I think everyone needs to be peppered once in a while with insults, if not we'll become a society of over-sensitive people demanding we not be called fat, but big boned... er.. wait..
The following is a rant about Action versus talk, not a rant about the Music industry. Please keep children away from this rant, it is contagious.
---Begin Pre-Luch Time Rant--
Am I the only on sick of hearing about Janis? Great, wonderful that Janis is speaking about rights and all that bull; so does Bono for animal rights your point? Sitting around bitching about why things are the way they are does NOTHING. The question Janis is what are YOU going to DO besides sit and lecture? We know what the problem is Janis (Doctor Scott, Brad, ROCKY!) we have heard this over and over again. Why not try something that few people understand. Instead of bitching and whining and being all "Touchy-Feely" and sympathetic with your fans, why not OFFER SOME CONCRETE SOLUTIONS! I am sick of hearing whiny maggots from the music industry, BOTH SIDES, sitting say A is bad and B is bad when neither of them can do the following SIMPLE things:
A: Define the problem B: Offer concrete evidence on the fact the problem is real C: Offer SOLUTIONS that work in the real world.
This nonsense with the music industry is pissing me off. With nuclear powers facing off, people dying from murderers, war looming, and all sorts of bad things that go bump in the night you think these whiny commies would get a clue and realized if they had stuck with capitalism they could have simply used the old law of supply and demand to stop this (Most are, it's called bootleg MP3s). People are sick of the record industry and all they do is whine and talk and talk and talk. If EVERY person that hated the RIAA gave $10 to a general fund they would have 4 times the disposable income that the RIAA has. The RIAA would have to dip into profits (creating debt) to battle YOUR $1!! That is a vicious cycle if you have a few brain cells left. If every person that didn't vote in a presidential election gave $1 every month how many millions of dollars would you have? Can't spare a $1 a month? Bullshit. All I see is entitlement lazy assholes with too much free time that CHOOSE not to get organized and actually do something about their problems because they're too busy whining about shit instead of doing something about the shit they see.
There is the problem and I'll say it again: I see is entitlement lazy assholes with too much free time that CHOOSE not to get organized and actually do something about their problems because they're too busy whining about shit instead of doing something about the shit they see.
I contribute a whole whopping $5 buck to my candidates and political party each month. Why don't you? Because you're too damn busy whining! Why is it every time some singer start crying about a cause it becomes profound? How many fucking lemmings post on this board?
The fundamental problem of 90% of problems is your too god damn busy talking to DO something.
There are no corrupt politicians, they WORK HARD for the people that elected them, too bad you did elect them. You were too busy whining.
You have become lazy and CHOOSE not to defend you freedom with your vote. You must PARTICIPATE in the political system, if you don't be surprised if they don't listen.
Now, like so many, you lemming behind some famous person without doing the 3 simple things:
A: Define the problem B: Offer concrete evidence on the fact the problem is real C: Offer SOLUTIONS that work in the real world.
The problem isn't the RIAA buying politicians. It fails a typical logic test. The ROOT problem is the fact we are not being active in politics. I am reminded of a simple poster I saw at a police station. There on the poster is an inmate lifting weights. The poster asks," He's getting stronger, are you?" Well the companies are pushing hard in politics, did you forget how to compete? You have to pusher HARDER than the competition. I am sad to see that the American spirit on competition has been replaced by lazy, whiney, bitchy, slackers who have to rally around a musician instead of their own ideals.
I have a great SOLUTION, go buy Sony Stock and vote the fuckers off the board and put your own people in there. Oh wait, that would be too easy. Who would have thought that you have to work hard in order to win.
Can't afford it? Yes you can, first form an ethical investment firm in your local area and RAISE MONEY to battle bullshit like this; SHUT UP AND DO SOMETHING!!! ARG!!!
--- End Pre-Lunch Rant---
I'm sure I'll feel better after lunch, please take my rant as just that, a rant. I might have drifted into a blind range of madness and babbled about gold fish or something but I had to get it off my chest, that's why I like Slashdot, it's a great place to vent rational and irrational statements. Later
This is why eceryone and their cousin in business is applying for patents on existing, non-pantented ideas. This is why Intellectual Property is so hot, expecially with software. Copyright the code, patent the idea, and gain a simple monopoly on software.
I came close to getting SR but when I called I asked a simple question:
"What guarantee do you have in writing that, while the stations are currently commercial free, ensures that the stations STAY commercial free?"
This is the response "We cannot guarantee at this time that we will remain commercial free."
After having a lawyer friend make some calls this was the response "The commercial free aspect of our service is an introductory program only. We are currently pricing out commercial time and negotiating with prospective sponsors. We do not have any fixed implementation time yet."
Man, what ever happened to false advertising? Serves these shady bastards right for trying to fleece their customers. I feel really bad for all those who did subscribe.
