I would not have gone to see it, BUT my kids loved it (and I am absolutely the parent of Gen-Y kids). Tastes vary considerably. I didn't care for most of the movie, though I liked the minor characters they pulled in such as William Shater and Lance Armstrong. Then again, I watch very few "comedy" movies because I find the humor too blatant and without taste. I prefer action and drama -- movies about people and things happening. I happened to enjoy Hidalgo, which I know wouldn't appeal to everyone. I thought the third Matrix movie was the best.
There is no guaranteed appeal for a movie; no precise definition of what makes a movie a blockbuster. If the execs had that, they would be putting out two a month. Whatever appeals now (making a movie a blockbuster) would quickly become so overused and cliche'd that it wouldn't take long for the formula to stop working. What makes a movie good to me is an almost magical click between the story being told, the sets, the capability of the actors, dialog that is utterly natural, and all the other components.
Went from $700 for a 2-bedroom in 1992 to $1500 for the same 2-bedroom in 2002. Settled slightly since then, but $1250 for that 2-bedroom is still outrageous inflation. I don't mind paying more to watch a movie, since most of the theaters have been better maintained than I remember them in the 1980's. What's missing now (in my area) is the bargain theaters showing two movies one after the other. They used to cost $1 to $2, but there's nothing out there under $5 - 6 for matinees now.
Whether dropping the price would bring additional sales depends on how many consumers put off or don't buy DVDs simply because the price seems high. Those of us who don't see the value in buying most DVDs (why pay for something I won't watch more than a couple times) won't buy even if the price is dropped by half. I'd rather rent them when I want them (at an average of $5 per rental, I can rent it 6-8 times!).
Also, dropping the price does something else. It doesn't reduce the cost of the DVD, marketing, and packaging. It only reduces the net profit earned. You can't drop the price by half and sell twice as many and balance out. It doesn't work that cleanly. You would have to drop the price by half the net profit to get that. (And somehow do this so the store still makes the same profit, or you'll have trouble there.)
Considering how much time one group of co-workers spends talking about everything but work, during hours they are being paid to work, I'd be happy to have them take only 9 sick days. My PC would have to be a zombie to waste that much time.
The biggest cliche' in Star Trek (and other sci-fi shows) has always been the crew member we've never met before who gets sent on a mission. No matter what, he (or she) was dead meat. The main characters, on the other hand, just could not be killed - or on the rare occasions when they were, some plot twist would restore them (a la soap opera). I'd like to see one of those captains or their first mates actually die and be replaced, changing the dynamics of the group.
(BTW, Voyager wasn't nearly the T&A that TOS was. Kirk was practically the James Bond of sci-fi.)
Absolutely. Some games on the PS1 are fun enough to go back to when I finish a newer game and don't have any new ones that I want yet. My original Playstation no longer works, but I still check out games I never got around to and replay classics that I enjoyed -- trying to crack that last secret or beat my last high score. Sometimes I'll even pick up games for under $20 that I wasn't willing to fork over $40-50 originally when they were released for the Playstation, and enjoy them without feeling like they aren't worth the money.
That backwards compatibility also made it possible to find games to play in the early days of the PS2s release - until the volume of PS2 games increased to a reasonable level. I would not have purchased my PS2 on release day otherwise -- since few consoles have more than a dozen titles in the early days.
If Microsoft chooses not to offer backwards compatibility, it will not be a surprise. Nintendo and Sega didn't. Microsoft's pc games have pretty high system requirements that prevent them being played on earlier computers. So, why would we expect the Xbox to be any different.
Personally, I think their intro price may be more critical than whether they have backwards compatibility. Also, if they have higher quality on the release games and a larger quantity of soon-after-release games than the Xbox had, it may not matter as much. But if they only have one good game at launch and trickle out only a few games over the year, not many people will be willing to fork over the price of six or more Xbox games on a next gen console. It's the games that sell the console.
"An average help desk support specialist made $43,133 this year, down from $46,236 in mid-2003."
Well, phooey. I knew I was getting underpaid, but I didn't know how badly. As soon as I can actually find one of these "average help desk support specialist" jobs, I'm moving. With four years of experience, it should be easy to find, right? In the single page of employment ads or the four-page career sections... nada. Guess I'm stuck in my less-than-average help desk job for now.
