I've noticed the people who proclaim Moulin Rouge to be the best film of the year are often the same people proclaiming Magnolia to be "*the* film of the 90s."
Have you read the short story? Honestly, there's not that much in common between the two. The movie appears to be based on the short story as much as Star Wars was "based on" LotR.
"I Am Sam" is embarassingly bad... it's a desperate plea for an Oscar that has inexplicably been heeded. Heaven help us if he wins because we can expect a boatload of crappy "I Am Retarded" flicks from aspiring "Actors" within a year.
>>If I produce a piece of equipment (with patents, copyrights, etc. over that), I should also have the expressed right over how I want to license 3rd party manufacturer's.
Didn't this already get settled with Nintendo vs. Game Genie? AFAIK, you can make unlicensed games that work with any system and sell them.
3rd party controller manufacturers, I imagine, pay Nintendo a fee in exchange for specs, standards and support to ensure compatibility with the system.
The sticking point, of course, is the DMCA which makes these kind of circumventions illegal. AFAIK though, they don't have an DMCA-equivalent in Australia.
Re:I'm seriously tempted to try something like thi
on
Cringely's Bank Shot
·
· Score: 2
It's a really huge tree on someone else's property. The house is surrounded by trees. Besides, we're renting the house.
And moving ain't much of an option because we're getting a pretty damn good deal on rent. Housing this cheap is hard to find this close to Seattle.
Of course, Australia has to beat the region controls first. Let's assume they do.
I'm guessing the remedy would be to require players sold in Australia to be capable of playing all regions.
This would result in Australian DVD players being exported to other countries. This gets done already but usually they require mods or they're expensive. But if you have a legit source of "official" DVD players, I think they'll prove popular.
US DVD Player manufacturers will either see this as a threat(because people will buy Aussie DVD players instead of American ones) or as an extra cost of business(because they'll have to effectively produce two different types of the same players) and start lobbying for the right to produce region-free players here as well.
...
Then Sony brings down the wrath of the WTO and crushes this newly gained freedom in Australia and the fantasy comes to an end.
in the hotly contested race between (now former) Senator Slade Gorton and (now Sen.) Maria Cantwell.
Gorton had a fairly goofy picture of himself buried in his campaign website. Cantwell's web site deep linked to it from their front page as part of a humourous attack on his environmental record.
Gorton's campaign manager didn't really understand the issue and first accused Cantwell's campaign of copyright infringement and, later, "hacking" Gorton's website. Fortunately for Gorton, his tech people understood what was going on much better and swapped out the goofy pic with a different pic...
then when people went to Cantwell's website, they were greeted with a big "Vote for Slade Gorton"-style picture. Cantwell's people quickly stopped deep linking.
Whole thing played itself out in a day and no lawsuits were filed.
>You could rent movies from just about anywhere -- video store, supermarket, drug store, even the convenience store on the corner.
Supermarkets *still* rent (and sell) movies; even ones that are right next to Hollywood or Blockbuster.
I'm seriously tempted to try something like this..
on
Cringely's Bank Shot
·
· Score: 2
The house my friends and I live in is in a multi-media deadzone.
No cable because we're too isolated and far up a hill.
No satellite access because the house is surrounded by trees and blocks the signal.
DSL doesn't reach out here.
Cell phone coverage exists but is fairly crappy.
I consider it a minor miracle the house gets a phone line.
We don't live in some rural area; we live in a suburb outside Seattle that's fairly dense. Everyone around us gets this stuff but we can't.
From my experience on Capitol Hill, switching to Linux for instance, I don't think would be a huge problem as most of the people don't know how to use Windows. So, not knowing how to use Linux wouldn't be a big change.
When I was there(and it's undoubtedly improved), they had a serious lack of competent sys admins for congressional offices. The main problems were:
1. Many Congressional offices didn't see tech as a priority and have a dedicated sys admin position. Those offices had the receptionist maintain the network. You can imagine the results.
2. The pay is crap compared to the private sector. Of course, no one goes into gov't for the money... but...
3. Competent computer people who are also interested in and have the patience for politics are few and far between.
``We've taken the PC down to where you can take it home and finish your work,'' said Kenneth Ocheltree, manager for next generation mobile at IBM Research.
I used to handle mail for a House office. I would suggest FAXING the letter. We responded to e-mail but I know many other offices ignore it. It can't hurt to do it though. Snail mail takes longer and there's the anthrax problem.
Faxes, however, get there instantly and are typically treated exactly like mailed letters. It also gets the office's attention if their fax machine is constantly spitting out letters on a topic.
Be respectful in your tone of voice. Being bitchy is a surefire way of getting the letter chucked.
Include your address and only send the letter to your senators and your one representative. No address means the letter gets chucked. And sending it to anyone else just means the letter gets referred to the office you should've sent it to in the first place... assuming it doesn't get tossed.
