Mod parent up. S/he knows what they're talking about.
The best way to figure out what's going to happen in the future is to look at the past. When mechanical looms were introduced, they devastated the previous textile industry, in which cloth was woven by hand. It was a huge percentage of the working population. Now, over a hundred years later, that percentage isn't still unemployed.
Even if robots do take over many of the jobs that we do now, that doesn't mean that there won't be new tasks we'll have to do.
The author assumes a world in which everything stays the same *except* for robots, which is an unrealistic vision.
Don't worry, there will be a chicken in every ACD (Automated Cooking Device[tm]) and a RHT (Robotic Human Transporter[tm]) in every garage.
This is why we need a -1, Exceptionally Moronic Humor Attempt mod.
And, no, you do not have any disks that have a program on it that does what the parent wanted. Just because he didn't explain the whole program in that first sentence doesn't mean that the later sentences explaining the specific program he was talking about weren't relevant.
We're talking theoretical here. In the real world, there are no circles, planes, or lines -- zoom in close enough and they're no longer perfect. A theoretical computer runs forever, or at least as near to forever as is relevant. There are computers that have been running non-stop for five years or more. From a computational standpoint, that's forever. Any computer that is still running an algorithm at that point may as well continue doing so for the next million years (or, as the whole halting problem demonstrates, might finish at 2 that afternoon).
Computers can't be killed. You could turn it off, however.
It's true that Microsoft OS can behave predicably. Ha ha. But if all you had open was a simple engine that ran algorithmic code, it probably wouldn't put enough load on the system to cause a BSOD. We've had an NT box running without problems for a few years, and the only times it is restarted is to install security fixes. If it wasn't plugged into the Internet and was just looping through a program, we wouldn't have needed to restart it at all. I've found NT machines a remarkably reliable until you try doing more than one or two things on them.
I'm glad you know about the halting problem; your humor sucks.
huh...I fail to see how this comment is redundant. I don't think any other posts pointed this out. And yeah, it's in the article, but who reads that on Slashdot?
Unless Microtel has significantly changed its business plan (make really, really crappy computers for dirt cheap), you are *NOT* buying a nice PC. The Microtel that I used -- and granted, it has been a few years -- was a total piece of junk.
I think that a lot of people in this discussion are assuming that once you've met the basic specs -- a certain speed CPU, a certain amount of ram, a certain amount of hard drive space -- that they've created the equivalent of the XBox. I've never used the XBox myself, but one thing I haven't heard anyone complaining about is software or hardware glitches with the XBox. The XBox appears, at least, to have been specially engineered to perform extremely well and to have a high reliability. There's not that kind of guarantee with bargain basement (like, the scary basement where all the dead bodies are) computer systems, or with systems kludged together with the cheapest possible hardware available.
It's been established elsewhere that MS is probably losing money on the hardware costs of the XBox. My guess is they've taken a cue from their current software licenses = Profit! business model. If they could make the XBox with better specs for less, they probably would. Don't take this as advice from me to Mod the XBox illegally -- hear that, Mr. Gates? I warned 'em! -- but right now it's probably not cheaper to build your own.
to dispel their image as scary, boring places Does anyone else think this is a strange combination? I'm picturing a horde of young children, walking around with wide, scared eyes, shrieking, "I'm bored! I'm so bored! "
Re:What happened to Robert Jordan?
on
A Game of Thrones
·
· Score: 1
Mat comes back in Winter's Heart (I think). I haven't read Jordan's latest book (#10), but Winter's Heart is the best book since Crown of Swords or Fires of Heaven. Path of Daggers exerted a strong suckage field indeed.
If you register: June 27 - August 31, 2003 Most telemarketers must stop calling and you may file a complaint: After October 1, 2003 If you register: September 1, 2003 or after Most telemarketers must stop calling and you may file a complaint: Three months after you register
So it looks like the best time to register would be in late August. After that, you're always going to have a three month period they can bug you.
Isn't this how Commander John Crichton got sucked into that wormhole? He didn't use cables, but he did use the earth's gravitational field to slingshot him through space.
IANAL, but I don't think this is the case. I say this because my local school system actually got in trouble with Disney because it played a Disney animated video on the bus during a field trip. Apparently, that video had was not a version that was "licensed" for public viewing, and thus was an infringment. I don't think it matters *why* you are making a video available for public viewing -- only *that* you are doing it. If public schools have to get special licenses to show videos, I'll bet you do too.
