Yes and no -- I've heard that "fuck the beta" is now "olives and feta". Tryin' ta be a wee bit classier with our needlessly-provoked volcanic rage and contempt, by dressing it up in some Cockney rhyming slang. (Not my idea, but I saw it and liked it.)
No one here gives a shit about that lame "o noes hax0rz in mah cup of coffee" NBC article.
The real news is that, after having read tonight's even *more* lame, unhelpful, patronizing and disappointing Slashdot Beta feedback thread, it's now clearer than ever that this ship of ours is sinking. At long last, I think that Netcraft really HAS confirmed it.:/
Soulskill and the other Dice weasels may indeed be "listening" to us, but they've still got a righteous hard-on for destroying this website regardless of how many times we've rubbed their noses in the beta's odiferous offal. I don't believe their calculated, faux-caring, used-car-salesmen spiel for one moment.
The question now is: Exactly when do we take to the lifeboats, and to what safe harbor do we start rowing towards?
An iWatch??? Oooooh shiny! I wish that I had an iWatch prototype so that I knew exactly when 2359 hrs rolls around on Feb. 8, and I can leave this inglorious Beta disaster once the week-long "slashcot" begins. There might not be much point in waiting for the trainwreck to begin; it's already in progress, and we're all starring in it. Dunno if I can masochistically "tough out" this entirely needless murder of my favorite discussion forum. I very rarely post, but I read a great deal of it and am always entertained, challenged, and (most of all) educated by the entire Slashdot experience.
Fuck Dice. Fuck 'em right in the wallet; fuck 'em in the share price; fuck 'em in the investment portfolio and cut the strings on everyone's golden parachutes.:P
Anyone at Dice who cheerfully refers one more time to us as a motherfucking "audience" is a complete smeg-head.
I'm not sure I want to stick around and watch Dice's inept version of Mount St. Helens erupt in slow-motion destruction. Seeing it deserted en masse in coming months due to the Beta's inevitable victory, and having it start resembling something like sad old deserted kuro5hin, is probably too much for me.
In the big feedback thread, Soulskill's oozed forth nothing but laughably transparent management-speak platitudes that are devoid of any actual understanding of, let alone respect FOR, the community that comprises Slashdot. if he doesn't get it, or is studiously AVOIDING getting-it, then i'm sure his Chad Lumbergh superiors at Dice Central Command sure as hell don't get it. Tonight's presently-in-progress Beta feedback thread is pointless 'cos the suits really have no intention of switching gears, and the usability-destroying "OMG Ponies!"-ization of ye olde 'dot is a solid certainty.
Up until this moment the whole thing made me rage, but now I'm just feeling a bit more sad than angry. Yeah, we're being sold out. I'm not going to pretend I'm not pissed-off and unhappy about that.
Stick a fork in ye olde 'dot, folks; it's done. Last one out, please turn off the hot-grits spigot.
I look forward to some other new site/wiki/blog/Fuhrerbunker/casino where I can digitally rub shoulders with y'all in the VERY near future. There are already several posts in other current threads about a possible Altslashdot.org; who knows what other new purpose-built destinations might come to be? But I truly have very little further hope for this fascinating & enlightening place that I've been visiting since before 9/11. It's a place that I miss already, if you know what I mean.
But then again, Dice's chronic greedy misunderstandings about that are a huge part of this needless mess, hey? This crufty ol' comment-friendly website, as a place, does not matter. Why?
Because we're Slashdot. Our community transcends any mere "place".
Together, we can exist anywhere we choose.
Clearly visible from my selected seashore town in southern New Jersey. I could not make out the exhaust trail due to some ultra-local light pollution (fortunately not TOO overpowering), but the engine glow itself was visible the entire time. I had a cloudless night here that was just too good to waste by not going for a drive this evening to "be there in person".
From a distance of roughly 80 miles from Wallops Island, the light was a visible circle (not a mere point-source) and strongly resembled the somewhat faint orange glow of a lit cigarette in a darkened room. From this vantage point, it did not shrink to a point until nearly 2 to 2.5 minutes after my first sighting
While the rocket was on its way, It was really nice to be talking to a friend on the phone who was viewing the live webcast on his computer. This gave me basically realtime intel on when each engine stage was shut down and the next one was ignited -- I could actually see the glow temporarily darken, then brighten again several seconds later. All in all, a very enjoyable experience despite my inability to be any closer to the launch site.
I'm extremely impressed that it was clearly visible from Toronto, eh!:)
...what kind of a society do we live in when not even our "IP" address is safe??? Time to re-check my chlorine-bleach-based firewall; you never know what nefarious trouble is in the pipeline.
Way to go, Hostess management. Don't let the door hit you in your partially hydrogenated ass on the way out!
