That's funny because that's exactly the message I drew from it. A celebration of the self. The orgy symbolized the worship of one's body. It was much more demonic than angelic. I'm no movie writer, but..... I was so disappointed by the plot of this one. The first Matrix was good, and arguably even could be linked to Messianic lines. But this one shattered that image for anyone with an inkling of what Messiah is. I loved the action scenes, but why the sex scenes and the love stories? I watch movies for action because I don't have that happen in my life. I guess I don't like watching movies with love stories because I experience real love in the real world and find it uncomparable in the movie.
Sorry to rank, but they could have done a better job on this one! Was it obvious the Matrix is really within another Matrix? I would have loved to have Neo decide to go commando and defeat the computers but establish himself as God (or what he beleives himself to be), making both man and machine subservient to him. Kind of end on a down note (that being the hopeful figure Neo has now chosen self over others). Build up the sequel and have a better (preferably unknown) actor defeat Neo, save the universe, blah blah blah....
The money being paid is to people who are preventing the destruction of the company. Once the company emerges from Chapter 11, it would hopefully trade again. It still is traded now, but only on pink sheets. I would expect to see them listed on Nasdaq if they pull through and are not bought out.
It would be nice to have a "special clause" added in the event of life saving techniques. For example, a person that may be labeled "high risk" would be able to have the testing done irregardless of the patent. However, if the population were to screened en masse, the patent would stand. I only agree with the patent issue so much as it furthers research and development, but it seems anything balanced against human life is a no brainer. Maybe the US is able to put a price tag on our lives, but I think other countries should ignore patents like this on the "right to life" platform.
I'd imagine the cost to fingerprint these barrels and bullets would be the primary deterrent in creating the database, not the database itself. The main method for tracking weapons is through serial numbers, I don't beleive fingerprints are taken by anyone before the customer is given the rifle. Anyone know the cost associated with "fingerprinting" your weapon?
The stories on this website scare me because I use PayPal regularly but now I tend to withdraw all but $1.35 from my account just to be safe.
Most people use credit cards for online transactions. Many cards will allow you to dispute charges and they will take on the burden of proof for you. But if you use a checking account, you really have a lot less protection other than the method you used above which sounds like a hassle.
Cablevision has raised rates everytime I look at the bill. Don't get me wrong, Optimum Online is very fast and nice and few problems occur. But lately, between Cable and the Modem and an $80+ cable bill every month, I'm getting very close to switching back to basic broadcast television. With such poor broadband subscriber sales, the last thing this company should do is restrict more consumers. I'm assuming money is somehow behind this. Anyway, I'm going to write an "upset subscriber" letter and I encourage anyone else affected by this to do the same. If this extends to all recordings on PVRs (I'm assuming only digital right now) then rest assured, I don't need the bandwidth and they will lose me as a customer.
Also a decent school is University of Phoenix for internet courses. These you can take at your own pace/schedule. I meantioned Phoenix because they seem to be the most experienced at this area and I've heard are credible. Have a friend doing this and he seems to find it fits in nicely with his schedule (full time management position in telecom/billing systems industry)
Also an option is night classes. I wouldn't try to race for the degree right away, but perhaps build up the level of credits you take to your own comfort. I often find my employment has busy and slow periods (usually three month shifts). So if I were to go back to school, I'd certainly factor this in.
Most importantly, if you choose to persue this, talk with the professor of the class(es) you are interested in. Make sure he/she is not a hardass and will be able to understand if you have a conflict betweeen class and your company. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't pass up this step. Many professors have a lot of flexibility in the way they teach their courses, you can even gain credits for your employment now in some classes (ones requiring a co-op perhaps).
I fund it a bit amusing that you even need permission to do this! Other countries may venture into space, corporations already have satellites launched. Is this really that big of a deal? If you really needed permission, why doesn't a world wide governing body like the U.N. make this decision, rather than the U.S.?
Yes, however, after reading through his patent, I don't see much "invention". The search engine one seems to be a "minor" modification of the existing search engines at the time (which there certainly were during Dec 1998). Although my experience with patents is limited, I have reviewed criteria and I don't see how this is an "invention". Admittedly, much of the language of the patent is beyond my scope and I might be missing something there.
This sounds just like the arguements people made when they squatted on domain names. Did this guy have a working model or not? I'm inclined to think eBay's getting screwed but this story really didn't give to many details or case history on online patent areas. This wasn't the same guy who patented that sideways swing a while back, is it?