Still, I would suppose it is just a matter of time before anyone can get a fairly standard PC with fairly standard hardware, download a "live" bootable Linux CD with the necessary beautiful user interface, and have an instant PVR. This would save video to their existing FAT32 or NTFS partition. Then you remove the CD, reboot, and joe consumer is back in his precious Windows environment.
Maybe it's just my area, but PBS is in the UHF channels. Since this is the only channel I would *want* to watch if I had a working tv receiver, then obviously killing off UHF is a bad idea.
How about we offer the UHF frequencies to companies that want to purchase it, OR donate it or give it away to public institutions (i.e., public tv stations so they can have more broadcast areas, universities and colleges, hospitals, local municipalities, etc.)
I'm guessing he didn't start speaking "English" until he was in his early hundreds. If you don't learn a language early on, even if you're smart your brain doesn't process it in the same way you would if you were born into the language. At his advanced age, it wouldn't be surprising that he never picked up the language. Besides, I think it's supposed to reflect the way he thinks -- look at Karate Kid for a similar form of speaking from Mr. Miyagi.
Up until the revised editions came out, I could not have told you what was outside of Lando's windows, or how many creatures were walking around Mos Eisly, nor could I have cared less.
Actually, for some of us, that was the point. Why did he put all of this effort into changing scenes which were already fine as they were?
He didn't change the story, he changed the way it looked.
Yes, he did change mostly just change the way the story looked, and I could care less about the changes to Mos Eisly or what was outside of Lando's windows -- so little, in fact, that until you brought it up I wasn't aware it was even an issue.
I do have an issue with what Lucas did with the Xarlac. I was young, very young, when I first saw that movie, and the idea of a big throat with teeth and tentacles out in the middle of a desert was very scary. I still feel the adrenaline rushing when I watch the old version on TV. But the new Xarlac is a complete joke.
Honestly, that is my number one disappointment about the remakes, followed closely by the removal of the Ewok celebration at the end of Return of the Jedi, which I liked a lot -- I felt that the final Ewok music blended into the credits really well.
People experience things differently. Some people, when they eat, say, oatmeal cookies, might remember conversations they had with their Grandma, and it doesn't really matter what kind of cookies they eat. For others, in order to really experience the memory, it has to be their Grandma's recipe before it evokes the same memories and brings the same enjoyment. I have memories of this movie apart from watching them with others, and those memories are of the *original* version of these movies.
Do I plan to see Episode III... yea, but not at prime time rates, or perhaps on bittorrent. I enjoyed a new hope, empire strikes back, and return of the jedi. I don't plan to be first in line, I don't plan to trade a laptop for tickets as seen with episode 1. I won't drive up to canada to see it first.
Actually, I plan to go to the midnight showing. Way I figure it, I probably will go to see it while it's in the theaters, and if I do I may as well see it when it's fresh and new and see it surrounded by the most hardcore geeks possible, who will laugh at all the inside stuff, if there is any, and who will cheer really loudly at the end, so I can at least fool myself into believing that I enjoyed the film.
My profound hope? It's unlikely, but maybe Lucas will think, "Hey, this is the *last one* I can do! I'd better marshall any talent that I, the actors, my dialogue writers, and my special effects crew have to make this the best one ever! All of my fan base really have bitched about episodes 1 and 2. Maybe I should take a look at Empire and see just what it was that made it so successful (Answer: tight editing, interesting philosophies, exciting interstellar chase scenes, genuine humor -- "It's not my fault" still the greatest line of all time, and realistic emotional connections between the characters)"
But not very likely, really.
If only there was someone to put Harrison Ford back into the movie. Man, he was the glue that held it all together.
I'd also point out that true fans were hugely mistreated when the "Special Edition" versions of the original episodes came out.
They kept on saying, "You've seen these movies on a dinky TV for years! Now you get to see it full screen, as it was intended!"
And yeah, most of each movie were great. But then Lucas had to stick his big greasy fingers into our childhood memories. Most of these movies we knew by heart. And although the special editions weren't profoundly different, they *were* different in many ways. It might be as simple as removing the cute scene on Dagobah where R2 barfs out a slew of water and fish, or as extreme as turning the Xarlac into something out of Little Shop of Horrors. And yeah, some people complain about Greedo shooting first, but come on! That didn't really have any effect on the overall movie, oh -- except for the fact that now Han loses his whole outlaw persona.
The point is, it's clear that the one thing that saved Star Wars (and yes, it was Star Wars when it started out, not New Hope) was the simplicity and limitations on Lucas' special effects. Sometimes a tight budget makes a movie better -- just look at the Godfather, which barely was made, and where Coppola nearly was fired.
