By default, I believe gaim sorts your buddies alphabetically. Go to Preferences \ Interface \ Buddy List and switch the "Buddy List Sorting" to "none" or whatever you want.
I've found Google Desktop to be handy in finding files (and also emails at work, since we use Outlook). However, no support for Thunderbird email (which I use at home) searching bums me out. Hopefully now that both Firefox and Thunderbird have reached 1.0 they will more strongly consider adding these to the search lineup.
I've had these for a year or two and I like them a lot too. What may not be so good is they tend to pretty much block out all outside sound, which means they're great for wearing on a subway or train, but if you're driving you may want to know an 18-wheeler is headed straight for you. In any case, they're very comfortable and sound pretty decent for the price.
Isn't this the reason why many bootleg DVDs from Hong Kong and China are "region-less" and why "region-free" DVD players also come from the same place? (By the way, do these actually work or is that just a myth/scam of some sort?)
Yes, all bootleg DVDs are region-free to allow the most number of people to use them. That is not to say many legitimate DVDs aren't region-free, in China, Hong Kong, and elsewhere (while most DVDs from the US are region 1, you will find many that have no region restrictions built-in).
DVD players that can be modified to be region-free (usually through a remote hack) work excellently. The Nerd-out forums and dvdrhelp's player hack list are both very helpful in finding a region-free player or finding out if your current player is region-free. But basically, once you have a region-free player, you can watch DVDs from anywhere. Especially if you have one that does proper PAL -> NTSC conversion, allowing you to play anamorphic widescreen DVDs from Europe and any other PAL countries (CyberHome and Malata are two brands to look at with this feature).
No, it won't. Mainland China is now separated into its own region (region 6, region 3 is used in Hong Kong, South Korea, and some other Southeast Asian countries). Anyone who is making bootleg video isn't going to play by the rules; they want to maximize the number of people they can sell to. So if you go on ebay to buy those bootleg copies of Star Wars IV - VI you won't find that they say "Region 6. Only playable in China!" It'll be the same way with this AVS format. It also assumes this technology would replace DVDs in China, which seems a bit far-stretched at this point.
Thankfully, the White House Drug Czar's office has seen fit to, again, buy *two* of these overpriced ad slots to propagandize about the evils of marijuana. What a perfect way to spend my tax dollars, thanks guys!
I suppose. Or maybe audiences just got desensitized to mishmash logic and gaping plot holes, because their attention spans were shrunken past the Schwarschild radius... I happen to believe that the influence of music video directors on mainstream media has been a disaster that's consigned nearly a whole generation of films to the dustbin of failed art.
And don't even get me started about the influence of advertisement directors....
i think it really depends what you're looking at..david fincher, director of "seven", "the game", and "fight club", started his career directing advertisements. part of his appeal, for me, is the visual style he uses (influenced, i would imagine, by his commercial days). this could be a problem- all flashy showmanship with no real substance to back things up, but fincher seems to have something to say in most of his work (i haven't seen "aliens 3" or "panic room" though).
spike jonze is another example- and he came from the dreaded music video world (however, he's been one of the most celebrated video directors; by doing the beastie boys' "sabotage", "it's oh so quiet" by bjork, and many others. again, "being john malkovich" was very interesting for its visual style, but there was more there than in your average jerry bruckheimer festival of stupidity.
i think the real assault on filmmaking comes from imitators trying to copy some of the mtv-style 5 edits per second madness. the guys that actually come from doing videos and commercials can be very successful at creating cinematic substance, even if their contemporaries trying to catch up to them cannot match their styles.
the mp3cue plugin does just that. you can make a.cue file when ripping a cd to create 1 continuous mp3 (so no glitches arise between tracks when listening), but with the plugin it lists the separate tracks and you can skip ahead to them if you'd like..i'd imagine you could do something similar with this movie track idea..
It's already well-known that the VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY grosses more money than the film industry (and hey, probably nets more too -- put that in your "2 out of 10" pipe and smoke it, Mr. Valenti!).
That's actually something a lot of people like to claim, but it's only factoring in US theater receipts (not home video/dvd/tv licensing agreements). Adding in the rest of that (or even just one) and it blows away anything the videogame industry takes in.
iluvpr0n.
Re:Not a huge anime fan, but...
on
NY Times on Anime
·
· Score: 4, Informative
If you don't speak Japanese, then watching it in the original language is pointless. Especially if you miss the entire visual aspect of the movie because you're too busy keeping up with the english subtitles.
