The upshot of all this spending is a few thousand jobs for engineers, programmers, and others in the tech field.
Just think of the millions of job openings for these same people if space were to become an industry rather than a curiosity.
If you want something to achieve commercial success, don't let the churches or the government dictate how to do it. Give it to some greedy, money-grubbing parasitic corporation (like MS, or IBM) and they'll find a way to bring it to us (and then jack up the prices).
For the record, I'm *not* suggesting we entrust future shuttle missions to Microsoft. Keep in mind, I want this to *succeed* with a *minimal loss of life*.
since saying "it's free to develop for our platform!" is more enticing than "it's almost free; you just have to pay QT royalties"
It's almost free. If the underlying OS is free, then you get Qt for commercial apps under the GPL. Since Solaris isn't free yet, they'd have to pay for a license for every programmer they've got (or almost), and that's close to $1000/pop (just over, iirc). They might be able to get volume discounts or something.
Now, Sun's longterm strategy (or at least it was a year ago) is to phase out Solaris in favor of Linux, and to add to Linux (and donate the code) the features that Solaris has that Linux lacks. In the process, they get all the features Linux has that Solaris lacks. The drawback, at that point, is that Qt will be GPL, not LGPL, and Sun will have to GPL all of their code that links to Qt. Now, they can build a GPL abstraction layer and bundle it with the OS, and then just use that abstraction layer, but after all that, they may as well have just started with GNome and added function and feature that they need as they go.
Point is, Trolltech only makes you pay a license if you're developing for a non-free OS. Since Linux is free, then even if you develop for KDE and release GPL stuff, and you do so commercially, you still don't pay Trolltech a license. iirc. I could be wrong about that, which would sink my whole point.
Once Sun brins most of Linux userland it's time to plan to bring whole Linux on Sparc!
Last time I checked Sun's long term strategy hinged around Linux. Don't they want to add the features in Solaris that aren't in Linux to Linux and phase out Solaris completely? Best to start on the desktop, I guess, with Gnome. Now that Gnome runs on Solaris, when they switch out the kernels they know that whatever extensions are needed to the LInux kernel will work with Gnome pretty quickly. KDE is the one falling behind, now. Crap. I like KDE.
After Hugh was returned to the Borg, the Borg lost their "collectiveness" and became sorry bunch looking for someone to lead them. Lore showed up and gave them purpose. Lore used Soong's homing beacon to draw Data to him. He controlled Data via a radio link that shared the output of the emotion chip. Picard, Giordi, Troi, et. al. sever the link and together with Data and Hugh's anitLore forces defeat Lore. Lore is then deactived by Data, disassembled (Data keeps the emotion chip.), and then beamed out into space in pieces. In short: Lore won't ever show up again.
Both are/were better than 90% of the schlock on TV
So let's see if I've got this straight:
Say you're wondering around in a pile of manure looking for something to do, and you find a piece of manure that's a bit smaller than all the other pieces of shit.
So you celebrate? Hey mommy, look at this piece of shit! It's smaller than 90% of the other pieces of shit in that whole pile over there!
How about hauling off the pile? Wouldn't that be something to do?
New slogan: Throw out your TVs! Donate them to someone who really doesn't have anything better to do!
Hell, I'll bet if we gave our TVs (along with the pile of manure we call television) to Iraq, they'd be too fat and lazy in the future to even think about acting like a terrorist dictatorial government, and Bush would have to deal with a civil war instead.
Crusher was a military doctor who happened to like being a mom, and liked the idea of being in a relationship. She was actually one of the more interesting characters on the show.
Come on, between Crusher and Troi I keep expecting the entire bridge crew (or landing party, for that matter) to engage in a group hug. The show sucks, it just plain sucks.
Now, I do get irritated from time to time in TOS with all the morality plays, and how Kirk always manages to find a moral reason to throw out the prime directive, when the prime directive is supposed to be the epitome of morality. But I expect that from a '60s show, I really do!