In fact answer me this: Why, if I pay for cable TV, are their commercials? I remember early on that cable was virtually commercial free. I also clearly remember when Showtime, Cinemax, and the Movie Channel had zero commercials (HBO didn't have their own station yet. They were more of a production studio. I remember getting HBO's station when it came out, begging my Mom to get it, for one thing... Fraggle Rock, mmm Doozer sticks.... Ahhh...)
It's kind of like public education, when is enough money enough? Studios keep telling me that it costs too much to make a film. Well first lower salaries... oh wait that solves the problem.
The problem is that the contemporary marketing methods have no concrete, economic validity anymore. They have brushed aside capitalism in exchange for poorly disguised Socialism and we are paying the price. Capitalism is the idea the in economic terms it is survival of the fittest. True Monopolies, Government bailouts, restrictive cost of entry, and plain criminal racketeering have crippled Capitalism and forced people to embrace Socialism thinking it will solve the problem. This is the same mentality the satellite radio producers were thinking.
There is a ray of hope that there is some common sense in the courts. If that ruling had not happened how many weeks before some deaf person sued a record label for not making their music Deaf-Accessable (How would that work?) or perhaps they would sue a painter for not making their painting blind-accessable? Or my personal favorite, someone in a wheelchair filing a charge against the U.S for not making the mountains in National parks accessable (oh wait too late...) There is a limit, this person crossed it and thank god there was a judge with some common sense to strike it down!
I don't belive this has to really do with sound quality. Vac tubes are a cost item that wear out after time (ohh money) and are probably provided so you don't have to buy powered speaker systems (I am sure Altec is going to be pissed about that). We won't know until they start selling to the general public. I hope that this is just a temporary fad and they'll come to their senses
"... and that they'll be putting Hollywood out of business, possibly within the next three years"
Three Years eh... God Bless America, capitalism does work:) We've put up with 20 years of crap from the movie industry, they've time and time again insulted our intelligence, they destroyed what going to a movie was about (perhaps fueling the imagination, inspiring emotions, and telling a new and interesting story instead of retelling the same crap over and over again..), and now they are suprised to see their business falling apart?
To quote THE philsopher Homer, WOOHOO! (Wait the other Homer, DOH!; aww crap, never mind)
Wow if piracy (now offically Civil Disobediance according to Cringley) is that effective as a tool of capitalism maybe we can avoid the Orwellian Society after all. Now the Fordian society is another issue but over all I find this to be pretty good news.
Ok, first I like linux and open source but there is a HUGE flaw in Open Source that Open Source Fanatics don't understand. I will be brief and to the point.
Open Source is Dangerous in Military Applications.
Yes Open Source allows you to have more stable and better applications BUT (In a GOD like booming voice with dramatic echo) if someone has access to the source code they can better engineer attacks against the software. Abiguity is a strategic advantage in, if they don't know how the software "works" they'll have a harder (note the use of HARDER, not impossible) time causing problems. There is a reason that email is not used frequently and you can see hundreds of reasons why even the best encryption is flawed (as in the encryption is only as secure as the people using it). I would seriously have a problem using ANY application in a mission critical position where the source code is available. Here is an example (abstracted and general for readability)
------Begin------ Goal: An email like program that is secure to transmit messages.
Using an open source program called WidgetComm you can send encrypted messages between locations.
Right now you have no clue how to hack it. You don't know what protocol, network hardware, CPU, or encyption is available.
But with the source code you now know that the program uses TCP/IP on ethernet hardware on Intel x86 processors using PGP.
Now you can start targeting the weaknesses inherit in the components with the source code to help you. Ahh the only use a 32 bit integer for this input, I could overflow that to get XYZ into the Intel EAX register and then by overflowing field 2 (also a 32bit) I can get ABC into the EBX register. When I hit submit it will Jump to ABC and execute XYZ. Muhaahhaa. Source code gives you the ability to better focus an attack, as ANY GOOD INTELLIGENCE is important to an attack.
Even if the Navy re-wrote the protocol with a custom there are still the vulnerabilities in PGP. And if they re-wrote that part there would still be processor exploits (anyone here ever heard of Micro-Code? I can create a virus that doesn't need an OS to do it's dirty work. I just need to send a few key voltage params to the processor to re-program the processor itself). Open Source is great for home users but when human lives are on the line, with the defense of the nation at stake I'd really rather not provide the enemy a GOD DAMN ROAD MAP illustrating how my mission critical application works! Does this not seem to make sense? Or have some of the fanatics gone back to sniffing glue? Hello to even suggest Open Source in military applications is bad, using store bought crap is just as bad. The military needs to code it's own on a proprietary processor for optimal security. If 90% of hackers are using x86 put all your systems on a different architecture. There is a reason we don't tell people where are subs are, why would we tell them where our software is most vulnerable. And if you hand me the "There arn't any vulnerabilities because of Open Source peer review" you need a swift kick in the head and re-read. When you use open source you give potential attackers a road map of HOW the application works making it easier to attack the software. This has nothing to do with how crash-proof it is. This has to do with a directed assault, penetration, and intentional compromises that extend far beyond what rookies like Kevin pulled. We are talking nuclear secrets, weapon blue prints, troop movements, logistical data, not some cheap credit card DB that hold whether you bought Pr0n last week. This is serious shit and certainly wouldn't want enemy nations holding the god damn blue prints to my software.