For all the people who fuss and complain about the money spent on actual space programs, this is a great example of the kind of wastefulness that goes on. And, now, rather than reuse or slag it, even more money will be spent to clean it up and display it. I'd rather see it broken apart, melted and recycled in more useful form than have a never-used moon rocket sitting in a museum.
Actually, the entire business model in use by the anti-virus software companies is this:
1) Learn about a new virus 2) Add an update that can spot just this new virus 3) Rinse and repeat
They have not developed anti-virus software that is future-thinking and intuitive. In other words, anti-virus software doesn't have to know that a hole exists and patch it. When the hole is discovered and the virus loosed, it just has to be quick to distribute its update that catches that virus.
At least by separating the anti-virus actions from the OS updates to handle the hole, there is a slim chance a consumer would catch and remove the virus sooner.
============
Rambling a little off-topic here, but this is the same problem that we see with anti-spam, anti-spyware, and anti-adware programs. None of these is able to identify new items unless they match a known item closely enough. For example, anti-spam filters have simply caused spammer to spell a word with inserted punctuation or use terms with multiple meanings or send emails that are little more than random words. A large part of this problem is viability. It is not profitable for these companies to develop software that would be 100% effective now and into the future. That would result in market saturation and no further need for the programmer's efforts.
While it does mention that most of the entries so far are mathematical, it doesn't seem to specify what other subjects it will eventually seek to encompass. Based on the current style and layout, I would guess it is leaning toward the sciences. Some subjects that might be worth adding: chemistry, physics and biology.
From what I can see, this is intended to be more of a textbook style as opposed to a comprehensive dictionary/encyclopedia style. A textbook is far more focused on a progressive curve of information used to teach someone a subject. Wikipedia is an excellent resource for getting a broad view of a topic, but does not necessarily render it in an instructive form. To make that clearer, looking up Algebra in wikipedia will define what algebra is, what several fields of algebra encompass and give some broad examples of each. However, it does not provide sections to learn from - one building on the next. Meanwhile, this textbook doesn't bother telling us what algebra is, but jumps right into an algebraic equation. It is too incomplete as of yet to say whether it will accomplish the goal of being a textbook. But it is not a direct competitor to wikipedia -- at most, it would make a fine complement.
I have to agree with this. Even the algebra section would be completely over the heads of someone who doesn't fully recall their high school algebra. Presumably it would require adding in later.
The biggest problem to come of convergence is the inability to get just what you need and want. I may only want a cell phone that can make phone calls - not a mini PDA / game machine. With the current rush, some manufacturers and developers are forgetting to leave the basic product available.
Another problem is that a converged product may make you sacrifice performance in one area for performance in another. For example (made up, of course) a monitor/television/CD/DVD player combination might have the best visual clarity, but be so-so at reading DVDs and skip a lot -- while a competing product might play DVDs flawlessly, but max out at 800x680 resolution. The more converged products become, the less choice we consumers have to maximize the quality and/or minimize our cost.
From what I can see in the AP article, the whole League of Women Voters is not that stupid. This is a political stand endorsed at the national level and being contested by more local level groups. Also, I wonder how many of the 130,000 members (less than the number of/. members) are elderly and/or don't know enough about technology to make an informed decision.
As to the number of women who don't know what "women's suffrage" means, it would be kind of fun to do this to men -- see how many are willing to sign a petition to end "men's suffrage". I'm sure that would resonate about equally with them. (Hey, what do you know... maybe enough would sign to take away their right to vote. )
Negative publicity often backfires. How many candidates have launched this kind of campaign only to find their opponent gaining against them? If I went down to the BMW dealership and the salesman kept telling me why their car is better than Mercedes, you better believe I'd be checking out Mercedes real soon to see what had the BMW guy so worried.
This entire tour is 100% free publicity for Linux. To anyone undecided, this just establishes Linux as an alternative (and competitor) to MS Windows as an OS.
The problem with automated patching is that some of the patches interfere with previously working software. When you manage several hundred computers with specially designed software and a blasted patch to fix a security problem can take the computers down when the software is run, you sure as anything will never let the patch process remain automated. I'd rather test it on a few computers before broadly applying it.