But the touchy-feely we should love everyone to bits attitude in TNG is just plain annoying. Another fucking android that wants to be human. What's so goddamn special about being human, anyway, that every single fucking android in sci-fi wants to be human?
TNG is entertaining, as long as you switch off your brain first, and this was well-reflected in the movies.
If they're doing it for fun, or any other reason than to strike back at Microsoft, then I think it's a great project.:) (same thing with Linux, originally, anyway)
But if they actually intend to undermine Microsoft and are doing it solely for that purpose, then I'd say it's "too little too late" and their efforts would best be spent on Wine, which has already come quite a ways.
I don't know what the project's intentions actually are, except for other postings by at least one developer, and as an outsider I'm not properly equipped to judge them.:) (generally speaking, there's just too much judgmentalism going around, I think, and I'm not about to spread it myself)
On a corollary, there does seem to be a certain amount of naivete around here. Quite often people say "Well, why don't you code for the project if you think it needs so much help!". In my experience, it's not that easy to get on a project if you don't get in early. You have to actually make patches, submit them, and so forth. Get on lists, get to know the developers. Then, when they think you're "good enough", they'll give you write access to the CVS. So it's never as simple as "just go program for Wine or something". Especially when Wine, in this specific example, has a fair amount of commercial interests backing it. I wonder how many of the people who instruct us to just go out and join every project that needs help have actually tried to join a project before? (note: I know they're not all like this, but the ones I've run into are)
Perhaps I'm reading more into it than is actually there, but here goes:
I've never heard RMS talk, but I've read quite a bit that he's written.:)
Anyway, he writes that he wanted a free operating system so that people wouldn't have to use proprietary OSs.
That's what he writes. But based on other things that he says, namely on issues such as the LInux/Bitkeeper issue, the original TrollTech issue, and so forth, it appears that he actually wants to end the era of proprietary software. In that case, the logical conclusion then, is that he intended to destroy UNIX as proprietary software by destroying the proprietary software model.
I'm taking a certain liberty with the conclusion, I realize, but it does stand to reason, even if it's somehow false.
On to the other part. UNIX was the first chosen, and I've read where he has stated that he didn't know whether or not they would pursue others. There seems to be hints that he did intend to somehow implement all proprietary OSs in a free fashion, somehow. Maybe he's just come right out and said it, I don't know. I wish I could give a link or something, though.
However, if the original intention was to provide a free OS, and UNIX was chosen based on its popularity (and other factors), then it stands to reason that with Windows' popularity being what it is that perhaps Windows should be chosen as well. In that sense, then, ReactOS is similar in both substance and spirit. I do not know if that was the intention of the project or not, hwoever, and that ultimately determines the truth of my statement.
That sold linux to quite a few skeptics in our IT department, as it should.
Hey dude, here's some encouragement. In the original post, the guy completely ignored one basic fact. Oracle was also replaced, because the code base is different from Oracle on NT to Oracle on Linux. This test didn't prove anything, really. It could have proven that Oracle programmers are better at Unix programming than they are at Windows programming.
ALso, let's not forget, GNU started out the same way. Linux started out the same way. In fact, Linux was started as a toy while they were waiting for the GNU kernel. The important thing here is that you guys are doing what you love, and fuck anyone who has a problem with that. Let's see them do something they love, eh?
You're showing us our roots, and a lot of people are responding negatively to it. Interesting...
I would prefer to see talented kernel hackers work on Linux, Hurd, or one of the BSDs as opposed to a Windows clone,but the nature of free software is that the coder gets to decide.
Um, explain to me exactly how ReactOS is different from Linux or Hurd? Wasn't GNU created in the first place in order to provide a free alternative to UNIX? The intention was to destroy UNIX, ultimately, by destroying the proprietary software world.
Knock ReactOS if you want, but it is in spirit identical to GNU. Identical, dude.
