There is not a single tiny bit of emotion in these three movies,
You obviously didn't watch the same movies I did. EP-III was an out and out tear-jerker. I know that I, for one, found myself on the verge of tears several times during ROTS. I found it to be an extremely emotional movie.
The characters may not have displayed much emotion, but the emotion was there. The scene were Obi-Wan watches the security hologram and sees Anakin slaughter the children was very emotional, for example. Well, it was for me anyway. YMMV.
Heh, I walked out of the theatre after seeing ROTS and commented to my friends how the statement "Once again the Sith will rule the galaxy" suggested a time when the Jedi battled the Sith for control, and how that would be a nice next installment. I hope Lucas either makes this, or authorizes somebody else to make it. I love the Star Wars universe (my second favorite sci-fi "world" after the world of Doctor Who) and would love to see more of it.
I'd also like to see a movie (or two, or three) set between ROTS and ANH. And movies of the Thrawn Trilogy, the Jedi Academy stories, etc., etc., etc.
In short... Give me more Star Wars, damnit!!
Re:What the family should do...
on
Tinfoil Hat House
·
· Score: 0, Troll
Not to mention the fact that there is a "right to not be offended by an eyesore", if it causes a change in lifestyle or even minor discomfort, then it is required to be taken down.
So you think you have the right to force anybody and everybody in the world to conform to your standards, because you have a "minor discomfort?" Wow, how fucking retarded is that? You're gonna be in a for a big shock when you grow up and join the real world.
How about this: Your idiocy is causing me minor discomfort and offending me right now, so can I just kill you so I won't have to hear your shit anymore?
What the family should do...
on
Tinfoil Hat House
·
· Score: 1, Informative
What they should do is; keep their aluminum shields up, and tell the city officials to go to fucking hell. And they should tell the city that if they come to arrest them, that the cops had better pack a lunch.
This is ridiculous... as long as they are on their land, they city has no right what-so-fucking-ever to interfere with these people, as long as they aren't violating anybody else's rights (and hint: there is no such thing as the "right to not be offended by an eyesore").
My sentiments exactly. Especially regarding Hayden Christiansen's acting. Look at the f'in character he was playing... Given his circumstances, I would expect him to be *BE* somewhat "wooden."
So Darth Vader is evil because he loved his wife too much? That's just absurd.
No, that's not it. The point was that love can be a weakness. He loved his wife so much that he was willing to do anything, including dabble in the dark side of the Force, to try and save her. His love for her is what gave Palapatine the opening to "get inside his head." This kind of scenario is probably exactly why Jedi were forbidden to marry. If you love someone, then you have a vulnerability and an exposure to being manipulated as a result.
Also keep in mind that ever since the original trilogy, the Dark Side has been presented as being extremely seductive / addictive. Once he opened himself up to even a slight idea that it was OK to use the Dark Side, he was gone.
I don't see how ROTS could have been much better. Ok, yeah, there are minor nits to be picked, but by and large, it was exactly the movie I was hoping to see. Lucas outdid himself on this one.
And now having seen III, episodes I and II make a lot more sense; "the circle is complete" so to speak. I thought this movie did a great job of setting up A New Hope, while leaving just a few questions unanswered (and leaving, IMHO, room for another movie or two between ROTS and ANH).
Was it perfect? No. Was it very, very good? Yes. Absolutely. I can't wait to go see it again, personally.
Oh, and regarding the political commentary: I don't think Lucas was commenting on Bush. The overall story of the fall of the Old Republic has been around since the 70's, far before G.W. Bush was on anybody's mind.
We bought almost $12,000 worth of licenses to CCVS, and we need to change our merchant account #. That requires changing the software key. Red Hat made an intentional decision to no longer provide the keys. They even removed the damn documentation from their web site. Our accounting system and online store ties-into the system via both the C and PHP libraries. Changing the interface to the credit card system is going to cost us a lot of time and money.
Hmmm, I remember RedHat pulling that. The company I was working for at the time was a CCVS user also. Fortunately, we had already decided to switch to a different software platform for a different reason, before RH dropped CCVS support.
In addition to pointing out the advantages of FL/OSS, these situations also make it obvious why it's good to "hide" details like the credit card processing package behind a generic interface. In case you do need to switch, all you have to do then is write the new provider that implements the interface, edit a config file, and you're back in business.
You'd be stunned at what the FBI has the right to photograph or videotape without "invading your privacy" (as defined by law).