Ok I'm done... go to the happy place.. go to a stripped down easy to use linux system... happy... happy...
I can see it now, insurance companies will have manditory blood tests and then map out your DNA. IF you have a high chance of anything then there will be a premium hike. The world of Gattica becomes a reality, now people like the KKK can use this to further their cause! I see a great rift in society where couples planning to be married will try to get DNA info on their spouse to make sure they're not inferior. I see a new form of elitism coming about where the new aristocracy will be of a genetic elite and those who are inferior will be weeded out through poverty, disease, and depression. They will develop gene therapy that can "Clean" your DNA and make you an elite but it will cost millions, a legacy to leave your children. Then while working yout 80 hours a week popping soma you will go visit quaint villages of non-elites and marvel at their simple ways....
Behold the Fordian Society of Huxley's "Brave New World" written in the 30s he warned of this day. Now it's finally here...
It's the end of the world as we know it, but I don't feel fine... not at all...
I know why they are dropping the warranty period to 1 year. Because they are all switching to the newer density products and re-tooling the assembly lines they do not want to stock the parts for the older drives (remember you are taxed at end of year on inventory. That includes replacement parts) this allows them to increase their profit margin in a disintegrating economy allow the board of directors to give them selves a higher pay increase so they don't have to cook the books to make big money! IT'S SO SIMPLE!
Please, if any economic decision in a company could be explained in one sentence I'd be impressed to the point of uttering blatherscyte.
Why do I have this sick sinking feeling that we are going to hear from a bunch of activists that have, too much free time and too much tax payer money in their pockets,as they start berating this movie. I wonder how long it will take before someone starts a litigation against the makers of this little Indie 8 min wonder. Mark my words we'll hear, "How Dare You" and things like "The Comparision is unjust and denegrating". I can hear the liberal mass of low self-esteem activists sharpening their attourney auto-dial buttons as they foam at the mouth of this "almost as bad a Hitler" movie. I can feel the oxygen being drawn out as millions of liberal activists begin huffing and gasping at this horribly racist, denegrating, non-politically correct (Aww hell lets call a spade a spade, Socialist-Correct) film diminishing Malcom-X's role in history. Why can we see this film for what is really is? BECAUSE THE REST OF US WORKING ADULTS GREW UP AND DEVELOPED A SENSE OF HUMOR AND GREW OUT OF OUT OVER-SENSITIVE CHILDHOOD!!
Beware, I think I heard one of them dial already... I thought they'd wait till the movie made some money...
NEWS AT 11: Gnostic religious groups file a lawsuit against the makers of The Matrix for mis-representing the concept of the DemiUrge. Catholics groan as they thought they stomped out the Gnostics after the Nicean Council. Constantine rolls over in grave!!
I saw CNN demo of that unit, it was getting 2-4 FPS, was in !Craptacular! (copyright, 2002 you may use the word Craptacular only by giving me a $0.25 licensing fee for each time you read/or use it. That will be 50 cents please!) 256 color over a slow-as-ass (again copyright 2002, same as above but only a 10 cent fee) analog conntection. This product is what I call Craptastic-ware (again copyright 2002, sorry this one has a $10 viewing and $5 re-use fee).
You bill is 10+5+.50+.10= $15.60 Based on the number of people that will read this say: 5000 that means I make a cool $78000
Crap! No better yet, DOUBLE CRAP! Has the entire concept of higher level programming languages been lost?! WTF people we have to stop the mad-people (madman is not PC apprently) from screwing up the whole concept of high level language.
High Level Language is to make it easier and quicker to code. Remember doing "Hello World" in ASM? Then compared to when you wrote it in C? Where did that innovation go? I remember having to code 300 to a 1000 lines to accomplish what I was able to do in 10 lines in C. Also complexity was reduced in high level languages. Where did that mindset vanish.
Now I have some yahoo trying to tell me to use Mozilla as a front end to programs? Does using Mozilla some how make life easier for me? Quicker development times? Less errors? Let me think
NN NN OOOOOOOO !! NNNN NN OO OO !! NN NN NN OO OO !! NN NNNN OO OO NN NNN OOOOOOOO !!
So once again we have another programming FAD! Aww crap can I just get a good programming language...