If it didn't happen to him he would have to do something similar himself.
I'm still not convinced he didn't do it somehow anyway. First, get your skyscrapers knocked down. Second, start a war before the smoke clears to keep your people's attention diverted. Third, start repealing portions of the Bill of Rights while this war is going on and you still have popular support. Fourth.........
The war in Iraq is going to happen. It's going to happen for the same reasons that Germany invaded Poland.
Consider that whenever anything happens to flight hardware there are three people present. One does the work, the other two observe and document.
I don't think it'd be that hard. Just submit it as a research project and they'll calculate it right in with their other stuff. Stick a bunch of buzzwords with an executive summary that has nothing to do with physics, and then kablooie!
Ok, I realize they don't take whatever research projects are submitted and are real careful about what they *do* take. Enough resources and ingenuity will get it there, though, so it can't be discounted as a target on the bounds of "security" or "procedure". NASA doesn't always follow procedure, and security systems can *always* be cracked.
I can't think of a reason a terrorist would target the space shuttle over a commercial jet, though, but that doesn't mean there isn't one.
Iraq would have gained a lot of American sympathy by mouring their loss. They're lucky that their comments aren't being over-sensationalized right now.
They're just using our tragedy to suit their own PR needs with the people of Iraq the same way we use other tragedies to the same. Deep down inside, Saddam Hussein and the other Iraqis aren't any different than us.
Of course, that just makes the whole US/Iraq feud just a bit dumber than it already was.
there was an Indian American, an Isreali and an African American on board.
Hey dude, I thought we were trying to end racism? Why perpetuate it by noting the irrelevant differences in skin color of astronauts? What's more important here isn't how different they might have been, it's the fact that they were *all* astronauts.
on 9/11 3000 people died in the wtc, that same day another 6500 people died in the US from something not realated to the attacks.
There's also other issues involved here. The 9/11 attack was monstrous. Suicide hijackers using some (albeit creative) pretty unusual means to make the attack. It doesn't equate to people starving on account of poverty. Poverty is a condition, and it's not preventable. Statistically speaking, you cannot have the entire population of the world living in luxury. Communism as an experiment failed (for a number of reasons). It might still work, if implemented differently, but it failed as implemented.
There is no utopia where everyone lives happily ever after. There are people who suffer every day of their lives from birth to death, and it's part of the human condition.
I feel qualified to speak on this matter because I've personally lived below the poverty line in the US for the last 10 years, and there's not a promising sign that that's going to change anytime in the next 10 years.
As far as the Columbia goes and whatever news coverage it got, space exploration isn't just "interesting stuff". In many ways, the survival of our race is going to depend on it. It's entirely possible that whatever disaster finally happens to knock us down from our industrialized society isn't going to wipe out the whole planet, but there is a chance that our entire race is in danger and getting worse.
Astronauts are people who matter, from a certain point of view, because they go out and do the things the rest of us dream about. We go watch Star Trek, astronauts actually go out into space! They are people who have fought long, hard battles of one sort or another in order to make the highest cut of intellect, quick-wit, and seat-of-the-pants guts. They are people who have the drive and the resources to become extremely powerful and wealthy, but choose instead to be explorers. Just like Lewis and Clark are heroes of American exploration (momentarily ignoring the exact means by which the US expanded its borders from sea to shining sea), except that astronauts aren't just historical figures. They're alive and well and working at it everyday, in the "final frontier".
Now, from a different point of view, they're only 7 people who died, and compared to the millions of bushwackers who die every year they're just a needle in the haystack, right? You know what separates an astronaut from a bushwacker? An astronaut pushes himself to be better than what he was the day before, and always raises his standards ever-higher. What a way to live!
I hope there is at least a debate about junking the Shuttle and ISS, which would free up tons of money for more groundbreaking unmanned missions.