The FBI doesn't have ANY rights at all, period. We The People have all the rights, and we simply grant the government certain privileges as a convenience. There is NEVER, EVER, EVER any case in which the government (or a government agency) has "rights" which trump the rights of an individual. Never.
Because judges and polices officers are entitled to more rights and protection than regular people? I don't think so..... And this is coming from someone who aspires to be a judge, or atleast be in the legal field. When the priveleged have more rights and the misbalance is there, that's when it falls aparts.
Now that is truly "insightful." I'd give this a +1 if I weren't blacklisted from moderating.:-)
finally, perhaps, the only way to avoid the loss of national integrity
Define "national integrity" and tell me why I should care about it? What does that buy me, exactly?
How about we start worrying about "individual" integrity and allow free individuals to make residence wherever they see fit. Nations don't really mean anything in the grand scheme of things anyway. They rise and fall, and they're just artificial constructs anyway.
Marx predicted a revolution followed by a "withering away" of the state. He didn't want or expect an economy that had to be permanently maintained by force (in fact this was largely his objection to capitalism), and he would have been appalled at Stalin and Mao's eventual perversions of his ideals.
Ok, fair enough. Maybe I should have said "communism, in practice, is predicated on the idea... blah, blah."
And in all honesty, I haven't read Marx, so what I know about communism is mostly what I've observed and read about communism as practiced in the Soviet Union during the "cold war" era. So I tend to associate communism with totalitarianism and anything but freedom. <shrug>
I still don't buy the comparisons between F/OSS and communism though. But if somebody can make a compelling case for why it's a valid comparison, I'm all ears.
Technically speaking, its all true - FOSS is a (somewhat loose) form of communism,
No it's not, because communism is predicated on the idea that it's OK to take something from an individual by force, if it's necessary. "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need" and all that jazz. Open-Source and the GPL have nothing to do with taking anything forcibly, and everything to do with individual freedom and choice.
The F/L/OSS world is closer to a form of libertarianism than it is communism. After all, it is Libertarians who posit that if people are left alone to become as productive as they can, then indivdiuals will willingly choose to give back to "the community" for their own reasons. And that's what we see in the F/L/OSS world.. individuals who willingly contribute code to the community, for whatever reason they see fit.
But that's why we have our Constitution: to protect the public from its own shortsightedness.
Unfortunately, the Constitution is just a piece of paper. It, by itself, can do nothing to prevent our rights from being eroded and worn away to nothingness. It takes *people* to stand up for their rights, possibly even fight and die for their rights, to back up what the Constitution says.
Yes, the form of government created in our Constitution has done a good job for a long time of preserving our fundamental rights.. but you can kinda feel that lately things have started to slip in a negative direction... and by "lately" I mean at least since about 1930 or thereabouts, although arguments could be made that our freedoms have been eroding since before the ink was dry on the Constitution.
I wonder if you would feel the same way if, for example, you came up with an algorithm to factor integers in polynomial time.
Why shouldn't he? If he wants to profit from his discovery, he can always make, market and sell software that takes advantage of it. There is no need to publish or otherwise disclose the algorithm itself. And then one day when sombody else who is just as smart comes along as makes the same discovery, they will also be free to make use of it (or not).
Patents are an archaic throwback to a different time, and the problem they were trying to solve no longer exists. There are too many people in the world, who are too smart and well-educated, to presume that any invention is really unique. If Joe Somebody discovers something truly useful and decides to keep it to himself, somebody else will discover it in short-order. That is, if they're not too terrified by the prospect of a patent lawsuit, to begin looking.
There is also the community college system. By attending a two year community college, which is open to anyone who is willing to pay the small admission price, a student who attains decent grades can transfer to most state schools.
Very good point. I don't know how it is in all states, but by way of example... In North Carolina, the Community Colleges generally have an "open door" admissions policy... if you apply, you're in, period.
The only trick is, you usually have to take a "placement test" that determines what classes you get to start with. Ie, score really low and you have to take "remedial" (non credit) classes before you get to take the "real" classes.
And once you get a few credits - if not a degree - from a community college, you'll be considered a college transfer student when applying to a university, which will typically make H.S. pretty much irrelevant. Granted, this might not work for getting into Harvard or Princeton, but if you're creative, you should be able to "boostrap" your way up. Go to a community college, do well, transfer to a slightly more impressive school (maybe a well known state university) and then transfer again to your school of choice.
