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User: kannibal_klown

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  1. Re:How about NONE! on Big Releases Heat Up High-Def Format War · · Score: 1

    The source shouldn't be a problem in this case. 35mm film has incredibly high detail. It picks up dust and scratches but there are all sorts of techniques to deal with that perfectly.
    Unfortunately, some people studios/channels/etc are lazy. I'm seen some very poor "HD" conversions while watching the tube, to the point where it looks like they just tried up-converting the DVD material to 720P or something. Not stretched 4:3 content, but just sloppy work. These tend to be older movies usually airing on UHD or TNT-HD.

    I've also seen some that were spectacularly done (and probably done properly from the 35mm).

    So to know if there's a difference, you're probably better off going after something done proper. That BBC disc is quite beautiful, though whether you think it's worth the cost is truly up to you.
  2. Re:Undercover Agents? on Site Claims to Reveal 'Tattle-tales' · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Yeh, I see the murder rate going up a point or two in the next couple of weeks if this site doesn't get taken down.

    I mean do they not see the dangers in doing this? Or do they just not care?

  3. Won't someone think of the children? on How Bad Can Wi-fi Be? · · Score: 2, Funny

    Gah! Won't someone think of the children!?

    If we use 802.11, the terrorists win.

    I'm sure it's worth study, and I personally think WiFi is used too much. I'm not saying we shouldn't use it a lot, but I know some homes and businesses that might just be better off with some CAT cables. I mean, if all of your computers in your 1 bed apartment are desktops, why go WiFi?

  4. Re:Cold War, take... Two? on Russian Journalists Quit Over Censorship · · Score: 1, Funny

    Well, I vote that we'll henceforth refer to this as the Nippy War!
    Nippy War, wasn't that started by Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl?
  5. Re:waste of time on AACS Revision Cracked A Week Before Release · · Score: 1

    Last week i saw Grindhouse, after some particularly cool sequence as the noise of the crowd died down, someone said "this is so awesome!" and the crowd went nuts again.
    You're lucky, my theater was full of people that just didn't "get" parts of the movie. They thought the fake trailers were horrible, were pissed at the "missing reels," etc.

    But yeh, some things are just great to see with a large group (particularly comedies). But still, you get the parents bringing a crying baby to a late horror movie (WTF), some jerk on his cellphone, and the lame idiots talking through the whole friggin movie.

    When the crowd is good, the experience is great. When the crowd is bad, it's a waste of money.
  6. Re:When you buy hardware, you buy the hardware. on Microsoft Bans Modified Xbox 360s From Xbox Live · · Score: 1

    From my understanding, it's not like they're swapping out hardware like DVD Roms or something. They're replacing a single chip on the motherboard, or reflashing the chip with different machine code, or soldering a new chip onto an existing circuit.

    So it's not like "Windows has detected new hardware. Installing Phillips DVD-R." It's harder to detect what exactly has changed and for what purpose.

  7. Re:Direct mail orders? on Study Says No Future for Video iTunes · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Remember how direct mail orders killed the retail business? Companies could cut the middle-man and allow customers to buy from them directly, as long as they were aware of the company, and had their mail address, and were willing to fill up a mail order form and a check and send it to them.
    Your's is probably the most direct analogy thus far. Going direct is often a big hassle.

    If we're to go by their thinking, then consumers will have no problem having to figure out which studio or agency owns the rights to their show, find their video site online, and watch. Hmm, who owns the "Spider-man" cartoons again? Oh wait, what about the A-Team?

    The middle-man has been successful all of these years because it makes things easier. Consumers don't have to dig through yellow pages, address books, search engines, etc to figure out where to find a product. Like with iTunes, it's all there in 1 place and easy to find. If you want a better deal (or something Free) then look harder, but I doubt iTunes would go away. At most, they've have to change lower their prices.
  8. Re:Sampling? on Hybrid Cars to Get New Mileage Ratings · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Catch-22. They like to have a "real" number before the car starts selling, but via your method they'd need to sell enough to get an accurate sample.

  9. Re:Under the PATRIOT Act... on Teachers Fake Gunman Attack · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Well not that I agree with what happened, but to play Devil's advocate...

    Some sort of "drill" for these things might not be a bad idea. Panic and poor preparation are 2 major killers in all life-and-death situations, so preparing students for this kind of thing can save lives. Make it dynamic, throwing a few curveballs into the mix (chained doors and such) to help them think on their feet. I mean, fire drills are pretty common and I'd imagine "bomb drills" are done, and let's not forget the "H Bomb Drills" of old (duck and cover!).

    Then again, they approached this thing poorly. They didn't treat it as a drill and instead scared the living goose feathers out of the kids. That's just messed up, particularly since the kids were so young and it was so soon after the VT shootings when people are nervous about such things. That would be like your boss screaming "There's a plane heading for our skyscraper! RUN!" on like 10/12/2001.

