I second that, the Hyperion Cantos is awesome, my favorite series of all the Sci Fi I've read (which is a lot), it's too bad all Mr. Simmons writes anymore is thrillers and horror.
Because most of the people here don't read short stories, and they don't read books like the Doomsday Book, they read books like the Foundation by Isaac Asimov, and the wheel of time books by Robert Jordan, and the Song of Fire and Ice books by George R. R. Martin, and the Sword of Truth books by Terry Goodkind. These books are more mainstream, you see. Does the Hugo include fantasy? I can't recall. Well in the sci-fi realm, books like the Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons, and all those Star Wars and Star Trek books steal the spotlight.
Anyway, while we're talking about connie willis, can you tell me why "Death on the Nile" one a Hugo for short story? Dreadfully dull story.
English humor? Haven't read that book, but Connie Willis lives across the highway from me, over in Greeley, Colorado, which is about as american as you can get. They have some a big rodeo festival over there every year, it even gets televised on TNN, I belive, yee-haw!!!
Yeah, the SciFi mini-series made me realize how good Lynch's was. Lynch absolutely nailed the characters, but in the sci-fi version, i kept thinking things like, "that's not what Paul Atreides was like in the book!"
Anyway, Lynch's version was however, very inaccessible to people who didn't read the book. Everyone I know who isn't into scifi (but had seen Lynch's Dune) absolutely hated it. The sci-fi channel Dune, though, was much easier to follow, if you didn't read the book, you could still enjoy it.
well, you're sort of wrong, healthy parents are favored by evolution because this increases the likelihood of the child surviving.
But it's a minor point.
Anyway, I'm in favor of more natural selection in the human race, I think we're really letting it go to pot, if you know what I mean. Seriously, in the US, only the trailer trash have kids (statistically speaking). We're going through a sort of reverse evolution. Since for the human race we're not in a "only the strong survive" evolutionary situtation - in fact, we do everything we can to keep the weak alive and able to reproduce - humans are no longer practicing natural selection at all. It can't be a good thing long term.
So I think it's great that we're getting closer to Gattaca. Anyway, Gattaca had a great story line, but the future world they described - where people are discriminated against based on genetics - was pretty implausible. And honestly, if that does happen, it's not tied to genetic modification. I mean, we can do genetic modification without living in a world where people are discriminated against on the basis of their genetics - and we can discriminate on the basis of genetics without genetic modification. Even though the movie ties the two together in a paranoid sort of way, they're not connected at all.
I wonder if it ever ocurred to Marty Beckerman that maybe he wasn't fired for calling a cheerleader a "urine stain on the toilet seat of America," but for being a fuckhead.
Here's the exact quote from the e-mail I got from At&T. FYI, I live in Fort Collins, CO
Additionally, your AT&T Broadband Internet connection has been
optimized for all users through a maximum network setting of
1.5Mbps downstream. This speed setting is part of our
continuous effort to provide you with the fastest, most
consistent broadband service at the lowest possible price
how exactly does capping download speeds "optimize" it for all users?
I think we should rebuild them bigger and paint "terrorists go fuck yourselves" on the side, but I don't think that will happen. Let me tell you what I think will happen. They will clear that area out and put a memorial in it's place. That's my prediction.
I don't. I think the lesson here is that we've been too leniant. We know he was behind other terrrorist attacks, we know the Taliban sheltered him, to me that's all we need to know to start the carpet-bombing. Ok, maybe not carpet-bombing, but every military and goverment building in all of Afghanistan should be blown out of existance. No distinction between terrorists and those who harbor them said Bush and I actually agree with him.
I think it's strange that people keep saying this, re-evalutate our support of Israel, etc. I think it's time to re-evalutate the existence of the Arab countries whose citizens are celebrating this.
Okay, I said this in response to someone else's post, but I think it needs to be said loudly:
The best way to get the price of DVDs down is to stop buying them!!!
The movie industry wants to make money and if you let them know with the loudest possible voice - which is not Slashdot, and it's not the court of law, it's $$$ - that this whole regional encoding thing and the whole CSS thing just suck donkey balls, well they'll listen and come up with a solution that works.
But honestly, we know that won't happen, because it's just not annoying enough. If $25 were too much to pay for a DVD, people wouldn't pay it. and if $15 were too much to pay for a CD, people wouldn't pay it. The honest truth is that it's exactly the right amount, it's just more than we want to pay. Think about it for a second, doesn't almost everything cost more than you want to pay? Shoes, cars, stereos, movie tickets, beer? That's the magic of economics, everything costs as much as you're willing to pay, which is always greater than what you want to pay!
My friends, Microsoft is a monopoly, the RIAA and the MPAA are just bunch of assholes - but not monopolists. So take my solution to heart - stop buying CDs and DVDs - and shucks, the price will come down faster than you can say "Radiohead rules".
I think culture is just an excuse to make wars. It's worthless. Lack of culture is why america dominates, we don't have all the bullshit holding us back.
