Because, the terrorists don't want to kill thousands of people, that would unite everyone. All they have to do is keep doing little things, watch you erode your beloved 'freedom', and then watch you tear yourself apart because of it.
If they kill 10,000 people, you'll go in unified and invade wherever you want. If they kill almost noone but make everyone scared, they divide your country, you can't decide WTF you're doing, and you end up staying out of their countries entirely, because going in will be an unpopular decision that will affect your re-election chances.
Spinoff fan series stink. They inevitably become fanboy wankfests designed to inflate the egos and fulfill the fantasies of whoever's producing the drivel.
Case in point: Star Trek: Hidden Frontier http://www.hiddenfrontier.com/ where the main character is gay and has a Klingon boyfriend with a "gentleness" fetish.
GARBAGE!
I'm in the movie, and I can say, don't worry. The script is well balanced, and doesn't twist the SW universe into something it's not just so the production team can get their jollies. Besides, there are too many Star Wars Geeks on this movie... we'd kick Mark in the nuts if he tried.:)
PS: Mark... if you're reading this... uh... please don't cut me over this.:)
Please, PLEASE let it be something involving horrible, unrelenting agony.
I'm in the movie, and I don't know if I should say... but I don't think I'll get in trouble if I tell you that your concerns will be assuaged in a manner involving deep space and a fortuitous high-speed collision with a starship.
According to the article they will be filming against green screens. I guess it will be a low budget made in a way similar to Sky Captain - cheap (but hopefully reasonable) effects rather than an expensive set
(note: I'm in the movie)
Not everything is being greenscreened, but for the parts that are, it's (so far) to fill in background that we just couldn't do normally. For instance, the Cantina... yes, we could theoretically make a full set and paint everything and go crazy... but when we have a full CGI of the entire interior, it just makes more sense to make the bar, and the background (tables, extras, etc) and then greenscreen the rest. All the costuming is authentic. It's not a crazy expensive set, but it's not cheap duct tape either... so far, it's a very reasonable mix of CGI, well made costumes, and very good slight of hand.
Also, the Millenium Falcon is too, at least the cockpit is a full-size model with no CGI. It's also freaking heavy. We had to lift it onto some trolleys over the weekend, and I still hurt.
The face on George Lucas when he sees the film and sees that it's better than what he wrote : priceless. I'm in the movie, and I can honestly say... get a motherfreakin camera, cuz Mr Lucas is gonna have some drool on his chin.
Granted this movie won't have the excessive high dollar effects of the prequels, but I'd bet that it's going to be mostly computer animation, and the cheap variety.
(note: I'm in the movie)
I don't think you have to worry about that. Firstly, the use of CGI is being very carefully undertaken... nothing overboard, nothing excessive, and nothing "we're too lazy to do this right, so let's just CGI it". Secondly, the CGI that is being used is FREAKISHLY top-rate. One of the ship models has 3x the polygons that the ILM model used, and it shows. All the stills and models I've seen so far are top, top quality. Frankly, if they're used right, I expect this movie to look better than EpIII. Maybe not as frantic and flashy on the screen... but when a ship flies around, you'll feel it's a real ship, not one just out of the bubble-wrap and still smelling like NewStarDestroyer air freshener.
Congratulations, you just positively affected the outcome of an entire movie.:)
Sweet! I'm glad to have been of service.:)
Also, you can now claim to have "given great input into the best Star Wars fan film of all time". Looks good on a resume, and it's a great line for picking up chicks.
But I don't think I can get you in the credits.:P Sorry.:)
He's the only guy crazy enough to put together $60,000 and take 2 years of his life to make the biggest and most ambitious Star Wars fan movie ever made, knowing from the start that he can't make a dime off of it. I think there's a slight difference.
(note: I'm in the movie) Don't forget, Chewbacca is in this one too... at least, the guy who does Chewie for all the Cons and promo shots and the red carpet at the EpIII screening. He's a nice guy, consumate professional, and he's bringing a great presence to the movie. It's awesome to get on set and have Chewie walk in and start roaring.
I'm looking forward to meeting Jeremy and Zach too. This is gonna be so awesome.