Considering that their product has a shelf life best measured in geologic terms, and is often functionally identical to substances used in ancient Egyptian mummification practices, I think that nothing of value was lost.
Except the jobs themselves, that is. It's going to be *such* a merry Christmas for their workforce this year.
One can only surmise that toxic tailings from Arizona's open-pit copper mines have leached into their public water supply, subtly influencing their legislature. For a moment, I thought I was reading of a fatally-flawed decision willingly undertaken despite near-universal ridicule, but that's just crazy talk. Mine tailings, definitely. O.o
Yeah, tell me about it.:) It's not only visually polished and loaded with options, but I'm happy to see that there's an active modding community for it. Many of the mod packages I can see so far are stunningly awesome. This bundle was cash well spent.
We really need to get a mathematician to take a serious look at human history. It appears to be fractal: it not only repeats itself, but the same patterns show up on different scales as if there were a great deal of self-similarity.
[pokerface]
I heard that some math-and-history whiz named Hari Seldon has already got that covered. In spades. There's even a few books out there detailing some interesting things that happened when he published his findings. Any serious conversation about the subject really has to acknowledge his work as the foundation of the entire field.
[/pokerface]
It's rather reminiscent of Gorbachev-era glasnost. Since such openness lead to this awesome surprise, perhaps if carried further it can also point the way to the IP version of the dismantling of the Berlin Wall. Who knows what else lies beyond? The terrain that beckons is certainly much more enriching to humanity-at-large than todays's walled gardens of data. Too often those gardens seem to be allowed little purpose other than than for their intellectual fruits to be monetized at all costs and defended against any influence that would delay that. It's very encouraging to see a group go so far against that trend!
Could that article possibly be any more lame??? So...Moot ponders some nebulous concepts about 4Chan: The Next Generation for about five seconds. Some other dude then bloats it into a puff piece in hopes of warping reality by placing the concepts of "New York Times" and "hip blogger" in the same sentence, with his own name on top. Riiiight. Journalism, we hardly knew ye.
Call me when a *real* article on the subject appears. Until then, forward my calls to/s/.:P
I'm so confused! This goes against everything that me and millions of others were taught. I was so *sure* that Windows had its origin in a golden, seductive ring of incalculable power...or was it a tower in Redmond topped by a lidless eye of flaming malice?
Whaaaaat, Your Honor??? Sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome my 24-hour-data-retention-policy is!
Fuck that subpeona.
In the ear.
With a Siberian ice dildo.
Depending on the kind of binding which holds the spine together, I normally wouldn't hesitate to use a flatbed scanner to digitize them. Stapled mags are easier to work with than ones which are perfect-bound or have saddle-stitched bindings. From my POV, the collectibility of the analog original is irrelevant; all I'm after is the data itself, regardless of the physical container. As long as I accomplish a sufficiently high-res scan, I'm happy. I've occasionally removed staples prior to scanning or even sliced off the spines with an X-Acto knife. Of course I'd be far more gentle if the originals were not my own property.:)
For magazines which are bound too tightly (or are too large or fragile) to easily fit onto a flatbed scanner, you may have to consider setting up a photgraphic copy stand. You'll need twin lighting sources on each side of the stand, angled downwards at 45 degrees. The stand should have a screw fitting to mate against the base of your camera body. Reflections from glossy magazine pages may have to be eliminated via use of a circular polarizing filter added to your camera lens. I'm not sure how you'd weigh down the edges of the mag, though...slabs of a transparent material such as lucite or plexiglass? I don't envy anyone who needs to go down this route to take digital photos of the mag pages.
So, how's that rigorous nuclear oversight working out for you?
Wrong branch of the service, but if Admiral Hyman Rickover were still alive he'd be shitting cinderblocks when he heard about this fiasco. I'm still not sure whether to laugh or cry.
Soon, Disney will be showing those ads at much higher speeds, allowing many more to be shown within a given span of time. Advance word from the Magic Kingdom indicates that these will be called "blipverts"...
I heard that he was attempting to send some obscure command to the AOL servers: "Execute Order 66".
For his age-frame, I think he'd have been better off trying to go three integers higher.
Of course, for that you have to leave the basement eventually. Gotta leave that womb-like comfort to obtain...uh...some *other*...womb-like comfort...oh, never mind.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes and no -- I've heard that "fuck the beta" is now "olives and feta". Tryin' ta be a wee bit classier with our needlessly-provoked volcanic rage and contempt, by dressing it up in some Cockney rhyming slang. (Not my idea, but I saw it and liked it.)
No one here gives a shit about that lame "o noes hax0rz in mah cup of coffee" NBC article.
:/
The real news is that, after having read tonight's even *more* lame, unhelpful, patronizing and disappointing Slashdot Beta feedback thread, it's now clearer than ever that this ship of ours is sinking. At long last, I think that Netcraft really HAS confirmed it.
