Surprisingly enough, the article, which appears on the font of the NY Times website, doesn't even mention Colbert's name or make any reference to his performance. Instead it rambles about the Bush impersonator bit for the entire article.
The Times can hardly be called a part of the great right wing conspiracy - so one must conclude that Colbert has pissed off the media establishment, rather than the conservative political establishment. Wait, I mean "as well as" the conservative political establishment.
When you think about it, he's the only guy other than John Kerry who's had the opportunity to stand (effectively) face to face with Bush and tell him what he really thinks of 6 years of lousy policies. And he did a much better job than Kerry.
It meets some of my criteria: stylish, metal, speakerphone, price I suppose if you are right
It fails on: battery life (about half my old Sony-Ericsson t68i), robustness (I have heard endless stories of V3s breaking mysteriously), speed of menus (very slow text entry, in particular), adequate sized buttons, and weighed down with tons of unneccessary crap which cannot be removed or disabled
Seriously, have you tried finding a phone that is stylish, small, has good battery life, and yet doesn't cost an arm and a leg because all it does is voice/text?
Yes, there are plenty of small-ish, plastic phones that do this. But they lack the elegance of, say, a Motorola V3 or a high end Nokia or Sony.
I think there is certainly an untapped market for the following phone: - metal body - slimline and actually fashionable design (may I suggest sleek, matte-silver or black, no clear plastic or flourescent colours?) - integrated aerial - 4-6 day battery life - medium sized colour screen - adequate sized buttons for SMS - speakerphone feature - compatible with ordinary (wired) handsfree - robust and preferably semi-hardened against water and dust - FAST and bug free software - price reflecting the functionality and manufacture cost, not the desirability of the device
Leave out bluetooth, photos, videos, IR, memory card functionality, internal hard disk or flash drive, huge colour screen and any other crap you might consider adding 'because it's cool' that would drive up the price.
Looking at the screenshots so far, the biggest problem with Generals as far as I am concerned is still very evident - you can't zoom out far enough to see what the hell you are doing.
If you go back to C&C and particularly Red Alert 2, you can crank the screen resolution and see a very large area on the screen - maybe a few hundred metres or so, certainly most of your base at one time.
In Generals, you can see one or two buildings and a few units. I always found this made it extraordinarily frustrating trying to control events with any precision - you would constantly lose units and generally get lost in the chaos of a battle because you simply couldn't see enough.
If EA has any interest in making a halfway decent game, they will take a leaf out of the book of Black and White and Civ IV and allow players to zoom waaaaaaay out to a comfortable level.
Of course I am also in the tiny minority who would love to see a return to 2D graphics for the series...
Maniac drivers with no comprehension of, let along desire to obey, the rules of the road. Public transport from the prehistoric era. Bike 'lanes' randomly mingling with ordinary car lanes...
Anyway, a few more cars and I predict this city will utterly, utterly gridlock. You can see it already on some of the major arterials.
True enough, and a good point that 'freedom' is not the same as 'liberty.'
I suppose I meant rather, that when the government gradually legislates away those public and openly exercisable liberties, the anonymity given by tools like Freenet and email encryption may at least provide a solid barrier to the total eradication of free speech. Should the fight ever get to that point (and let's hope we can stop it waaaaay before then) it would be a powerful weapon to be able to disseminate and access information quickly and anonymously.
Many democratic resistance movements throughout history would have loved to have this kind of tool at their disposal. Secret communication has always been a vital tool for groups who fight totalitarian systems from within.
But of course there is. No-one is drunk and out of control - they know exactly what they're doing. And that is far, far more disturbing. When you actually look at all this legislation it's very apparent that it is quite tailored to meet its objectives, which generally are not quite the objectives stated to the media and the people.
I know exactly what you mean about feeling like we're in a downward spiral here though...
Grandparent's extremely valid point was that the federal ALP does absolutely nothing by way of providing effective and principled opposition and as such the Liberals can do what they want with no accountability whatsoever. Reverse the parties and you have the problem at the state level.
This is typical of the current government's attitude to privacy and telecommunications. The Telecommunications Act already allows for seizure of computers and other equipment when it is 'connected with' offences under the Spam Act, for example. There is also evidence that the government has been confiscating and destroying personal computers without a warrant when they contain 'sensitive' information.
All of this is part of a broader lack of accountability, due process and transparency that is becoming part of the culture of Australian lawmaking. There is a good article on the subject here.