  10. Re:Netbeans on Sun Debuts JavaFX As Alternative To AJAX · · Score: 1

    I'm at JavaOne right now. On Monday I attended one of the "Conference Plus" sessions about Web Services. The room was pretty full.

    After about a 1/2 hour, he asked how many people used NetBeans. About 3 or 5 people raised their hands.

    He laughed and asked "How many people use a competing IDE, namely one that starts with E." Just about everyone else raised their hands. He laughed it aside.

    It was a good chuckle. Of course, myself and a neighbor tried to plug "IntelliJ IDEA" but nobody heard. Honestly, I don't have anything against NetBeans; the recent version is OK and I like how it does a few things more than Eclipse.

  11. Re:Funny thing about Jeresey tolls... on New Jersey Turnpike As a Power Source? · · Score: 2

    I love how everyone views NJ as Newark and Jersey City, boned on their experiences trying to get in/out/across via the Tunpike. Nobody seems to realize close to half of NJ is still forrested. NJ is kind of funny that it ranges for inner city, to suburbs, to abosulute hicks-ville. Of course most people I know out of state think it's all pavement jungle until they come to visit.

  12. Re:All about the benjamins on Dell to Sell Machines with Ubuntu Pre-Loaded · · Score: 1

    If others like Dell had better business sense, they'd look to stray away from MS or at least offer an alternative to it. They'd save from having to purchase (even via partnership sweetheart deals) MS' product line.
    It's never as easy as one initially thinks.

    Like it or not, MS is too saturated in the business world for it to truly go away.

    Retailers like Dell will have to sell and support MS products because businesses still use them. After all, I'd imagine a large percentage of Dell sales come from company purchases so discontinuing MS entirely would screw them over.

    While some small and medium companies (as well as a few brave large corporations) can leave MS, it's hard and thus rare. It's not just a simple matter of dropping Windows workstations, Office, and Outlook... but the rest of the company's infrastructure. I've seen corporations that use all of the following at once: SQL server, MS web servers, .Net, countless Excel macros, specialized lab software only available on Windows, etc.

    Changing all of that stuff over is just a huge endeavor, something that a company might not want to undertake. Sure, it will save money in the long long run but it is a huge upfront cost of time and money.
  13. Re:Did anyone pay $600 to buy cheap games? on Jaffe's Calling All Cars Coming Soon · · Score: 2, Insightful

    With few exceptions, I spend more time on my XBox 360 playing XBox Live! Arcade games than most of my "expensive" boxed games. I like Live! and the ability to impulse-buy some neat little game for a couple bucks and not have to worry about swapping out discs. There are some real gems out there, granted many of them are already cheap downloads for the PC but I've all but given up on PC gaming.

    Now, that's not to say that's all I play. I still play a bunch of 360 games as well as regular XBox games on my system, but Live was one of the selling points for me (after playing some games at a friend's house).

  14. Cellphone don't kill bees... on Cell Phones Aren't Killing Bees After All · · Score: 1, Funny

    Cellphones don't kill bees, Video games kill bees.

    Honestly, until the other explanations started coming out I lost a LOT of faith in scientists and researchers. I mean, come on.

  15. Re:The Essay? on Student Arrested for Writing Essay · · Score: 1

    This kid was correctly removed from the classroom. He should be examined by psychiatrists and a judgment should be made as to his mental health and well-being. If he is not a danger to anyone, he should be allowed back. This decision shouldn't be left to school officials, but to qualified medical professions.
    Had this been an ordinary essay, then... ummm.. yeh get him out. Or better yet, run like hell.

    But "free writing" is weird, I've seen it done and the stuff that comes out is... crazy. You just trying to clear your head, not think, and just start writing what you're feeling. The main portion is "no filter/censoring," just whatever comes out even if it might offend. If something's been annoying you then vent, if you've been thinking about something you like then gush.

    Like "person watching over shoulder, grr, leave me alone, not your business, stop it, want to stab you in eye with pencil and eat it like an olive." Or something benign like "chair uncomfortable, why school invest in better chairs, i like ottomans, they remind me of my dog, but my dog yelps if i accidentally step on him."

    It's kind of trippy, the stuff that comes out of even the most conservative person would the most easy going person do a double take. Face it, we all have bad thoughts that we NEVER EVER act on and would NEVER EVER say. I've had the occasional dark thought when I'm having a bad day or talking to an idiot. But the goal of free writing is to let everything out.
  16. Re:First it was video games, now essays. on Student Arrested for Writing Essay · · Score: 1

    First it was video games to the geeks were look at as possible threats, now it is the people who write good essays. What is next a person who is good with Music.
    Well, technically they view games (and once rock and roll) as a cause to all of the world's woes. They're looking at the essay as a kind of forecast or warning of what is to come.