Who is the appropriate "private investigator" or "detective" that the accusation should have been sent to? Who is the judge who decides whether the material should be removed? Where is the jury the site owner would have decide his site's fate?
The problem here is that self-regulation is not working. It will not work because there are too many people who either hold copyrights in contempt or who don't research before posting content or don't know jack-diddly about copyrights and what they cover. So regulation is needed - not necessarily by the ISPs, but some separate group that can research all copyrighted material.
The gains of broadband over dial-up are so clear and obvious that the cable companies could probably raise their prices. A few would revert to dial-up, but not many. Most would just bear the increase to keep their online surfing smooth.
What keeps you dual-booting your system? I have some software that simply isn't available to run with Linux or requires a long delay from the release of the Windows version, so I have a Windows boot. I can't stand the security risk of Windows so I have a Linux boot. When I am gaming or handling CAD/CAM stuff, I log in to Windows. When I am surfing the net or checking email, I log in to Linux.
The only time I use the 2K side is for software only available to run on Windows. Most of that does not require internet access, so I unplug the network card. Hmm, nary a bug nor virus finds my system - pathched or not.
I'd rather have the couple days delay be on the bank end. Working for a tanking company, where paychecks get delayed further and further till you aren't even sure if you'll get payed next week for the work you're doing now is a much bigger problem. Of course, having it happen right around rent time is a major bummer - but in this case the "It's the bank's fault" excuse is validated.
Not a chance. I was so dismayed by the look, feel, and size of Microsoft's Media Player 9 that got downloaded when I was downloading patches that I restored the original one, deleted as much as it would let me (that integrated into the OS crap), and have used other media players since.
(Beta often means buggy - so I anticipate a few "security issues" to appear and patches to encumber it even further.)
Unless the problems with the Hubble telescope are 100% known, we risk sending a robot up that can only fix some things and won't be able to handle unpredicted problems (isn't that what all the problems we've had with Hubble have been, since anything that was predicted would have been handled ahead of time).
I think our scenario will end up being two or three expensive robot missions, a robot malfunctioning and damaging Hubble in some way, and a human mission finally being sent to clean up the mess.
I'd have to say that Japanese anime has been on a downward track for quite a while. A few dedicated artists are maintaining the high road, but much of what gets played on TVTokyo is slapped together art with so-so dialogue and a few formulas (robots, girls in school uniforms, that kind of thing). The demand, both in Japan, in the US, and throughout the world, for anime has created a market that will buy drivel -- making it much harder to find the real quality pieces.
BTW, that artist making 50,000 yen is like the artists at Disney - he is typically not the one who originated the characters, setting, or story. He simply draws and fills in based on original art. These are the slightly better than minimum wage drudges. The scripter and original artist do make better money.
The very last line of the article refers to deadbolts on a house saying that the more stuff you have the more secure you will, of necessity, make your house.
Applying this in reverse, I have found that diversification is much more secure. The passwords to the smallest accounts, needing the least security, are fairly short and easy to remember. The passwords to the largest accounts are much more secured, with seemingly random character combinations that I change regularly. I say seemingly completely random because I use tricks like deciding that this account will have a password this month generated from the nineteenth character on pages 71-79 of the fourth book on the second shelf of the bookcase in my room. The trick is to use rules that, if not divulged, would not be intuitive to anyone else, but make it relatively easy for me to "look up".
His rebuttal for the overpopulation argument is little more than this: The current trend is more deaths than births - or a Population Implosion - which will lead to national extinction.
Sorry, but trends can be deceptive if not all the information is provided. Where is the trend for number of births (irrespective of deaths)? Unless that trend is on a marked decline, more deaths than births can easily correspond to crappy world conditions - like ongoing war and famine and gang wars and so on. What was the trend in births like over the last 100 years. If it saw a massive increase 40-70 years ago, then no kidding there are more deaths now (in other words "baby booms" = "death booms" 40-70 years later). Reducing births from families with over 10 children to the 1-3 more common now is not a threat to a nation. Even reducing births to 1 child per 100 couples (thats one birth for 200 future deaths) wouldn't threaten our population for a long time to come.
