I was under the impression that you allow(ed) recordings of concerts to be made in a similar manner as the Grateful Dead. How do you feel about the use of Napster to trade this music as opposed to people ripping and trading music from your disks?
The movie was kinda low tech, but I was struck by the similarity in attitude between the workers at the store toward the customers, and in the attitude of some techies I've known toward users. "Top 5 songs about death" could morph into "Top 5 favourite features of OO programing in C++."
Over all a very good movie. Man John Cusack does a good job.
BTW, does anyone know how to pronounce Hjejle??? I think it's probably something like "Hi-yay-lee" with a very short "hi."
But there were distinct signs that interactivity -- which is about content, not just the means of delivery -- is beginning to creep into even this arrogant culture.
You know, if this were a user comment I think it would be moderated as FlameBait.
As for open sourcing the Academy awards - I don't think it needs to be interactive. It's a show. Part of the enjoyment comes from not knowing what's going to happen, to watching the evening unfold. To equate this to software developement is silly; It's generally important to know what's going to happen with software, not so with television.
Hmmmm, registered as a communist when she was younger and married a Cuban "ex-patriot." I'm surprised they let her on TV, raving commie bastard that she was.
IMHO, as per
J:)
Wes Craven - New Nightmare vs Scream 3
on
Review: "Scream 3"
·
· Score: 2
Wes Craven is an interesting guy. I like how he has played with the horror movie patterns in both these movies. He relates both to hollywood and shows the action breaking into the private world of hollywood types. In both Craven found new ways to play with the genre and give us something a little unexpected.
Do you use drugs to help you focus and code? Are you just trying to shut out the world?
I'm not saying that drug based thoughts don't make sense (or at least I don't think I am). I do think that anything I think of while on drugs I can come up with while sober. I can certainly remember them more easily, too.
Having experimented when I was younger I can say that - at least for me - I could not code (or code well) if I were using virtually any drug. Except Caffein, of course.:) It's been my experience that any increase in thinking ability is an illusion. The thoughts I had while using drugs seemed to derive from the same sources as my sober thoughts.
These days I enjoy thinking too much to tamper with it in any serious way. Remember Sangamon's Principle (From Neal Stephenson's Zodiac).
One thing I have noticed is that after a massive coding day - something chock full of creation and logic - I can barely even speak. That's kind of like being on drugs.
IMHO, as per
J:)
Re:My Battle with Infinite Information
on
The Regulon
·
· Score: 1
Further Bonker's Comments:
What Gopnik fails to realize (although he is an engaging writer) is that information is limited by the availability of food - in this case eyeballs. Without enough attention information becomes buried by the sands of the ages. Information has no real life if nobody cares.
Bonker is a great example of this. We are inundated with info every day. And as we've become more and more swamped we've become more and more inured to the sources of info screaming for our attention. That's why web pages are starting to forego banner ads in favour of pop-up windows.
Gopnik even portrays this in his retelling of the Papon Trial. The reality of the crimes gets buried in the abstraction of the retelling. Information overload causes some of the important pieces to be buried and forgotten.
That being said Gopnik is tells a neat story about a fantastic city. "Barney's Version" by Mordecai Richler also does a fantastic job of using Paris as a setting.
flamers, thieves, vandals, fakers are problems only as long as they cannot be identified. If they can be identified their careers tend to be short. Of course, universal identification leads to its own problems.
While no one likes the thought of people keeping tabs on them no one likes to be sabotaged either. So it's a balance. Enough anonimity so that you don't lose your job or access to society for expressing unpopular views. Enough tracability so that if you do damage something or someone you can be tracked down. Kuro5hin comes to mind.
Well, we don't trust our governments, our corporations or our neighbours. So do we trust anyone to hold the keys to our identities - some would already argue that we've already lost control of that. But with no control anyone can be anyone else. Solutions anyone?
As for General Anarchy; that's not necessarily a bad thing. Not necessarily good either.
The same way you put a 10" screen in your PalmPilot, or a 20" screen in your ThinkPad.
Actually a ThinkPad can be plugged into a docking bay which can then be attached to whatever output device you want. They are over priced but it's do-able.
As for the PalmPilot - I agree with you completely, it is in the same ballpark as an iMac. The PalmPilot is, however, much more portable. Both systems typify the thinking that a system is a black box and you - the user - shouldn't muck about on the inside. I don't think it's necessary that everyone muck about on the inside of their system(s) but I think the option should be available.