If you've ever watched a dub while reading the subtitles you'll note the huge difference you'll find in most animé translations. They tend to make the dub easily understood by your average 8 year old (even in a non-kids show), while the subtitle translation is usually a more literal translation (occasionally some half-assed companies release "dubtitles" that just uses the watered-down dub script, which is fairly annoying).
Also, by watching a fair amount of Japanese movies/tv you'll begin to pick up on certain bits of the language anyway, which can help you understand the various intonations and techniques employed by the voice actors, which helps you understand the characters/plot/motivations better.
Also, some of the dubs are done without much care at all, so yes, it may be in English and you can understand what they're saying, but if they picked up Joe Six-Pack down the street from the recording studio to dub it, you'll find that there isn't much skill in the acting job. There are exceptions (Cowboy Bebop I will admit has a decent dub), but in general the Japanese actors are more experienced and more care is taken in the production of voice acting.
Nah, the rest is cool. I have no problems with FANTASTIC violence, like Vampires, etc. It is the super realistic, could-happen-to-you-tomorrow that bothers me and gives my kids nightmares.
Does seeing a non-explicit blowjob on-screen give them nightmares too?
Yeah, seeing people get cut up and killed is much worse than seeing someone engage in a sexual act.
As I have commented in the past, I work at a company (which shall remain nameless) that produces content for an online adult website, along with various other adult product ventures in East Asia. You may recall last year the story about a Taiwanese couple that ran into some problems after experimenting with the vibrate functions on their Nokia 8850 cell phone (if not, click here for a reminder).
Since we operate out of East Asia, and with the pervasiveness of PDA and cellular telephones here, our company is researching adult enhancements that could be made for PDA's. Adult games and pictures and things have been available on PDA's/phones for years, but we are trying to bring things to another level. Many modern PDA's have quite advanced functionality (it's amazing what you can do with the Handspring Sprinboard modules, et cetera). I'd like to see PDA manufacturers allow even more advancements to be made with hardware add-ons- extend the PDA to be a real part of life- and not delegated to calendars, basic reading, and games, but a useful tool/diversion available for everything from controlling household appliances, to providing heretofore unknown sexual stimulation in a convenient and portable package.
Whether or not there is direct input from the major PDA manufacturers (I actually doubt there will be much in the immediate future, anyway), the above is where I see PDA's going, anyway.
I can see the benefits to things like this. As someone else said, if they were able to guarantee that it wouldn't cross into the food that we eat (in the case of engineered food for industrial purposes) then it would be all good. But even when "safeguards" are taken, accidents happen.
Take a look at this article to see how easily modified corn (in this case, meant only for animal consumption) can contaminate the neighboring "human corn". I think they need to be more careful with this stuff and do more testing before deploying it into the wild.
There are firmware hacks to remove this on a whole lotta drives (I did on my Creative DVD-ROM I bought in January).
If you've got a Windows PC I'd also recommend a program called DVD Genie that lets you mess around with all the software dvd settings you've got (and unlocks some features in dvd playback programs).
I also have an Apex where you can select the region- quite handy...
This whole plan to get all Canadians using satellite connections is being aided by Americans that play Counter-Strike and want to ensure that Canadians have 300+ pings. Canadians fooled into thinking that their high speed downloads will also mean low latency will be unable to cope with their skyrocketing ping-times. They'll switch to Everquest. Just wait and see.
I work for an adult internet business that shall remain nameless...A little over a year ago we were working to differentiate ourselves from other adult site's offerings. With a little work on my hand, we developed 3d panoramic software to explore the mystical regions on the beautiful nude form (our site is upscale and we cater to both men and women, so it took some work to optimize viewing for the various body types). After a couple months in development, my team was contacted by IPIX lawyers and forced to stop development. They offered us the option of licensing technology through them, but the cost benefit just wasn't there.
It's a shame to see creativity online stifled by overly restrictive business practices by those online. Our company has been forced to use more traditional offerings for our site- mediocrity is now being prescribed by unnecessary and unjust patents enforced by the legal systems of the world.
iluvpr0n. (really)
GIMP - not a program for me...
on
GIMP And OS X
·
· Score: 2
Being a devoted Mac user and also a person interested in graphic editing programs, I have been looking into non-Photoshop solutions for OS X. Unfortunately, I am disappointed by the naming of this program. I have spent the majority of my life with 3 fingers and a thumb on my right hand, which means the usual Mac mousing devices are quite easy for me to use. As you may be aware, the term "gimp" is often used for people with disabilities, such as myself. I developed a slight limp after a skiing accident in my teens, and combined with not having the "normal" number of fingers, I often heard insults of "gimp".