In other words, there is no shortage of births occurring now - regardless of the ratio of deaths to births. If anything, we have a brief reprieve from the population explosion that has us straining resources in many parts of the world.
Slashdot Mirror
I would not have gone to see it, BUT my kids loved it (and I am absolutely the parent of Gen-Y kids). Tastes vary considerably. I didn't care for most of the movie, though I liked the minor characters they pulled in such as William Shater and Lance Armstrong. Then again, I watch very few "comedy" movies because I find the humor too blatant and without taste. I prefer action and drama -- movies about people and things happening. I happened to enjoy Hidalgo, which I know wouldn't appeal to everyone. I thought the third Matrix movie was the best.
There is no guaranteed appeal for a movie; no precise definition of what makes a movie a blockbuster. If the execs had that, they would be putting out two a month. Whatever appeals now (making a movie a blockbuster) would quickly become so overused and cliche'd that it wouldn't take long for the formula to stop working. What makes a movie good to me is an almost magical click between the story being told, the sets, the capability of the actors, dialog that is utterly natural, and all the other components.
Went from $700 for a 2-bedroom in 1992 to $1500 for the same 2-bedroom in 2002. Settled slightly since then, but $1250 for that 2-bedroom is still outrageous inflation. I don't mind paying more to watch a movie, since most of the theaters have been better maintained than I remember them in the 1980's. What's missing now (in my area) is the bargain theaters showing two movies one after the other. They used to cost $1 to $2, but there's nothing out there under $5 - 6 for matinees now.
Whether dropping the price would bring additional sales depends on how many consumers put off or don't buy DVDs simply because the price seems high. Those of us who don't see the value in buying most DVDs (why pay for something I won't watch more than a couple times) won't buy even if the price is dropped by half. I'd rather rent them when I want them (at an average of $5 per rental, I can rent it 6-8 times!).
Also, dropping the price does something else. It doesn't reduce the cost of the DVD, marketing, and packaging. It only reduces the net profit earned. You can't drop the price by half and sell twice as many and balance out. It doesn't work that cleanly. You would have to drop the price by half the net profit to get that. (And somehow do this so the store still makes the same profit, or you'll have trouble there.)
Considering how much time one group of co-workers spends talking about everything but work, during hours they are being paid to work, I'd be happy to have them take only 9 sick days. My PC would have to be a zombie to waste that much time.
The biggest cliche' in Star Trek (and other sci-fi shows) has always been the crew member we've never met before who gets sent on a mission. No matter what, he (or she) was dead meat. The main characters, on the other hand, just could not be killed - or on the rare occasions when they were, some plot twist would restore them (a la soap opera). I'd like to see one of those captains or their first mates actually die and be replaced, changing the dynamics of the group.
(BTW, Voyager wasn't nearly the T&A that TOS was. Kirk was practically the James Bond of sci-fi.)
Absolutely. Some games on the PS1 are fun enough to go back to when I finish a newer game and don't have any new ones that I want yet. My original Playstation no longer works, but I still check out games I never got around to and replay classics that I enjoyed -- trying to crack that last secret or beat my last high score. Sometimes I'll even pick up games for under $20 that I wasn't willing to fork over $40-50 originally when they were released for the Playstation, and enjoy them without feeling like they aren't worth the money.
That backwards compatibility also made it possible to find games to play in the early days of the PS2s release - until the volume of PS2 games increased to a reasonable level. I would not have purchased my PS2 on release day otherwise -- since few consoles have more than a dozen titles in the early days.
If Microsoft chooses not to offer backwards compatibility, it will not be a surprise. Nintendo and Sega didn't. Microsoft's pc games have pretty high system requirements that prevent them being played on earlier computers. So, why would we expect the Xbox to be any different.
Personally, I think their intro price may be more critical than whether they have backwards compatibility. Also, if they have higher quality on the release games and a larger quantity of soon-after-release games than the Xbox had, it may not matter as much. But if they only have one good game at launch and trickle out only a few games over the year, not many people will be willing to fork over the price of six or more Xbox games on a next gen console. It's the games that sell the console.
"An average help desk support specialist made $43,133 this year, down from $46,236 in mid-2003."
... nada. Guess I'm stuck in my less-than-average help desk job for now.