PageRank discriminates?
on
Mr Anti-Google
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I don't mind someone having their point of view, in fact I applaud Mr. Brandt for furthering what he beleives. However, search engine popularity is so flighty, if I think another engine is better than Google, I'll use it. Honestly, I have no ties to any search engine and feel I never will. However, Google has been able to stay at the top of the list (at least my list) for quite some time and has also managed to put the least amount of advertising (or harrassment) in my face. I used to used yahoo, until the pop-ups and ads overwhelmed me. I think much of Google's success came from the fact they never went public. This and the text based ads are incredible decisions when every other search engine was greedily grabbing web based advertising revenue. I like Google, I'll continue to use it, but I'm not going to fight for it either. Just my two cents.
This is not entirely correct. A company is not at the mercy of the shareholders, a company is also responsible to its employees, customers and itself. Shareholders are not the end all be all, directors have tremendous say in the company. Many have posion pills, if you acquire 5%, everyone else gets double what they hold (making a takeover highly unlikely). I don't think it's extremely difficult to be a CEO, but I've never been one (although for 1.5 million I would kindly try my hand at it).
What is to stop politicians from adding Commercial messages to their political messages? Or would this loophole be closed by law after someone abuses it. IMHO: I would like to see the results of this election. Seriously, if this guy just "made a mistake" I wouldn't want him for a governor. There are much more intelligent people out there are more qualified individuals who can run the state of California than someone who doesn't know how to use a computer.
If I read the article correctly, out of 1 million users (not that many compared to the total number of television users) only 1 in 5 skips through commercials? I use winDVR and almost never use the time shift feature, I'm just plain lazy, or I usually get up and do something else while commercials are showing. I use my DVR just like a VCR, I like the fact I don't need VHS tapes to record shows and the quality of the recording stays intact over time. The point the advertisers seem to be making is that everyone skips through commercials. According to the numbers, this seems hardly the case. I do skip through commercials when I watch a show I recorded when I was out, but I would do this on a VCR recording also (which the Supreme Court has already upheld as legal). I feel that if 4 out of 5 users are not skipping through the commercials, I don't see it as a growing problem for advertisers.
I have a few issues with this. I wouldn't care what other people thought I looked like but I would care about being hit by a car or jumping into someone. Are there alternative to differentiate between humans walking around or do the monsters pass through them? Is there anyway to "recognize" a moving object to warn the user not get "hit" by it? I see enough people have trouble walking without the added distraction of playing a game at the same time. For many people, I think mixing reality with electronics is a recipe for distaster (ie: cellphone and accidents).
Slashdot Mirror
That's funny because that's exactly the message I drew from it. A celebration of the self. The orgy symbolized the worship of one's body. It was much more demonic than angelic. I'm no movie writer, but..... I was so disappointed by the plot of this one. The first Matrix was good, and arguably even could be linked to Messianic lines. But this one shattered that image for anyone with an inkling of what Messiah is. I loved the action scenes, but why the sex scenes and the love stories? I watch movies for action because I don't have that happen in my life. I guess I don't like watching movies with love stories because I experience real love in the real world and find it uncomparable in the movie.
Sorry to rank, but they could have done a better job on this one! Was it obvious the Matrix is really within another Matrix? I would have loved to have Neo decide to go commando and defeat the computers but establish himself as God (or what he beleives himself to be), making both man and machine subservient to him. Kind of end on a down note (that being the hopeful figure Neo has now chosen self over others). Build up the sequel and have a better (preferably unknown) actor defeat Neo, save the universe, blah blah blah....
Then again what do I know...not much....
The money being paid is to people who are preventing the destruction of the company. Once the company emerges from Chapter 11, it would hopefully trade again. It still is traded now, but only on pink sheets. I would expect to see them listed on Nasdaq if they pull through and are not bought out.
It would be nice to have a "special clause" added in the event of life saving techniques. For example, a person that may be labeled "high risk" would be able to have the testing done irregardless of the patent. However, if the population were to screened en masse, the patent would stand. I only agree with the patent issue so much as it furthers research and development, but it seems anything balanced against human life is a no brainer. Maybe the US is able to put a price tag on our lives, but I think other countries should ignore patents like this on the "right to life" platform.
I'd imagine the cost to fingerprint these barrels and bullets would be the primary deterrent in creating the database, not the database itself. The main method for tracking weapons is through serial numbers, I don't beleive fingerprints are taken by anyone before the customer is given the rifle. Anyone know the cost associated with "fingerprinting" your weapon?
Most people use credit cards for online transactions. Many cards will allow you to dispute charges and they will take on the burden of proof for you. But if you use a checking account, you really have a lot less protection other than the method you used above which sounds like a hassle.