Mark did indeed manage to rope in real actors. Not only are there professionals (a lot of Canadian indie, some C-list), there are lots of acting students, and lots of people who love Star Wars enough to make it real. Hans Solo, for instance, is done by Iowa Jimmy, who has pretty much been in love with the movie since it came out. He's a teacher, and his entire classroom is like a Star Wars museum. He's done Cons and... well, hell, he's done everything. So in this case, we could have picked an 'actor' to do the role... but no one could bring as much to it as Jim does.
Summary: Don't worry about the acting. Everyone is great, and the director (who's already won some indie awards for his past work) most certainly doesn't take crap shots. You screw up, you do it over. And over. And over. Until everyone is happy.
(note: I'm in the movie) That's very true, but this is most definitely the biggest, and most ambitious. This isn't a few guys going around with a camcorder, or even several friends with a few good props. This is soundstages, greenrooms, huge sets, bona-fide hollywood propmakers and actors...
I have full respect for all the fan films that are out there, and I've enjoyed them. This isn't meant as an insult. It's simply that this movie is larger in scale than anything that has been done before.
Actually, there has been great care taken with a long and well storyboarded plot, good character development, and suchlike. Much more thought ahas been given to "What can we do to write a good story" than "What can we do to have a 54-minute lightsaber battle".
Also, we really built most of the Cantina, there is a full-size Falcon cockpit, and many other full sets. While we do have to CGI a lot of parts (such as the rest of the bar), it isn't going to turn into 30 seconds of indoor scene, followed by 74 straight minutes of X-Wing fights. (See: Episode 3 minutes 1 through 39 for examples)
"I'm the only guy crazy enough to do this, because I'm not allowed to turn a profit. The film is for hardcore fans who miss the character development of the original trilogy."
I don't think this guy understands Star Wars at all...
Like any fan film, we have to make some deviations from the original...
If the shooting I've been at so far is any indication, the sound is going to be mostly redubbed. We do have a mike boom on, and there have been some good bits so far, but everyone is so committed to the quality that the audio won't escape notice. Some of the closed sets will probably use the original audio, but places like the greenscreen stage we're shooting on right now will be redone.
That said, I'll make sure to bring that up with Mark tonight. Congratulations, you just positively affected the outcome of an entire movie.:)
I am so hyped to read this, because I'm in the movie!!!11one!! It's freakin awesome... we just shot the Cantina scene, it kicks ass... there's just too much to say. Mark is doing a great job, the cast is great, the sets are awesome... and the story is damn good too. I don't think anyone is going to be disappointed.
The best part is that everyone involved in the project is such a huge geek, and Star Wars fan, that everything just comes together perfectly.
Everyone needs to go Slashdot XPress Entertainment. That's Marks' production company that's making the movie. There is a forums there too, and we have about a thousand pictures from the first 2 days of shooting that are soon to get put up there.
Awesome hero costumes, all the extras look great, and there are some extremely hot girls (heck, all of them are!). Perfect start to a movie, IMHO.
Also, I need help... I'm changing my sig, how does this sound?
I win this argument by default. I'M IN MOTHERF*CKING STAR WARS, BITCH!
I was always told that the longer the jail term, the worse the crime.
Therefore, all you sick bastards, instead of planting malicious meta tags to lure children to your sick web pages, please take the government-approved route, and either rape or kill said children. In the alternative, you can find someone who is 18 or over, in which case you can both rape and kill them (but only in that order, sayeth Uncle Sam). All of those activities have lighter punishments than your evil bastard meta tags. Also, consider driving into a school bus at 140mph, or even a school, whilst drunk. Or plow through a crosswalk. Or run around hitting random people on the head with a hammer. Start urinating out your office window, kill endangered animals with high-power automatic assault rifles, scam your company and drain your businesses retirement fund of billions of dollars... go sell a few pounds of crack or some lsd (but not meth!), have sex with a donkey, bust into ladies washrooms with a camera, spy on people in hotel rooms, steal power and cable services, dump large loads of human waste in front of your city hall, or have large amounts of deviant public sex whereever you can.
But, for the love of god... no ill-chosen meta-tags!
Re:Just not a fan of such humanoid robots
on
The Robot Professor
·
· Score: 1
blasphemy! I've always wanted a female invisible naked assassin robot to be a reality!
Personally, I'd rather the female naked assassin robots weren't invisible. Because of both the "naked" part, and the "assassin" part.
