It should be obvious, but I guess I have to tell you that most of the shit I download I would not pay to see. So no, nobody would be getting shit from me to watch something I wouldn't pay for, I would simply go without and nobody would get anything. Why these cabals don't simply study download data and try to figure out WHY a Trek fan won't pay $150 a season for Voyager is beyond me.
As a reptile keeper/breeder, I might have a little more insight into how USFW works than the average slashdotter. It is nothing like you think, with the DEA-style "raid and seizure" end weighing a lot more than the "save the wetlands" end. Of course, one of those is job security, while the other is charity. Maybe you wouldn't be suprised. At any rate, science is not the order of the day there...it's stings, raids, and justifying their existence.
There is definitely a place for this (I own both cuts of Bladerunner), I just don't want to see it eclipse the other stuff. Thats what it seems like is happening though. Isn't sci-fi primarily about what we aspire to be, not what we are?
Sci-fi, IM(unpopular)O should give people something to strive for, not reflect our worst aspects....the world is pretty damn gritty as it is.
No need to ask, it's clear that I'm the only one who thinks that shaky handheld camera work and "flawed" characters do not a good series make. It almost reminds me of how "mature" video games all have to have the mindset of a 14 year old. Why does anything non-religious that happens to be optimistic or wholesome suck in the american public mind anymore?
"Star Trek sucks because the characters aren't flawed enough."
"Nintendo sucks because their perfect gameplay is in the context of little plumbers and tiny plant men"
"X rocks because they like, swear, and offend people.....and I think this one guy even..SMOKES."
etc, etc, please....someone explain this to me like the four year old I obviously am. Extra points for avoiding some "post 9/11" bullshit.
...thinks a bunch of execs asked the writers, "Can we take the Simpsons and Savage Nationize them by, oh....30%?"
Don't get me wrong, some of the writing is pretty funny, and the animation looks fine, but I can't shake the feeling that some of the humor is pretty targeted. By that I mean pandering to the Angry White American Male of the 21st century. There is something forced, imo, about shows that pretty much scream, "Look at me, I'm politically incorrect! I don't care who I offend!"
Family Guy isn't the only one like this...it seems to be a marketing trend. I'm not some thin skinned knee jerk lib'ral feminist hippie faggot communist =), but when writers do that I feel like they're treating me like an idiot. I know pandering when I see it...anymore, we all should.
While I have to use windows at work, since the original iMac came out I've used Macs at home exclusively. Now you notice, this was pre-OSX. Yes, MacOS 9x sucked, but I endured it out of principle (not that anyone does that for any modern x86 OS, right?). What I didn't do was complain that there were no Mac stories on slashdot. Why? Because the OS was deemed unfeasible for the sufficiently technically inclined (you, I'm guessing). Fast forward six years, and not only does Apple ship arguably the nicest 'nix out there, but they've also done some amazing things with their hardware from both an engineering and design standpoint. I'm sorry, but Apple is quite relevant to the/. crowd now, and since people are *constantly* talking about them elsewhere, we see lots of Apple stories on slashdot. That is kinda how this site works. If you don't like it, get the rest of the world wide web to stop talking about apple, and there will be no stories for slashdot to link to.
This assuming you are looking for an alternative to setting your prefs to block apple stories.
Actually, my coworker did this the day he got his titanium Powerbook way back when. It was fairly major surgery, requiring him to solder something or other (it's been awhile). While we were all in awe of the balls of steel this hack took, it wasn't very successful. After numerous lockups and crashes, he had to reverse the entire harrowing process.
Man, I'm sorry, but I think in order to have a competent educational system we have to asssume (gasp)kids don't want to be there, and would rather be doing something else and work from there. If you've ever gotten a kid to eat (and as a result like) something he at first refused to touch, you know it's possible to do.
One a related note, It's my dog's fault that he doesn't enjoy the works of Vonnegut the way I do. Every time I sit him down in front of a book or synopsize one in a long and boring manner, he reverts to this annoying play behavior, which is his default mode for learning. Who is the idiot in this story? =)
Actually, Roger Fout's book Next Of Kin, about the Washoe Project talks about the chimps raised in human families being sexually attracted to humans. One in particular, an adult female, was known for flipping through Playgirl magazines while flicking her clitoris with a pencil.
But isn't that precisely why we shouldn't let Star Trek die? Because it is a (relatively) positive view of the future, of our capabilities? I'm the first to admit the franchise has been dragged through the muck, but I think that kernel of an idea at the heart of it is definitelt a good thing to keep alive.