Shouldn't that be "Path to the dark side, greed is"
No.
Yoda didn't invert *all* of his sentences, which is something the script writers in I and II should have noticed. The lines in those episodes sound as if someone wrote a bunch of bland sentences and inverted them. His lines in Empire and Return of the Jedi, OTOH, reflected genuinely the concept of a character who is approaching English (or whatever their "common tongue" really is -- linguistics is rarely addressed in the Star Wars saga) as a second language.
This is pretty much the only Yoda quote in the movies that sounds authentic, probably because it was not artificial constructed:
"Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to blah blah blah [Yeah, I could look up the exact quote, but bored am I]"
So the original quote is correct. Compare it to this monster (in Episode II): "Threatened the very Republic is, if involved the Sith are."
No no no no no no no! Horrible, horrible! If I were Lucas at this point, this is what would have happened:
Screenwriter: Ah! My Lord Lucas! I have written the Yoda dialogue and I feel that -- gurk gurk gurk --
Lucas: You have failed me for the last time.
And then...
Lucas: Ah! My dear Star Wars fan! I am near complete in issuing the original episode on DVD, special edition of course, and very soon -- ack ack ack
Fan: You have failed us for the last time, Lucas. Director Smith!
Kevin: Yes my lord.
Fan: Make ready to release all three initial episodes on DVD. In their original format. Greedo must not shoot first.
The joke is that the names are C - Sharp and F - Sharp, but that they fall flat -- ha ha ha, get it? Both musical terms. Sharp is a note moved up one half step; flat is the note moved *down* once step, chortle chortle, *gasp*. ROTFLMAO.
We now continue our regularly scheduled broadcast.
Slashdot Mirror
Mod parent up. S/he knows what they're talking about.
The best way to figure out what's going to happen in the future is to look at the past. When mechanical looms were introduced, they devastated the previous textile industry, in which cloth was woven by hand. It was a huge percentage of the working population. Now, over a hundred years later, that percentage isn't still unemployed.
Even if robots do take over many of the jobs that we do now, that doesn't mean that there won't be new tasks we'll have to do.
The author assumes a world in which everything stays the same *except* for robots, which is an unrealistic vision.
Don't worry, there will be a chicken in every ACD (Automated Cooking Device[tm]) and a RHT (Robotic Human Transporter[tm]) in every garage.
*sigh*
This is why we need a -1, Exceptionally Moronic Humor Attempt mod.
And, no, you do not have any disks that have a program on it that does what the parent wanted. Just because he didn't explain the whole program in that first sentence doesn't mean that the later sentences explaining the specific program he was talking about weren't relevant.
We're talking theoretical here. In the real world, there are no circles, planes, or lines -- zoom in close enough and they're no longer perfect. A theoretical computer runs forever, or at least as near to forever as is relevant. There are computers that have been running non-stop for five years or more. From a computational standpoint, that's forever. Any computer that is still running an algorithm at that point may as well continue doing so for the next million years (or, as the whole halting problem demonstrates, might finish at 2 that afternoon).
Computers can't be killed. You could turn it off, however.
It's true that Microsoft OS can behave predicably. Ha ha. But if all you had open was a simple engine that ran algorithmic code, it probably wouldn't put enough load on the system to cause a BSOD. We've had an NT box running without problems for a few years, and the only times it is restarted is to install security fixes. If it wasn't plugged into the Internet and was just looping through a program, we wouldn't have needed to restart it at all. I've found NT machines a remarkably reliable until you try doing more than one or two things on them.
I'm glad you know about the halting problem; your humor sucks.
huh...I fail to see how this comment is redundant. I don't think any other posts pointed this out. And yeah, it's in the article, but who reads that on Slashdot?
mod parent up, or something.
This is just what I need, more Java stuff to slow down my PC.
Hmmmm... I think it can't be Java, because otherwise it would run on more than just Windows with IE.
So for $200 you get a VERY nice PC
Unless Microtel has significantly changed its business plan (make really, really crappy computers for dirt cheap), you are *NOT* buying a nice PC. The Microtel that I used -- and granted, it has been a few years -- was a total piece of junk.