Soulskill and the other Dice weasels may indeed be "listening" to us, but they've still got a righteous hard-on for destroying this website regardless of how many times we've rubbed their noses in the beta's odiferous offal. I don't believe their calculated, faux-caring, used-car-salesmen spiel for one moment.
The question now is: Exactly when do we take to the lifeboats, and to what safe harbor do we start rowing towards?
~JPE
An iWatch??? Oooooh shiny! I wish that I had an iWatch prototype so that I knew exactly when 2359 hrs rolls around on Feb. 8, and I can leave this inglorious Beta disaster once the week-long "slashcot" begins. There might not be much point in waiting for the trainwreck to begin; it's already in progress, and we're all starring in it. Dunno if I can masochistically "tough out" this entirely needless murder of my favorite discussion forum. I very rarely post, but I read a great deal of it and am always entertained, challenged, and (most of all) educated by the entire Slashdot experience.
:P
Fuck Dice. Fuck 'em right in the wallet; fuck 'em in the share price; fuck 'em in the investment portfolio and cut the strings on everyone's golden parachutes.
Anyone at Dice who cheerfully refers one more time to us as a motherfucking "audience" is a complete smeg-head.
I'm not sure I want to stick around and watch Dice's inept version of Mount St. Helens erupt in slow-motion destruction. Seeing it deserted en masse in coming months due to the Beta's inevitable victory, and having it start resembling something like sad old deserted kuro5hin, is probably too much for me.
In the big feedback thread, Soulskill's oozed forth nothing but laughably transparent management-speak platitudes that are devoid of any actual understanding of, let alone respect FOR, the community that comprises Slashdot. if he doesn't get it, or is studiously AVOIDING getting-it, then i'm sure his Chad Lumbergh superiors at Dice Central Command sure as hell don't get it. Tonight's presently-in-progress Beta feedback thread is pointless 'cos the suits really have no intention of switching gears, and the usability-destroying "OMG Ponies!"-ization of ye olde 'dot is a solid certainty.
Up until this moment the whole thing made me rage, but now I'm just feeling a bit more sad than angry. Yeah, we're being sold out. I'm not going to pretend I'm not pissed-off and unhappy about that.
Stick a fork in ye olde 'dot, folks; it's done. Last one out, please turn off the hot-grits spigot.
I look forward to some other new site/wiki/blog/Fuhrerbunker/casino where I can digitally rub shoulders with y'all in the VERY near future. There are already several posts in other current threads about a possible Altslashdot.org; who knows what other new purpose-built destinations might come to be? But I truly have very little further hope for this fascinating & enlightening place that I've been visiting since before 9/11. It's a place that I miss already, if you know what I mean.
But then again, Dice's chronic greedy misunderstandings about that are a huge part of this needless mess, hey? This crufty ol' comment-friendly website, as a place, does not matter. Why?
Because we're Slashdot.
Our community transcends any mere "place".
Together, we can exist anywhere we choose.
~JPE
Clearly visible from my selected seashore town in southern New Jersey. I could not make out the exhaust trail due to some ultra-local light pollution (fortunately not TOO overpowering), but the engine glow itself was visible the entire time. I had a cloudless night here that was just too good to waste by not going for a drive this evening to "be there in person".
:)
From a distance of roughly 80 miles from Wallops Island, the light was a visible circle (not a mere point-source) and strongly resembled the somewhat faint orange glow of a lit cigarette in a darkened room. From this vantage point, it did not shrink to a point until nearly 2 to 2.5 minutes after my first sighting
While the rocket was on its way, It was really nice to be talking to a friend on the phone who was viewing the live webcast on his computer. This gave me basically realtime intel on when each engine stage was shut down and the next one was ignited -- I could actually see the glow temporarily darken, then brighten again several seconds later. All in all, a very enjoyable experience despite my inability to be any closer to the launch site.
I'm extremely impressed that it was clearly visible from Toronto, eh!
...what kind of a society do we live in when not even our "IP" address is safe??? Time to re-check my chlorine-bleach-based firewall; you never know what nefarious trouble is in the pipeline.
Oh God - stack overflow!
Way to go, Hostess management. Don't let the door hit you in your partially hydrogenated ass on the way out!
Considering that their product has a shelf life best measured in geologic terms, and is often functionally identical to substances used in ancient Egyptian mummification practices, I think that nothing of value was lost.
Except the jobs themselves, that is. It's going to be *such* a merry Christmas for their workforce this year.
"You're doin' one heck of a job there, Brewie."