(and yes, I deserve a -1 for starting with that line =))
Whenever I see these iPod/Apple discussions, I always wonder what kind of baggage the posters are bringin to the argument. It says a lot when you dislike something because it does a bunch of useful things AND looks nice. I know here we are supposed to find some kind of valor in ugly things performing just as well or a slightly better than "the pack". Apple sucks for a lot of people simply because they appeal to everyone, not just us. Meh.
So, you must work in some alternate reality where the.com bubble never burst, and companies are still trying to lure tech workers (who have more job opportunities than they can fill) by being fun and kooky and buying expensive toys.
Don't tell me that if this really bothered them, they couldn't start their own damn label and find their own distribution channels. The time when artists of with this level of success and that large of a following still had to play the corporate bullshit game is over. Period. Contract, you say? Break up, add a fucking backup dancer and call yourselves something else. No excuses, put your money where your mouth is.
I'm speculating here, but I would think that the reason human/animal communication has mostly been limited to commands has a lot to do with the traditional and historic relationships between animals and humans. What if we had spent the last few thousand years trying to communicate with domestic animals in other capacities, and bred them accordingly?
If you want to keep a high opinion of this guy, read his books and stay far far away from his corner of "The Blogosphere" (gak). Having Xeni Jardin post utterly inane sex-geek-tech-chic crap on your forum is bad enough, but removing the means for readers to comment on it (maybe this was just me =P)...thats inexcusable.
Scanning through the comments here, I have to point out that for the vast majority of it's users, Windows is not easy to use. Every day I get hit with the craziest questions, and many people I have to deal with at work have a "computer guy" do things like defrag their drive and run Norton's for them. Very few mom and pop users can get anything but the most elementary tasks done unless they have been using Windows for years. I've had more than one person ask me how to burn a music CD. Really.
On the other hand, my ex girlfriend sent me a screensaver she made with photos and video clips on Mac OSX (another unix varient), and lemme tell ya, she is no 1337 "power user". As outrageous as it sounds, I sometimes I think we give Windows a little too much credit in the usability department.
But shouldn't this be more a story of Linux gaining ground on Windows? I like and use both, but I hate to tell ya, Apple's core market is safe from Linux for the foreseeable future.
I know it's a little indulgent, but it's hard not to run Apple or Pixar news through the filter of Steve's personality. Considering this news, the splash iPod and iTunes Music Store have made, and the fact that Jobs has said before that he would "milk the Mac for all it's worth and get busy on the Next Big Thing", am I the only one that thinks Apple is aiming for Sony-esque entertainment/tech dominance?
"I bet ten years from now, a guy thats good at Stocker(TM) will be a shoe-in at West Point!"
Seriously though, I wonder if the fact that the government thinks video games are great tools for creating mindless violent automatons lends any weight to the naggy soccer moms claiming the same?
=)
This may sound like flamebait or a troll...
on
G5 vs Opteron, Finally
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
But do people really care about this stuff? I mean for real, day to day, get my work done reasons? I still have a 500 mhz G4, and now that I've gotten a little older don't really *have to have* the latest and greatest just to piss my friends off, it seems just fine. I thought about upgrading, and then my next thought was...."why?"
Slashdot Mirror
It should be obvious, but I guess I have to tell you that most of the shit I download I would not pay to see. So no, nobody would be getting shit from me to watch something I wouldn't pay for, I would simply go without and nobody would get anything. Why these cabals don't simply study download data and try to figure out WHY a Trek fan won't pay $150 a season for Voyager is beyond me.
As a reptile keeper/breeder, I might have a little more insight into how USFW works than the average slashdotter. It is nothing like you think, with the DEA-style "raid and seizure" end weighing a lot more than the "save the wetlands" end. Of course, one of those is job security, while the other is charity. Maybe you wouldn't be suprised. At any rate, science is not the order of the day there...it's stings, raids, and justifying their existence.
There is definitely a place for this (I own both cuts of Bladerunner), I just don't want to see it eclipse the other stuff. Thats what it seems like is happening though. Isn't sci-fi primarily about what we aspire to be, not what we are?
Sci-fi, IM(unpopular)O should give people something to strive for, not reflect our worst aspects....the world is pretty damn gritty as it is.
"Star Trek sucks because the characters aren't flawed enough."
"Nintendo sucks because their perfect gameplay is in the context of little plumbers and tiny plant men"
"X rocks because they like, swear, and offend people
etc, etc, please....someone explain this to me like the four year old I obviously am. Extra points for avoiding some "post 9/11" bullshit.