Cablevision has raised rates everytime I look at the bill. Don't get me wrong, Optimum Online is very fast and nice and few problems occur. But lately, between Cable and the Modem and an $80+ cable bill every month, I'm getting very close to switching back to basic broadcast television. With such poor broadband subscriber sales, the last thing this company should do is restrict more consumers. I'm assuming money is somehow behind this. Anyway, I'm going to write an "upset subscriber" letter and I encourage anyone else affected by this to do the same. If this extends to all recordings on PVRs (I'm assuming only digital right now) then rest assured, I don't need the bandwidth and they will lose me as a customer.
that's my two cents.
Also a decent school is University of Phoenix for internet courses. These you can take at your own pace/schedule. I meantioned Phoenix because they seem to be the most experienced at this area and I've heard are credible. Have a friend doing this and he seems to find it fits in nicely with his schedule (full time management position in telecom/billing systems industry)
Also an option is night classes. I wouldn't try to race for the degree right away, but perhaps build up the level of credits you take to your own comfort. I often find my employment has busy and slow periods (usually three month shifts). So if I were to go back to school, I'd certainly factor this in.
Most importantly, if you choose to persue this, talk with the professor of the class(es) you are interested in. Make sure he/she is not a hardass and will be able to understand if you have a conflict betweeen class and your company. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't pass up this step. Many professors have a lot of flexibility in the way they teach their courses, you can even gain credits for your employment now in some classes (ones requiring a co-op perhaps).
I fund it a bit amusing that you even need permission to do this! Other countries may venture into space, corporations already have satellites launched. Is this really that big of a deal? If you really needed permission, why doesn't a world wide governing body like the U.N. make this decision, rather than the U.S.?
Yes, however, after reading through his patent, I don't see much "invention". The search engine one seems to be a "minor" modification of the existing search engines at the time (which there certainly were during Dec 1998). Although my experience with patents is limited, I have reviewed criteria and I don't see how this is an "invention". Admittedly, much of the language of the patent is beyond my scope and I might be missing something there.
This sounds just like the arguements people made when they squatted on domain names. Did this guy have a working model or not? I'm inclined to think eBay's getting screwed but this story really didn't give to many details or case history on online patent areas. This wasn't the same guy who patented that sideways swing a while back, is it?
I don't mind someone having their point of view, in fact I applaud Mr. Brandt for furthering what he beleives. However, search engine popularity is so flighty, if I think another engine is better than Google, I'll use it. Honestly, I have no ties to any search engine and feel I never will. However, Google has been able to stay at the top of the list (at least my list) for quite some time and has also managed to put the least amount of advertising (or harrassment) in my face. I used to used yahoo, until the pop-ups and ads overwhelmed me. I think much of Google's success came from the fact they never went public. This and the text based ads are incredible decisions when every other search engine was greedily grabbing web based advertising revenue. I like Google, I'll continue to use it, but I'm not going to fight for it either. Just my two cents.
This is not entirely correct. A company is not at the mercy of the shareholders, a company is also responsible to its employees, customers and itself. Shareholders are not the end all be all, directors have tremendous say in the company. Many have posion pills, if you acquire 5%, everyone else gets double what they hold (making a takeover highly unlikely). I don't think it's extremely difficult to be a CEO, but I've never been one (although for 1.5 million I would kindly try my hand at it).
The Vivendi hijacking seems like what this system is waiting for. http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may 2002/tc20020521_3291.htm
What is to stop politicians from adding Commercial messages to their political messages? Or would this loophole be closed by law after someone abuses it. IMHO: I would like to see the results of this election. Seriously, if this guy just "made a mistake" I wouldn't want him for a governor. There are much more intelligent people out there are more qualified individuals who can run the state of California than someone who doesn't know how to use a computer.
If I read the article correctly, out of 1 million users (not that many compared to the total number of television users) only 1 in 5 skips through commercials? I use winDVR and almost never use the time shift feature, I'm just plain lazy, or I usually get up and do something else while commercials are showing. I use my DVR just like a VCR, I like the fact I don't need VHS tapes to record shows and the quality of the recording stays intact over time. The point the advertisers seem to be making is that everyone skips through commercials. According to the numbers, this seems hardly the case. I do skip through commercials when I watch a show I recorded when I was out, but I would do this on a VCR recording also (which the Supreme Court has already upheld as legal). I feel that if 4 out of 5 users are not skipping through the commercials, I don't see it as a growing problem for advertisers.
I have a few issues with this. I wouldn't care what other people thought I looked like but I would care about being hit by a car or jumping into someone. Are there alternative to differentiate between humans walking around or do the monsters pass through them? Is there anyway to "recognize" a moving object to warn the user not get "hit" by it? I see enough people have trouble walking without the added distraction of playing a game at the same time. For many people, I think mixing reality with electronics is a recipe for distaster (ie: cellphone and accidents).