I think that a lot of people in this discussion are assuming that once you've met the basic specs -- a certain speed CPU, a certain amount of ram, a certain amount of hard drive space -- that they've created the equivalent of the XBox. I've never used the XBox myself, but one thing I haven't heard anyone complaining about is software or hardware glitches with the XBox. The XBox appears, at least, to have been specially engineered to perform extremely well and to have a high reliability. There's not that kind of guarantee with bargain basement (like, the scary basement where all the dead bodies are) computer systems, or with systems kludged together with the cheapest possible hardware available.
It's been established elsewhere that MS is probably losing money on the hardware costs of the XBox. My guess is they've taken a cue from their current software licenses = Profit! business model. If they could make the XBox with better specs for less, they probably would. Don't take this as advice from me to Mod the XBox illegally -- hear that, Mr. Gates? I warned 'em! -- but right now it's probably not cheaper to build your own.
to dispel their image as scary, boring places
Does anyone else think this is a strange combination? I'm picturing a horde of young children, walking around with wide, scared eyes, shrieking, "I'm bored! I'm so bored! "
Mat comes back in Winter's Heart (I think). I haven't read Jordan's latest book (#10), but Winter's Heart is the best book since Crown of Swords or Fires of Heaven. Path of Daggers exerted a strong suckage field indeed.
From the website:
If you register: June 27 - August 31, 2003
Most telemarketers must stop calling and you may file a complaint: After October 1, 2003
If you register: September 1, 2003 or after
Most telemarketers must stop calling and you may file a complaint: Three months after you register
So it looks like the best time to register would be in late August. After that, you're always going to have a three month period they can bug you.
Isn't this how Commander John Crichton got sucked into that wormhole? He didn't use cables, but he did use the earth's gravitational field to slingshot him through space.
I was not directly involved. The local papers gleefully reported it.
IANAL, but I don't think this is the case. I say this because my local school system actually got in trouble with Disney because it played a Disney animated video on the bus during a field trip. Apparently, that video had was not a version that was "licensed" for public viewing, and thus was an infringment. I don't think it matters *why* you are making a video available for public viewing -- only *that* you are doing it. If public schools have to get special licenses to show videos, I'll bet you do too.
I claim the patent on this.
Maybe it's just my area, but PBS is in the UHF channels. Since this is the only channel I would *want* to watch if I had a working tv receiver, then obviously killing off UHF is a bad idea.
How about we offer the UHF frequencies to companies that want to purchase it, OR donate it or give it away to public institutions (i.e., public tv stations so they can have more broadcast areas, universities and colleges, hospitals, local municipalities, etc.)
KILL OFF UHF?!?!
George Newman will be devasted.
Do you really believe that the writiers of the first Star Wars movies put in the thought and the effort to study linguistics?
No, which is exactly what I was saying.
I don't know about "creative" or "witty", but a great number of the lines from the movie saga are both unique and catchy:
No reward is worth this!
What a wonderful smell you've discovered, Princess!
He's the brains, sweetheart!
Okay, so I'm a Han Solo fan.
I'm guessing he didn't start speaking "English" until he was in his early hundreds. If you don't learn a language early on, even if you're smart your brain doesn't process it in the same way you would if you were born into the language. At his advanced age, it wouldn't be surprising that he never picked up the language. Besides, I think it's supposed to reflect the way he thinks -- look at Karate Kid for a similar form of speaking from Mr. Miyagi.
Up until the revised editions came out, I could not have told you what was outside of Lando's windows, or how many creatures were walking around Mos Eisly, nor could I have cared less.
Actually, for some of us, that was the point. Why did he put all of this effort into changing scenes which were already fine as they were?
He didn't change the story, he changed the way it looked.
Yes, he did change mostly just change the way the story looked, and I could care less about the changes to Mos Eisly or what was outside of Lando's windows -- so little, in fact, that until you brought it up I wasn't aware it was even an issue.
I do have an issue with what Lucas did with the Xarlac. I was young, very young, when I first saw that movie, and the idea of a big throat with teeth and tentacles out in the middle of a desert was very scary. I still feel the adrenaline rushing when I watch the old version on TV. But the new Xarlac is a complete joke.
Honestly, that is my number one disappointment about the remakes, followed closely by the removal of the Ewok celebration at the end of Return of the Jedi, which I liked a lot -- I felt that the final Ewok music blended into the credits really well.
People experience things differently. Some people, when they eat, say, oatmeal cookies, might remember conversations they had with their Grandma, and it doesn't really matter what kind of cookies they eat. For others, in order to really experience the memory, it has to be their Grandma's recipe before it evokes the same memories and brings the same enjoyment. I have memories of this movie apart from watching them with others, and those memories are of the *original* version of these movies.
while the cast is sleeping
Does Lucas realize how much money he could charge if there were webcams of that?
this movie looks like it has a lot of potential.
