants and fixes you with his beady eyes. "How much you got?"
However convoluted it may be, payola from record companies to the radio station will not stop without some major, earth-shaking changes. Because the record companies don't trust each other. It's like two dogs with their jaws around the other's throat. What we need is someone with a garden hose.
The process is more difficult that it needs to be. But, until we weed the greed and avarice out of our society, it will be very difficult to change.
Moekandu
"It is a sad time when a family can be torn apart by something as simple as a pack of wild dogs."
Siva,
I knew what you meant in the interview. I personally think arguing over semantics when trying to describe, refer to, in any case pigeonhole a growing and maturing art form is a waste of time.
If I don't know what the "proper" term for something, I'll make it up. If I get a blank look from someone, I'll use a different term; and continue on, until understanding is reached.
Whatever you wish to call it, it is wonderful to see that the scene means as much to you as it does me.
Moekandu
"The real hip-hop is over here! " - KRS One (with the help of the audience at Coachella, April 2002)
Somebody throws you an open line like this and all your can to is ask for is bug fixes, new versions of existing stuff, and BillG's head on a platter?
What happened to your imagination?
Aristoi Walter Jon Williams.
The Diamond Age Neal Stephenson.
Dreaming Metal Melissa Scott.
And fer fuck sake! Neuromancer!!!! (William Gibson, of course)
Can't we just wish a little?
How 'bout a completely new programming language? Not just different syntax, but completely redesigned from the basic theories on communication on up.
How 'bout the next generation OS built on this new language? Not Linux, not WinXP, not Java, not "some new flavor of" but the next step in OS evolution? Think cyberpunk, guys. (And, no, not the RPG, but the real stuff, Gibson, Sterling, Williams, Scott, Delany, etc). Only MS could make a 3D interface boring. A Hallway? Give me a break.
How 'bout computer circuitry embedded into clothing? Hell, how 'bout computer circuitry embedded in your head?
How 'bout Salma Hayek?
How 'bout pulling your thinking cap out of the closet, dusting it off and running wild with it?
Moekandu
"The object is not to bring your enemy to his knees, but his senses." - Ghandi.
"That man has a mind like a steel trap. It tends to slam shut at the slightest quiver, and things tend to come out mangled." - Me.
Of course, if your enemy has no senses, a proper use of WhoopAss will do the trick!
They offer porn, but you can't download it.
So, ya think this qualifies as class action material?
Hmmmmm. . .
Moekandu
"Think of it as evolution in action." Oath of Fealty - Niven & Pournelle