I will check it out asap. Thank you. I'd like to get back to making my Twin Cities Skyway series of maps based on the actual layout of buildings in the metro area.
I poked around and found a few articles on psycho-acoustics that talk about 20Khz+ sounds being percieved. All I know is that sounds higher than 20Khz tend to piss myt dogs off.:)
I simply need a modelling tool that lets me build counter-stike and quake 3 maps that is as easy to use as the old Duke Nukem 3D mapping tool. Why do we need yet another Lightwave/3DSMax/Maya/Bryce/Blender/Easy3D/blah/bl ah God bless the open source comunity to reinvent the wheel... again... Good luck! Now if someone could just make these apps easier to use then I'd care...
You correct, I went out and checked a few sites on the ability of sound to move into the EM spectrum and it went into tons of crap about photon emissions and E-MC2 stuff. Me no physicst.
Not the system upstairs was the $40k system. The one down stairs was his daughters I think before she went into the navy. The one upstairs was a custom mix of equipment that I had never heard of. His tube amps were cool looking though and he has these really sweet violet analog meters with a whiteish-red lettering and needles.
actually that would be greatly determined by the transmission and whether you have a short or long stroke engine. There are plenty of cars that can go from 0-55 in unreal amounts of time but there is the factor of top end. The max speed is not proportional to the rate of accelleration.
I personally think we are running out of ideas. I mean literraly there are only so many chords and note combinations possible. Unless something radical comes along I think that we will only have new instruments to rely upon. I personally haven't heard a new beat is 10 years. Ack! Back to Pink Floyd for some RnR.......
Actually humans can 'SENSE' fequencies beyond the 20-20 range. Dolby labs had an article in Hometheater magazine a few years back discussing the need for sub-and hyper sonic data to aid in dimensional perception. While it is unlikely that you can 'hear' a 30Khz sound you brain may still process it in some fashion. I think it was in 1999 around spring that they ran the article. Just because you can't hear it doesn't mean you should discard it. For instance if you encode low freqencies say around 10Hz you may not hear that but you can Feel it. You are absolutily correct that 100Khz is over kill, anyways where does 100Khz sit on the electromagentic list? You have to be getting close to infra-red! (Doh could you imagine being cooked by your music! ACK!!!)
I hate to break it to the makers of DVD audio and so forth but an old saying is still true:
"In the design of an audio system the quality of the sound is determined by the weakest component." (An old McIntosh training manual page).
If my CD's only encode say 20Hz to 20Khz having speakers that can produce say 10Hz to 30Khz does me no good. The inverse is also true, if my DVD-AUDIO cd has 10Hz to 30KHz and I have speakers that only do 30Hz to 10KHz WHO CARES.
Take any speaker set you buy for under $200 a speaker and I have news, you frequency response, dB response, and all that crap the audiophiles go nutz over is not going to match the sounds on the DVD-AUDIO CD.
Any component in the audio system (walkman, integrated amps, component pieces, etc..) can be the target of a bitchy old red head! "You are the weakest link, Good Bye!"
I have a client that is gaga for audio. He's gotta have more than $40k in his system. Tube amps, at $2k turn table, the works! He invited me over to listen to a fidelity test of Pink Floyd the Wall a year or to ago. We first listened to it on an all digital system with the recent release of the Wall. Sounded great, it was an all Carver system with Infinity speakers (Basically the best system that say Best Buy could put together.) We have fun shot pool and 2 hours later ate with the rest of the guests (there were like 40 of us there.) then we went upstairs to the "Fidelity Room" He had speakers that were like $2000 bucks a piece and had a self tuning equalizer setup (It was cool to see) and then we played a few select tracks off the CD. Sounded the same. Again we went and shot-the-shit so to speak for another hour as he prep his vinyl and the difference was night and day. The we listened to some tape recording of it (I think they were called DAT recordings) and that was damn good too! Both were far better than CDs. Anyways, a few days later after I had bought my home theater setup (Onkyo setup I bought while I was working at a Circuit City back in highschool, a 646 integrated amp with infinity speakers) and he brought over the Vinyl and Dat components. We listened to the CD, Record, and DAT tapes and guess what? They all sounded the same.
Plain and simple it's like a car, the ability to top out at 300 mph is usless when the speed limit is 55. DVD-AUDIO and Super CDs are worthless unless the system they are played on can keep up.
Great idea for audiophiles I am sure but to the common consumer... useless.
I have to admit the extra features would be cool, perhaps embedded album art and lyrics would be a nice touch but again I see no reson to change unless I have the equipment that can match the fidelity.
My two cents (along with at least 40 spelling errors)
Slashdot Mirror
I think everyone needs to be peppered once in a while with insults, if not we'll become a society of over-sensitive people demanding we not be called fat, but big boned... er.. wait..
The following is a rant about Action versus talk, not a rant about the Music industry. Please keep children away from this rant, it is contagious.