For those from more sensible countries, supposedly democratic Australia currently has the following features:
1. One party entirely in control of both houses of parliament
2. No bill of rights, either legislative or constitutional
3. Legislation allowing for the arrest, detention, and interrogation without charge of persons not suspected of any offence if they may have information that is somehow relevant to a suspected terrorist offence; the onus of proof is reversed so that the person being interrogated must prove that they do NOT have any such information.
4. One of the highest rates of phone tapping in the world
5. Unelected bureacrats empowered to spy on Australians with no parliamentary oversight to speak of
6. Several semi-secret US intelligence bases operating on our soil
7. New crimes of sedition for exercising free speech in a manner that encourages the overthrow of the government
8. Troops in Iraq despite over 80% of the population opposing our involvement before the war
At the moment we also have an extremely disturbing rise in racial and religious intolerance, which in my opinion is in no small part attributable to the federal government's policies and fearmongering on those issues. But of course, this doesn't stop us selling weapons-grade uranium to China because they weeeeally promise to use it for civilian purposes only.
I totally agree. With the lawmakers obviously unconcerned about the steady erosion of civil liberties, practical measures like these could be the only option for maintaining our freedoms.
I totally agree with all of the parent's comments about the software. I mean, to put MP3s on your NetMD, you had to let Sony's cruddy software convert all of the files from MP3->some sony format (i.e. guaranteed quality loss), and then you had this bizarre check-in/check-out system to control how you used it. The software was bloated, impossibly user-unfriendly, and generally just awful.
In fact, I would go so far as to say that when all of the Sony minidisc players became NetMD-type players I stopped using them. I now use an iPod shuffle which has a comparable level of toughness and simplicity.
It was such a shame, because NetMD players were really nice and ahead of the curve. I must disagree about skipping etc too - my various minidisc players were all incredibly tough, never ever skipped, and did get ludicrous battery life. If only, IF ONLY Sony had embraced MP3 and some kind of open interface then NetMD minidisc players really would have been something special. Remember, this is a good few years ago we're talking, too.
Political communication is indeed protected in Australia as an adjunct to the democratic system created by the Constitution.
The text of the parody speech would fall squarely into that protection.
However, it's even more complex - whilst political speech is protected directly, it is not protected against limitations imposed for other reasons. So for example, in a leading case burning an effigy in an area where fires were banned was not protected speech because the purpose of the fire ban was not to suppress political communication but to control fires (see Levy v Victoria).
So in this case the copyright law might validly extinguish any right to political communication.
When we could have had the vastly superior F-16 or F-15. It's not like we need the naval capabilities of the F-18.
The US is scrapping their Tomcats, maybe we should just pick some of those up on the cheap.
In any event, I think you will find the JSF program participation is more to do with the AUSFTA and related political maneuvering and less to do with any inherent characteristics of the plane.
I find it very hard to believe there is nothing more relevant or interesting happening in the world than discussing the reaction of people we don't care about to news that a system that has not been released yet being delayed for a while.
I assume./ gets dozens of stories a day that are rejected - maybe some of those would be a better use of everyone's time?
I hate to sound like a World Vision commercial, but how the hell can we justify trying to use food as a fuel for our cars when there are millions of people in the world starving?
'Biofuels' are not only an incredibly inefficient use of farming land promoted largely by farmers eager to drive up the price of their produce, they are also a startling example of just how completely oblivious we are to the needs of human beings unfortunate enough not to live in modern technologically advanced nations.
I say, screw the car. Send the soybeans to Africa where they would quite literally and without any doubt whatsoever save lives.
Narrator: Fortunately, our handsomest politicians came up with a cheap, last-minute way to combat global warming. Ever since 2063 we simply drop a giant ice cube into the ocean every now and then.
Suzie: Just like Daddy puts in his drink every morning. And then he gets mad.
Narrator: Of course, since the greenhouse gases are still building up, it takes more and more ice each time. Thus solving the problem once and for all.
Suzie: But-
Narrator: ONCE AND FOR ALL!!!
Leela: Well, we just need one of those big ice cubes. Someone should call the losers who are supposed to deliver it. [phone rings] Hello?
Slashdot Mirror
I'm sorry but if your default position was to believe the CIA and not Amnesty International then it's going to take more than superheroes to help you.
Surprisingly enough, the article, which appears on the font of the NY Times website, doesn't even mention Colbert's name or make any reference to his performance. Instead it rambles about the Bush impersonator bit for the entire article.
The Times can hardly be called a part of the great right wing conspiracy - so one must conclude that Colbert has pissed off the media establishment, rather than the conservative political establishment. Wait, I mean "as well as" the conservative political establishment.
When you think about it, he's the only guy other than John Kerry who's had the opportunity to stand (effectively) face to face with Bush and tell him what he really thinks of 6 years of lousy policies. And he did a much better job than Kerry.