As for the G4/G3; I love the case. It is the best case I've ever seen for any system. But these systems aren't meant for the average Joe. I think they should be.
And that's my point. While the G4/G3's are nice, it's the iMac which is targetted toward the masses. And it does not even allow the option of fiddling. You have to up the payout significantly to get that ability. Barriers to entry are no way to promote power to the user.
So I reiterate: I'll lend your arguments more credence if you can tell me how to take a standard iMac with a 15" monitor and upgrade it to 19".
And as for your last comment: Give us a break.
I'll give you a break if you actually come up with some reasonable arguements.
Apple has always seemed to position itself as the revolutionary or the innovator. But the design of Apple products seem to push a conformist mode of thinking: closed case and difficult customizability.
How do you reconcile these two ideas? Do you think they need to be reconciled?
Apple has long been noted for having the most (or among the most) user friendly stuff around. What do you think of the trade off between ease of use and level of control? Is there a trade off?
Well, this is what I would want: High Bandwidth, definitely Clean, safe environment Reasonable living costs Reasonable living space Culture - Theaters, cinemas, galleries, museums
Considering they find TV restrictive I bet that their online animations will be similar in content and vulgarity to the South Park movie. I don't know if this is good or bad but I know I'll be entertained. Western Civilization might be falling but it's a nice ride.
Acting on the rage does not - in the long run - hurt the corporations. Nike will go to their insurance company and get a check, the "anarchists" will get the blame, and people's sympathies will go out to that company and the minimum wagers who were put out of work by these events. Nothing will change.
As the demand side in this thing we - in every country - can and should act. To those of you who say nothing can be done just look at the fundamentalist types in Kansas. Action can be taken politically and economically.
Political action can be taken in a couple of ways. Deluge your local rep of whatever with letter writting, e-mail, anything. Get a meeting and explain why the WTO is not a good thing. Focus on the bad things that can and are happening to her or his constituants. But better yet run yourselves. Maybe a House or Senate seat is out of reach now, but with all the apathy around do the fundamentalist thing: focus on a weak area. Like just getting a bunch of people out to hijack a local Democratic (or even better Republican:) party nomination. These are just two of almost unlimited possibilities.
As for the economic side, people aren't going to change their spending habits unless you give them a good reason. Outrage is nice, but most people don't really give a damn about some third world child labor. To get them onside you have to - and I know this is painful - "sell" them on the idea. If you go to lower income people and tell them that the Nike shoes that they have to scrimp and save for cost less than a dollar to assemble and the company that sells them scoffs at the idea of hiring American labor, prove to them that this corporation, for all its commercials, doesn't give a damn about them, then their sales will suffer. If you force them to change their business practices, they will take care of the competition. If they are subject to economic restraints that do not affect their competitors they will use their clout to change that.
Anyway.... putting the drones out of work at one corporate location doesn't really do a lot. Proactive actions must be taken.
I have to agree with the assessment of these two flicks. Last weekend I saw TS2, EOD and the latest Bond flick. The only one worth anything was Toy Story II. Gabriel Byrne was the best thing about EOD (and did a good job in Stigmata too) while Denise Richards looked very good in a wet t-shirt in TWINE.
The thing I was most disappointed by was Arnie's weak attempt at acting. I normally like him, but he failed miserably at trying to play a suicidal ex-cop. It was a pale attempt at copying Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon. Mind you, he was hindered by bad writing. Not only did EOD borrow from Lethal Weapon but it also borrowed from Prince of Darkness (IMHO a much better if older movie). Now borrowing isn't bad. I just wished that they'd done something good with the borrowing. EOD was plagued by bad dialogue and bad editing.
TSII on the other hand was a nice, light comedy that was appropriate for Young-uns as well as adults. It had an interesting plot, nice dialogue, intelligent jokes and excellent animation. It was good entertainment.
TWINE was similar in feel to the last Bond flick - TND. However, it was not nearly as slick. The editing just wasn't on - the pacing felt jerky.
Dogma was as the reviewer said not quite sure what it wanted to be. I do think that it worked anyway. I really enjoyed the film and it's blend of the sacreligious, the profane, and the humourous. I am a fan of Kevin Smith and this movie reaffirms that.
