Re:The U.S. is a major exporter of culture as well
on
Japan's Empire of Cool
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· Score: 2, Informative
That's not true. First of all, anime is not cool. Second, kids here dream of being all sorts of stupid things. Just like in America, they have all sorts of dreams when they are kids. The difference is maybe that they realize earlier that they are just going to end up being boring office workers like everyone else. While Americans, for example, persist on chasing fantasy careers for longer into their lives. But, this country is not nearly as homogenous as it is made out to be.
Yeah, don't be a moron. Most Japanese people do speak English. It is required to even get into high school. The government of Japan pays thousands of people to come over here and teach English to them. Making something easier to learn can reduce its depth and power considerably. Kanji is a much more effective writing system than the Roman letter system is, but it is more difficult to learn, of course. For example, C wouldn't be a more powerful language than basic if you had to make it as easy to learn as bsic.
It's true; the first of three semesters which together constitute the Japanese school year starts in the beginning of April, after a few weeks of vacation.
Yeah, good luck. The phones here rock. DoCoMo's FOMA 3G services aren't really going anywhere, but everyone has a phone with a camera in it these days. They give them away for free. My phone does friggin karaoke. These things do so many stupid things that there is no way to even use them all, but comparing them to US phones is just silly. The thing here is, people don't talk on the phone so much. Phones are much more commonly used for data services, especially short email. The American mindset is completely different in this regard, as all the providers can offer to differentiate themselves from each other is "More Anytime Minutes" Woo, big deal.
Yeah it happened the other night on the Ustunomiya line, maybe 20k north of Tokyo, and it took me 2 hours to get from Omiya to Higashi-washinomiya (Not more than a few miles). That is two hours of standing packed like sardines by professional subway-packers, wondering what the hell is going on because you can't understand enough Japanese to figure out what the announcement over the intercom meant. It was right at about 17:30. Very interesting experience. And it is a very popular way to off yourself in Japan; many more than a dozen people a year do it.
I totally disagree with you. Jet Grind Radio on the Dreamcast is a much better game than Jet Set Radio Future is on the X-Box. JSRF is just so much easier that the only fun is exploring all the outlandish new locales, but the locales aren't as interesting because they are barely recognizable as real places at all. In addition, Project Gotham is Just a souped up Metropolis Street Racer from the Dreamcast. So if I can get a Dreamcast for $50 and these two games for $10 apiece, why do I need an X-Box again?
Re:``Loyal XBox fans''
on
$1200 Cheap!
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· Score: 1
This magic pixie dust you speak of is called "money." They give this "money" to their employees and cohorts in exchange for their coming to/. and extolling the supposed virtues of the X-Box. Pretty simple.
Unfortunately, if you look at the struggle Apple had with Microsoft in the 80s, you will find that merit does not always win the battle. Apple has been stung by this before and are not likely to loosen their grip anytime soon.
By this logic, Apple computer would never have come into existence. I know not all of you may consider this to be the gratest tragedy on the face of the Earth, but I think that this approach can safely be classified as A Bad Thing.
I think that using Napster has only intensified my desire to find independent musicians, and here's why: I have already heard everything by famous people that I want to. Either a musician's work is all crap to me (n'sync), their sound only new once and then it becomes repetitive (umm...Men at Work), or I find their music exhilarating and have to have it all even if it is all somewhat similar (Sleater-Kinney). I think that this reaction can best be explained by a comparison to what the net has done for me regarding pornography. The Net has basically made available to me a lot of pornography. I have very quickly tired of the most famous porn stars, few of which I even find attractive in the first place. They are too overexposed already and there are only so many photos available before you have them all. So then I start looking for more obscure porn stars. Of course they don't have the huge camera budgets of the big names, but if you can deal with some low-fi photos there is a lot more out there. None of which would be found by typing "Jenna Jameson" in a search engine, but good nonetheless. It is not quite like i become a fan of indie porn stars and buy their t-shirts and go to see their live shows, but maybe I will go rent their movies once in a while. But I have found and bought a lot more CDs this way than I have rented movies. So artists ( and porn stars) I like make money from me, and the ones I don't like don't, even if I got to listen to their CD or look at their pictures without paying.
I think that people will be pleasantly surprised when they see the final product. DP3, and even DP4, are not really finished products at all. The user interface elements that have generated so much discussion are relatively easy things to change the behavior of, from Apple's perspective, compared to the underlying code, APIs, etc. The flashy GUI stuff that we have all seen has been released precisely for this reason: to generate a lot of discussion. The look of the close buttons, for instance, could be changed 30 minutes before GM. By getting these wacky ideas in front of the public so far in advance, they have a great opportunity to guage the public's feeling on a lot of random interface ideas they have had, a lesson the may have learned with the Quicktime 4 interface. I am sure that if they had shown the interface to the public before release, the response would have compelled them to change it and we would all be slightly happier today, or at least have one less thing to bitch about.