You are the 10,000th person to use that fucking joke on slashdot since the Revolution was announced.
I have a Motorola V3.
It meets some of my criteria: stylish, metal, speakerphone, price I suppose if you are right
It fails on: battery life (about half my old Sony-Ericsson t68i), robustness (I have heard endless stories of V3s breaking mysteriously), speed of menus (very slow text entry, in particular), adequate sized buttons, and weighed down with tons of unneccessary crap which cannot be removed or disabled
Seriously, have you tried finding a phone that is stylish, small, has good battery life, and yet doesn't cost an arm and a leg because all it does is voice/text?
Yes, there are plenty of small-ish, plastic phones that do this. But they lack the elegance of, say, a Motorola V3 or a high end Nokia or Sony.
I think there is certainly an untapped market for the following phone:
- metal body
- slimline and actually fashionable design (may I suggest sleek, matte-silver or black, no clear plastic or flourescent colours?)
- integrated aerial
- 4-6 day battery life
- medium sized colour screen
- adequate sized buttons for SMS
- speakerphone feature
- compatible with ordinary (wired) handsfree
- robust and preferably semi-hardened against water and dust
- FAST and bug free software
- price reflecting the functionality and manufacture cost, not the desirability of the device
Leave out bluetooth, photos, videos, IR, memory card functionality, internal hard disk or flash drive, huge colour screen and any other crap you might consider adding 'because it's cool' that would drive up the price.
I and many others will buy this phone.
Looking at the screenshots so far, the biggest problem with Generals as far as I am concerned is still very evident - you can't zoom out far enough to see what the hell you are doing.
If you go back to C&C and particularly Red Alert 2, you can crank the screen resolution and see a very large area on the screen - maybe a few hundred metres or so, certainly most of your base at one time.
In Generals, you can see one or two buildings and a few units. I always found this made it extraordinarily frustrating trying to control events with any precision - you would constantly lose units and generally get lost in the chaos of a battle because you simply couldn't see enough.
If EA has any interest in making a halfway decent game, they will take a leaf out of the book of Black and White and Civ IV and allow players to zoom waaaaaaay out to a comfortable level.
Of course I am also in the tiny minority who would love to see a return to 2D graphics for the series...
Supreme Commander
Check it out here: link.
And let's hope it happens - still the best, most complex RTS game ever, all it needed to be perfect was some improvements to the AI.
Tell me you're not talking about Adelaide.
Maniac drivers with no comprehension of, let along desire to obey, the rules of the road. Public transport from the prehistoric era. Bike 'lanes' randomly mingling with ordinary car lanes...
Anyway, a few more cars and I predict this city will utterly, utterly gridlock. You can see it already on some of the major arterials.
Why don't they just build a mysterious force field of their own?
Honestly, can these people do nothing for themselves?
Laser cannon reference was to this doofus.
We need an active defence system to shoot down posts like yours before they hit the thread.
True enough, and a good point that 'freedom' is not the same as 'liberty.'
I suppose I meant rather, that when the government gradually legislates away those public and openly exercisable liberties, the anonymity given by tools like Freenet and email encryption may at least provide a solid barrier to the total eradication of free speech. Should the fight ever get to that point (and let's hope we can stop it waaaaay before then) it would be a powerful weapon to be able to disseminate and access information quickly and anonymously.
Many democratic resistance movements throughout history would have loved to have this kind of tool at their disposal. Secret communication has always been a vital tool for groups who fight totalitarian systems from within.
But of course there is. No-one is drunk and out of control - they know exactly what they're doing. And that is far, far more disturbing. When you actually look at all this legislation it's very apparent that it is quite tailored to meet its objectives, which generally are not quite the objectives stated to the media and the people.
I know exactly what you mean about feeling like we're in a downward spiral here though...
Have a look here and here for handy details on the destruction of your civil liberties, brought to you by MiniTruth.
Grandparent's extremely valid point was that the federal ALP does absolutely nothing by way of providing effective and principled opposition and as such the Liberals can do what they want with no accountability whatsoever. Reverse the parties and you have the problem at the state level.
This is typical of the current government's attitude to privacy and telecommunications. The Telecommunications Act already allows for seizure of computers and other equipment when it is 'connected with' offences under the Spam Act, for example. There is also evidence that the government has been confiscating and destroying personal computers without a warrant when they contain 'sensitive' information.
All of this is part of a broader lack of accountability, due process and transparency that is becoming part of the culture of Australian lawmaking. There is a good article on the subject here.