Looking at this essay, Katz seems to divide people into two groups - those who think (Intelligencia) and the rest of the population (Average Joes) while leaving out the techies(technocrats?:). So overall the focus seems to be all the people who have contact with the technology but do not have intimate knowledge of it.
While I cannot necessarily explain why the Joes think the way they do, the Intelligencia have a perfectly normal reaction. They are used to being on top of their subject matter and believe they possess a clear understanding of how the universe works. Technology is something of a black box to most of them so that when someone uses it for "bad" purposes they blame the technology as much as the person. That is a perfectly normal reaction. I've seen many techies have similar reactions to the actions of politicos (or management for that matter).
Ultimately, I think that Politicos (and the intelligencia and management types) should learn more about technology, just as techies should learn more about politics and management. Understanding these different processes can only help all of us.
Ignorance is most dangerous in someone who thinks.
In my experience starting salaries tend to be around $40K CDN - or about $27K American. That's for any type of coding. Of course, rates rise with experience
Anybody want to offer more?:)
J:)
The Last Guru and Roald Dahl
on
5 Novels
·
· Score: 1
I Disagree with the assessment of "The Last Guru." Now it's been a long time since I read the book, but I recall that it really stressed that the divisions that divide us are pretty artificial. I don't think the divisions between people are quite as simple as the book lays out. But I do think that most of them are pretty silly, and if we can learn to put them in their proper place we can deal with each other much more successfully.
Now Roald Dahl has a different writing style, but the idea of empowering the youth is common between Dahl's books and the Last Guru. And that is something that helped me when I was younger.
Maybe we should have reviews of some of Dahl's work.
Slashdot Mirror
I was under the impression that you allow(ed) recordings of concerts to be made in a similar manner as the Grateful Dead. How do you feel about the use of Napster to trade this music as opposed to people ripping and trading music from your disks?
I found this article on the cataloguing of the Genome Database in the Globe and Mail. It talks about the why and how of the database. Here's a quote: In the one year since Canada took possession of the Genome Data Base -- which shares a small room with a large air conditioner -- the on-line system has logged 20 million hits. Estimates suggest it serves more than 1,000 scientists in 50 countries.
IMHO, as per,
J:)
The movie was kinda low tech, but I was struck by the similarity in attitude between the workers at the store toward the customers, and in the attitude of some techies I've known toward users. "Top 5 songs about death" could morph into "Top 5 favourite features of OO programing in C++."
Over all a very good movie. Man John Cusack does a good job.
BTW, does anyone know how to pronounce Hjejle??? I think it's probably something like "Hi-yay-lee" with a very short "hi."
IMHO, as per
J:)
You know, if this were a user comment I think it would be moderated as FlameBait.
As for open sourcing the Academy awards - I don't think it needs to be interactive. It's a show. Part of the enjoyment comes from not knowing what's going to happen, to watching the evening unfold. To equate this to software developement is silly; It's generally important to know what's going to happen with software, not so with television.
IMHO, as per
J:)
Hmmmm, registered as a communist when she was younger and married a Cuban "ex-patriot." I'm surprised they let her on TV, raving commie bastard that she was.
IMHO, as per
J:)
Wes Craven is an interesting guy. I like how he has played with the horror movie patterns in both these movies. He relates both to hollywood and shows the action breaking into the private world of hollywood types. In both Craven found new ways to play with the genre and give us something a little unexpected.
IMHO, as per
J:)
Butter me, Pat.
Hey, You're the guy who made my head hot! Well, I'm not going to let you make my friend's heads hot!
J:)
Do you use drugs to help you focus and code? Are you just trying to shut out the world?
I'm not saying that drug based thoughts don't make sense (or at least I don't think I am). I do think that anything I think of while on drugs I can come up with while sober. I can certainly remember them more easily, too.
Hey, ultimately do whatever works for you.
IMHO, as per.
J:)
Having experimented when I was younger I can say that - at least for me - I could not code (or code well) if I were using virtually any drug. Except Caffein, of course.:) It's been my experience that any increase in thinking ability is an illusion. The thoughts I had while using drugs seemed to derive from the same sources as my sober thoughts.
These days I enjoy thinking too much to tamper with it in any serious way. Remember Sangamon's Principle (From Neal Stephenson's Zodiac).