Why must this program continue to insult people with this offensive name? Can you imagine a database program called FAG, or a word processor called SPIC? Certainly not, for good reason. Many people (myself included) find those terms offensive and no programmer in their right mind would release a program like that. Still, GIMP perpetuates the myth that "handicapped" people deserve to be targets for scorn.
About 2 months ago I saw a group I liked on a Nationally televised show (name withheld to protect the guilty from pro-napster nastygrams). I subsequently hit Napster and downloaded several tracks.
and........specifically outlining precisely what happened and how much they made directly due to Napster.
So you "saw a group [you] liked" on TV, downloaded some music, then owed it all to Napster? How's that? Why did you like this band if you weren't already familiar with their music? Does Napster deserve 100% of the credit for you showing up and giving this band money?
Just curious, I think it's cool you supported the band after you already had their tracks...
I agree with you on several points- tv is mostly useless and just about everyone I know would probably be better off watching less of it. That having been said, I don't think it's all evil.
First off, I've seen things on tv that I'll never see in real life (from historical footage to the bottom of the ocean). Also if you live in a fairly remote area, tv (and the internet and movies) can provide at least a hint of what else is out there. Is it skewed? Yes. Can you read books about these mysterioius outside places? Yes, but they're still just as skewed. Moving images can be an excellent compliment to reading about somewhere or something though. So what if it takes flipping through all kinds of crap in order to get to the good stuff; often it's not worth it, but in those instances it is then it makes up for it.
So yeah, your average 3 hours spent watching major network television on a weeknight is pretty much a waste of time- the dramatic and comedic elements aren't the greatest or most original, however hidden behind all the crap there's some decent stuff out there.
To the people above who question what harm seeing pornography does to minors, just ask me. When I was eleven I was flipping through the channels and came across a scrambled station. I wasn't quite sure what it was, but I was intrigued by the strange noises emitting from the actors and actresses. In all the jumble of images on-screen, I made out what appeared to be a woman. A naked woman.
I was shocked, for that brief period- it lasted no longer than a second, my life turned upside down. My strict parents had never let me view any material like that- I've learned since then for good reason. I came upon this accidental viewing at 4:30PM. By 8:30 I was at the convenience store down the street stealing Hustler and Torso magazines. By 9:30, I was getting into rumbles with street toughs.
As the years went on, my eyesight decreased from watching hours of this scrambled pornography, and my tastes in magazines became even more hardcore- I spent my entire European high school trip in pornographic shops looking for the all-anal-revues and animal activities that I so desperately sought. I'm now in jail (they give us 15 minutes every week to use the Internet, but have installed NetNanny to keep things kosher) because I was caught stealing live-action Japanese tentacle pr0n from a local Tower Records.
My life wouldn't have taken this horrible path if I had not stumbled across that oh-so-brief glimpse of a scrambled, discolored, naked woman. I would be singing the glories of God in my local church with my father and mother- not rotting in a jail cell with Bubba and Tito. Hopefully the Supreme Court can rescue children before they turn into people like me.
A good businessman doesnt care that he makes millions, he just wants more. Look at Bill Gates for example. A horrible human being, but a pretty effective businessman.
While I think that you're right (unfortunately), I think it's pretty dangerous to make the distinction between a good human and a good businessman. Why develop completely separate personas and standards for how you live your life? I'm not a peaceful, nice guy 16 hours a day, and a ruthless, mean, sonofabitch 8 hours a day at work. So while the businessman of your above comment may be good at making money, he's not good for much else. That's a pretty realistic assessment of things, I think. It's unfortunate that to succeed in business you need to become an awful person in the process.
Not that I personally know any CEO's of any megacorporations, but judging by their business practices, I doubt that people like Rupert Murdoch are the nicest guys around. Hopefully someday becoming an "effective businessman" doesn't necessitate becoming a "horrible human being". Observing the ruthlessness of their business practices though, I don't think "success" (on a grand financial level) will happen for said nice guy. Oh well.
Slashdot Mirror
My Logitech wireless Xbox controller does, and it works great. You can choose to turn the vibration off if you want to maximize the battery life.
By default, I believe gaim sorts your buddies alphabetically. Go to Preferences \ Interface \ Buddy List and switch the "Buddy List Sorting" to "none" or whatever you want.