The unspoken point is much more disturbing. They aren't just holding the transaction for a few hours and letting it sit there. They're holding the transaction, calling or notifying a government agency, and saying "Mohammed Everyman is sending $500 to some guy names Jimmy James, is it ok?" and then waiting for the government to check it out and get back to them.
Helloooooo, data mining.
Seriously, what an absolute load of shit. How can you people stand for this? Because it's foreigners?? I say the EU passes a new law, requiring banks and transfer institutions to hold and check all activities by guys named "Bob" and "Mike". But it's ok, it's for security purposes.
You know what? I could rant all day, but there's a much better way to express myself:
I deal with seriously clueless employees all day.... but the ones that drive me crazy are when I call for tech support and get the idiots...
Case #1 I had to temporarily run a company computer in an adjacent building, complete with network printer. I set up a WAP, a range extender, a wireless NIC in the PC, and a wireless-to-ethernet bridge. Because it's ****sys crap, it takes a while and many device reboots to get it all to behave, but finally it does. Everything connects fine... except the printer. Turns out the print jobs they needed are generated by a server on another network, and the subnet on the bridge was 255.255.255.0. "Change the subnet". Easy peasy, eh? I go into the config page, change it, restart it, and... it's the same. I try 5 ways from Sunday, it refuses to accept any other subnet. Note that nothing was on DHCP... So I (reluctantly) call in for support. I think happy thoughts. I explain my problem. My device X won't accept any other subnet. I am not on DHCP. I exactly know my problem. I want a fix. Him: "What is the model of your WAP?" I give it to him. "That is not the right model. What is the model of your WAP?" I check the config page, I tell him. Him: "I'm sorry sir, that's not a correct model.What is the model of your WAP?" I get a little annoyed, I tell him it doesn't matter what the model is, it's not configured for DHCP, and my problem is with my bridge, not my WAP. Him: "I need the model to continue troubleshooting. What is the model of your WAP?" I tell him it is the only 54G WAP they currently sell. I point out the web page. I explain in detail how my problem is subnet on my bridge, not WAP related, and how it doesn't matter, I can get to the config page anyways. Him: "I need the model to continue troubleshooting. Can you give me the numbers on the black tag on the WAP?" Well, no, I can't, the WAP is currently about 20' off the ground in a warehouse in another building... but I'm not having WAP problems, screw my WAP, I want help with my bri... Him: "I'm sorry sir, but I need the model number of your WAP to continue troubleshooting. What is the model of your WAP?" I tell him it doesn't matter, pick one at random and continue. He won't. I tell him I understand he has a script to follow, but he needs to move beyond it. He won't. I ask for as supervisor or a T2 tech, he refuses. Given my 40 minute hold time, I don't want to call back in now that I have a live body. He gets to the part of his script where he has to give me my case number before telling me to call back when I have my WAP model. I refuse to accept the number, I keep trying. He keeps saying "What is the model of your WAP?". I tell him, clearly, "You are annoying me greatly by continually asking the exact same irrelevant question in the exact same tone of voice in the exact same wordings. Do not ask me the model of my WAP again. I have told it to you, you don't have it, and I don't care. Move on. We are going to talk about my bridge now, about how it won't accept a subnet change, and how you're going to fix this. There will be no more mention of my WAP model, period. Am I clear?"
Him: "Yes sir, I am sorry sir. Could you please tell me the model of your WAP?"
So after I eat the phone, I get my case number, I hang up, I climb up the 20' to the WAP, I unmount it, I bring it down. The model I was telling him, the model it says on the config page of the WAP? "WAP54G Revision C" (I paraphrase) The model on the sticker? "WAP54G-C"
I call back with my newfound wealth of knowledge. "I'm sorry sir, I don't have that case number on file."