Slashdot Mirror
ambivalent (adj): characterized by a mixture of opposite feelings or attitudes
indifferent (adj): Having no particular interest or concern; apathetic
just trying to be helpful.
I second that, the Hyperion Cantos is awesome, my favorite series of all the Sci Fi I've read (which is a lot), it's too bad all Mr. Simmons writes anymore is thrillers and horror.
Anyway, while we're talking about connie willis, can you tell me why "Death on the Nile" one a Hugo for short story? Dreadfully dull story.
English humor? Haven't read that book, but Connie Willis lives across the highway from me, over in Greeley, Colorado, which is about as american as you can get. They have some a big rodeo festival over there every year, it even gets televised on TNN, I belive, yee-haw!!!
so what?
Anyway, I'd say you really have a problem if you find yourself drinking coffee and masturbating while playing everquest.
Anyway, Lynch's version was however, very inaccessible to people who didn't read the book. Everyone I know who isn't into scifi (but had seen Lynch's Dune) absolutely hated it. The sci-fi channel Dune, though, was much easier to follow, if you didn't read the book, you could still enjoy it.
um, the recording industry?
well, you're sort of wrong, healthy parents are favored by evolution because this increases the likelihood of the child surviving.
But it's a minor point.
Anyway, I'm in favor of more natural selection in the human race, I think we're really letting it go to pot, if you know what I mean. Seriously, in the US, only the trailer trash have kids (statistically speaking). We're going through a sort of reverse evolution. Since for the human race we're not in a "only the strong survive" evolutionary situtation - in fact, we do everything we can to keep the weak alive and able to reproduce - humans are no longer practicing natural selection at all. It can't be a good thing long term.
So I think it's great that we're getting closer to Gattaca. Anyway, Gattaca had a great story line, but the future world they described - where people are discriminated against based on genetics - was pretty implausible. And honestly, if that does happen, it's not tied to genetic modification. I mean, we can do genetic modification without living in a world where people are discriminated against on the basis of their genetics - and we can discriminate on the basis of genetics without genetic modification. Even though the movie ties the two together in a paranoid sort of way, they're not connected at all.
So that's my 2 cents.
that article of his was horrible.
how exactly does capping download speeds "optimize" it for all users?
I think we should rebuild them bigger and paint "terrorists go fuck yourselves" on the side, but I don't think that will happen. Let me tell you what I think will happen. They will clear that area out and put a memorial in it's place. That's my prediction.
I don't. I think the lesson here is that we've been too leniant. We know he was behind other terrrorist attacks, we know the Taliban sheltered him, to me that's all we need to know to start the carpet-bombing. Ok, maybe not carpet-bombing, but every military and goverment building in all of Afghanistan should be blown out of existance. No distinction between terrorists and those who harbor them said Bush and I actually agree with him.
I think it's strange that people keep saying this, re-evalutate our support of Israel, etc. I think it's time to re-evalutate the existence of the Arab countries whose citizens are celebrating this.
Is it any surprise that we've made enemies such as this?
give me a fucking break.
Congrats on getting a date, here are some ads for 1-800-Flowers, Trojan Condoms, and Viagra, targetted just to you...
The people on this forum don't want the world to know that all they watch is the SPICE channel.
Or maybe cable service rep is his night job, Psychic Friends Hotline is his day job.
"I must be in their demographic, you know, male, 18-24 and all that..."
The best way to get the price of DVDs down is to stop buying them!!!
The movie industry wants to make money and if you let them know with the loudest possible voice - which is not Slashdot, and it's not the court of law, it's $$$ - that this whole regional encoding thing and the whole CSS thing just suck donkey balls, well they'll listen and come up with a solution that works.
But honestly, we know that won't happen, because it's just not annoying enough. If $25 were too much to pay for a DVD, people wouldn't pay it. and if $15 were too much to pay for a CD, people wouldn't pay it. The honest truth is that it's exactly the right amount, it's just more than we want to pay. Think about it for a second, doesn't almost everything cost more than you want to pay? Shoes, cars, stereos, movie tickets, beer? That's the magic of economics, everything costs as much as you're willing to pay, which is always greater than what you want to pay!
My friends, Microsoft is a monopoly, the RIAA and the MPAA are just bunch of assholes - but not monopolists. So take my solution to heart - stop buying CDs and DVDs - and shucks, the price will come down faster than you can say "Radiohead rules".
NEWSFLASH: the best way to get the price of DVDs down is to stop buying them!!!
what do your fuzzy economics say about that?
You are GOD, man!!!! We're all in awe here, man. Wow.
Heh.
The Slashdot guidelines are that it gets posted if it's interesting. This was interesting.
The PC I'm using now cost me $420, and it came with a lot more than this thing.
I think culture is just an excuse to make wars. It's worthless. Lack of culture is why america dominates, we don't have all the bullshit holding us back.