That sounds great and all, but why do you think Google complied with any censorship demands to begin with? $$.
Google doesn't want to guarantee losing a market that large to make a point.
I've found Google Desktop to be handy in finding files (and also emails at work, since we use Outlook). However, no support for Thunderbird email (which I use at home) searching bums me out. Hopefully now that both Firefox and Thunderbird have reached 1.0 they will more strongly consider adding these to the search lineup.
I've had these for a year or two and I like them a lot too. What may not be so good is they tend to pretty much block out all outside sound, which means they're great for wearing on a subway or train, but if you're driving you may want to know an 18-wheeler is headed straight for you. In any case, they're very comfortable and sound pretty decent for the price.
Are they releasing Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips? Oh...Thought not.
Isn't this the reason why many bootleg DVDs from Hong Kong and China are "region-less" and why "region-free" DVD players also come from the same place? (By the way, do these actually work or is that just a myth/scam of some sort?)
Yes, all bootleg DVDs are region-free to allow the most number of people to use them. That is not to say many legitimate DVDs aren't region-free, in China, Hong Kong, and elsewhere (while most DVDs from the US are region 1, you will find many that have no region restrictions built-in).
DVD players that can be modified to be region-free (usually through a remote hack) work excellently. The Nerd-out forums and dvdrhelp's player hack list are both very helpful in finding a region-free player or finding out if your current player is region-free. But basically, once you have a region-free player, you can watch DVDs from anywhere. Especially if you have one that does proper PAL -> NTSC conversion, allowing you to play anamorphic widescreen DVDs from Europe and any other PAL countries (CyberHome and Malata are two brands to look at with this feature).
No, it won't. Mainland China is now separated into its own region (region 6, region 3 is used in Hong Kong, South Korea, and some other Southeast Asian countries). Anyone who is making bootleg video isn't going to play by the rules; they want to maximize the number of people they can sell to. So if you go on ebay to buy those bootleg copies of Star Wars IV - VI you won't find that they say "Region 6. Only playable in China!" It'll be the same way with this AVS format. It also assumes this technology would replace DVDs in China, which seems a bit far-stretched at this point.
i like weeners. you?
Thankfully, the White House Drug Czar's office has seen fit to, again, buy *two* of these overpriced ad slots to propagandize about the evils of marijuana. What a perfect way to spend my tax dollars, thanks guys!
NORML.org has a page up about this huge waste.
iluvpr0n.
I suppose. Or maybe audiences just got desensitized to mishmash logic and gaping plot holes, because their attention spans were shrunken past the Schwarschild radius... I happen to believe that the influence of music video directors on mainstream media has been a disaster that's consigned nearly a whole generation of films to the dustbin of failed art.
And don't even get me started about the influence of advertisement directors....
i think it really depends what you're looking at..david fincher, director of "seven", "the game", and "fight club", started his career directing advertisements. part of his appeal, for me, is the visual style he uses (influenced, i would imagine, by his commercial days). this could be a problem- all flashy showmanship with no real substance to back things up, but fincher seems to have something to say in most of his work (i haven't seen "aliens 3" or "panic room" though).
spike jonze is another example- and he came from the dreaded music video world (however, he's been one of the most celebrated video directors; by doing the beastie boys' "sabotage", "it's oh so quiet" by bjork, and many others. again, "being john malkovich" was very interesting for its visual style, but there was more there than in your average jerry bruckheimer festival of stupidity.
i think the real assault on filmmaking comes from imitators trying to copy some of the mtv-style 5 edits per second madness. the guys that actually come from doing videos and commercials can be very successful at creating cinematic substance, even if their contemporaries trying to catch up to them cannot match their styles.
iluvpr0n.
the mp3cue plugin does just that. you can make a .cue file when ripping a cd to create 1 continuous mp3 (so no glitches arise between tracks when listening), but with the plugin it lists the separate tracks and you can skip ahead to them if you'd like..i'd imagine you could do something similar with this movie track idea..
iluvpr0n.
It's already well-known that the VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY grosses more money than the film industry (and hey, probably nets more too -- put that in your "2 out of 10" pipe and smoke it, Mr. Valenti!).
That's actually something a lot of people like to claim, but it's only factoring in US theater receipts (not home video/dvd/tv licensing agreements). Adding in the rest of that (or even just one) and it blows away anything the videogame industry takes in.
iluvpr0n.
If you don't speak Japanese, then watching it in the original language is pointless. Especially if you miss the entire visual aspect of the movie because you're too busy keeping up with the english subtitles.
