...I first saw Jurassic Park and saw how lifelike they'd made the CGI'd dinosaurs. At some point, animation will be so lifelike that it'll be possible to, say, make a Shirley Temple avatar dance and sing on your desktop. Or a JonBenet Ramsey one.
However, there's some precedent for animated stuff being considered raunchy even if it's animated rather than live.
I used to laugh at my parents, when they said they could remember where they were when Kennedy was shot. I don't anymore. Exactly. I'll never forget the look on Doug Yount's face when he said, "Fellas, you're gonna hear about this later anyway, but the Challenger shuttle blew up." I felt my heart sort of thud in my chest.
A "good" movie general? That's easy.
on
'Thirteen Days'
·
· Score: 2
Remember Gen. George C. Marshall in Saving Private Ryan? Spielberg stopped just short of CGI'ing a halo over his head.
Re:OK, I'll go on record with a detailed guess
on
What is 'IT'?
·
· Score: 2
Better a semi-controlled hard landing than a total ball-of-yarn tumble. At least with the former you *might* walk away...
(Given the speed-of-light limitation, we won't have snappy conversation even if the other civilization is relatively close by.)What do we say? "Hi, were Humanity; here's as much of our understanding of the history of the universe as we've gotten so far; here's our understanding of physics and chemistry; here's how our biology works; here's the history of our species and the content of our various cultures." Does that about cover it? How many bytes do you estimate that breaks down to....a few Tb?I'd hate to be the guy who has to proofread everything.
Re:OK, I'll go on record with a detailed guess
on
What is 'IT'?
·
· Score: 2
These twin-engine personal helo designs worry me a little. What happens if you get a one-engine flameout? Uncontrollable yaw rate, uncontrollable roll rate, rapid loss of altitude, or maybe all three simultaneously?It's possible -- with proper training and constant practice -- to autorotate if you're not too high up to start with and there's enough room to land safely, but I'd worry about weekend pilots trying this.
Even a dedicated bithead like yourself probably gets away from the box now and again. What other interests do you have? What things do you like to read? Do you listen to and/or play/sing music? Are you interested in art? How do you interact with other children?
...Time zones started in the US to regulate train schedules. Now that we have global communication and intercontinental travel measured in hours instead of weeks, why even *bother* with time zones anymore? Everybody go on Greenwich Mean Time. If that means the sun's rising at 1730 and setting at 0430 the next calendar day, well, that's just how things happen to work where you are.
...might not be the the last gasp for free expression. I've been enjoying "radio" stations on the Internet, a lot of whom have no presence on the airwaves themselves.
While I'm planning to flip the bird at the radio during future fund drives, I'm hopeful that Internet broadcasting will continue to grow as it's been. Maybe there will be a relatively no-brainer suite that does for Netcast programming what Apache's done for servers.
What about roadside distractions, though? One of the busier roads in my part of town is popular with joggers. Especially female joggers. Good-looking female joggers. I don't want the car to do something it shouldn't because my gaze lingers lustfully off of the road for a couple of seconds.
Sub-cm accuracy is useful to know if you're traversing a mined area, too. I wonder if sappers (combat engineers) are using this level of accuracy for mine laying and pathfinding.Two things I'm hopeful about for easier minefield clearing: (1)We'll see a future where emplaced mines can "chirp" their locations (hmm, what if the OPFOR can hack the chirps though?) and (2) we'll have accurate mine-placement maps so little kids won't become amputees 15 years after the fact.
...And taxation is something the State will enforce by whatever means necessary. The State ultimately has a gun pointed at taypayers' heads, true, but corporations have one advantage that most individuals don't: the means to retain armies of tax lawyers and lobbyists to obtain loopholes and otherwise derail, deflect, and obfuscate means of collecting tax.
Respectfully, Jon, if you mean to say that game-playing causes creativity, I have terrible time seeing this.
All the behavioral enhancements you note in experienced gamers (team play, strategic thinking, decisiveness) sound to me like well-developed problem-solving skills. But I suggest there's a qualitative difference between acquiring and honing skills specific to running repeatedly through a set of stimuli (a particular game) and being "creative" and a "storyteller."On the other hand, consider the rare gamer who becomes bored with playing games and ponders, "What are the possibilies of this medium?" Gamers who go on to modify and extend games through scenario builders, to design better games from scratch, and to compose fiction around characters and plotlines seen in games -- they are truly creative and not merely adept and intuitive at playing the games themselves. This sort of gamer might not become as adept at problem-solving his/her way through the game, but s/he is exhibiting true creative expression in making something that wasn't there before.
I won't call ya "lawyers" out of professional courtesy -- just don't call technical writers "manual laborers.":o)
OK, reproducing the electronic version of the document I can sort of understand, because it's using some kind of proprietary encoding. But it cannot be read aloud for crissakes? C'mon, give me a freakin' break! How is that legally justifiable?
Anybody else here remember using a tape recorder to upload/download software onto a PET, TRS-80, or an Apple II? And when you were loading a program, sometimes you weren't quite sure if the loading sequence had worked until it got to the end and you entered RUN.