In most cases, you'll receive a non-committal response in a few weeks and your rep won't even know about your letter.
However, if a lot of constituents are sending individual letters, the issue will likely be brought up with the Congresscritter.
Did you actually read the article or any of the comments? People are talking about the station and shuttle programs, which are indeed getting cut.
"Space station Alpha, the subject of intense criticism for billions in cost overruns, would lose roughly $230 million over its 2002 allotment of $1.7 billion. "
"The space shuttle program, which Bush administration budget documents scold for inefficient safety upgrades, would receive about $65 million less than its $3.3 billion last year."
>If you think the shuttle has no payoff, why would large corporation be pushing for its privitization?
Of course, he doesn't think that. That's the whole point. His campaign contributors get first crack at developing space tech and make a mint for the rest of their lives licensing it to the gov't that funded their research.
Stock tip: Invest in the private space contractors for the long term.
[insert comical frivilous lawsuit (i.e. hot McD's coffee)]
Maybe you find third-degree burns comical if you've only heard the Rush Limbaugh version of the case instead of what actually happened.
The sweatpants Liebeck was wearing absorbed the coffee and held it next to her skin. A vascular surgeon determined that Liebeck suffered full thickness burns (or third-degree burns) over 6 percent of her body, including her inner thighs, perineum, buttocks, and genital and groin areas. She was hospitalized for eight days, during which time she underwent skin grafting. Liebeck, who also underwent debridement treatments, sought to settle her claim for $20,000, but McDonald's refused.
During discovery, McDonald's produced documents showing more than 700 claims by people burned by its coffee between 1982 and 1992. Some claims involved third-degree burns substantially similar to Liebeck's. This history documented McDonald's knowledge about the extent and nature of this hazard.
...
The jury awarded Liebeck $200,000 in compensatory damages. This amount was reduced to $160,000 because the jury found Liebeck 20 percent at fault in the spill. The jury also awarded Liebeck $2.7 million in punitive damages, which equals about two days of McDonald's coffee sales.
Slashdot Mirror
I've noticed the people who proclaim Moulin Rouge to be the best film of the year are often the same people proclaiming Magnolia to be "*the* film of the 90s."
Have you read the short story? Honestly, there's not that much in common between the two. The movie appears to be based on the short story as much as Star Wars was "based on" LotR.
[i]Seriously, everybody, what films deserve nominations but were so long ago that they've been forgotten?[/i][p] Memento. But you'd expect that.
Or as Jim Carrey put it:
"It's an honor just to be nom-..[sob]"
"I Am Sam" is embarassingly bad... it's a desperate plea for an Oscar that has inexplicably been heeded. Heaven help us if he wins because we can expect a boatload of crappy "I Am Retarded" flicks from aspiring "Actors" within a year.
>>If I produce a piece of equipment (with patents, copyrights, etc. over that), I should also have the expressed right over how I want to license 3rd party manufacturer's.
Didn't this already get settled with Nintendo vs. Game Genie? AFAIK, you can make unlicensed games that work with any system and sell them.
3rd party controller manufacturers, I imagine, pay Nintendo a fee in exchange for specs, standards and support to ensure compatibility with the system.
The sticking point, of course, is the DMCA which makes these kind of circumventions illegal. AFAIK though, they don't have an DMCA-equivalent in Australia.
It's a really huge tree on someone else's property. The house is surrounded by trees. Besides, we're renting the house.
And moving ain't much of an option because we're getting a pretty damn good deal on rent. Housing this cheap is hard to find this close to Seattle.
Of course, Australia has to beat the region controls first. Let's assume they do.
I'm guessing the remedy would be to require players sold in Australia to be capable of playing all regions.
This would result in Australian DVD players being exported to other countries. This gets done already but usually they require mods or they're expensive. But if you have a legit source of "official" DVD players, I think they'll prove popular.
US DVD Player manufacturers will either see this as a threat(because people will buy Aussie DVD players instead of American ones) or as an extra cost of business(because they'll have to effectively produce two different types of the same players) and start lobbying for the right to produce region-free players here as well.
...
Then Sony brings down the wrath of the WTO and crushes this newly gained freedom in Australia and the fantasy comes to an end.
in the hotly contested race between (now former) Senator Slade Gorton and (now Sen.) Maria Cantwell.
Gorton had a fairly goofy picture of himself buried in his campaign website. Cantwell's web site deep linked to it from their front page as part of a humourous attack on his environmental record.
Gorton's campaign manager didn't really understand the issue and first accused Cantwell's campaign of copyright infringement and, later, "hacking" Gorton's website. Fortunately for Gorton, his tech people understood what was going on much better and swapped out the goofy pic with a different pic...
then when people went to Cantwell's website, they were greeted with a big "Vote for Slade Gorton"-style picture. Cantwell's people quickly stopped deep linking.
