I had an excellent experience with TLC as well... best $3400 I ever spent, I'm 20/15 in my left and 20/10 in my right eye. A little haloing at night, but that'll happen.
Bill Gates: Your Internet ad was brought to my attention, but I can't figure out what, if anything, Google does, so rather than risk competing with you, I've decided simply to buy you out. Homer: I reluctantly accept your proposal! Bill Gates: Well everyone always does. Buy 'em out, boys! [Gates' lackeys trash the room.] Homer: Hey, what the hell's going on! Bill Gates: Oh, I didn't get rich by writing a lot of checks! [insane laughter]
Yeah, you know how dangerous those rouge nations can be......them and their infernal makeup. Make all our American cheeks red and all. DAMN THEM ALL TO HELL!
Here's what the music industry should do to combat piracy: make the physical media worth something.
The reason I still buy DVD's isn't so much to get the movie itself - though that's always nice - but to get all the extra stuff that comes with the DVD. The deleted scenes, cinematic trailers, "making-of" documentaries, and the all-important commentaries over the movie all add a great deal of value to the DVD, as well as whatever book or document I get with the DVD.
CD's, on the other hand, have always had the same thing - just the music, nothing else. It used to be back in the day, when phonograph records were sold (well before my day) that the art - usually a big book that came with the record - added a great deal to the album. We remember albums like the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's" or Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" as much as images as we do music.
There's a fundamental difference between buying a CD and a DVD. With a few rare exceptions now, albums aren't a single complete work - they're a bunch of different works, each between 3 and 5 minutes long. A DVD, though, is one movie - not twelve. Many of the greatest albums - the aforementioned "DSOTM" comes to mind - wouldn't work on MP3, because they are one complete work. I can't picture taking a song from that album out of the context of the whole album. What music artists need to do to revolutionize the industry is either (a) sell individual songs, whether via micropayment or release of singles (which I believe people would buy if the price was set right, say to $1 a copy) or (b) make their albums worth more, in terms of either making them complete works in and of themselves, or adding extra things like really descriptive books or data tracks with something interesting on them.
I don't think DVD sales will go down as a result of piracy, even when DVD-R gets cheaper, simply because it's more difficult to cobble all the extras together, and it's not worth the time to do that when you can get the whole thing for $15-20.
And then we remember that the crashing started after installing Office XX or other MS-type software...
Actually, I remember Nutscrape crashing very shortly after I installed it, before I installed anything M$, on my old Win95.B box. It crashed because it sucked. NSv6 was even worse. I used IE for a while, then switched to Opera because it's my friend.
Thus concludes "More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About InigoMontoya(tm)'s Browser Use." Thank you for reading.
With the small investment of the price of a filter, I could get you "counterfeit" Aquafina water for the price of the bottle.
Don't say that too loud... you're reverse-engineering Aquafina, which would elicit a hefty penalty under the DMCA.
And/.'s hosting your instructions on how to circumvent "water copy protection" devices, meaning they could be held liable for any future drops in Aquafina's sales.
And here I am, commenting on it. Ummm... I think I'm going to go call my lawyer now.
I just researched, and you can't get the West Wing on DVD in the US. Isn't it sad that one if the most popular TV shows about American politics isn't available to buy, except in the UK? Not even in America?
Either that, or it's schrewd politicking on the part of the Bush administration. They don't want you to see what an effective, humane, and FAIRLY-ELECTED president looks like. Might give us ideas. And we all know that ideas not approved by the Bush administration are really terrorism.
Quiet, you! Don't give the media corporations any ideas! Next thing you know they'll be banning the public performance of any non-RIAA music (and try to take over ASCAP in the process.)
3rd parties are not allowed to advertise on broadcast media for any candidate, print media is OK as long as it is clearly marked that the third party is paying for it.
I'm hoping here that you mean 3rd parties as in NOW, NRA, ACLU, NRL, etc. and not 3rd parties as in Greens, Libertarians, Natural Law, and Communist. If it's the latter, then you just want to further prop up the two-party system that has subverted the will of the people for so long.
Here's hoping for an Authority movie... now there's a comic book that has "summer blockbuster" written all over it.