If you've ever watched a dub while reading the subtitles you'll note the huge difference you'll find in most animé translations. They tend to make the dub easily understood by your average 8 year old (even in a non-kids show), while the subtitle translation is usually a more literal translation (occasionally some half-assed companies release "dubtitles" that just uses the watered-down dub script, which is fairly annoying).
Also, by watching a fair amount of Japanese movies/tv you'll begin to pick up on certain bits of the language anyway, which can help you understand the various intonations and techniques employed by the voice actors, which helps you understand the characters/plot/motivations better.
Also, some of the dubs are done without much care at all, so yes, it may be in English and you can understand what they're saying, but if they picked up Joe Six-Pack down the street from the recording studio to dub it, you'll find that there isn't much skill in the acting job. There are exceptions (Cowboy Bebop I will admit has a decent dub), but in general the Japanese actors are more experienced and more care is taken in the production of voice acting.
iluvpr0n.
Nah, the rest is cool. I have no problems with FANTASTIC violence, like Vampires, etc. It is the super realistic, could-happen-to-you-tomorrow that bothers me and gives my kids nightmares.
Does seeing a non-explicit blowjob on-screen give them nightmares too?
Yeah, seeing people get cut up and killed is much worse than seeing someone engage in a sexual act.
God forbid.
iluvpr0n.
As I have commented in the past, I work at a company (which shall remain nameless) that produces content for an online adult website, along with various other adult product ventures in East Asia. You may recall last year the story about a Taiwanese couple that ran into some problems after experimenting with the vibrate functions on their Nokia 8850 cell phone (if not, click here for a reminder).
Since we operate out of East Asia, and with the pervasiveness of PDA and cellular telephones here, our company is researching adult enhancements that could be made for PDA's. Adult games and pictures and things have been available on PDA's/phones for years, but we are trying to bring things to another level. Many modern PDA's have quite advanced functionality (it's amazing what you can do with the Handspring Sprinboard modules, et cetera). I'd like to see PDA manufacturers allow even more advancements to be made with hardware add-ons- extend the PDA to be a real part of life- and not delegated to calendars, basic reading, and games, but a useful tool/diversion available for everything from controlling household appliances, to providing heretofore unknown sexual stimulation in a convenient and portable package.
Whether or not there is direct input from the major PDA manufacturers (I actually doubt there will be much in the immediate future, anyway), the above is where I see PDA's going, anyway.
iluvpr0n.
I can see the benefits to things like this. As someone else said, if they were able to guarantee that it wouldn't cross into the food that we eat (in the case of engineered food for industrial purposes) then it would be all good. But even when "safeguards" are taken, accidents happen.
Take a look at this article to see how easily modified corn (in this case, meant only for animal consumption) can contaminate the neighboring "human corn". I think they need to be more careful with this stuff and do more testing before deploying it into the wild.
iluvpr0n.
There are firmware hacks to remove this on a whole lotta drives (I did on my Creative DVD-ROM I bought in January).
If you've got a Windows PC I'd also recommend a program called DVD Genie that lets you mess around with all the software dvd settings you've got (and unlocks some features in dvd playback programs).
I also have an Apex where you can select the region- quite handy...
iluvpr0n.
This whole plan to get all Canadians using satellite connections is being aided by Americans that play Counter-Strike and want to ensure that Canadians have 300+ pings. Canadians fooled into thinking that their high speed downloads will also mean low latency will be unable to cope with their skyrocketing ping-times. They'll switch to Everquest. Just wait and see.
iluvpr0n.
I work for an adult internet business that shall remain nameless...A little over a year ago we were working to differentiate ourselves from other adult site's offerings. With a little work on my hand, we developed 3d panoramic software to explore the mystical regions on the beautiful nude form (our site is upscale and we cater to both men and women, so it took some work to optimize viewing for the various body types). After a couple months in development, my team was contacted by IPIX lawyers and forced to stop development. They offered us the option of licensing technology through them, but the cost benefit just wasn't there.
It's a shame to see creativity online stifled by overly restrictive business practices by those online. Our company has been forced to use more traditional offerings for our site- mediocrity is now being prescribed by unnecessary and unjust patents enforced by the legal systems of the world.
iluvpr0n. (really)
Being a devoted Mac user and also a person interested in graphic editing programs, I have been looking into non-Photoshop solutions for OS X. Unfortunately, I am disappointed by the naming of this program. I have spent the majority of my life with 3 fingers and a thumb on my right hand, which means the usual Mac mousing devices are quite easy for me to use. As you may be aware, the term "gimp" is often used for people with disabilities, such as myself. I developed a slight limp after a skiing accident in my teens, and combined with not having the "normal" number of fingers, I often heard insults of "gimp".