...well then, here is a movie that actually had a believable premise -- all the way back in 1978 -- and largely had its scientific act together to boot.And talk about your potential for social upheaval! Hoo boy.
Considering all 3 are still vapor, it'll be even more interesting to read an article like this in a year, and compare it to this. Why, that's actually a good idea. You guys get dinged a lot for seemingly "recycling" articles from time to time, but you've identified a legitimate reason to do exactly that.
I also have used FreeAV for a few years, loved it, and will miss it. But I'll move on to Juno or NetZero. Or Yahoo. Or...
FreeWWWeb bit the dust this year, too. I suspect that, like me, otherfree-ISP customers just migrate from one provider to another. But if free ISPs die off faster than new ones are started, does that mean that all us cheapskates will be on one or at most two free ISPs? If so, that suggests a large number of us suckers will be at the mercy of market forces at the same time -- an example of lots of eggs in a single basket.
It's enough to make a guy bite the bullet and go back to paying for access.
Why, thankee, ShadyG. Kind of nice to see someone take notice. Interestingly, split infinitives inexorably are going the way of the subjunctive mood and will vs. shall. I can't type an infinitive without hearing William Shatner intone "...to boldly go where no man has before!"
Instead of a single laser and a mirror, though, that fictional device was pairs of red, green, and blue lasers onto goggles IIRC.
I would rather have phenomenonscopic spectacles like the court reporter in the Diamond Age, I think.
(That's a mailing list for technical writers.)
As I posted to the Framer's list, I suspect that the beta was a
political compromise between pro-Linux and anti-Linux people at
Adobe. It was the lamest beta that I ever saw, with only one
questionnaire in ten months. And Adobe couldn't even send someone
six blocks to exhibit at Linuxworld in San Jose last August. The
fact that no reason is given for the beta - nothing about a lack of
interest, for example - makes me more convinced than ever that the
beta wasn't really serious.
I suspect that the strongest reason is that Adobe, unlike Sun or
IBM, is oriented towards selling software rather than services, and
so views the open source aspects of Linux with distrust. However,
had the company looked a little deeper, it would have found that a
market for proprietary software does exist in Linux, and it could
have had the chance to get in on the ground floor; I suspect that
the way Frame is put together would be very appealing to Linux
users.
For anyone left stranded by the decision, I suggest:
a.) the use of a Windows emulator: vmware, win4lin, plex86 or WINE.
b.) Open/Star Office: not much better than MS Word, but adequate.
c.) Kword: a Framemaker-like tool, but still in the early stages of
development.
--
Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications
604.421.7189 bbyfield@axionet.com
(Don't hit me, Bruce...)
Slashdot Mirror
...I first saw Jurassic Park and saw how lifelike they'd made the CGI'd dinosaurs. At some point, animation will be so lifelike that it'll be possible to, say, make a Shirley Temple avatar dance and sing on your desktop. Or a JonBenet Ramsey one. However, there's some precedent for animated stuff being considered raunchy even if it's animated rather than live.
I used to laugh at my parents, when they said they could remember where they were when Kennedy was shot. I don't anymore. Exactly. I'll never forget the look on Doug Yount's face when he said, "Fellas, you're gonna hear about this later anyway, but the Challenger shuttle blew up." I felt my heart sort of thud in my chest.
Remember Gen. George C. Marshall in Saving Private Ryan? Spielberg stopped just short of CGI'ing a halo over his head.
Better a semi-controlled hard landing than a total ball-of-yarn tumble. At least with the former you *might* walk away...
(Given the speed-of-light limitation, we won't have snappy conversation even if the other civilization is relatively close by.)What do we say? "Hi, were Humanity; here's as much of our understanding of the history of the universe as we've gotten so far; here's our understanding of physics and chemistry; here's how our biology works; here's the history of our species and the content of our various cultures." Does that about cover it? How many bytes do you estimate that breaks down to....a few Tb?I'd hate to be the guy who has to proofread everything.
These twin-engine personal helo designs worry me a little. What happens if you get a one-engine flameout? Uncontrollable yaw rate, uncontrollable roll rate, rapid loss of altitude, or maybe all three simultaneously?It's possible -- with proper training and constant practice -- to autorotate if you're not too high up to start with and there's enough room to land safely, but I'd worry about weekend pilots trying this.
...this is how the UFOs are supposed to work, right?
Even a dedicated bithead like yourself probably gets away from the box now and again. What other interests do you have? What things do you like to read? Do you listen to and/or play/sing music? Are you interested in art? How do you interact with other children?
...Time zones started in the US to regulate train schedules. Now that we have global communication and intercontinental travel measured in hours instead of weeks, why even *bother* with time zones anymore? Everybody go on Greenwich Mean Time. If that means the sun's rising at 1730 and setting at 0430 the next calendar day, well, that's just how things happen to work where you are.
...might not be the the last gasp for free expression. I've been enjoying "radio" stations on the Internet, a lot of whom have no presence on the airwaves themselves. While I'm planning to flip the bird at the radio during future fund drives, I'm hopeful that Internet broadcasting will continue to grow as it's been. Maybe there will be a relatively no-brainer suite that does for Netcast programming what Apache's done for servers.