One thing I have noticed is that after a massive coding day - something chock full of creation and logic - I can barely even speak. That's kind of like being on drugs.
IMHO, as per
J:)
Further Bonker's Comments:
What Gopnik fails to realize (although he is an engaging writer) is that information is limited by the availability of food - in this case eyeballs. Without enough attention information becomes buried by the sands of the ages. Information has no real life if nobody cares.
Bonker is a great example of this. We are inundated with info every day. And as we've become more and more swamped we've become more and more inured to the sources of info screaming for our attention. That's why web pages are starting to forego banner ads in favour of pop-up windows.
Gopnik even portrays this in his retelling of the Papon Trial. The reality of the crimes gets buried in the abstraction of the retelling. Information overload causes some of the important pieces to be buried and forgotten.
That being said Gopnik is tells a neat story about a fantastic city. "Barney's Version" by Mordecai Richler also does a fantastic job of using Paris as a setting.
IMHO, as per
J:)
flamers, thieves, vandals, fakers are problems only as long as they cannot be identified. If they can be identified their careers tend to be short. Of course, universal identification leads to its own problems.
While no one likes the thought of people keeping tabs on them no one likes to be sabotaged either. So it's a balance. Enough anonimity so that you don't lose your job or access to society for expressing unpopular views. Enough tracability so that if you do damage something or someone you can be tracked down. Kuro5hin comes to mind.
Well, we don't trust our governments, our corporations or our neighbours. So do we trust anyone to hold the keys to our identities - some would already argue that we've already lost control of that. But with no control anyone can be anyone else. Solutions anyone?
As for General Anarchy; that's not necessarily a bad thing. Not necessarily good either.
*sigh* IMHO, as per
J:)
Hey, Now there's a good argument.
IMHO, as per
J:)
The same way you put a 10" screen in your PalmPilot, or a 20" screen in your ThinkPad.
Actually a ThinkPad can be plugged into a docking bay which can then be attached to whatever output device you want. They are over priced but it's do-able.
As for the PalmPilot - I agree with you completely, it is in the same ballpark as an iMac. The PalmPilot is, however, much more portable. Both systems typify the thinking that a system is a black box and you - the user - shouldn't muck about on the inside. I don't think it's necessary that everyone muck about on the inside of their system(s) but I think the option should be available.
As for the G4/G3; I love the case. It is the best case I've ever seen for any system. But these systems aren't meant for the average Joe. I think they should be.
And that's my point. While the G4/G3's are nice, it's the iMac which is targetted toward the masses. And it does not even allow the option of fiddling. You have to up the payout significantly to get that ability. Barriers to entry are no way to promote power to the user.
So I reiterate:
I'll lend your arguments more credence if you can tell me how to take a standard iMac with a 15" monitor and upgrade it to 19".
And as for your last comment:
Give us a break.
I'll give you a break if you actually come up with some reasonable arguements.
IMHO, as per
J:)
I'll lend your arguments more credence if you can tell me how to take a standard iMac with a 15" monitor and upgrade it to 19".
Apple has always seemed to position itself as the revolutionary or the innovator. But the design of Apple products seem to push a conformist mode of thinking: closed case and difficult customizability.
How do you reconcile these two ideas? Do you think they need to be reconciled?
J:)
Apple has long been noted for having the most (or among the most) user friendly stuff around. What do you think of the trade off between ease of use and level of control? Is there a trade off?
J:)
Well, this is what I would want:
High Bandwidth, definitely
Clean, safe environment
Reasonable living costs
Reasonable living space
Culture - Theaters, cinemas, galleries, museums
IMHO, as per
J:)
Considering they find TV restrictive I bet that their online animations will be similar in content and vulgarity to the South Park movie. I don't know if this is good or bad but I know I'll be entertained. Western Civilization might be falling but it's a nice ride.
IMHO as per.
J:)
Hey, I had one whole paragraph that didn't have any abbreviations.
J:)
Acting on the rage does not - in the long run - hurt the corporations. Nike will go to their insurance company and get a check, the "anarchists" will get the blame, and people's sympathies will go out to that company and the minimum wagers who were put out of work by these events. Nothing will change.
As the demand side in this thing we - in every country - can and should act. To those of you who say nothing can be done just look at the fundamentalist types in Kansas. Action can be taken politically and economically.