That's the *last* thing we want in the existing political climate. If they junk the shuttle and ISS to free up tons of money for more unmanned missions, they'll end up appropriating it to go fight some stupid political war in the east. Dubya is looking for a fight, and he's out trying to pick one with every country that doesn't have a white leader. Probly his dad's advice to him was "Sonny boy, start a war and the people will love ya."
Even in this tragedy, I would love to get the chance.
Hell yeah! On my list of "preferred ways to die" is dying on the space shuttle during re-entry! Granted, there's plenty of painful ways to die during re-entry, but it's *after* the mission is completed, and that's the important part.
Of course, I would prefer to live and fly more missions. If I were an astronaut...
Not gonna work, I tried to shoot Steven Tyler in that shoot 'em up game that had Aerosmith plastered all over it.
Re:What If It's the Only Way?
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What if it is the only way? Games cost money... or at least time. Lots of time, even for a simple one.
what better way to get the GNU/Linux gaming market off the ground than by free software projects selling ad placement in their distributions! Sure, someone could make the same game ad-free, but who'll bother? Especially if it's worked into the game?
As much as I hate the idea, I've found quite a few nice little websites that were able to exist by selling ad space, and did useful stuff. (I don't remember any of them right off hand, though) Games are an ideal place to do ad placement, really. Because the ad can be worked into the gameplay and turned into a much better ad than anything you see on tv, or a billboard, or in a movie, for that matter.
I get sick of hearing people talk about "art". Ask them to tell you what art is before they knock what you do. (well, you'll actually have to wait 'till they knock it so you know it's time to ask) I've yet to find someone who can define "art" for me in certain terms. I'm starting to believe "art" doesn't exist.
Re:Is there anything that WON'T be $1B by 2005?
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That post would have been a lot easier to read if the poster had posted assuming the reader (me) would have a modicum of intelligence and QUIT POINTING OUT THE FUCKING PUNS TO ME.
Re:I can't wait for Warcraft 4
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Or the Sprite, er, um, Sprites!
Re:I don't necessarily see this as a bad thing...
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Regardless, would the idea of ads in games, movies, and books fly in the actual retail market for such items? My idealistic confidence in the American buying public wants me to say no, but I know that the answer, as demonstrated in part by your post, is actually "Yes, most likely."
Depends on the audience completely.
Here's an example:
The Destroyer #18,Funny Money. Published 1975. Action/Adventure. Kent cigarette ad in the middle.
Mystic, by Lisa Jackson. Published 2002, near as I can tell. PUrchased brand new in 2002 anyway. Romance novel. I forgot what add it was, but I ripped it out when I reached it.
Desperate Measures, by Kate Wilhelm. No publishing date either, but Copyright 2001. Purchased at the same time as the stupid romance novel. This one's about a lawyer, and it's in the old Perry mason style (actually a good book, surprised me). No ads within the text of the novel.
Revolt in 2100/Methuselah's Children, both by Robert Heinlein. Published 1999. No ads in the body of the novel(s). (science fiction, obviously)
So, the romance and action/adventure novels have ads (if these are representative, anyway) and have for many years. I have a newer Destroyer book but I couldn't find it for the comparison. Meanwhile, the lawyer book and the sci-fi book, both of which appeal to a smarter market, do not have ads.
I should point out that within every book there's ads, still. The author's got a list of other books that publisher has published, plus a bunch of crap at the back. I'm talking about ads in the body of the novel itself.
I wish I could cite some video games and movies as well, but I cannot at this time. SOrry. But I'd like to point out that the Stay-Puffed Marshmallow Man (Gozer) is not based on a real marshmallow company. Or rather, it is, but it's undergone a name change to avoid lawsuit. Soon after that movie came out, though, "stay-puffed marshmallows" appeared in stores briefly. That's irrelevant.
Slashdot Mirror
The upshot of all this spending is a few thousand jobs for engineers, programmers, and others in the tech field.
Just think of the millions of job openings for these same people if space were to become an industry rather than a curiosity.