You can sell GPL'ed code for as much money as you want. There is no problem producing GPL'ed code and selling it for a profit. Read this part of the GPL FAQ:
Does the GPL allow me to sell copies of the program for money?
Yes, the GPL allows everyone to do this. The right to sell copies is part of the definition of free software. Except in one special situation, there is no limit on what price you can charge. (The one exception is the required written offer to provide source code that must accompany binary-only release.)
Does the GPL allow me to charge a fee for downloading the program from my site?
Yes. You can charge any fee you wish for distributing a copy of the program. If you distribute binaries by download, you must provide "equivalent access" to download the source--therefore, the fee to download source may not be greater than the fee to download the binary.
Does the GPL allow me to require that anyone who receives the software must pay me a fee and/or notify me?
No. In fact, a requirement like that would make the program non-free. If people have to pay when they get a copy of a program, or if they have to notify anyone in particular, then the program is not free. See the definition of free software.
The GPL is a free software license, and therefore it permits people to use and even redistribute the software without being required to pay anyone a fee for doing so. If I distribute GPL'd software for a fee, am I required to also make it available to the public without a charge?
No. However, if someone pays your fee and gets a copy, the GPL gives them the freedom to release it to the public, with or without a fee. For example, someone could pay your fee, and then put her copy on a web site for the general public.
The only thing tricky about selling GPL'ed software is that anybody can buy a copy and then start redistributing it for any price they choose, including free (as in beer). Whether or not that would happen in any given case, is anybody's guess.
And even if it does, that doesn't mean you can't still make a profit. It's entirely possible that people would choose to buy from you, as opposed to getting for free from somebody else. Just ask RedHat. People buy RHEL for thousands of dollars, despite the availability of CentOS, WBEL, etc.
Gonna ask me for a passport to drive inside Vermont?
Pretty soon you'll need a passport to cross from one US state to another, at the very least. Orwell's world of '1984' is coming to America, little by little.
Slashdot Mirror
There is not a single tiny bit of emotion in these three movies,
You obviously didn't watch the same movies I did. EP-III was an out and out tear-jerker. I know that I, for one, found myself on the verge of tears several times during ROTS. I found it to be an extremely emotional movie.
The characters may not have displayed much emotion, but the emotion was there. The scene were Obi-Wan watches the security hologram and sees Anakin slaughter the children was very emotional, for example. Well, it was for me anyway. YMMV.
Heh, I walked out of the theatre after seeing ROTS and commented to my friends how the statement "Once again the Sith will rule the galaxy" suggested a time when the Jedi battled the Sith for control, and how that would be a nice next installment. I hope Lucas either makes this, or authorizes somebody else to make it. I love the Star Wars universe (my second favorite sci-fi "world" after the world of Doctor Who) and would love to see more of it.
I'd also like to see a movie (or two, or three) set between ROTS and ANH. And movies of the Thrawn Trilogy, the Jedi Academy stories, etc., etc., etc.
In short... Give me more Star Wars, damnit!!
Not to mention the fact that there is a "right to not be offended by an eyesore", if it causes a change in lifestyle or even minor discomfort, then it is required to be taken down.
So you think you have the right to force anybody and everybody in the world to conform to your standards, because you have a "minor discomfort?" Wow, how fucking retarded is that? You're gonna be in a for a big shock when you grow up and join the real world.
How about this: Your idiocy is causing me minor discomfort and offending me right now, so can I just kill you so I won't have to hear your shit anymore?
What they should do is; keep their aluminum shields up, and tell the city officials to go to fucking hell. And they should tell the city that if they come to arrest them, that the cops had better pack a lunch.
This is ridiculous... as long as they are on their land, they city has no right what-so-fucking-ever to interfere with these people, as long as they aren't violating anybody else's rights (and hint: there is no such thing as the "right to not be offended by an eyesore").
My sentiments exactly. Especially regarding Hayden Christiansen's acting. Look at the f'in character he was playing... Given his circumstances, I would expect him to be *BE* somewhat "wooden."
Am I the onlyone who read this and initially thought something along the lines of "what does Glenn Danzig have to do with Pi"?
Nope.
There is nobody, anywhere, that can honestly say they BELIEVED the motivation for the turn to the dark side.
I did.
So Darth Vader is evil because he loved his wife too much? That's just absurd.