Case #2: I am configuring a new static DSL link, with router, some firewall config for an app passthrough. I need the default gateway, and because of the nature of the on-the-fly configuration of this DSL provider, I can't get it until I have it. I call. This is a week or two after WAP-Boy. I am worried, but cautiously optimistic. "Hi, new business class static DSL line, here's my #, I just need to know your default gateway f
On a related funny story, in Western Canada, our mosquitoes are frequently larger than a quarter. Sometimes a loonie. Infrequently, a toonie. Most people will swear they saw at least one the size of a $5 bill. No-one has seen the fabled $10 bill version yet. In rural counties, when the Greyhound or other transport truck drives through, they have to stop at regular intervals to clean the front of the vehicle off. The bugs are so thick, especially on poorly lit rural roads, that their dead carcasses tend to completely block the radiator grill (thanks to the fine-mesh anti-snow grill we all use up here). The last time I took a greyhound through saskatchewan, we stopped after a few hours, the driver got out a stick, and knocked off a solid mat of dead insects, probably 1.5" thick, that covered the fronts of both side mirrors. It was heavy enough it made a "thump" when it hit the ground. The windshield wipers were hidden. The front grill was mostly covered, again almost 1" thick. He said that on differently designed busses with their altered aerodynamics, sometimes the bugs end up hitting the headlights, and frequent stops are required or you're soon driving in the dark. They can be so vicious, animals locked in a small pen are driven mad. City children who go out to the country for a day have been bitten so bad they can't flex their arm or leg (presumably, rural kids are used to it, or have developed some armour-like skin that the farmers are keeping secret until the revolution). Falling asleep without repellant on is just not done, as you'd wake up with bites over your entire body, even in the middle of the city. Inadvertantly wandering into a marshy area with a mosquito breeding area and stirring them up can seem to block out the sun. Even at my old house, in a small park in the middle of the big city, if i didn't keep the grass trimmed, I couldn't walk from car to house without getting bitten a dozen times. It's widely recognized as the severest hazing ritual, to take the young man, clothe him completely, tape him to a tree in a woody area, and then unzip and expose his manhood. Not for the embarasement factor, or the fun, but because after a few hours his manhood will be unrecognizable and he will be crazy with the urge to scratch. Many people have been bitten so severely, in normal, everyday circumstances, that they scratch themselves until they bleed.
But, yeah, these Greek ones can see colour. Oooohhh, scary.
Many people are suggesting "Just go through a proxy". My question, seriously, how do you trust a proxy? How can you be sure that it's not just a honeypot, looking for "security concious" people, then logging every single thing they do? Sure, we can examine the client-side setup to see what's going on, but do we have any clue what's happening at the proxy end? What's to stop them from copying every single link and byte that goes through the proxy for future evaluation?
Slashdot Mirror
Why planes and not stadiums?
Because, the terrorists don't want to kill thousands of people, that would unite everyone. All they have to do is keep doing little things, watch you erode your beloved 'freedom', and then watch you tear yourself apart because of it.
If they kill 10,000 people, you'll go in unified and invade wherever you want.
If they kill almost noone but make everyone scared, they divide your country, you can't decide WTF you're doing, and you end up staying out of their countries entirely, because going in will be an unpopular decision that will affect your re-election chances.
Damn you slashdotters and your information mining techniques!! You found me out!! My secret is in the open!!
:)
Hehe, yeah, I know, I suck. I'm just really pumped. Sorry guys/gals.
(PS: +1 funny)
I'm in the movie, and I can say, don't worry. The script is well balanced, and doesn't twist the SW universe into something it's not just so the production team can get their jollies. Besides, there are too many Star Wars Geeks on this movie... we'd kick Mark in the nuts if he tried.
PS: Mark... if you're reading this... uh... please don't cut me over this.
I'm in the movie, and I don't know if I should say... but I don't think I'll get in trouble if I tell you that your concerns will be assuaged in a manner involving deep space and a fortuitous high-speed collision with a starship.
If you can design an elaborate ship with CG, you can design it to look like a smelly 400 lb guy spent a few parsecs in the cockpit.
I shiver at the thought of the prop cockpit, and the method actor who reads this and insists his cockpit be properly "distressed".
(note: I'm in the movie)
Not everything is being greenscreened, but for the parts that are, it's (so far) to fill in background that we just couldn't do normally. For instance, the Cantina... yes, we could theoretically make a full set and paint everything and go crazy... but when we have a full CGI of the entire interior, it just makes more sense to make the bar, and the background (tables, extras, etc) and then greenscreen the rest. All the costuming is authentic. It's not a crazy expensive set, but it's not cheap duct tape either... so far, it's a very reasonable mix of CGI, well made costumes, and very good slight of hand.