---Begin Pre-Luch Time Rant--
Am I the only on sick of hearing about Janis? Great, wonderful that Janis is speaking about rights and all that bull; so does Bono for animal rights your point? Sitting around bitching about why things are the way they are does NOTHING. The question Janis is what are YOU going to DO besides sit and lecture? We know what the problem is Janis (Doctor Scott, Brad, ROCKY!) we have heard this over and over again. Why not try something that few people understand. Instead of bitching and whining and being all "Touchy-Feely" and sympathetic with your fans, why not OFFER SOME CONCRETE SOLUTIONS! I am sick of hearing whiny maggots from the music industry, BOTH SIDES, sitting say A is bad and B is bad when neither of them can do the following SIMPLE things:
A: Define the problem
B: Offer concrete evidence on the fact the problem is real
C: Offer SOLUTIONS that work in the real world.
This nonsense with the music industry is pissing me off. With nuclear powers facing off, people dying from murderers, war looming, and all sorts of bad things that go bump in the night you think these whiny commies would get a clue and realized if they had stuck with capitalism they could have simply used the old law of supply and demand to stop this (Most are, it's called bootleg MP3s). People are sick of the record industry and all they do is whine and talk and talk and talk. If EVERY person that hated the RIAA gave $10 to a general fund they would have 4 times the disposable income that the RIAA has. The RIAA would have to dip into profits (creating debt) to battle YOUR $1!! That is a vicious cycle if you have a few brain cells left. If every person that didn't vote in a presidential election gave $1 every month how many millions of dollars would you have? Can't spare a $1 a month? Bullshit. All I see is entitlement lazy assholes with too much free time that CHOOSE not to get organized and actually do something about their problems because they're too busy whining about shit instead of doing something about the shit they see.
There is the problem and I'll say it again:
I see is entitlement lazy assholes with too much free time that CHOOSE not to get organized and actually do something about their problems because they're too busy whining about shit instead of doing something about the shit they see.
I contribute a whole whopping $5 buck to my candidates and political party each month. Why don't you? Because you're too damn busy whining! Why is it every time some singer start crying about a cause it becomes profound? How many fucking lemmings post on this board?
The fundamental problem of 90% of problems is your too god damn busy talking to DO something.
There are no corrupt politicians, they WORK HARD for the people that elected them, too bad you did elect them. You were too busy whining.
You have become lazy and CHOOSE not to defend you freedom with your vote. You must PARTICIPATE in the political system, if you don't be surprised if they don't listen.
Now, like so many, you lemming behind some famous person without doing the 3 simple things:
A: Define the problem
B: Offer concrete evidence on the fact the problem is real
C: Offer SOLUTIONS that work in the real world.
The problem isn't the RIAA buying politicians. It fails a typical logic test. The ROOT problem is the fact we are not being active in politics. I am reminded of a simple poster I saw at a police station. There on the poster is an inmate lifting weights. The poster asks," He's getting stronger, are you?" Well the companies are pushing hard in politics, did you forget how to compete? You have to pusher HARDER than the competition. I am sad to see that the American spirit on competition has been replaced by lazy, whiney, bitchy, slackers who have to rally around a musician instead of their own ideals.
I have a great SOLUTION, go buy Sony Stock and vote the fuckers off the board and put your own people in there. Oh wait, that would be too easy. Who would have thought that you have to work hard in order to win.
Can't afford it? Yes you can, first form an ethical investment firm in your local area and RAISE MONEY to battle bullshit like this; SHUT UP AND DO SOMETHING!!! ARG!!!
--- End Pre-Lunch Rant---
I'm sure I'll feel better after lunch, please take my rant as just that, a rant. I might have drifted into a blind range of madness and babbled about gold fish or something but I had to get it off my chest, that's why I like Slashdot, it's a great place to vent rational and irrational statements. Later
This is why eceryone and their cousin in business is applying for patents on existing, non-pantented ideas. This is why Intellectual Property is so hot, expecially with software. Copyright the code, patent the idea, and gain a simple monopoly on software.
Eureka! Really! Come On... Take a bath!
Another Socialist bitching about a free market. I love it when they put their "community" provided foot in their mouth. Keep tagging em as you see em!
I came close to getting SR but when I called I asked a simple question:
"What guarantee do you have in writing that, while the stations are currently commercial free, ensures that the stations STAY commercial free?"
This is the response
"We cannot guarantee at this time that we will remain commercial free."
After having a lawyer friend make some calls this was the response
"The commercial free aspect of our service is an introductory program only. We are currently pricing out commercial time and negotiating with prospective sponsors. We do not have any fixed implementation time yet."
Man, what ever happened to false advertising? Serves these shady bastards right for trying to fleece their customers. I feel really bad for all those who did subscribe.