For those from more sensible countries, supposedly democratic Australia currently has the following features:
1. One party entirely in control of both houses of parliament
2. No bill of rights, either legislative or constitutional
3. Legislation allowing for the arrest, detention, and interrogation without charge of persons not suspected of any offence if they may have information that is somehow relevant to a suspected terrorist offence; the onus of proof is reversed so that the person being interrogated must prove that they do NOT have any such information.
4. One of the highest rates of phone tapping in the world
5. Unelected bureacrats empowered to spy on Australians with no parliamentary oversight to speak of
6. Several semi-secret US intelligence bases operating on our soil
7. New crimes of sedition for exercising free speech in a manner that encourages the overthrow of the government
8. Troops in Iraq despite over 80% of the population opposing our involvement before the war
At the moment we also have an extremely disturbing rise in racial and religious intolerance, which in my opinion is in no small part attributable to the federal government's policies and fearmongering on those issues. But of course, this doesn't stop us selling weapons-grade uranium to China because they weeeeally promise to use it for civilian purposes only.
I totally agree. With the lawmakers obviously unconcerned about the steady erosion of civil liberties, practical measures like these could be the only option for maintaining our freedoms.
I totally agree with all of the parent's comments about the software. I mean, to put MP3s on your NetMD, you had to let Sony's cruddy software convert all of the files from MP3->some sony format (i.e. guaranteed quality loss), and then you had this bizarre check-in/check-out system to control how you used it. The software was bloated, impossibly user-unfriendly, and generally just awful.
In fact, I would go so far as to say that when all of the Sony minidisc players became NetMD-type players I stopped using them. I now use an iPod shuffle which has a comparable level of toughness and simplicity.
It was such a shame, because NetMD players were really nice and ahead of the curve. I must disagree about skipping etc too - my various minidisc players were all incredibly tough, never ever skipped, and did get ludicrous battery life. If only, IF ONLY Sony had embraced MP3 and some kind of open interface then NetMD minidisc players really would have been something special. Remember, this is a good few years ago we're talking, too.
It is very easy to infer from the summary that the article is about Windows run-time performance.
"Geepers! The Slashdot editors have posted random jolly junk again!"
Political communication is indeed protected in Australia as an adjunct to the democratic system created by the Constitution.
The text of the parody speech would fall squarely into that protection.
However, it's even more complex - whilst political speech is protected directly, it is not protected against limitations imposed for other reasons. So for example, in a leading case burning an effigy in an area where fires were banned was not protected speech because the purpose of the fire ban was not to suppress political communication but to control fires (see Levy v Victoria).
So in this case the copyright law might validly extinguish any right to political communication.
Still bullshit from Melbourne IT, of course.
When we could have had the vastly superior F-16 or F-15. It's not like we need the naval capabilities of the F-18.
The US is scrapping their Tomcats, maybe we should just pick some of those up on the cheap.
In any event, I think you will find the JSF program participation is more to do with the AUSFTA and related political maneuvering and less to do with any inherent characteristics of the plane.
I find it very hard to believe there is nothing more relevant or interesting happening in the world than discussing the reaction of people we don't care about to news that a system that has not been released yet being delayed for a while.
./ gets dozens of stories a day that are rejected - maybe some of those would be a better use of everyone's time?
I assume
I've been posting here with varying levels of intensity for a good few years now, and I have NEVER had mod points.
I metamoderate regularly, have good karma, and do not post excessively.
Something is definitely wrong with the mod points allocation system.
I hate to sound like a World Vision commercial, but how the hell can we justify trying to use food as a fuel for our cars when there are millions of people in the world starving?
'Biofuels' are not only an incredibly inefficient use of farming land promoted largely by farmers eager to drive up the price of their produce, they are also a startling example of just how completely oblivious we are to the needs of human beings unfortunate enough not to live in modern technologically advanced nations.
I say, screw the car. Send the soybeans to Africa where they would quite literally and without any doubt whatsoever save lives.
Cue vitriolic abuse from 'realists'...
Bad news there old bean, not American either. But you go right ahead making your assumptions. Jolly good show.
Narrator: Fortunately, our handsomest politicians came up with a cheap, last-minute way to combat global warming. Ever since 2063 we simply drop a giant ice cube into the ocean every now and then.
Suzie: Just like Daddy puts in his drink every morning. And then he gets mad.
Narrator: Of course, since the greenhouse gases are still building up, it takes more and more ice each time. Thus solving the problem once and for all.
Suzie: But-
Narrator: ONCE AND FOR ALL!!!
Leela: Well, we just need one of those big ice cubes. Someone should call the losers who are supposed to deliver it.
[phone rings]
Hello?