Also, the Millenium Falcon is too, at least the cockpit is a full-size model with no CGI. It's also freaking heavy. We had to lift it onto some trolleys over the weekend, and I still hurt.
The face on George Lucas when he sees the film and sees that it's better than what he wrote : priceless.
I'm in the movie, and I can honestly say... get a motherfreakin camera, cuz Mr Lucas is gonna have some drool on his chin.
(note: I'm in the movie)
I don't think you have to worry about that. Firstly, the use of CGI is being very carefully undertaken... nothing overboard, nothing excessive, and nothing "we're too lazy to do this right, so let's just CGI it".
Secondly, the CGI that is being used is FREAKISHLY top-rate. One of the ship models has 3x the polygons that the ILM model used, and it shows. All the stills and models I've seen so far are top, top quality. Frankly, if they're used right, I expect this movie to look better than EpIII. Maybe not as frantic and flashy on the screen... but when a ship flies around, you'll feel it's a real ship, not one just out of the bubble-wrap and still smelling like NewStarDestroyer air freshener.
Also, you can now claim to have "given great input into the best Star Wars fan film of all time". Looks good on a resume, and it's a great line for picking up chicks.
But I don't think I can get you in the credits.
(note: I'm in the movie)
He's the only guy crazy enough to put together $60,000 and take 2 years of his life to make the biggest and most ambitious Star Wars fan movie ever made, knowing from the start that he can't make a dime off of it. I think there's a slight difference.
(note: I'm in the movie)
Don't forget, Chewbacca is in this one too... at least, the guy who does Chewie for all the Cons and promo shots and the red carpet at the EpIII screening. He's a nice guy, consumate professional, and he's bringing a great presence to the movie. It's awesome to get on set and have Chewie walk in and start roaring.
I'm looking forward to meeting Jeremy and Zach too. This is gonna be so awesome.
(note: I'm in the movie)
... well, hell, he's done everything. So in this case, we could have picked an 'actor' to do the role... but no one could bring as much to it as Jim does.
Mark did indeed manage to rope in real actors. Not only are there professionals (a lot of Canadian indie, some C-list), there are lots of acting students, and lots of people who love Star Wars enough to make it real. Hans Solo, for instance, is done by Iowa Jimmy, who has pretty much been in love with the movie since it came out. He's a teacher, and his entire classroom is like a Star Wars museum. He's done Cons and
Summary: Don't worry about the acting. Everyone is great, and the director (who's already won some indie awards for his past work) most certainly doesn't take crap shots. You screw up, you do it over. And over. And over. Until everyone is happy.
(note: I'm in the movie)
That's very true, but this is most definitely the biggest, and most ambitious. This isn't a few guys going around with a camcorder, or even several friends with a few good props. This is soundstages, greenrooms, huge sets, bona-fide hollywood propmakers and actors...
I have full respect for all the fan films that are out there, and I've enjoyed them. This isn't meant as an insult. It's simply that this movie is larger in scale than anything that has been done before.
(note: I'm in the film)
Actually, there has been great care taken with a long and well storyboarded plot, good character development, and suchlike. Much more thought ahas been given to "What can we do to write a good story" than "What can we do to have a 54-minute lightsaber battle".
Also, we really built most of the Cantina, there is a full-size Falcon cockpit, and many other full sets. While we do have to CGI a lot of parts (such as the rest of the bar), it isn't going to turn into 30 seconds of indoor scene, followed by 74 straight minutes of X-Wing fights. (See: Episode 3 minutes 1 through 39 for examples)
"I'm the only guy crazy enough to do this, because I'm not allowed to turn a profit. The film is for hardcore fans who miss the character development of the original trilogy."
I don't think this guy understands Star Wars at all...
Like any fan film, we have to make some deviations from the original...
If the shooting I've been at so far is any indication, the sound is going to be mostly redubbed. We do have a mike boom on, and there have been some good bits so far, but everyone is so committed to the quality that the audio won't escape notice. Some of the closed sets will probably use the original audio, but places like the greenscreen stage we're shooting on right now will be redone.
:)
That said, I'll make sure to bring that up with Mark tonight. Congratulations, you just positively affected the outcome of an entire movie.
I am so hyped to read this, because I'm in the movie!!!11one!! It's freakin awesome... we just shot the Cantina scene, it kicks ass... there's just too much to say. Mark is doing a great job, the cast is great, the sets are awesome... and the story is damn good too. I don't think anyone is going to be disappointed.