In fact answer me this: Why, if I pay for cable TV, are their commercials? I remember early on that cable was virtually commercial free. I also clearly remember when Showtime, Cinemax, and the Movie Channel had zero commercials (HBO didn't have their own station yet. They were more of a production studio. I remember getting HBO's station when it came out, begging my Mom to get it, for one thing... Fraggle Rock, mmm Doozer sticks.... Ahhh...)
It's kind of like public education, when is enough money enough? Studios keep telling me that it costs too much to make a film. Well first lower salaries... oh wait that solves the problem.
The problem is that the contemporary marketing methods have no concrete, economic validity anymore. They have brushed aside capitalism in exchange for poorly disguised Socialism and we are paying the price. Capitalism is the idea the in economic terms it is survival of the fittest. True Monopolies, Government bailouts, restrictive cost of entry, and plain criminal racketeering have crippled Capitalism and forced people to embrace Socialism thinking it will solve the problem. This is the same mentality the satellite radio producers were thinking.
There is a ray of hope that there is some common sense in the courts. If that ruling had not happened how many weeks before some deaf person sued a record label for not making their music Deaf-Accessable (How would that work?) or perhaps they would sue a painter for not making their painting blind-accessable? Or my personal favorite, someone in a wheelchair filing a charge against the U.S for not making the mountains in National parks accessable (oh wait too late...) There is a limit, this person crossed it and thank god there was a judge with some common sense to strike it down!
I don't belive this has to really do with sound quality. Vac tubes are a cost item that wear out after time (ohh money) and are probably provided so you don't have to buy powered speaker systems (I am sure Altec is going to be pissed about that). We won't know until they start selling to the general public. I hope that this is just a temporary fad and they'll come to their senses
" ... and that they'll be putting Hollywood out of business, possibly within the next three years"
:) We've put up with 20 years of crap from the movie industry, they've time and time again insulted our intelligence, they destroyed what going to a movie was about (perhaps fueling the imagination, inspiring emotions, and telling a new and interesting story instead of retelling the same crap over and over again..), and now they are suprised to see their business falling apart?
Three Years eh... God Bless America, capitalism does work
To quote THE philsopher Homer, WOOHOO! (Wait the other Homer, DOH!; aww crap, never mind)
Wow if piracy (now offically Civil Disobediance according to Cringley) is that effective as a tool of capitalism maybe we can avoid the Orwellian Society after all. Now the Fordian society is another issue but over all I find this to be pretty good news.
Note to Businesses: THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT.
Ok, first I like linux and open source but there is a HUGE flaw in Open Source that Open Source Fanatics don't understand. I will be brief and to the point.
Open Source is Dangerous in Military Applications.
Yes Open Source allows you to have more stable and better applications BUT (In a GOD like booming voice with dramatic echo) if someone has access to the source code they can better engineer attacks against the software. Abiguity is a strategic advantage in, if they don't know how the software "works" they'll have a harder (note the use of HARDER, not impossible) time causing problems. There is a reason that email is not used frequently and you can see hundreds of reasons why even the best encryption is flawed (as in the encryption is only as secure as the people using it). I would seriously have a problem using ANY application in a mission critical position where the source code is available. Here is an example (abstracted and general for readability)
------Begin------
Goal: An email like program that is secure to transmit messages.
Using an open source program called WidgetComm you can send encrypted messages between locations.
Right now you have no clue how to hack it. You don't know what protocol, network hardware, CPU, or encyption is available.
But with the source code you now know that the program uses TCP/IP on ethernet hardware on Intel x86 processors using PGP.
Now you can start targeting the weaknesses inherit in the components with the source code to help you. Ahh the only use a 32 bit integer for this input, I could overflow that to get XYZ into the Intel EAX register and then by overflowing field 2 (also a 32bit) I can get ABC into the EBX register. When I hit submit it will Jump to ABC and execute XYZ. Muhaahhaa. Source code gives you the ability to better focus an attack, as ANY GOOD INTELLIGENCE is important to an attack.
Even if the Navy re-wrote the protocol with a custom there are still the vulnerabilities in PGP. And if they re-wrote that part there would still be processor exploits (anyone here ever heard of Micro-Code? I can create a virus that doesn't need an OS to do it's dirty work. I just need to send a few key voltage params to the processor to re-program the processor itself). Open Source is great for home users but when human lives are on the line, with the defense of the nation at stake I'd really rather not provide the enemy a GOD DAMN ROAD MAP illustrating how my mission critical application works! Does this not seem to make sense? Or have some of the fanatics gone back to sniffing glue? Hello to even suggest Open Source in military applications is bad, using store bought crap is just as bad. The military needs to code it's own on a proprietary processor for optimal security. If 90% of hackers are using x86 put all your systems on a different architecture. There is a reason we don't tell people where are subs are, why would we tell them where our software is most vulnerable. And if you hand me the "There arn't any vulnerabilities because of Open Source peer review" you need a swift kick in the head and re-read. When you use open source you give potential attackers a road map of HOW the application works making it easier to attack the software. This has nothing to do with how crash-proof it is. This has to do with a directed assault, penetration, and intentional compromises that extend far beyond what rookies like Kevin pulled. We are talking nuclear secrets, weapon blue prints, troop movements, logistical data, not some cheap credit card DB that hold whether you bought Pr0n last week. This is serious shit and certainly wouldn't want enemy nations holding the god damn blue prints to my software.