If you want something to achieve commercial success, don't let the churches or the government dictate how to do it. Give it to some greedy, money-grubbing parasitic corporation (like MS, or IBM) and they'll find a way to bring it to us (and then jack up the prices).
For the record, I'm *not* suggesting we entrust future shuttle missions to Microsoft. Keep in mind, I want this to *succeed* with a *minimal loss of life*.
since saying "it's free to develop for our platform!" is more enticing than "it's almost free; you just have to pay QT royalties"
It's almost free. If the underlying OS is free, then you get Qt for commercial apps under the GPL. Since Solaris isn't free yet, they'd have to pay for a license for every programmer they've got (or almost), and that's close to $1000/pop (just over, iirc). They might be able to get volume discounts or something.
Now, Sun's longterm strategy (or at least it was a year ago) is to phase out Solaris in favor of Linux, and to add to Linux (and donate the code) the features that Solaris has that Linux lacks. In the process, they get all the features Linux has that Solaris lacks. The drawback, at that point, is that Qt will be GPL, not LGPL, and Sun will have to GPL all of their code that links to Qt. Now, they can build a GPL abstraction layer and bundle it with the OS, and then just use that abstraction layer, but after all that, they may as well have just started with GNome and added function and feature that they need as they go.
Point is, Trolltech only makes you pay a license if you're developing for a non-free OS. Since Linux is free, then even if you develop for KDE and release GPL stuff, and you do so commercially, you still don't pay Trolltech a license. iirc. I could be wrong about that, which would sink my whole point.
Once Sun brins most of Linux userland it's time to plan to bring whole Linux on Sparc!
Last time I checked Sun's long term strategy hinged around Linux. Don't they want to add the features in Solaris that aren't in Linux to Linux and phase out Solaris completely? Best to start on the desktop, I guess, with Gnome. Now that Gnome runs on Solaris, when they switch out the kernels they know that whatever extensions are needed to the LInux kernel will work with Gnome pretty quickly. KDE is the one falling behind, now. Crap. I like KDE.
demi-star trek geek
Same relationship to a "star trek geek" that a demi-human has to a human.
demihuman:human::demi-star trek geek:star trek geek
After Hugh was returned to the Borg, the Borg lost their "collectiveness" and became sorry bunch looking for someone to lead them. Lore showed up and gave them purpose. Lore used Soong's homing beacon to draw Data to him. He controlled Data via a radio link that shared the output of the emotion chip. Picard, Giordi, Troi, et. al. sever the link and together with Data and Hugh's anitLore forces defeat Lore. Lore is then deactived by Data, disassembled (Data keeps the emotion chip.), and then beamed out into space in pieces. In short: Lore won't ever show up again.
What episode is this?
Both are/were better than 90% of the schlock on TV
So let's see if I've got this straight:
Say you're wondering around in a pile of manure looking for something to do, and you find a piece of manure that's a bit smaller than all the other pieces of shit.
So you celebrate? Hey mommy, look at this piece of shit! It's smaller than 90% of the other pieces of shit in that whole pile over there!
How about hauling off the pile? Wouldn't that be something to do?
New slogan: Throw out your TVs! Donate them to someone who really doesn't have anything better to do!
Hell, I'll bet if we gave our TVs (along with the pile of manure we call television) to Iraq, they'd be too fat and lazy in the future to even think about acting like a terrorist dictatorial government, and Bush would have to deal with a civil war instead.
Crusher was a military doctor who happened to like being a mom, and liked the idea of being in a relationship. She was actually one of the more interesting characters on the show.
Come on, between Crusher and Troi I keep expecting the entire bridge crew (or landing party, for that matter) to engage in a group hug. The show sucks, it just plain sucks.
Now, I do get irritated from time to time in TOS with all the morality plays, and how Kirk always manages to find a moral reason to throw out the prime directive, when the prime directive is supposed to be the epitome of morality. But I expect that from a '60s show, I really do!