(For those of you who aren't familiar with The Authority, go to your local comic shop, ignore the Fat Comic Book Guy(tm) who runs the place and the pr0n room, and buy an issue, or better yet, a TPB. You won't be sorry.)
Actually, the story was called "Days of Future Past," and while it is collected in its very own TPB, you'll be better off spending $16 and just getting the Essential X-Men Volume 2 TPB (I think that's where it is) which reprints a whole bunch of the classic X-Men stories. It's worth it if you're an X-Men fan or just want to read some really great sooperhero stories.
First off, there's the left/right foot question. I agree that in an automatic it would be possible to drive sans left foot, but that fails to take into account the shooting process and the intense amounts of pain that (presumably) result from shooting one's own foot. Shock is quite likely in this case, if my Boy Scout 1st Aid training is being recalled correctly (it was oh-so-many years ago.)
Then there's the aim issue. With a rifle, I think I could do a damn good job at shooting myself in the foot, especially while driving, without looking. I mean, heck, the barrel's going to be at least 2 feet long, and since the body is bent while seated it can't be more than another foot or so to my foot. (Good ol' Imperial system.) With a pistol, it would be a little more difficult. However, give me an automatic weapon, a shotgun, or an RPG, and I think I could manage quite nicely (if managing quite nicely is indeed possible when one is deliberately shooting oneself in the foot) without having to look, especially in the case of the RPG (where there would be, after explosion, very little left of the rest of my body or the surrounding car, to say nothing of the foot.)
Hypothetical questions, pointless discussions, needless rhetorical violence. I love Slashdot:P
InigoMontoya(tm) (dispensing with the needlesslty large amounts of text that regularly go between the parentheses located immediately below his name)
The difference between shooting yourself into the foot, and dangerous driving is that with dangerous driving you do not only endanger yourself, but also other drivers. Or else we could do away with traffic code althogether...
But what if you shoot yourself in the foot while driving?
InigoMontoya(tm) (the one with the tm after the name)
Bill: "Hey Jerry, since we've talked before about this case, and I know you agree with me because of that conversation, would you be willing to come testify on our behalf?" Jerry: "Okay."
You know, there is an off chance that Jerry Sanders actually believes what he is saying, and is testifying in court that the states' remedy is bad because he (gasp!) believes that the states' remedy is bad.
Some people here are worse than Republicans or gun control advocates in thinking that anyone who disagrees with them has to be getting something for it and couldn't possibly believe it themselves. People do have opinions that differ from yours, and they very well may be well-reasoned and well-thought-out.
Just a little nugget of truth in the midst of all the AMD-bashing.
Re:LOTR won Best Film & Best Director...
on
LoTR Takes 4 Oscars
·
· Score: 1
They wouldn't do that, for the same reason that they didn't give Michael Jordan the MVP every year after 1990, even though he was clearly the best player in the league and the most valuable. While it could possibly be the best picture of the year all three years (and the Best Picture award is, let's face it, subjective) it won't win all three years because that would be as repetitive as Tom Hanks winning three or four years in a row (which some think he deserved, but alas, he did not receive.)
I'm thinking that it'll be RoTK that'll get all the awards... as a form of "recognition" for PJ's work in all three films. That's also the year that Elijah has a shot at Actor, and Sir Ian (McK, not Holm) and Sean Astin have a legit shot at Supporting Actor. 2004 will be the year LoTR mops 'em up, methinks. The Oscar voters are, no doubt, aware that there are three films in this trilogy and didn't want it to blow its Oscar wad on the first go.
Slashdot Mirror
I had an excellent experience with TLC as well... best $3400 I ever spent, I'm 20/15 in my left and 20/10 in my right eye. A little haloing at night, but that'll happen.
Bill Gates: Your Internet ad was brought to my attention, but I can't figure out what, if anything, Google does, so rather than risk competing with you, I've decided simply to buy you out.
Homer: I reluctantly accept your proposal!
Bill Gates: Well everyone always does. Buy 'em out, boys!
[Gates' lackeys trash the room.]
Homer: Hey, what the hell's going on!
Bill Gates: Oh, I didn't get rich by writing a lot of checks! [insane laughter]
This comment brought to you by graduate school: Delaying the real world for a few more years.