Ok I'm done... go to the happy place.. go to a stripped down easy to use linux system... happy... happy...
I can see it now, insurance companies will have manditory blood tests and then map out your DNA. IF you have a high chance of anything then there will be a premium hike. The world of Gattica becomes a reality, now people like the KKK can use this to further their cause! I see a great rift in society where couples planning to be married will try to get DNA info on their spouse to make sure they're not inferior. I see a new form of elitism coming about where the new aristocracy will be of a genetic elite and those who are inferior will be weeded out through poverty, disease, and depression. They will develop gene therapy that can "Clean" your DNA and make you an elite but it will cost millions, a legacy to leave your children. Then while working yout 80 hours a week popping soma you will go visit quaint villages of non-elites and marvel at their simple ways....
Behold the Fordian Society of Huxley's "Brave New World" written in the 30s he warned of this day. Now it's finally here...
It's the end of the world as we know it, but I don't feel fine... not at all...
I know why they are dropping the warranty period to 1 year. Because they are all switching to the newer density products and re-tooling the assembly lines they do not want to stock the parts for the older drives (remember you are taxed at end of year on inventory. That includes replacement parts) this allows them to increase their profit margin in a disintegrating economy allow the board of directors to give them selves a higher pay increase so they don't have to cook the books to make big money! IT'S SO SIMPLE!
Please, if any economic decision in a company could be explained in one sentence I'd be impressed to the point of uttering blatherscyte.
Why do I have this sick sinking feeling that we are going to hear from a bunch of activists that have, too much free time and too much tax payer money in their pockets,as they start berating this movie. I wonder how long it will take before someone starts a litigation against the makers of this little Indie 8 min wonder. Mark my words we'll hear, "How Dare You" and things like "The Comparision is unjust and denegrating". I can hear the liberal mass of low self-esteem activists sharpening their attourney auto-dial buttons as they foam at the mouth of this "almost as bad a Hitler" movie. I can feel the oxygen being drawn out as millions of liberal activists begin huffing and gasping at this horribly racist, denegrating, non-politically correct (Aww hell lets call a spade a spade, Socialist-Correct) film diminishing Malcom-X's role in history. Why can we see this film for what is really is? BECAUSE THE REST OF US WORKING ADULTS GREW UP AND DEVELOPED A SENSE OF HUMOR AND GREW OUT OF OUT OVER-SENSITIVE CHILDHOOD!!
Beware, I think I heard one of them dial already... I thought they'd wait till the movie made some money...
NEWS AT 11: Gnostic religious groups file a lawsuit against the makers of The Matrix for mis-representing the concept of the DemiUrge. Catholics groan as they thought they stomped out the Gnostics after the Nicean Council. Constantine rolls over in grave!!
Opps wrong model, I was thinking the Video-Phone model they recently had. My mistake. Oh well the previous post was still funny.
I saw CNN demo of that unit, it was getting 2-4 FPS, was in !Craptacular! (copyright, 2002 you may use the word Craptacular only by giving me a $0.25 licensing fee for each time you read/or use it. That will be 50 cents please!) 256 color over a slow-as-ass (again copyright 2002, same as above but only a 10 cent fee) analog conntection. This product is what I call Craptastic-ware (again copyright 2002, sorry this one has a $10 viewing and $5 re-use fee).
You bill is 10+5+.50+.10= $15.60
Based on the number of people that will read this say: 5000 that means I make a cool $78000
Have you noticed that we are going backwards to Mainframe-like computing? Wow! Could you imagine if they had it right the first time!
Crap! No better yet, DOUBLE CRAP! Has the entire concept of higher level programming languages been lost?! WTF people we have to stop the mad-people (madman is not PC apprently) from screwing up the whole concept of high level language.
High Level Language is to make it easier and quicker to code. Remember doing "Hello World" in ASM? Then compared to when you wrote it in C? Where did that innovation go? I remember having to code 300 to a 1000 lines to accomplish what I was able to do in 10 lines in C. Also complexity was reduced in high level languages. Where did that mindset vanish.
Now I have some yahoo trying to tell me to use Mozilla as a front end to programs? Does using Mozilla some how make life easier for me? Quicker development times? Less errors? Let me think
NN NN OOOOOOOO !!