But the touchy-feely we should love everyone to bits attitude in TNG is just plain annoying. Another fucking android that wants to be human. What's so goddamn special about being human, anyway, that every single fucking android in sci-fi wants to be human?
TNG is entertaining, as long as you switch off your brain first, and this was well-reflected in the movies.
My actual opinion is this: :)
If they're doing it for fun, or any other reason than to strike back at Microsoft, then I think it's a great project. :) (same thing with Linux, originally, anyway)
But if they actually intend to undermine Microsoft and are doing it solely for that purpose, then I'd say it's "too little too late" and their efforts would best be spent on Wine, which has already come quite a ways.
I don't know what the project's intentions actually are, except for other postings by at least one developer, and as an outsider I'm not properly equipped to judge them. :) (generally speaking, there's just too much judgmentalism going around, I think, and I'm not about to spread it myself)
On a corollary, there does seem to be a certain amount of naivete around here. Quite often people say "Well, why don't you code for the project if you think it needs so much help!". In my experience, it's not that easy to get on a project if you don't get in early. You have to actually make patches, submit them, and so forth. Get on lists, get to know the developers. Then, when they think you're "good enough", they'll give you write access to the CVS. So it's never as simple as "just go program for Wine or something". Especially when Wine, in this specific example, has a fair amount of commercial interests backing it. I wonder how many of the people who instruct us to just go out and join every project that needs help have actually tried to join a project before? (note: I know they're not all like this, but the ones I've run into are)
Perhaps I'm reading more into it than is actually there, but here goes:
I've never heard RMS talk, but I've read quite a bit that he's written. :)
Anyway, he writes that he wanted a free operating system so that people wouldn't have to use proprietary OSs.
That's what he writes. But based on other things that he says, namely on issues such as the LInux/Bitkeeper issue, the original TrollTech issue, and so forth, it appears that he actually wants to end the era of proprietary software. In that case, the logical conclusion then, is that he intended to destroy UNIX as proprietary software by destroying the proprietary software model.
I'm taking a certain liberty with the conclusion, I realize, but it does stand to reason, even if it's somehow false.
On to the other part. UNIX was the first chosen, and I've read where he has stated that he didn't know whether or not they would pursue others. There seems to be hints that he did intend to somehow implement all proprietary OSs in a free fashion, somehow. Maybe he's just come right out and said it, I don't know. I wish I could give a link or something, though.
However, if the original intention was to provide a free OS, and UNIX was chosen based on its popularity (and other factors), then it stands to reason that with Windows' popularity being what it is that perhaps Windows should be chosen as well. In that sense, then, ReactOS is similar in both substance and spirit. I do not know if that was the intention of the project or not, hwoever, and that ultimately determines the truth of my statement.
That sold linux to quite a few skeptics in our IT department, as it should.
Hey dude, here's some encouragement. In the original post, the guy completely ignored one basic fact. Oracle was also replaced, because the code base is different from Oracle on NT to Oracle on Linux. This test didn't prove anything, really. It could have proven that Oracle programmers are better at Unix programming than they are at Windows programming.
ALso, let's not forget, GNU started out the same way. Linux started out the same way. In fact, Linux was started as a toy while they were waiting for the GNU kernel. The important thing here is that you guys are doing what you love, and fuck anyone who has a problem with that. Let's see them do something they love, eh?
You're showing us our roots, and a lot of people are responding negatively to it. Interesting...
I would prefer to see talented kernel hackers work on Linux, Hurd, or one of the BSDs as opposed to a Windows clone ,but the nature of free software is that the coder gets to decide.
Um, explain to me exactly how ReactOS is different from Linux or Hurd? Wasn't GNU created in the first place in order to provide a free alternative to UNIX? The intention was to destroy UNIX, ultimately, by destroying the proprietary software world.
Knock ReactOS if you want, but it is in spirit identical to GNU. Identical, dude.