:-P
Yeah, especially if you look at the amount of interest there is in this, judging by the vast number of comments.
Do I plan to see Episode III... yea, but not at prime time rates, or perhaps on bittorrent. I enjoyed a new hope, empire strikes back, and return of the jedi. I don't plan to be first in line, I don't plan to trade a laptop for tickets as seen with episode 1. I won't drive up to canada to see it first.
Actually, I plan to go to the midnight showing. Way I figure it, I probably will go to see it while it's in the theaters, and if I do I may as well see it when it's fresh and new and see it surrounded by the most hardcore geeks possible, who will laugh at all the inside stuff, if there is any, and who will cheer really loudly at the end, so I can at least fool myself into believing that I enjoyed the film.
My profound hope? It's unlikely, but maybe Lucas will think, "Hey, this is the *last one* I can do! I'd better marshall any talent that I, the actors, my dialogue writers, and my special effects crew have to make this the best one ever! All of my fan base really have bitched about episodes 1 and 2. Maybe I should take a look at Empire and see just what it was that made it so successful (Answer: tight editing, interesting philosophies, exciting interstellar chase scenes, genuine humor -- "It's not my fault" still the greatest line of all time, and realistic emotional connections between the characters)"
But not very likely, really.
If only there was someone to put Harrison Ford back into the movie. Man, he was the glue that held it all together.
I'd also point out that true fans were hugely mistreated when the "Special Edition" versions of the original episodes came out.
They kept on saying, "You've seen these movies on a dinky TV for years! Now you get to see it full screen, as it was intended!"
And yeah, most of each movie were great. But then Lucas had to stick his big greasy fingers into our childhood memories. Most of these movies we knew by heart. And although the special editions weren't profoundly different, they *were* different in many ways. It might be as simple as removing the cute scene on Dagobah where R2 barfs out a slew of water and fish, or as extreme as turning the Xarlac into something out of Little Shop of Horrors. And yeah, some people complain about Greedo shooting first, but come on! That didn't really have any effect on the overall movie, oh -- except for the fact that now Han loses his whole outlaw persona.
The point is, it's clear that the one thing that saved Star Wars (and yes, it was Star Wars when it started out, not New Hope) was the simplicity and limitations on Lucas' special effects. Sometimes a tight budget makes a movie better -- just look at the Godfather, which barely was made, and where Coppola nearly was fired.
*sigh*
I knew it was a mistake to comment in this story when I had mod points. Oh well.
Someone mod the parent up!
Shouldn't that be "Path to the dark side, greed is"
No.
Yoda didn't invert *all* of his sentences, which is something the script writers in I and II should have noticed. The lines in those episodes sound as if someone wrote a bunch of bland sentences and inverted them. His lines in Empire and Return of the Jedi, OTOH, reflected genuinely the concept of a character who is approaching English (or whatever their "common tongue" really is -- linguistics is rarely addressed in the Star Wars saga) as a second language.
This is pretty much the only Yoda quote in the movies that sounds authentic, probably because it was not artificial constructed:
"Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to blah blah blah [Yeah, I could look up the exact quote, but bored am I]"
So the original quote is correct. Compare it to this monster (in Episode II):
"Threatened the very Republic is, if involved the Sith are."
No no no no no no no! Horrible, horrible! If I were Lucas at this point, this is what would have happened:
Screenwriter: Ah! My Lord Lucas! I have written the Yoda dialogue and I feel that -- gurk gurk gurk --
Lucas: You have failed me for the last time.
And then...
Lucas: Ah! My dear Star Wars fan! I am near complete in issuing the original episode on DVD, special edition of course, and very soon -- ack ack ack
Fan: You have failed us for the last time, Lucas. Director Smith!
Kevin: Yes my lord.
Fan: Make ready to release all three initial episodes on DVD. In their original format. Greedo must not shoot first.
Kevin: Thank you, Star Wars fan.
Insightful?!?!
WTF!
The joke is that the names are C - Sharp and F - Sharp, but that they fall flat -- ha ha ha, get it? Both musical terms. Sharp is a note moved up one half step; flat is the note moved *down* once step, chortle chortle, *gasp*. ROTFLMAO.
We now continue our regularly scheduled broadcast.
Here's the link, for you cut and paste couch potatoes.
People, slashdot loves and respects the <A> tag. Please use it.