Well, phooey. I knew I was getting underpaid, but I didn't know how badly. As soon as I can actually find one of these "average help desk support specialist" jobs, I'm moving. With four years of experience, it should be easy to find, right? In the single page of employment ads or the four-page career sections
For all the people who fuss and complain about the money spent on actual space programs, this is a great example of the kind of wastefulness that goes on. And, now, rather than reuse or slag it, even more money will be spent to clean it up and display it. I'd rather see it broken apart, melted and recycled in more useful form than have a never-used moon rocket sitting in a museum.
Actually, the entire business model in use by the anti-virus software companies is this:
1) Learn about a new virus
2) Add an update that can spot just this new virus
3) Rinse and repeat
They have not developed anti-virus software that is future-thinking and intuitive. In other words, anti-virus software doesn't have to know that a hole exists and patch it. When the hole is discovered and the virus loosed, it just has to be quick to distribute its update that catches that virus.
At least by separating the anti-virus actions from the OS updates to handle the hole, there is a slim chance a consumer would catch and remove the virus sooner.
============
Rambling a little off-topic here, but this is the same problem that we see with anti-spam, anti-spyware, and anti-adware programs. None of these is able to identify new items unless they match a known item closely enough. For example, anti-spam filters have simply caused spammer to spell a word with inserted punctuation or use terms with multiple meanings or send emails that are little more than random words. A large part of this problem is viability. It is not profitable for these companies to develop software that would be 100% effective now and into the future. That would result in market saturation and no further need for the programmer's efforts.
While it does mention that most of the entries so far are mathematical, it doesn't seem to specify what other subjects it will eventually seek to encompass. Based on the current style and layout, I would guess it is leaning toward the sciences. Some subjects that might be worth adding: chemistry, physics and biology.
From what I can see, this is intended to be more of a textbook style as opposed to a comprehensive dictionary/encyclopedia style. A textbook is far more focused on a progressive curve of information used to teach someone a subject. Wikipedia is an excellent resource for getting a broad view of a topic, but does not necessarily render it in an instructive form. To make that clearer, looking up Algebra in wikipedia will define what algebra is, what several fields of algebra encompass and give some broad examples of each. However, it does not provide sections to learn from - one building on the next. Meanwhile, this textbook doesn't bother telling us what algebra is, but jumps right into an algebraic equation. It is too incomplete as of yet to say whether it will accomplish the goal of being a textbook. But it is not a direct competitor to wikipedia -- at most, it would make a fine complement.
I have to agree with this. Even the algebra section would be completely over the heads of someone who doesn't fully recall their high school algebra. Presumably it would require adding in later.
The biggest problem to come of convergence is the inability to get just what you need and want. I may only want a cell phone that can make phone calls - not a mini PDA / game machine. With the current rush, some manufacturers and developers are forgetting to leave the basic product available.
Another problem is that a converged product may make you sacrifice performance in one area for performance in another. For example (made up, of course) a monitor/television/CD/DVD player combination might have the best visual clarity, but be so-so at reading DVDs and skip a lot -- while a competing product might play DVDs flawlessly, but max out at 800x680 resolution. The more converged products become, the less choice we consumers have to maximize the quality and/or minimize our cost.
As to the number of women who don't know what "women's suffrage" means, it would be kind of fun to do this to men -- see how many are willing to sign a petition to end "men's suffrage". I'm sure that would resonate about equally with them. (Hey, what do you know ... maybe enough would sign to take away their right to vote. )
Negative publicity often backfires. How many candidates have launched this kind of campaign only to find their opponent gaining against them? If I went down to the BMW dealership and the salesman kept telling me why their car is better than Mercedes, you better believe I'd be checking out Mercedes real soon to see what had the BMW guy so worried.
This entire tour is 100% free publicity for Linux. To anyone undecided, this just establishes Linux as an alternative (and competitor) to MS Windows as an OS.
The problem with automated patching is that some of the patches interfere with previously working software. When you manage several hundred computers with specially designed software and a blasted patch to fix a security problem can take the computers down when the software is run, you sure as anything will never let the patch process remain automated. I'd rather test it on a few computers before broadly applying it.