If it didn't happen to him he would have to do something similar himself.
I'm still not convinced he didn't do it somehow anyway. First, get your skyscrapers knocked down. Second, start a war before the smoke clears to keep your people's attention diverted. Third, start repealing portions of the Bill of Rights while this war is going on and you still have popular support. Fourth.........
The war in Iraq is going to happen. It's going to happen for the same reasons that Germany invaded Poland.
Consider that whenever anything happens to flight hardware there are three people present. One does the work, the other two observe and document.
I don't think it'd be that hard. Just submit it as a research project and they'll calculate it right in with their other stuff. Stick a bunch of buzzwords with an executive summary that has nothing to do with physics, and then kablooie!
Ok, I realize they don't take whatever research projects are submitted and are real careful about what they *do* take. Enough resources and ingenuity will get it there, though, so it can't be discounted as a target on the bounds of "security" or "procedure". NASA doesn't always follow procedure, and security systems can *always* be cracked.
I can't think of a reason a terrorist would target the space shuttle over a commercial jet, though, but that doesn't mean there isn't one.
Why can't NASA develop a small tethered inspection robot
I realize that if R2D2 had gone with them, they would've come back.
Besides the R2D2 reference, I've nothing really witty to say, 'cause this has hit me pretty hard. :(
Iraq would have gained a lot of American sympathy by mouring their loss. They're lucky that their comments aren't being over-sensationalized right now.
They're just using our tragedy to suit their own PR needs with the people of Iraq the same way we use other tragedies to the same. Deep down inside, Saddam Hussein and the other Iraqis aren't any different than us.
Of course, that just makes the whole US/Iraq feud just a bit dumber than it already was.
there was an Indian American, an Isreali and an African American on board.
Hey dude, I thought we were trying to end racism? Why perpetuate it by noting the irrelevant differences in skin color of astronauts? What's more important here isn't how different they might have been, it's the fact that they were *all* astronauts.
on 9/11 3000 people died in the wtc, that same day another 6500 people died in the US from something not realated to the attacks.
There's also other issues involved here. The 9/11 attack was monstrous. Suicide hijackers using some (albeit creative) pretty unusual means to make the attack. It doesn't equate to people starving on account of poverty. Poverty is a condition, and it's not preventable. Statistically speaking, you cannot have the entire population of the world living in luxury. Communism as an experiment failed (for a number of reasons). It might still work, if implemented differently, but it failed as implemented.
There is no utopia where everyone lives happily ever after. There are people who suffer every day of their lives from birth to death, and it's part of the human condition.
I feel qualified to speak on this matter because I've personally lived below the poverty line in the US for the last 10 years, and there's not a promising sign that that's going to change anytime in the next 10 years.
As far as the Columbia goes and whatever news coverage it got, space exploration isn't just "interesting stuff". In many ways, the survival of our race is going to depend on it. It's entirely possible that whatever disaster finally happens to knock us down from our industrialized society isn't going to wipe out the whole planet, but there is a chance that our entire race is in danger and getting worse.
Astronauts are people who matter, from a certain point of view, because they go out and do the things the rest of us dream about. We go watch Star Trek, astronauts actually go out into space! They are people who have fought long, hard battles of one sort or another in order to make the highest cut of intellect, quick-wit, and seat-of-the-pants guts. They are people who have the drive and the resources to become extremely powerful and wealthy, but choose instead to be explorers. Just like Lewis and Clark are heroes of American exploration (momentarily ignoring the exact means by which the US expanded its borders from sea to shining sea), except that astronauts aren't just historical figures. They're alive and well and working at it everyday, in the "final frontier".
Now, from a different point of view, they're only 7 people who died, and compared to the millions of bushwackers who die every year they're just a needle in the haystack, right? You know what separates an astronaut from a bushwacker? An astronaut pushes himself to be better than what he was the day before, and always raises his standards ever-higher. What a way to live!