No, that's not it. The point was that love can be a weakness. He loved his wife so much that he was willing to do anything, including dabble in the dark side of the Force, to try and save her. His love for her is what gave Palapatine the opening to "get inside his head." This kind of scenario is probably exactly why Jedi were forbidden to marry. If you love someone, then you have a vulnerability and an exposure to being manipulated as a result.
Also keep in mind that ever since the original trilogy, the Dark Side has been presented as being extremely seductive / addictive. Once he opened himself up to even a slight idea that it was OK to use the Dark Side, he was gone.
I don't see how ROTS could have been much better. Ok, yeah, there are minor nits to be picked, but by and large, it was exactly the movie I was hoping to see. Lucas outdid himself on this one.
And now having seen III, episodes I and II make a lot more sense; "the circle is complete" so to speak. I thought this movie did a great job of setting up A New Hope, while leaving just a few questions unanswered (and leaving, IMHO, room for another movie or two between ROTS and ANH).
Was it perfect? No. Was it very, very good? Yes. Absolutely. I can't wait to go see it again, personally.
Oh, and regarding the political commentary: I don't think Lucas was commenting on Bush. The overall story of the fall of the Old Republic has been around since the 70's, far before G.W. Bush was on anybody's mind.
We bought almost $12,000 worth of licenses to CCVS, and we need to change our merchant account #. That requires changing the software key. Red Hat made an intentional decision to no longer provide the keys. They even removed the damn documentation from their web site. Our accounting system and online store ties-into the system via both the C and PHP libraries. Changing the interface to the credit card system is going to cost us a lot of time and money.
Hmmm, I remember RedHat pulling that. The company I was working for at the time was a CCVS user also. Fortunately, we had already decided to switch to a different software platform for a different reason, before RH dropped CCVS support.
In addition to pointing out the advantages of FL/OSS, these situations also make it obvious why it's good to "hide" details like the credit card processing package behind a generic interface. In case you do need to switch, all you have to do then is write the new provider that implements the interface, edit a config file, and you're back in business.
You'd be stunned at what the FBI has the right to photograph or videotape without "invading your privacy" (as defined by law).
The FBI doesn't have ANY rights at all, period. We The People have all the rights, and we simply grant the government certain privileges as a convenience. There is NEVER, EVER, EVER any case in which the government (or a government agency) has "rights" which trump the rights of an individual. Never.
Because judges and polices officers are entitled to more rights and protection than regular people? I don't think so..... And this is coming from someone who aspires to be a judge, or atleast be in the legal field. When the priveleged have more rights and the misbalance is there, that's when it falls aparts.
:-)
Now that is truly "insightful." I'd give this a +1 if I weren't blacklisted from moderating.
finally, perhaps, the only way to avoid the loss of national integrity
Define "national integrity" and tell me why I should care about it? What does that buy me, exactly?
How about we start worrying about "individual" integrity and allow free individuals to make residence wherever they see fit. Nations don't really mean anything in the grand scheme of things anyway. They rise and fall, and they're just artificial constructs anyway.
Would you rather lose rights? or riches?
riches, duh.
Marx predicted a revolution followed by a "withering away" of the state. He didn't want or expect an economy that had to be permanently maintained by force (in fact this was largely his objection to capitalism), and he would have been appalled at Stalin and Mao's eventual perversions of his ideals.
Ok, fair enough. Maybe I should have said "communism, in practice, is predicated on the idea... blah, blah."
And in all honesty, I haven't read Marx, so what I know about communism is mostly what I've observed and read about communism as practiced in the Soviet Union during the "cold war" era. So I tend to associate communism with totalitarianism and anything but freedom. <shrug>
I still don't buy the comparisons between F/OSS and communism though. But if somebody can make a compelling case for why it's a valid comparison, I'm all ears.
But
Technically speaking, its all true - FOSS is a (somewhat loose) form of communism,
No it's not, because communism is predicated on the idea that it's OK to take something from an individual by force, if it's necessary. "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need" and all that jazz. Open-Source and the GPL have nothing to do with taking anything forcibly, and everything to do with individual freedom and choice.
The F/L/OSS world is closer to a form of libertarianism than it is communism. After all, it is Libertarians who posit that if people are left alone to become as productive as they can, then indivdiuals will willingly choose to give back to "the community" for their own reasons. And that's what we see in the F/L/OSS world.. individuals who willingly contribute code to the community, for whatever reason they see fit.
Would you believe that he has never actually gotten back to us?
I would have been much more surprised if you'd said that he did get back in touch.
One of these might be useful as well. <grin>
But that's why we have our Constitution: to protect the public from its own shortsightedness.