The best part is that everyone involved in the project is such a huge geek, and Star Wars fan, that everything just comes together perfectly.
Everyone needs to go Slashdot XPress Entertainment. That's Marks' production company that's making the movie. There is a forums there too, and we have about a thousand pictures from the first 2 days of shooting that are soon to get put up there.
Awesome hero costumes, all the extras look great, and there are some extremely hot girls (heck, all of them are!). Perfect start to a movie, IMHO.
Also, I need help... I'm changing my sig, how does this sound?
I win this argument by default. I'M IN MOTHERF*CKING STAR WARS, BITCH!
I was always told that the longer the jail term, the worse the crime.
Therefore, all you sick bastards, instead of planting malicious meta tags to lure children to your sick web pages, please take the government-approved route, and either rape or kill said children. In the alternative, you can find someone who is 18 or over, in which case you can both rape and kill them (but only in that order, sayeth Uncle Sam). All of those activities have lighter punishments than your evil bastard meta tags.
Also, consider driving into a school bus at 140mph, or even a school, whilst drunk. Or plow through a crosswalk. Or run around hitting random people on the head with a hammer. Start urinating out your office window, kill endangered animals with high-power automatic assault rifles, scam your company and drain your businesses retirement fund of billions of dollars... go sell a few pounds of crack or some lsd (but not meth!), have sex with a donkey, bust into ladies washrooms with a camera, spy on people in hotel rooms, steal power and cable services, dump large loads of human waste in front of your city hall, or have large amounts of deviant public sex whereever you can.
But, for the love of god... no ill-chosen meta-tags!
blasphemy! I've always wanted a female invisible naked assassin robot to be a reality!
Personally, I'd rather the female naked assassin robots weren't invisible. Because of both the "naked" part, and the "assassin" part.
The unspoken point is much more disturbing. They aren't just holding the transaction for a few hours and letting it sit there. They're holding the transaction, calling or notifying a government agency, and saying "Mohammed Everyman is sending $500 to some guy names Jimmy James, is it ok?" and then waiting for the government to check it out and get back to them.
Helloooooo, data mining.
Seriously, what an absolute load of shit. How can you people stand for this? Because it's foreigners??
I say the EU passes a new law, requiring banks and transfer institutions to hold and check all activities by guys named "Bob" and "Mike". But it's ok, it's for security purposes.
You know what? I could rant all day, but there's a much better way to express myself:
*boggle*
*bangs head on desk*
I deal with seriously clueless employees all day.... but the ones that drive me crazy are when I call for tech support and get the idiots...
Case #1
I had to temporarily run a company computer in an adjacent building, complete with network printer. I set up a WAP, a range extender, a wireless NIC in the PC, and a wireless-to-ethernet bridge. Because it's ****sys crap, it takes a while and many device reboots to get it all to behave, but finally it does. Everything connects fine... except the printer. Turns out the print jobs they needed are generated by a server on another network, and the subnet on the bridge was 255.255.255.0. "Change the subnet". Easy peasy, eh? I go into the config page, change it, restart it, and... it's the same. I try 5 ways from Sunday, it refuses to accept any other subnet. Note that nothing was on DHCP...
So I (reluctantly) call in for support. I think happy thoughts. I explain my problem. My device X won't accept any other subnet. I am not on DHCP. I exactly know my problem. I want a fix.
Him: "What is the model of your WAP?" I give it to him.
"That is not the right model. What is the model of your WAP?" I check the config page, I tell him.
Him: "I'm sorry sir, that's not a correct model.What is the model of your WAP?" I get a little annoyed, I tell him it doesn't matter what the model is, it's not configured for DHCP, and my problem is with my bridge, not my WAP.
Him: "I need the model to continue troubleshooting. What is the model of your WAP?" I tell him it is the only 54G WAP they currently sell. I point out the web page. I explain in detail how my problem is subnet on my bridge, not WAP related, and how it doesn't matter, I can get to the config page anyways.
Him: "I need the model to continue troubleshooting. Can you give me the numbers on the black tag on the WAP?" Well, no, I can't, the WAP is currently about 20' off the ground in a warehouse in another building... but I'm not having WAP problems, screw my WAP, I want help with my bri...