    In any case, I agree with the jist what you're saying. They turn a blind eye to things that are (or can potentially) be important and freak out at other things, meanwhile the principal labels all depressed kids as druggies (because what else could possibly be the problem).

    And just think, people rely on these people to teach and watch over their kids while they're at work.
  17. Re:In what universe? on Tech Sector Expansion Blunting U.S. Job Outsourcing · · Score: 1

    There's a cellphone store nearby that I've gone to a few times. The guy behind the counter is 1-2 years older than me, we both graduated w/ a Masters in CS from the same state, and both had software developer jobs. His company killed their department about 2 years ago so they could outsource to a firm in India. He's still stuck behind the counter at the cellphone store. I also know a few other people that were out of work for long stretches.

    I kind of look at that with an "it can happen to me" attitude. I've been trying to keep my savings us and brush up on new tech when I can. At times I wish IT didn't interest me so much and that I went a different (and more stable) route.

  18. Re:PC games *ARE* dying on PC Games On the Rebound · · Score: 1

    At least by me, I've never seen used PC games for sale. I always imagined that it would be a legal headache for the stores, as perhaps the original owner made a copy and is logging on w/ the CD key or something.

    It's just like a friggin college book store. You sell them a used textbook for $10 USD, they turn around and sell the thing for $70 USD. It's kind of depressing that second semester when you sell a book back for the price of 2 lunches, only to see it sitting on the shelf later with a fat price tag.

  19. Re:"Superman could use it as a paperweight" on 'Kryptonite' Discovered in Serbian Mine · · Score: 1

    That's what I didn't get in the story. In DC continuity, Kryptonite is just fine to handle if you're only human. So how have these scientists established that it wouldn't hurt a fictional alien?
    But in the comics, long-term exposure can result in a painful death.
  20. Re:Cite your sources on Open WAP = Probable Cause? · · Score: 2, Interesting

    . I would maintain, though, that freedom of speech is more respected here. Nobody gets called a traitor for opposing a war, for example.
    Yeh, over here in the states you're either "for the war" or "against our troops."
  21. Re:PC games *ARE* dying on PC Games On the Rebound · · Score: 1

    I was in Game yesterday
    I'm going to guess you meant to say "Gamestop?"

    Yeh, most of the small-building places (EBGames/Gamestop, mom-and-pop shops, etc) carry very few PC games now-a-days. By me, EBGames/Gamestop are little more than pawn shops, half of their shelf space is dedicated to "used games" and the new-game-shelves are very shallow (1-2 copies of each game). Places like BestBuy still carry a lot of PC games, in fact the ones near me have almost equal shelf space for PC games as they do console games.

    Personally, with few exceptions like C&C 3, I've been leaning towards the console end of things. It's just less of a hastle.
  22. Re:When was the game AI good? on Next Gen Beautiful But Brainless? · · Score: 1

    NFS: Most Wanted still has this. You can be blowing the AI opposition away, then miraculously they'll fly across the map and be on your rear bumper.

    I guess the AI has a hidden button to unleash the hidden Kryptonian hampster wheels under the hood.

  23. Re:Wouldn't say "vast majority." on NY Governor to Target Violent Video Games · · Score: 1

    Personally, I've never seen a theate turn away a group of kids from buying tickets to an R movie even though there wasn't an adult and the oldest couldn't have been more than 15.
    It comes and goes over here in NJ. There were times were I was turned away though I was only 1 year under, and have seen it a few times since. I think most the most "out there" event was when I went to see one of the American Pie sequels; not only were kids being turned away left and right but there were cops inside near the inner-entrance to the theaters.

    My guess is they start enforcing it hard when movie of "questionable content" riles up some morality group. They raise hell with the theaters, so for the next few weeks they mind their Ps and Qs.
  24. Re:Back up at the wire on Turbo Tax Melts Down on Tax Day · · Score: 1

    Must have. I submitted my return in TurboTax at about 11:45 EDT on the 16th and had no problems.
    Actually, you were ahead of the game (1 day early). They gave us a 2 day extension, making the taxes due at about 11:59:59 PM Apr 17. I think it was because of some holiday in 1 of the southern states.

    She was supposedly able to submit at 11:55PM-ish on Tuesday Night (April 17th).
  25. Re:Back up at the wire on Turbo Tax Melts Down on Tax Day · · Score: 1

    Just a personal preference in the interface really. I didn't use TurboTax this year, so I can't compare them, but I wasn't too thrilled with the offline TaxCut this year. Seemed a little cheap and I had to wrestle with 1 or 2 bugs that also gave buggy error messages (told me to enter amounts for 2004 in such in the error, but the form said 2006).

    TaxCut just rubbed me the wrong way with those bugs. I'm sure it's probably a better product than Intuit's.