:-(
Why must this program continue to insult people with this offensive name? Can you imagine a database program called FAG, or a word processor called SPIC? Certainly not, for good reason. Many people (myself included) find those terms offensive and no programmer in their right mind would release a program like that. Still, GIMP perpetuates the myth that "handicapped" people deserve to be targets for scorn.
I think I'll stick with Photoshop for now...
iluvpr0n.
About 2 months ago I saw a group I liked on a Nationally televised show (name withheld to protect the guilty from pro-napster nastygrams). I subsequently hit Napster and downloaded several tracks.
and........specifically outlining precisely what happened and how much they made directly due to Napster.
So you "saw a group [you] liked" on TV, downloaded some music, then owed it all to Napster? How's that? Why did you like this band if you weren't already familiar with their music? Does Napster deserve 100% of the credit for you showing up and giving this band money?
Just curious, I think it's cool you supported the band after you already had their tracks...
iluvpr0n.
I agree with you on several points- tv is mostly useless and just about everyone I know would probably be better off watching less of it. That having been said, I don't think it's all evil.
First off, I've seen things on tv that I'll never see in real life (from historical footage to the bottom of the ocean). Also if you live in a fairly remote area, tv (and the internet and movies) can provide at least a hint of what else is out there. Is it skewed? Yes. Can you read books about these mysterioius outside places? Yes, but they're still just as skewed. Moving images can be an excellent compliment to reading about somewhere or something though. So what if it takes flipping through all kinds of crap in order to get to the good stuff; often it's not worth it, but in those instances it is then it makes up for it.
So yeah, your average 3 hours spent watching major network television on a weeknight is pretty much a waste of time- the dramatic and comedic elements aren't the greatest or most original, however hidden behind all the crap there's some decent stuff out there.
iluvpr0n.
To the people above who question what harm seeing pornography does to minors, just ask me. When I was eleven I was flipping through the channels and came across a scrambled station. I wasn't quite sure what it was, but I was intrigued by the strange noises emitting from the actors and actresses. In all the jumble of images on-screen, I made out what appeared to be a woman. A naked woman.
I was shocked, for that brief period- it lasted no longer than a second, my life turned upside down. My strict parents had never let me view any material like that- I've learned since then for good reason. I came upon this accidental viewing at 4:30PM. By 8:30 I was at the convenience store down the street stealing Hustler and Torso magazines. By 9:30, I was getting into rumbles with street toughs.
As the years went on, my eyesight decreased from watching hours of this scrambled pornography, and my tastes in magazines became even more hardcore- I spent my entire European high school trip in pornographic shops looking for the all-anal-revues and animal activities that I so desperately sought. I'm now in jail (they give us 15 minutes every week to use the Internet, but have installed NetNanny to keep things kosher) because I was caught stealing live-action Japanese tentacle pr0n from a local Tower Records.
My life wouldn't have taken this horrible path if I had not stumbled across that oh-so-brief glimpse of a scrambled, discolored, naked woman. I would be singing the glories of God in my local church with my father and mother- not rotting in a jail cell with Bubba and Tito. Hopefully the Supreme Court can rescue children before they turn into people like me.
iluvpr0n.
A good businessman doesnt care that he makes millions, he just wants more. Look at Bill Gates for example. A horrible human being, but a pretty effective businessman.
While I think that you're right (unfortunately), I think it's pretty dangerous to make the distinction between a good human and a good businessman. Why develop completely separate personas and standards for how you live your life? I'm not a peaceful, nice guy 16 hours a day, and a ruthless, mean, sonofabitch 8 hours a day at work. So while the businessman of your above comment may be good at making money, he's not good for much else. That's a pretty realistic assessment of things, I think. It's unfortunate that to succeed in business you need to become an awful person in the process.
Not that I personally know any CEO's of any megacorporations, but judging by their business practices, I doubt that people like Rupert Murdoch are the nicest guys around. Hopefully someday becoming an "effective businessman" doesn't necessitate becoming a "horrible human being". Observing the ruthlessness of their business practices though, I don't think "success" (on a grand financial level) will happen for said nice guy. Oh well.
iluvpr0n.