All in all, even if none of these interface elements make it into the final product, they have served their purpose; they have generated interest and attention for Apple, allowed user feedback and innovation to be incorporated into the final product from the outset (not tacked on afterwards, like SuperClock for instance), and most importantly, highlighted for the public that Apple is actually committed to this product, development is taking place, and sometime in the future it will be released, something that Apple customers have really lost faith in over the last few years.
My advice here is to just use delaying tactics and keep them in court until Microsoft is not a company anymore, or until they are devalued to the point where Andover can buy them. (Ooh the irony.)
I would like to take this opportunity to point out your incredible vanity! The idea that you could understand even a small part of God's plan is preposterous! What makes you think that He doesn't plan for people to start cloning themselves? Evil is just a matter of degrees; we are all sinners. My sin is between me and my God, and I will thank you to concentrate on your own salvation and no one elses.
The problem here is that we also have more than enough McDonald's employees, and receptionists, and everything else. These people need careers too. If the only thing I could do werll was sing stupid songs, I would definitely try to find a way to get paid for it. Wouldn't you? All of the software I write for the company I work for makes them a lot more money than I get paid to write it. Does that make me a Software Whore?
Well, the problem here, and one of the founding principles of my country, the USA, is that sometimes it is morally imperative to take illegal actions, as was the case with the Revolutionary War. But an even more sticky situation would one similar to those of the McCarthy Era, where people were persecuted for things that were not even illegal. If a new Internet tax was implemented, for instance, and I was opposed to it, and my only recourse was to post physical fliers denouncing the tax due to my unwillingness to pay the tax, If the copies were traceable I would soon find myself under investigation for tax evasion.
I have to second the above nomination of Apollo 13 as one of the greatest hacks of all time. The ingenuity involved in keeping those people alive and getting them back to earth with the spare parts they had is intense. Many people can take soemthing apart and make something else out of it, but how many can do this while leaeving its original function intact and the people inside it alive, from sevreal hundred thousand miles away?
I had no idea that this book was so rare. I went to the library one day and was wandering around and purely by chance came upon this book, and of course checked it out having read his other books. If I had only known I would have stolen it for sure, because this was a while ago and I would not have thought of all the others who would no longer have the opportunity, just that I could make a bunch of money from it.
Slashdot Mirror
That's not true. First of all, anime is not cool. Second, kids here dream of being all sorts of stupid things. Just like in America, they have all sorts of dreams when they are kids. The difference is maybe that they realize earlier that they are just going to end up being boring office workers like everyone else. While Americans, for example, persist on chasing fantasy careers for longer into their lives. But, this country is not nearly as homogenous as it is made out to be.
Yes, it is so dead. Did anyone mirror the images?
Yeah, don't be a moron. Most Japanese people do speak English. It is required to even get into high school. The government of Japan pays thousands of people to come over here and teach English to them. Making something easier to learn can reduce its depth and power considerably. Kanji is a much more effective writing system than the Roman letter system is, but it is more difficult to learn, of course. For example, C wouldn't be a more powerful language than basic if you had to make it as easy to learn as bsic.
It's true; the first of three semesters which together constitute the Japanese school year starts in the beginning of April, after a few weeks of vacation.
Yeah, good luck. The phones here rock. DoCoMo's FOMA 3G services aren't really going anywhere, but everyone has a phone with a camera in it these days. They give them away for free. My phone does friggin karaoke. These things do so many stupid things that there is no way to even use them all, but comparing them to US phones is just silly. The thing here is, people don't talk on the phone so much. Phones are much more commonly used for data services, especially short email. The American mindset is completely different in this regard, as all the providers can offer to differentiate themselves from each other is "More Anytime Minutes" Woo, big deal.
Yeah it happened the other night on the Ustunomiya line, maybe 20k north of Tokyo, and it took me 2 hours to get from Omiya to Higashi-washinomiya (Not more than a few miles). That is two hours of standing packed like sardines by professional subway-packers, wondering what the hell is going on because you can't understand enough Japanese to figure out what the announcement over the intercom meant. It was right at about 17:30. Very interesting experience. And it is a very popular way to off yourself in Japan; many more than a dozen people a year do it.
You know what Stewart? I like you. You're not like the other people, here in the trailer park.
I totally disagree with you. Jet Grind Radio on the Dreamcast is a much better game than Jet Set Radio Future is on the X-Box. JSRF is just so much easier that the only fun is exploring all the outlandish new locales, but the locales aren't as interesting because they are barely recognizable as real places at all. In addition, Project Gotham is Just a souped up Metropolis Street Racer from the Dreamcast. So if I can get a Dreamcast for $50 and these two games for $10 apiece, why do I need an X-Box again?