Political action can be taken in a couple of ways. Deluge your local rep of whatever with letter writting, e-mail, anything. Get a meeting and explain why the WTO is not a good thing. Focus on the bad things that can and are happening to her or his constituants. But better yet run yourselves. Maybe a House or Senate seat is out of reach now, but with all the apathy around do the fundamentalist thing: focus on a weak area. Like just getting a bunch of people out to hijack a local Democratic (or even better Republican:) party nomination. These are just two of almost unlimited possibilities.
As for the economic side, people aren't going to change their spending habits unless you give them a good reason. Outrage is nice, but most people don't really give a damn about some third world child labor. To get them onside you have to - and I know this is painful - "sell" them on the idea. If you go to lower income people and tell them that the Nike shoes that they have to scrimp and save for cost less than a dollar to assemble and the company that sells them scoffs at the idea of hiring American labor, prove to them that this corporation, for all its commercials, doesn't give a damn about them, then their sales will suffer. If you force them to change their business practices, they will take care of the competition. If they are subject to economic restraints that do not affect their competitors they will use their clout to change that.
Anyway.... putting the drones out of work at one corporate location doesn't really do a lot. Proactive actions must be taken.
IMHO as per
Constructive Criticism only, please:)
J:)
I have to agree with the assessment of these two flicks. Last weekend I saw TS2, EOD and the latest Bond flick. The only one worth anything was Toy Story II. Gabriel Byrne was the best thing about EOD (and did a good job in Stigmata too) while Denise Richards looked very good in a wet t-shirt in TWINE.
The thing I was most disappointed by was Arnie's weak attempt at acting. I normally like him, but he failed miserably at trying to play a suicidal ex-cop. It was a pale attempt at copying Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon. Mind you, he was hindered by bad writing. Not only did EOD borrow from Lethal Weapon but it also borrowed from Prince of Darkness (IMHO a much better if older movie). Now borrowing isn't bad. I just wished that they'd done something good with the borrowing. EOD was plagued by bad dialogue and bad editing.
TSII on the other hand was a nice, light comedy that was appropriate for Young-uns as well as adults. It had an interesting plot, nice dialogue, intelligent jokes and excellent animation. It was good entertainment.
TWINE was similar in feel to the last Bond flick - TND. However, it was not nearly as slick. The editing just wasn't on - the pacing felt jerky.
Dogma was as the reviewer said not quite sure what it wanted to be. I do think that it worked anyway. I really enjoyed the film and it's blend of the sacreligious, the profane, and the humourous. I am a fan of Kevin Smith and this movie reaffirms that.
Just some thoughts....
IMHO, as per
J:)
Looking at this essay, Katz seems to divide people into two groups - those who think (Intelligencia) and the rest of the population (Average Joes) while leaving out the techies(technocrats?:). So overall the focus seems to be all the people who have contact with the technology but do not have intimate knowledge of it.
While I cannot necessarily explain why the Joes think the way they do, the Intelligencia have a perfectly normal reaction. They are used to being on top of their subject matter and believe they possess a clear understanding of how the universe works. Technology is something of a black box to most of them so that when someone uses it for "bad" purposes they blame the technology as much as the person. That is a perfectly normal reaction. I've seen many techies have similar reactions to the actions of politicos (or management for that matter).
Ultimately, I think that Politicos (and the intelligencia and management types) should learn more about technology, just as techies should learn more about politics and management. Understanding these different processes can only help all of us.
Ignorance is most dangerous in someone who thinks.
IMHO, of course
J:)
In my experience starting salaries tend to be around $40K CDN - or about $27K American. That's for any type of coding. Of course, rates rise with experience
Anybody want to offer more?:)
J:)
I Disagree with the assessment of "The Last Guru." Now it's been a long time since I read the book, but I recall that it really stressed that the divisions that divide us are pretty artificial. I don't think the divisions between people are quite as simple as the book lays out. But I do think that most of them are pretty silly, and if we can learn to put them in their proper place we can deal with each other much more successfully.
Now Roald Dahl has a different writing style, but the idea of empowering the youth is common between Dahl's books and the Last Guru. And that is something that helped me when I was younger.
Maybe we should have reviews of some of Dahl's work.
anywho....
J:)