Yeah, you know how dangerous those rouge nations can be... ...them and their infernal makeup. Make all our American cheeks red and all. DAMN THEM ALL TO HELL!
The reason I still buy DVD's isn't so much to get the movie itself - though that's always nice - but to get all the extra stuff that comes with the DVD. The deleted scenes, cinematic trailers, "making-of" documentaries, and the all-important commentaries over the movie all add a great deal of value to the DVD, as well as whatever book or document I get with the DVD.
CD's, on the other hand, have always had the same thing - just the music, nothing else. It used to be back in the day, when phonograph records were sold (well before my day) that the art - usually a big book that came with the record - added a great deal to the album. We remember albums like the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's" or Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" as much as images as we do music.
There's a fundamental difference between buying a CD and a DVD. With a few rare exceptions now, albums aren't a single complete work - they're a bunch of different works, each between 3 and 5 minutes long. A DVD, though, is one movie - not twelve. Many of the greatest albums - the aforementioned "DSOTM" comes to mind - wouldn't work on MP3, because they are one complete work. I can't picture taking a song from that album out of the context of the whole album. What music artists need to do to revolutionize the industry is either (a) sell individual songs, whether via micropayment or release of singles (which I believe people would buy if the price was set right, say to $1 a copy) or (b) make their albums worth more, in terms of either making them complete works in and of themselves, or adding extra things like really descriptive books or data tracks with something interesting on them.
I don't think DVD sales will go down as a result of piracy, even when DVD-R gets cheaper, simply because it's more difficult to cobble all the extras together, and it's not worth the time to do that when you can get the whole thing for $15-20.
InigoMontoya(tm)
They already did... wasn't that what "Reign of Fire," "MIB II," and $summerblockbusterofyourchoice were all about?
(Or is it because they so completely lack any form of substance that they're impossible to remember you've seen?)
InigoMontoya(tm)
Actually, I remember Nutscrape crashing very shortly after I installed it, before I installed anything M$, on my old Win95.B box. It crashed because it sucked. NSv6 was even worse. I used IE for a while, then switched to Opera because it's my friend.
Thus concludes "More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About InigoMontoya(tm)'s Browser Use." Thank you for reading.
InigoMontoya(tm)
Don't say that too loud... you're reverse-engineering Aquafina, which would elicit a hefty penalty under the DMCA.
And /.'s hosting your instructions on how to circumvent "water copy protection" devices, meaning they could be held liable for any future drops in Aquafina's sales.
And here I am, commenting on it. Ummm... I think I'm going to go call my lawyer now.
InigoMontoya
Either that, or it's schrewd politicking on the part of the Bush administration. They don't want you to see what an effective, humane, and FAIRLY-ELECTED president looks like. Might give us ideas. And we all know that ideas not approved by the Bush administration are really terrorism.
InigoMontoya(tm)
InigoMontoya(tm)
I'm hoping here that you mean 3rd parties as in NOW, NRA, ACLU, NRL, etc. and not 3rd parties as in Greens, Libertarians, Natural Law, and Communist. If it's the latter, then you just want to further prop up the two-party system that has subverted the will of the people for so long.
InigoMontoya(tm)
Okay.
--Betty
Here's hoping for an Authority movie... now there's a comic book that has "summer blockbuster" written all over it.
(For those of you who aren't familiar with The Authority, go to your local comic shop, ignore the Fat Comic Book Guy(tm) who runs the place and the pr0n room, and buy an issue, or better yet, a TPB. You won't be sorry.)
InigoMontoya(tm)
the one with the tm
Yeah... and Ted Raimi, in his cameo role, plays an assistant to J. Jonah Jameson.
You know it's a Sam Raimi film when.....
InigoMontoya(tm)
the one with the tm
Actually, the story was called "Days of Future Past," and while it is collected in its very own TPB, you'll be better off spending $16 and just getting the Essential X-Men Volume 2 TPB (I think that's where it is) which reprints a whole bunch of the classic X-Men stories. It's worth it if you're an X-Men fan or just want to read some really great sooperhero stories.
Yes, I'm a geek as well.
InigoMontoya(tm)
the one with the tm
You bring up several valid points.