One can only surmise that toxic tailings from Arizona's open-pit copper mines have leached into their public water supply, subtly influencing their legislature. For a moment, I thought I was reading of a fatally-flawed decision willingly undertaken despite near-universal ridicule, but that's just crazy talk. Mine tailings, definitely. O.o
Yeah, tell me about it. :) It's not only visually polished and loaded with options, but I'm happy to see that there's an active modding community for it. Many of the mod packages I can see so far are stunningly awesome. This bundle was cash well spent.
...they fail to get it [as usual] ---
Ballmer, to shareholders: "Today will be a day long remembered. It has seen the end of Jobs, and will soon see the end of the Apple Rebellion."
Good luck, Steve, and thanks for all of the dogcows.
That's what happens when you finally *do* begin to see the fnords. A pity about the relatively short notice, too.
Faaaaar from new. It was also a key plot point in the 1981 movie "Looker," starring Albert Finney & Susan Dey.
We really need to get a mathematician to take a serious look at human history. It appears to be fractal: it not only repeats itself, but the same patterns show up on different scales as if there were a great deal of self-similarity.
[pokerface]
I heard that some math-and-history whiz named Hari Seldon has already got that covered. In spades. There's even a few books out there detailing some interesting things that happened when he published his findings. Any serious conversation about the subject really has to acknowledge his work as the foundation of the entire field.
[/pokerface]
Last Post.
How about being a civic-minded pal and kindly post them for our enlightenment? Some of us are hungry for alternatives; I certainly am.
It's rather reminiscent of Gorbachev-era glasnost. Since such openness lead to this awesome surprise, perhaps if carried further it can also point the way to the IP version of the dismantling of the Berlin Wall. Who knows what else lies beyond? The terrain that beckons is certainly much more enriching to humanity-at-large than todays's walled gardens of data. Too often those gardens seem to be allowed little purpose other than than for their intellectual fruits to be monetized at all costs and defended against any influence that would delay that. It's very encouraging to see a group go so far against that trend!
That's one of the most brilliantly creepy things I've read since discovering Larry Niven's short story "Inconstant Moon" (very related).
Thanks for the nightmares, dude! [shiver] Can't sleep; nova will eat me...
Could that article possibly be any more lame??? So...Moot ponders some nebulous concepts about 4Chan: The Next Generation for about five seconds. Some other dude then bloats it into a puff piece in hopes of warping reality by placing the concepts of "New York Times" and "hip blogger" in the same sentence, with his own name on top. Riiiight. Journalism, we hardly knew ye.
Call me when a *real* article on the subject appears. Until then, forward my calls to /s/. :P
I'm so confused! This goes against everything that me and millions of others were taught. I was so *sure* that Windows had its origin in a golden, seductive ring of incalculable power...or was it a tower in Redmond topped by a lidless eye of flaming malice?
Whaaaaat, Your Honor??? Sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome my 24-hour-data-retention-policy is!
Fuck that subpeona.
In the ear.
With a Siberian ice dildo.
4 out of 5 assassins prefer chaumurky over chaumas! News at 11.
Depending on the kind of binding which holds the spine together, I normally wouldn't hesitate to use a flatbed scanner to digitize them. Stapled mags are easier to work with than ones which are perfect-bound or have saddle-stitched bindings. From my POV, the collectibility of the analog original is irrelevant; all I'm after is the data itself, regardless of the physical container. As long as I accomplish a sufficiently high-res scan, I'm happy. I've occasionally removed staples prior to scanning or even sliced off the spines with an X-Acto knife. Of course I'd be far more gentle if the originals were not my own property. :)
For magazines which are bound too tightly (or are too large or fragile) to easily fit onto a flatbed scanner, you may have to consider setting up a photgraphic copy stand. You'll need twin lighting sources on each side of the stand, angled downwards at 45 degrees. The stand should have a screw fitting to mate against the base of your camera body. Reflections from glossy magazine pages may have to be eliminated via use of a circular polarizing filter added to your camera lens. I'm not sure how you'd weigh down the edges of the mag, though...slabs of a transparent material such as lucite or plexiglass? I don't envy anyone who needs to go down this route to take digital photos of the mag pages.
So, how's that rigorous nuclear oversight working out for you?
Wrong branch of the service, but if Admiral Hyman Rickover were still alive he'd be shitting cinderblocks when he heard about this fiasco. I'm still not sure whether to laugh or cry.
This project elevates the Star Wars meme "Execute Order 66" to a level that's closer to reality than I'd prefer.
Soon, Disney will be showing those ads at much higher speeds, allowing many more to be shown within a given span of time. Advance word from the Magic Kingdom indicates that these will be called "blipverts"...
I heard that he was attempting to send some obscure command to the AOL servers: "Execute Order 66".
For his age-frame, I think he'd have been better off trying to go three integers higher.
Of course, for that you have to leave the basement eventually. Gotta leave that womb-like comfort to obtain...uh...some *other*...womb-like comfort...oh, never mind.