Whole thing played itself out in a day and no lawsuits were filed.
>You could rent movies from just about anywhere -- video store, supermarket, drug store, even the convenience store on the corner.
Supermarkets *still* rent (and sell) movies; even ones that are right next to Hollywood or Blockbuster.
The house my friends and I live in is in a multi-media deadzone.
No cable because we're too isolated and far up a hill.
No satellite access because the house is surrounded by trees and blocks the signal.
DSL doesn't reach out here.
Cell phone coverage exists but is fairly crappy.
I consider it a minor miracle the house gets a phone line.
We don't live in some rural area; we live in a suburb outside Seattle that's fairly dense. Everyone around us gets this stuff but we can't.
Anything to get Britney out of prostitution.
If you win an Oscar or an Emmy, there's nothing stopping you from selling it.
>>Please remember that it is still called "Evolutionary Theory",
Gravity is also considered a theory.
Evolution happens. It's been observed repeatedly by different people in the present. The theory explains *why* and *how* it happens.
Gravity also happens. It's been observed repeatedly by different people. The theory explain *why* and *how* it happens.
From my experience on Capitol Hill, switching to Linux for instance, I don't think would be a huge problem as most of the people don't know how to use Windows. So, not knowing how to use Linux wouldn't be a big change.
When I was there(and it's undoubtedly improved), they had a serious lack of competent sys admins for congressional offices. The main problems were:
1. Many Congressional offices didn't see tech as a priority and have a dedicated sys admin position. Those offices had the receptionist maintain the network. You can imagine the results.
2. The pay is crap compared to the private sector. Of course, no one goes into gov't for the money... but...
3. Competent computer people who are also interested in and have the patience for politics are few and far between.
In Washington state, at least, it's illegal to serve alcohol to anyone's who's obviously drunk.
is this a Good Thing(tm)?
I used to handle mail for a House office. I would suggest FAXING the letter. We responded to e-mail but I know many other offices ignore it. It can't hurt to do it though. Snail mail takes longer and there's the anthrax problem.
Faxes, however, get there instantly and are typically treated exactly like mailed letters. It also gets the office's attention if their fax machine is constantly spitting out letters on a topic.
Be respectful in your tone of voice. Being bitchy is a surefire way of getting the letter chucked.
Include your address and only send the letter to your senators and your one representative. No address means the letter gets chucked. And sending it to anyone else just means the letter gets referred to the office you should've sent it to in the first place... assuming it doesn't get tossed.
In most cases, you'll receive a non-committal response in a few weeks and your rep won't even know about your letter.
However, if a lot of constituents are sending individual letters, the issue will likely be brought up with the Congresscritter.
Did you actually read the article or any of the comments? People are talking about the station and shuttle programs, which are indeed getting cut.
"Space station Alpha, the subject of intense criticism for billions in cost overruns, would lose roughly $230 million over its 2002 allotment of $1.7 billion. "
"The space shuttle program, which Bush administration budget documents scold for inefficient safety upgrades, would receive about $65 million less than its $3.3 billion last year."
Aliens were behind 9/11. We must take the battle to them, no matter how many light years they are from us!
>If you think the shuttle has no payoff, why would large corporation be pushing for its privitization?
Of course, he doesn't think that. That's the whole point. His campaign contributors get first crack at developing space tech and make a mint for the rest of their lives licensing it to the gov't that funded their research.
Stock tip: Invest in the private space contractors for the long term.
Don't worry. I'm sure the DoD has plans for a space shuttle program.
They'll just all be equipped with Ronnie Reagan Rayguns.
Maybe if they were "Space-Age" toilet seats, they'd be worth it, but now we won't even have that!
as privatizing airport security.
Maybe you find third-degree burns comical if you've only heard the Rush Limbaugh version of the case instead of what actually happened.
The sweatpants Liebeck was wearing absorbed the coffee and held it next to her skin. A vascular surgeon determined that Liebeck suffered full thickness burns (or third-degree burns) over 6 percent of her body, including her inner thighs, perineum, buttocks, and genital and groin areas. She was hospitalized for eight days, during which time she underwent skin grafting. Liebeck, who also underwent debridement treatments, sought to settle her claim for $20,000, but McDonald's refused.
During discovery, McDonald's produced documents showing more than 700 claims by people burned by its coffee between 1982 and 1992. Some claims involved third-degree burns substantially similar to Liebeck's. This history documented McDonald's knowledge about the extent and nature of this hazard.
The jury awarded Liebeck $200,000 in compensatory damages. This amount was reduced to $160,000 because the jury found Liebeck 20 percent at fault in the spill. The jury also awarded Liebeck $2.7 million in punitive damages, which equals about two days of McDonald's coffee sales.