Him: "I'm sorry sir, but I need the model number of your WAP to continue troubleshooting. What is the model of your WAP?"
I tell him it doesn't matter, pick one at random and continue. He won't. I tell him I understand he has a script to follow, but he needs to move beyond it. He won't. I ask for as supervisor or a T2 tech, he refuses. Given my 40 minute hold time, I don't want to call back in now that I have a live body. He gets to the part of his script where he has to give me my case number before telling me to call back when I have my WAP model. I refuse to accept the number, I keep trying. He keeps saying "What is the model of your WAP?". I tell him, clearly, "You are annoying me greatly by continually asking the exact same irrelevant question in the exact same tone of voice in the exact same wordings. Do not ask me the model of my WAP again. I have told it to you, you don't have it, and I don't care. Move on. We are going to talk about my bridge now, about how it won't accept a subnet change, and how you're going to fix this. There will be no more mention of my WAP model, period. Am I clear?"
Him: "Yes sir, I am sorry sir. Could you please tell me the model of your WAP?"
So after I eat the phone, I get my case number, I hang up, I climb up the 20' to the WAP, I unmount it, I bring it down.
The model I was telling him, the model it says on the config page of the WAP?
"WAP54G Revision C" (I paraphrase)
The model on the sticker?
"WAP54G-C"
I call back with my newfound wealth of knowledge.
"I'm sorry sir, I don't have that case number on file."
Case #2:
I am configuring a new static DSL link, with router, some firewall config for an app passthrough. I need the default gateway, and because of the nature of the on-the-fly configuration of this DSL provider, I can't get it until I have it. I call.
This is a week or two after WAP-Boy. I am worried, but cautiously optimistic.
"Hi, new business class static DSL line, here's my #, I just need to know your default gateway f
On a related funny story, in Western Canada, our mosquitoes are frequently larger than a quarter. Sometimes a loonie. Infrequently, a toonie. Most people will swear they saw at least one the size of a $5 bill. No-one has seen the fabled $10 bill version yet.
In rural counties, when the Greyhound or other transport truck drives through, they have to stop at regular intervals to clean the front of the vehicle off. The bugs are so thick, especially on poorly lit rural roads, that their dead carcasses tend to completely block the radiator grill (thanks to the fine-mesh anti-snow grill we all use up here).
The last time I took a greyhound through saskatchewan, we stopped after a few hours, the driver got out a stick, and knocked off a solid mat of dead insects, probably 1.5" thick, that covered the fronts of both side mirrors. It was heavy enough it made a "thump" when it hit the ground. The windshield wipers were hidden. The front grill was mostly covered, again almost 1" thick. He said that on differently designed busses with their altered aerodynamics, sometimes the bugs end up hitting the headlights, and frequent stops are required or you're soon driving in the dark.
They can be so vicious, animals locked in a small pen are driven mad. City children who go out to the country for a day have been bitten so bad they can't flex their arm or leg (presumably, rural kids are used to it, or have developed some armour-like skin that the farmers are keeping secret until the revolution). Falling asleep without repellant on is just not done, as you'd wake up with bites over your entire body, even in the middle of the city. Inadvertantly wandering into a marshy area with a mosquito breeding area and stirring them up can seem to block out the sun. Even at my old house, in a small park in the middle of the big city, if i didn't keep the grass trimmed, I couldn't walk from car to house without getting bitten a dozen times.
It's widely recognized as the severest hazing ritual, to take the young man, clothe him completely, tape him to a tree in a woody area, and then unzip and expose his manhood.
Not for the embarasement factor, or the fun, but because after a few hours his manhood will be unrecognizable and he will be crazy with the urge to scratch.
Many people have been bitten so severely, in normal, everyday circumstances, that they scratch themselves until they bleed.
But, yeah, these Greek ones can see colour. Oooohhh, scary.
Many people are suggesting "Just go through a proxy". My question, seriously, how do you trust a proxy? How can you be sure that it's not just a honeypot, looking for "security concious" people, then logging every single thing they do? Sure, we can examine the client-side setup to see what's going on, but do we have any clue what's happening at the proxy end? What's to stop them from copying every single link and byte that goes through the proxy for future evaluation?
I already have this in my neighbourhood, from a competing company called "Linksys"
+1 Amen