=)
We will indeed see this kind of emergence, but it will end up being pretty fucking lame. Truly one of the worst episodes eve...er, worst episodes of human history.
Don't get me wrong, some of the writing is pretty funny, and the animation looks fine, but I can't shake the feeling that some of the humor is pretty targeted. By that I mean pandering to the Angry White American Male of the 21st century. There is something forced, imo, about shows that pretty much scream, "Look at me, I'm politically incorrect! I don't care who I offend!"
Family Guy isn't the only one like this...it seems to be a marketing trend. I'm not some thin skinned knee jerk lib'ral feminist hippie faggot communist =), but when writers do that I feel like they're treating me like an idiot. I know pandering when I see it...anymore, we all should.
While I have to use windows at work, since the original iMac came out I've used Macs at home exclusively. Now you notice, this was pre-OSX. Yes, MacOS 9x sucked, but I endured it out of principle (not that anyone does that for any modern x86 OS, right?). What I didn't do was complain that there were no Mac stories on slashdot. Why? Because the OS was deemed unfeasible for the sufficiently technically inclined (you, I'm guessing). Fast forward six years, and not only does Apple ship arguably the nicest 'nix out there, but they've also done some amazing things with their hardware from both an engineering and design standpoint. I'm sorry, but Apple is quite relevant to the
This assuming you are looking for an alternative to setting your prefs to block apple stories.
Actually, my coworker did this the day he got his titanium Powerbook way back when. It was fairly major surgery, requiring him to solder something or other (it's been awhile). While we were all in awe of the balls of steel this hack took, it wasn't very successful. After numerous lockups and crashes, he had to reverse the entire harrowing process.
One a related note, It's my dog's fault that he doesn't enjoy the works of Vonnegut the way I do. Every time I sit him down in front of a book or synopsize one in a long and boring manner, he reverts to this annoying play behavior, which is his default mode for learning. Who is the idiot in this story? =)
I kid you not.
But isn't that precisely why we shouldn't let Star Trek die? Because it is a (relatively) positive view of the future, of our capabilities? I'm the first to admit the franchise has been dragged through the muck, but I think that kernel of an idea at the heart of it is definitelt a good thing to keep alive.
Whenever I see these iPod/Apple discussions, I always wonder what kind of baggage the posters are bringin to the argument. It says a lot when you dislike something because it does a bunch of useful things AND looks nice. I know here we are supposed to find some kind of valor in ugly things performing just as well or a slightly better than "the pack". Apple sucks for a lot of people simply because they appeal to everyone, not just us. Meh.
My first submitted question, and it's a throwaway cliche I didn't even expect to get modded up. Why did it get submitted at 2?
I'm a Trek-KER you....*sigh* insensitive clod!!
So, you must work in some alternate reality where the .com bubble never burst, and companies are still trying to lure tech workers (who have more job opportunities than they can fill) by being fun and kooky and buying expensive toys.
I wish I had thought of that.
Don't tell me that if this really bothered them, they couldn't start their own damn label and find their own distribution channels. The time when artists of with this level of success and that large of a following still had to play the corporate bullshit game is over. Period. Contract, you say? Break up, add a fucking backup dancer and call yourselves something else. No excuses, put your money where your mouth is.
I'm speculating here, but I would think that the reason human/animal communication has mostly been limited to commands has a lot to do with the traditional and historic relationships between animals and humans. What if we had spent the last few thousand years trying to communicate with domestic animals in other capacities, and bred them accordingly?
If you want to keep a high opinion of this guy, read his books and stay far far away from his corner of "The Blogosphere" (gak). Having Xeni Jardin post utterly inane sex-geek-tech-chic crap on your forum is bad enough, but removing the means for readers to comment on it (maybe this was just me =P)...thats inexcusable.
On the other hand, my ex girlfriend sent me a screensaver she made with photos and video clips on Mac OSX (another unix varient), and lemme tell ya, she is no 1337 "power user". As outrageous as it sounds, I sometimes I think we give Windows a little too much credit in the usability department.
But shouldn't this be more a story of Linux gaining ground on Windows? I like and use both, but I hate to tell ya, Apple's core market is safe from Linux for the foreseeable future.
I know, I know...too flaky, mod away. =)
Seriously though, I wonder if the fact that the government thinks video games are great tools for creating mindless violent automatons lends any weight to the naggy soccer moms claiming the same?
=)
Am I just an exception?
Funny, I would rather see something ORIGINAL. I'm sick of these license based movies. I want something new, goddamnit.