What about roadside distractions, though? One of the busier roads in my part of town is popular with joggers. Especially female joggers. Good-looking female joggers. I don't want the car to do something it shouldn't because my gaze lingers lustfully off of the road for a couple of seconds.
Sub-cm accuracy is useful to know if you're traversing a mined area, too. I wonder if sappers (combat engineers) are using this level of accuracy for mine laying and pathfinding.Two things I'm hopeful about for easier minefield clearing: (1)We'll see a future where emplaced mines can "chirp" their locations (hmm, what if the OPFOR can hack the chirps though?) and (2) we'll have accurate mine-placement maps so little kids won't become amputees 15 years after the fact.
...And taxation is something the State will enforce by whatever means necessary. The State ultimately has a gun pointed at taypayers' heads, true, but corporations have one advantage that most individuals don't: the means to retain armies of tax lawyers and lobbyists to obtain loopholes and otherwise derail, deflect, and obfuscate means of collecting tax.
I can't remember what Marconi xmitted, but Morse sent "What hath God wrought?"Sounds more reverent and to-the-point than flowery.
Respectfully, Jon, if you mean to say that game-playing causes creativity, I have terrible time seeing this. All the behavioral enhancements you note in experienced gamers (team play, strategic thinking, decisiveness) sound to me like well-developed problem-solving skills. But I suggest there's a qualitative difference between acquiring and honing skills specific to running repeatedly through a set of stimuli (a particular game) and being "creative" and a "storyteller."On the other hand, consider the rare gamer who becomes bored with playing games and ponders, "What are the possibilies of this medium?" Gamers who go on to modify and extend games through scenario builders, to design better games from scratch, and to compose fiction around characters and plotlines seen in games -- they are truly creative and not merely adept and intuitive at playing the games themselves. This sort of gamer might not become as adept at problem-solving his/her way through the game, but s/he is exhibiting true creative expression in making something that wasn't there before.
I won't call ya "lawyers" out of professional courtesy -- just don't call technical writers "manual laborers." :o)
OK, reproducing the electronic version of the document I can sort of understand, because it's using some kind of proprietary encoding. But it cannot be read aloud for crissakes? C'mon, give me a freakin' break! How is that legally justifiable?
Anybody else here remember using a tape recorder to upload/download software onto a PET, TRS-80, or an Apple II? And when you were loading a program, sometimes you weren't quite sure if the loading sequence had worked until it got to the end and you entered RUN.
...well then, here is a movie that actually had a believable premise -- all the way back in 1978 -- and largely had its scientific act together to boot.And talk about your potential for social upheaval! Hoo boy.
Considering all 3 are still vapor, it'll be even more interesting to read an article like this in a year, and compare it to this. Why, that's actually a good idea. You guys get dinged a lot for seemingly "recycling" articles from time to time, but you've identified a legitimate reason to do exactly that.
I also have used FreeAV for a few years, loved it, and will miss it. But I'll move on to Juno or NetZero. Or Yahoo. Or... FreeWWWeb bit the dust this year, too. I suspect that, like me, otherfree-ISP customers just migrate from one provider to another. But if free ISPs die off faster than new ones are started, does that mean that all us cheapskates will be on one or at most two free ISPs? If so, that suggests a large number of us suckers will be at the mercy of market forces at the same time -- an example of lots of eggs in a single basket. It's enough to make a guy bite the bullet and go back to paying for access.
Coming soon to tree branches everywhere...complete with silk-screened pictures of clock faces?
Why, thankee, ShadyG. Kind of nice to see someone take notice. Interestingly, split infinitives inexorably are going the way of the subjunctive mood and will vs. shall. I can't type an infinitive without hearing William Shatner intone "...to boldly go where no man has before!"
I bet you don't wear glasses or contact lenses, do you? :o)
Instead of a single laser and a mirror, though, that fictional device was pairs of red, green, and blue lasers onto goggles IIRC. I would rather have phenomenonscopic spectacles like the court reporter in the Diamond Age, I think.
(That's a mailing list for technical writers.) As I posted to the Framer's list, I suspect that the beta was a political compromise between pro-Linux and anti-Linux people at Adobe. It was the lamest beta that I ever saw, with only one questionnaire in ten months. And Adobe couldn't even send someone six blocks to exhibit at Linuxworld in San Jose last August. The fact that no reason is given for the beta - nothing about a lack of interest, for example - makes me more convinced than ever that the beta wasn't really serious. I suspect that the strongest reason is that Adobe, unlike Sun or IBM, is oriented towards selling software rather than services, and so views the open source aspects of Linux with distrust. However, had the company looked a little deeper, it would have found that a market for proprietary software does exist in Linux, and it could have had the chance to get in on the ground floor; I suspect that the way Frame is put together would be very appealing to Linux users. For anyone left stranded by the decision, I suggest: a.) the use of a Windows emulator: vmware, win4lin, plex86 or WINE. b.) Open/Star Office: not much better than MS Word, but adequate. c.) Kword: a Framemaker-like tool, but still in the early stages of development. -- Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications 604.421.7189 bbyfield@axionet.com (Don't hit me, Bruce...)