:P
First off, there's the left/right foot question. I agree that in an automatic it would be possible to drive sans left foot, but that fails to take into account the shooting process and the intense amounts of pain that (presumably) result from shooting one's own foot. Shock is quite likely in this case, if my Boy Scout 1st Aid training is being recalled correctly (it was oh-so-many years ago.)
Then there's the aim issue. With a rifle, I think I could do a damn good job at shooting myself in the foot, especially while driving, without looking. I mean, heck, the barrel's going to be at least 2 feet long, and since the body is bent while seated it can't be more than another foot or so to my foot. (Good ol' Imperial system.) With a pistol, it would be a little more difficult. However, give me an automatic weapon, a shotgun, or an RPG, and I think I could manage quite nicely (if managing quite nicely is indeed possible when one is deliberately shooting oneself in the foot) without having to look, especially in the case of the RPG (where there would be, after explosion, very little left of the rest of my body or the surrounding car, to say nothing of the foot.)
Hypothetical questions, pointless discussions, needless rhetorical violence. I love Slashdot
InigoMontoya(tm)
(dispensing with the needlesslty large amounts of text that regularly go between the parentheses located immediately below his name)
Even better:
In Michigan, vehicular manslaughter is (IIRC) 6 points. You're allowed 12 before your license is suspended.
Driving away from your local gas station without paying, however, is an immediate suspension.
Figure that one out.
InigoMontoya(tm)
(the one with the tm after his name)
(now you know I'm male. how dangerous.)
(maybe I'll stop writing these lines of extraneous text)
The difference between shooting yourself into the foot, and dangerous driving is that with dangerous driving you do not only endanger yourself, but also other drivers. Or else we could do away with traffic code althogether...
But what if you shoot yourself in the foot while driving?
InigoMontoya(tm)
(the one with the tm after the name)
How about:
Bill: "Hey Jerry, since we've talked before about this case, and I know you agree with me because of that conversation, would you be willing to come testify on our behalf?"
Jerry: "Okay."
You know, there is an off chance that Jerry Sanders actually believes what he is saying, and is testifying in court that the states' remedy is bad because he (gasp!) believes that the states' remedy is bad.
Some people here are worse than Republicans or gun control advocates in thinking that anyone who disagrees with them has to be getting something for it and couldn't possibly believe it themselves. People do have opinions that differ from yours, and they very well may be well-reasoned and well-thought-out.
Just a little nugget of truth in the midst of all the AMD-bashing.
InigoMontoya(tm)
(the one with the tm)
Six more Dubyas? That means we potentially have 54 more years of Bush reign left!
Oh, the humanity!
InigoMontoya(tm)
the one with the (tm)
Other attested spellings are
Shake-speare (very common)
Shakespear
Shakspeer
Shaksperr
and
Sheakspear
You forgot "Marlowe."
More Marlowe Fun.
InigoMontoya(tm)
They wouldn't do that, for the same reason that they didn't give Michael Jordan the MVP every year after 1990, even though he was clearly the best player in the league and the most valuable. While it could possibly be the best picture of the year all three years (and the Best Picture award is, let's face it, subjective) it won't win all three years because that would be as repetitive as Tom Hanks winning three or four years in a row (which some think he deserved, but alas, he did not receive.)
I'm thinking that it'll be RoTK that'll get all the awards... as a form of "recognition" for PJ's work in all three films. That's also the year that Elijah has a shot at Actor, and Sir Ian (McK, not Holm) and Sean Astin have a legit shot at Supporting Actor. 2004 will be the year LoTR mops 'em up, methinks. The Oscar voters are, no doubt, aware that there are three films in this trilogy and didn't want it to blow its Oscar wad on the first go.
InigoMontoya(tm)
The same could be said for the current state of the music industry.
Hey, maybe this is the RIAA/MPAA's new strategy to curtail "piracy"... just don't make anything that's worth copying or watching.
InigoMontoya(tm)
Wow, the world of David Lynch's crappy Dune film are getting closer and closer.
(((shudder)))
InigoMontoya
In the end, though, there are no more $1 bills. And lots of loonies.
Well, that's Canada in a nutshell right there.
(ducking thrown CN tower)
Hey, it was only a joke!
InigoMontoya(tm)