Unfortunately, the Constitution is just a piece of paper. It, by itself, can do nothing to prevent our rights from being eroded and worn away to nothingness. It takes *people* to stand up for their rights, possibly even fight and die for their rights, to back up what the Constitution says.
Yes, the form of government created in our Constitution has done a good job for a long time of preserving our fundamental rights.. but you can kinda feel that lately things have started to slip in a negative direction... and by "lately" I mean at least since about 1930 or thereabouts, although arguments could be made that our freedoms have been eroding since before the ink was dry on the Constitution.
I wonder if you would feel the same way if, for example, you came up with an algorithm to factor integers in polynomial time.
Why shouldn't he? If he wants to profit from his discovery, he can always make, market and sell software that takes advantage of it. There is no need to publish or otherwise disclose the algorithm itself. And then one day when sombody else who is just as smart comes along as makes the same discovery, they will also be free to make use of it (or not).
Patents are an archaic throwback to a different time, and the problem they were trying to solve no longer exists. There are too many people in the world, who are too smart and well-educated, to presume that any invention is really unique. If Joe Somebody discovers something truly useful and decides to keep it to himself, somebody else will discover it in short-order. That is, if they're not too terrified by the prospect of a patent lawsuit, to begin looking.
I switched from Register.com to GoDaddy and have not had any problems with the service provided by GoDaddy, FWIW. And I've saved a few dollars.
Based on my own experience and things I've heard from respected colleagues, I consider GoDaddy to be a pretty good choice for domain registration.
But then again, my opinion and $2.00 will get you a cup of coffee. <shrug>
Click Here
There is also the community college system. By attending a two year community college, which is open to anyone who is willing to pay the small admission price, a student who attains decent grades can transfer to most state schools.
Very good point. I don't know how it is in all states, but by way of example... In North Carolina, the Community Colleges generally have an "open door" admissions policy... if you apply, you're in, period.
The only trick is, you usually have to take a "placement test" that determines what classes you get to start with. Ie, score really low and you have to take "remedial" (non credit) classes before you get to take the "real" classes.
And once you get a few credits - if not a degree - from a community college, you'll be considered a college transfer student when applying to a university, which will typically make H.S. pretty much irrelevant. Granted, this might not work for getting into Harvard or Princeton, but if you're creative, you should be able to "boostrap" your way up. Go to a community college, do well, transfer to a slightly more impressive school (maybe a well known state university) and then transfer again to your school of choice.
You can sell GPL'ed code for as much money as you want. There is no problem producing GPL'ed code and selling it for a profit. Read this part of the GPL FAQ:
Does the GPL allow me to sell copies of the program for money?
Yes, the GPL allows everyone to do this. The right to sell copies is part of the definition of free software. Except in one special situation, there is no limit on what price you can charge. (The one exception is the required written offer to provide source code that must accompany binary-only release.)
Does the GPL allow me to charge a fee for downloading the program from my site?
Yes. You can charge any fee you wish for distributing a copy of the program. If you distribute binaries by download, you must provide "equivalent access" to download the source--therefore, the fee to download source may not be greater than the fee to download the binary.
Does the GPL allow me to require that anyone who receives the software must pay me a fee and/or notify me?
No. In fact, a requirement like that would make the program non-free. If people have to pay when they get a copy of a program, or if they have to notify anyone in particular, then the program is not free. See the definition of free software.
The GPL is a free software license, and therefore it permits people to use and even redistribute the software without being required to pay anyone a fee for doing so.
If I distribute GPL'd software for a fee, am I required to also make it available to the public without a charge?
No. However, if someone pays your fee and gets a copy, the GPL gives them the freedom to release it to the public, with or without a fee. For example, someone could pay your fee, and then put her copy on a web site for the general public.
The only thing tricky about selling GPL'ed software is that anybody can buy a copy and then start redistributing it for any price they choose, including free (as in beer). Whether or not that would happen in any given case, is anybody's guess.
And even if it does, that doesn't mean you can't still make a profit. It's entirely possible that people would choose to buy from you, as opposed to getting for free from somebody else. Just ask RedHat. People buy RHEL for thousands of dollars, despite the availability of CentOS, WBEL, etc.
Gonna ask me for a passport to drive inside Vermont?
Pretty soon you'll need a passport to cross from one US state to another, at the very least. Orwell's world of '1984' is coming to America, little by little.
Viva La Resistance.