I hope there is at least a debate about junking the Shuttle and ISS, which would free up tons of money for more groundbreaking unmanned missions.
That's the *last* thing we want in the existing political climate. If they junk the shuttle and ISS to free up tons of money for more unmanned missions, they'll end up appropriating it to go fight some stupid political war in the east. Dubya is looking for a fight, and he's out trying to pick one with every country that doesn't have a white leader. Probly his dad's advice to him was "Sonny boy, start a war and the people will love ya."
Even in this tragedy, I would love to get the chance.
Hell yeah! On my list of "preferred ways to die" is dying on the space shuttle during re-entry! Granted, there's plenty of painful ways to die during re-entry, but it's *after* the mission is completed, and that's the important part.
Of course, I would prefer to live and fly more missions. If I were an astronaut...
Now I can shoot that damn battery bunny.
Not gonna work, I tried to shoot Steven Tyler in that shoot 'em up game that had Aerosmith plastered all over it.
What if it is the only way? Games cost money... or at least time. Lots of time, even for a simple one.
what better way to get the GNU/Linux gaming market off the ground than by free software projects selling ad placement in their distributions! Sure, someone could make the same game ad-free, but who'll bother? Especially if it's worked into the game?
As much as I hate the idea, I've found quite a few nice little websites that were able to exist by selling ad space, and did useful stuff. (I don't remember any of them right off hand, though) Games are an ideal place to do ad placement, really. Because the ad can be worked into the gameplay and turned into a much better ad than anything you see on tv, or a billboard, or in a movie, for that matter.
I get sick of hearing people talk about "art". Ask them to tell you what art is before they knock what you do. (well, you'll actually have to wait 'till they knock it so you know it's time to ask) I've yet to find someone who can define "art" for me in certain terms. I'm starting to believe "art" doesn't exist.
That post would have been a lot easier to read if the poster had posted assuming the reader (me) would have a modicum of intelligence and QUIT POINTING OUT THE FUCKING PUNS TO ME.
Or the Sprite, er, um, Sprites!
Regardless, would the idea of ads in games, movies, and books fly in the actual retail market for such items? My idealistic confidence in the American buying public wants me to say no, but I know that the answer, as demonstrated in part by your post, is actually "Yes, most likely."
Depends on the audience completely.
Here's an example:
The Destroyer #18,Funny Money. Published 1975. Action/Adventure. Kent cigarette ad in the middle.
Mystic, by Lisa Jackson. Published 2002, near as I can tell. PUrchased brand new in 2002 anyway. Romance novel. I forgot what add it was, but I ripped it out when I reached it.
Desperate Measures, by Kate Wilhelm. No publishing date either, but Copyright 2001. Purchased at the same time as the stupid romance novel. This one's about a lawyer, and it's in the old Perry mason style (actually a good book, surprised me). No ads within the text of the novel.
Revolt in 2100/Methuselah's Children, both by Robert Heinlein. Published 1999. No ads in the body of the novel(s). (science fiction, obviously)
So, the romance and action/adventure novels have ads (if these are representative, anyway) and have for many years. I have a newer Destroyer book but I couldn't find it for the comparison. Meanwhile, the lawyer book and the sci-fi book, both of which appeal to a smarter market, do not have ads.
I should point out that within every book there's ads, still. The author's got a list of other books that publisher has published, plus a bunch of crap at the back. I'm talking about ads in the body of the novel itself.
I wish I could cite some video games and movies as well, but I cannot at this time. SOrry. But I'd like to point out that the Stay-Puffed Marshmallow Man (Gozer) is not based on a real marshmallow company. Or rather, it is, but it's undergone a name change to avoid lawsuit. Soon after that movie came out, though, "stay-puffed marshmallows" appeared in stores briefly. That's irrelevant.
Goodbye.
That's not a lot of overlap people! That's exactly why I am staying away from D-Link cards right now
I'll try not to take my D-link to Japan, I really will.