Who is the appropriate "private investigator" or "detective" that the accusation should have been sent to? Who is the judge who decides whether the material should be removed? Where is the jury the site owner would have decide his site's fate?
The problem here is that self-regulation is not working. It will not work because there are too many people who either hold copyrights in contempt or who don't research before posting content or don't know jack-diddly about copyrights and what they cover. So regulation is needed - not necessarily by the ISPs, but some separate group that can research all copyrighted material.
The gains of broadband over dial-up are so clear and obvious that the cable companies could probably raise their prices. A few would revert to dial-up, but not many. Most would just bear the increase to keep their online surfing smooth.
What keeps you dual-booting your system? I have some software that simply isn't available to run with Linux or requires a long delay from the release of the Windows version, so I have a Windows boot. I can't stand the security risk of Windows so I have a Linux boot. When I am gaming or handling CAD/CAM stuff, I log in to Windows. When I am surfing the net or checking email, I log in to Linux.
The only time I use the 2K side is for software only available to run on Windows. Most of that does not require internet access, so I unplug the network card. Hmm, nary a bug nor virus finds my system - pathched or not.
I'd rather have the couple days delay be on the bank end. Working for a tanking company, where paychecks get delayed further and further till you aren't even sure if you'll get payed next week for the work you're doing now is a much bigger problem. Of course, having it happen right around rent time is a major bummer - but in this case the "It's the bank's fault" excuse is validated.
Not a chance. I was so dismayed by the look, feel, and size of Microsoft's Media Player 9 that got downloaded when I was downloading patches that I restored the original one, deleted as much as it would let me (that integrated into the OS crap), and have used other media players since.
(Beta often means buggy - so I anticipate a few "security issues" to appear and patches to encumber it even further.)
Unless the problems with the Hubble telescope are 100% known, we risk sending a robot up that can only fix some things and won't be able to handle unpredicted problems (isn't that what all the problems we've had with Hubble have been, since anything that was predicted would have been handled ahead of time).
I think our scenario will end up being two or three expensive robot missions, a robot malfunctioning and damaging Hubble in some way, and a human mission finally being sent to clean up the mess.
I'd have to say that Japanese anime has been on a downward track for quite a while. A few dedicated artists are maintaining the high road, but much of what gets played on TVTokyo is slapped together art with so-so dialogue and a few formulas (robots, girls in school uniforms, that kind of thing). The demand, both in Japan, in the US, and throughout the world, for anime has created a market that will buy drivel -- making it much harder to find the real quality pieces.
BTW, that artist making 50,000 yen is like the artists at Disney - he is typically not the one who originated the characters, setting, or story. He simply draws and fills in based on original art. These are the slightly better than minimum wage drudges. The scripter and original artist do make better money.
The very last line of the article refers to deadbolts on a house saying that the more stuff you have the more secure you will, of necessity, make your house.
Applying this in reverse, I have found that diversification is much more secure. The passwords to the smallest accounts, needing the least security, are fairly short and easy to remember. The passwords to the largest accounts are much more secured, with seemingly random character combinations that I change regularly. I say seemingly completely random because I use tricks like deciding that this account will have a password this month generated from the nineteenth character on pages 71-79 of the fourth book on the second shelf of the bookcase in my room. The trick is to use rules that, if not divulged, would not be intuitive to anyone else, but make it relatively easy for me to "look up".
His rebuttal for the overpopulation argument is little more than this: The current trend is more deaths than births - or a Population Implosion - which will lead to national extinction.
Sorry, but trends can be deceptive if not all the information is provided. Where is the trend for number of births (irrespective of deaths)? Unless that trend is on a marked decline, more deaths than births can easily correspond to crappy world conditions - like ongoing war and famine and gang wars and so on. What was the trend in births like over the last 100 years. If it saw a massive increase 40-70 years ago, then no kidding there are more deaths now (in other words "baby booms" = "death booms" 40-70 years later). Reducing births from families with over 10 children to the 1-3 more common now is not a threat to a nation. Even reducing births to 1 child per 100 couples (thats one birth for 200 future deaths) wouldn't threaten our population for a long time to come.
In other words, there is no shortage of births occurring now - regardless of the ratio of deaths to births. If anything, we have a brief reprieve from the population explosion that has us straining resources in many parts of the world.