This magic pixie dust you speak of is called "money." They give this "money" to their employees and cohorts in exchange for their coming to /. and extolling the supposed virtues of the X-Box. Pretty simple.
Unfortunately, if you look at the struggle Apple had with Microsoft in the 80s, you will find that merit does not always win the battle. Apple has been stung by this before and are not likely to loosen their grip anytime soon.
By this logic, Apple computer would never have come into existence. I know not all of you may consider this to be the gratest tragedy on the face of the Earth, but I think that this approach can safely be classified as A Bad Thing.
Go to hell...
I think that using Napster has only intensified my desire to find independent musicians, and here's why: I have already heard everything by famous people that I want to. Either a musician's work is all crap to me (n'sync), their sound only new once and then it becomes repetitive (umm...Men at Work), or I find their music exhilarating and have to have it all even if it is all somewhat similar (Sleater-Kinney). I think that this reaction can best be explained by a comparison to what the net has done for me regarding pornography. The Net has basically made available to me a lot of pornography. I have very quickly tired of the most famous porn stars, few of which I even find attractive in the first place. They are too overexposed already and there are only so many photos available before you have them all. So then I start looking for more obscure porn stars. Of course they don't have the huge camera budgets of the big names, but if you can deal with some low-fi photos there is a lot more out there. None of which would be found by typing "Jenna Jameson" in a search engine, but good nonetheless. It is not quite like i become a fan of indie porn stars and buy their t-shirts and go to see their live shows, but maybe I will go rent their movies once in a while. But I have found and bought a lot more CDs this way than I have rented movies. So artists ( and porn stars) I like make money from me, and the ones I don't like don't, even if I got to listen to their CD or look at their pictures without paying.
I think that people will be pleasantly surprised when they see the final product. DP3, and even DP4, are not really finished products at all. The user interface elements that have generated so much discussion are relatively easy things to change the behavior of, from Apple's perspective, compared to the underlying code, APIs, etc. The flashy GUI stuff that we have all seen has been released precisely for this reason: to generate a lot of discussion. The look of the close buttons, for instance, could be changed 30 minutes before GM. By getting these wacky ideas in front of the public so far in advance, they have a great opportunity to guage the public's feeling on a lot of random interface ideas they have had, a lesson the may have learned with the Quicktime 4 interface. I am sure that if they had shown the interface to the public before release, the response would have compelled them to change it and we would all be slightly happier today, or at least have one less thing to bitch about.
e ymon.html
All in all, even if none of these interface elements make it into the final product, they have served their purpose; they have generated interest and attention for Apple, allowed user feedback and innovation to be incorporated into the final product from the outset (not tacked on afterwards, like SuperClock for instance), and most importantly, highlighted for the public that Apple is actually committed to this product, development is taking place, and sometime in the future it will be released, something that Apple customers have really lost faith in over the last few years.
Donkeymon: http://home.earthlink.net/~seymourlavey/hate/donk
My advice here is to just use delaying tactics and keep them in court until Microsoft is not a company anymore, or until they are devalued to the point where Andover can buy them. (Ooh the irony.)
I would like to take this opportunity to point out your incredible vanity! The idea that you could understand even a small part of God's plan is preposterous! What makes you think that He doesn't plan for people to start cloning themselves? Evil is just a matter of degrees; we are all sinners. My sin is between me and my God, and I will thank you to concentrate on your own salvation and no one elses.
The problem here is that we also have more than enough McDonald's employees, and receptionists, and everything else. These people need careers too. If the only thing I could do werll was sing stupid songs, I would definitely try to find a way to get paid for it. Wouldn't you? All of the software I write for the company I work for makes them a lot more money than I get paid to write it. Does that make me a Software Whore?
My question is, what is going to happen to the RoadRunner ISP now that they have AOL?
Well, the problem here, and one of the founding principles of my country, the USA, is that sometimes it is morally imperative to take illegal actions, as was the case with the Revolutionary War. But an even more sticky situation would one similar to those of the McCarthy Era, where people were persecuted for things that were not even illegal. If a new Internet tax was implemented, for instance, and I was opposed to it, and my only recourse was to post physical fliers denouncing the tax due to my unwillingness to pay the tax, If the copies were traceable I would soon find myself under investigation for tax evasion.
I have to second the above nomination of Apollo 13 as one of the greatest hacks of all time. The ingenuity involved in keeping those people alive and getting them back to earth with the spare parts they had is intense. Many people can take soemthing apart and make something else out of it, but how many can do this while leaeving its original function intact and the people inside it alive, from sevreal hundred thousand miles away?
I had no idea that this book was so rare. I went to the library one day and was wandering around and purely by chance came upon this book, and of course checked it out having read his other books. If I had only known I would have stolen it for sure, because this was a while ago and I would not have thought of all the others who would no longer have the opportunity, just that I could make a bunch of money from it.
Okay this is not that exciting, but I am excited anyway. Don't ask why.