NNNN NN OO OO !!
NN NN NN OO OO !!
NN NNNN OO OO
NN NNN OOOOOOOO !!
So once again we have another programming FAD! Aww crap can I just get a good programming language...
I will check it out asap. Thank you. I'd like to get back to making my Twin Cities Skyway series of maps based on the actual layout of buildings in the metro area.
I poked around and found a few articles on psycho-acoustics that talk about 20Khz+ sounds being percieved. All I know is that sounds higher than 20Khz tend to piss myt dogs off. :)
I simply need a modelling tool that lets me build counter-stike and quake 3 maps that is as easy to use as the old Duke Nukem 3D mapping tool. Why do we need yet another Lightwave/3DSMax/Maya/Bryce/Blender/Easy3D/blah/bl ah God bless the open source comunity to reinvent the wheel... again... Good luck! Now if someone could just make these apps easier to use then I'd care...
You correct, I went out and checked a few sites on the ability of sound to move into the EM spectrum and it went into tons of crap about photon emissions and E-MC2 stuff. Me no physicst.
Not the system upstairs was the $40k system. The one down stairs was his daughters I think before she went into the navy. The one upstairs was a custom mix of equipment that I had never heard of. His tube amps were cool looking though and he has these really sweet violet analog meters with a whiteish-red lettering and needles.
actually that would be greatly determined by the transmission and whether you have a short or long stroke engine. There are plenty of cars that can go from 0-55 in unreal amounts of time but there is the factor of top end. The max speed is not proportional to the rate of accelleration.
I personally think we are running out of ideas. I mean literraly there are only so many chords and note combinations possible. Unless something radical comes along I think that we will only have new instruments to rely upon. I personally haven't heard a new beat is 10 years. Ack! Back to Pink Floyd for some RnR.......
Actually humans can 'SENSE' fequencies beyond the 20-20 range. Dolby labs had an article in Hometheater magazine a few years back discussing the need for sub-and hyper sonic data to aid in dimensional perception. While it is unlikely that you can 'hear' a 30Khz sound you brain may still process it in some fashion. I think it was in 1999 around spring that they ran the article. Just because you can't hear it doesn't mean you should discard it. For instance if you encode low freqencies say around 10Hz you may not hear that but you can Feel it. You are absolutily correct that 100Khz is over kill, anyways where does 100Khz sit on the electromagentic list? You have to be getting close to infra-red! (Doh could you imagine being cooked by your music! ACK!!!)
I hate to break it to the makers of DVD audio and so forth but an old saying is still true:
"In the design of an audio system the quality of the sound is determined by the weakest component." (An old McIntosh training manual page).
If my CD's only encode say 20Hz to 20Khz having speakers that can produce say 10Hz to 30Khz does me no good. The inverse is also true, if my DVD-AUDIO cd has 10Hz to 30KHz and I have speakers that only do 30Hz to 10KHz WHO CARES.
Take any speaker set you buy for under $200 a speaker and I have news, you frequency response, dB response, and all that crap the audiophiles go nutz over is not going to match the sounds on the DVD-AUDIO CD.
Any component in the audio system (walkman, integrated amps, component pieces, etc..) can be the target of a bitchy old red head! "You are the weakest link, Good Bye!"
I have a client that is gaga for audio. He's gotta have more than $40k in his system. Tube amps, at $2k turn table, the works! He invited me over to listen to a fidelity test of Pink Floyd the Wall a year or to ago. We first listened to it on an all digital system with the recent release of the Wall. Sounded great, it was an all Carver system with Infinity speakers (Basically the best system that say Best Buy could put together.) We have fun shot pool and 2 hours later ate with the rest of the guests (there were like 40 of us there.) then we went upstairs to the "Fidelity Room" He had speakers that were like $2000 bucks a piece and had a self tuning equalizer setup (It was cool to see) and then we played a few select tracks off the CD. Sounded the same. Again we went and shot-the-shit so to speak for another hour as he prep his vinyl and the difference was night and day. The we listened to some tape recording of it (I think they were called DAT recordings) and that was damn good too! Both were far better than CDs. Anyways, a few days later after I had bought my home theater setup (Onkyo setup I bought while I was working at a Circuit City back in highschool, a 646 integrated amp with infinity speakers) and he brought over the Vinyl and Dat components. We listened to the CD, Record, and DAT tapes and guess what? They all sounded the same.
Plain and simple it's like a car, the ability to top out at 300 mph is usless when the speed limit is 55. DVD-AUDIO and Super CDs are worthless unless the system they are played on can keep up.
Great idea for audiophiles I am sure but to the common consumer... useless.
I have to admit the extra features would be cool, perhaps embedded album art and lyrics would be a nice touch but again I see no reson to change unless I have the equipment that can match the fidelity.
My two cents (along with at least 40 spelling errors)