It baffles me that no one has adapted David Drake's "Redliners" to the big screen. I would have thought it would be a movie long before "The Forever War".
They are both excellent books written by Vietnam vets about the alienation that soldiers feel from the society that sent them off to fight. "The Forever War" is the better book, but it gets that status from book virtues: deep thought, character development, and the reader's imagination about what society looks like each time the main character returns from a mission.
"Redliners", while a more simple story, paints things with a broader brush that I figure makes a better movie. Try reading the first chapter, it's in the Baen free library.
History differs from the statement expressed in your last paragraph. "Healthy tension" and "Equilibrium" is what led to all the European wars of the 1700s, 1800s, and finally WWI. WWI, of course, led directly to WWII.
A plurality of nations of equal military strengh would lead to WWIII in short order, unless you think something basic about people has changed in the last 60 years.
Right! Because everyone who disagrees with you is Un-American!
That is what you are saying, yes?
Do you think you are God, because you hear yourself when you pray?
It is possible for someone to disagree with you and still believe in freedom and democracy. I mean holy crap, you didn't even understand the blogger bill you are criticizing! If you feel that as Americans we should be more informed you are in luck. You have the advantage of starting very close to home.
It may work out really well. Widespread CCTV may be the answer to the random crimes that have plagued the urban dweller for as long as there have been urban dwellers.
Just the same, I'm glad the theory is being tested in a country other than my own.
We've had limits on "caveat emptor" for quite a while now.
Or is it all right for a food package to put "peanut free" on food that does contain peanuts? I'm not talking about a bag of peanuts either... Candy that nominally does not contain peanuts often is "contaminated" by nearby candy producing lines.
The basic principle in America is that an advertiser is not allowed to outright lie to you. We can all certainly debate whether that's what Rockstar did here (I, personally, do not feel that anyone was willfully deceived), but we threw out the idea of unlimited buyer bewareing a long time ago.
It goes like this: Many people in the country feel that exposure to sex harms their children. (I know, I know, but it's their belief and I don't tell people what to believe.) Thus, Rockstar did the equivalent of putting "peanut free" on a jar of peanuts and feeding it to someone who is allergic.
Since I've already posted and, thus, cannot moderate...
This is actually a pretty good "Ask Slashdot." When I made the jump to Insteon, the only information out there was on the Insteon and Smarthome websites. Since both of these places were trying to sell me something, it made sense to take what they said with a grain of salt.
Having made the purchase, however, I can honestly say that Insteon is what we have always wanted from X10: Reliable, fast, reliable, inexpensive compared to other protocols, and reliable.
You can call this whatever kind of turf you want if it makes you feel better. I am glad to add to the amount of knowledge on the Internet for anyone investigating the wonderful world of home automation.
Promixis Announces the immediate availability of Insteon Support for Girder 4.0
Minneapolis, MN - February 22th, 2006: Promixis LLC today released the first public beta of the Insteon plugin for Girder. The plugin allows full control over your SmartLabs' INSTEON devices through the powerfull Girder automation software. Some features
* Device control
* Device change events
* Group change events
* Device enumeration and detection
* Automatic level polling
* Device manager for naming and configuration
* Full integration into the Girder UI
* PLC link management (not completely implemented)
* Coming features include sophisticated group and link management.
Insteon is awesome. It takes away all the headaches I have had with X10 devices.
Now, if the question is really, "How does Insteon compare to other, more expensive, home automation devices?" then I don't know. My experience is only with X10 and Insteon, and compared to X10 Insteon is the bee's knee's.
There is not a very large selection of types of Insteon devices right now, but that should change in 2006. For us Mac folks, the current version of Indigo has pretty good Insteon support.
Are you seriously suggesting that a system where you can hit someone in the head with a brick and get away with it is better than one where you would have to answer for your action?
Getting sued would be the least unpleasant outcome of hitting an American with a brick.
Global warming is the issue that makes me wonder just why I want to be President when I'm older.
Imagine yourself to be a policy maker in Washington. You know there is ample evidence to support the idea that a warmer Earth will cause major globe altering changes. A likely scenario is that the Earth will get gradually warmer until either massive stores of methane beneath melting permafrost or massive stores of methane clathrate on the continental shelves will let go. This would result in a large spike of global temperatures, which causes more methane to let go which causes higher temperatures. Evidence from ice cores indicates that these methane-temperature spikes are brief when viewed on the geologic time scale, but from a human point of view a thousand years of bad crop yields and superhurricanes would certainly change things. Such a temperature spike could occur within a year if the tipping point for methane release was reached, and there is some evidence that it is already too late to prevent the required global average temperature rise.
So what do you, the policy maker, do about it? If it is too late to prevent it from happening, all you can do is seek to ease the effects. Easing the effects means altering the world climate so your crops get grown, because a nation that does not feed its people is a nation on its way out. We've already taken our first steps towards (intentionally) affecting such things as atmospheric carbon dioxide, deep ocean currents, and desert formation. One day a "weather influencing machine" will be science, not science fiction.
If we know anything about the global climate, it is that you cannot make one area greener without making another area dryer. Would the US make the US better for crops if it causes famine in Europe? Would Europe make Europe better for crops if it causes famine in South America? Would China make China better for crops if it causes famine in Africa?
Heavy lays the head that wears the crown. In terms of potential abuse to cause loss of life, the technology that results from the quest to lower global temperatures will make nuclear weapons seem like chump change.
Just something to think about for future world decision makers.
When a law enforcement officer stops you anywhere, and you are not free to walk away, you are technically under arrest. If you don't believe it, try walking or driving away next time a law enforcement officer asks you to stop. You'll then be charged with any of a variety of charges, which will land you in jail for months to years.
At least in my state of Texas, a traffic stop where you are issued a citation is an arrest. The cop has (in theory) caught you doing something bad and arrested you for it. You can insist, if you want, that the officer take you down to the station, where they will read you your rights, book you, the whole shebang. You can then invoke your right to attorney, etc. Due to the frequency and low real danger of most traffic tickets, the process is streamlined so that you do not have to go with the officer to the police station.
But the option is there if you choose to use it.
I sympathize with your story, but it seems like the argument you are making is that you have the right to never have the outside world intrude on your life. That's not how the human race works.
Consider:
In any society, there will be people with more power than others.
Power WILL be abused by some percentage of those who wield it.
There is NOTHING that can prevent that abuse of power from taking place. If there was, it wouldn't be power.
The thing that makes one society free and another society slave is the recourse you have for when an abuse of power has been visited on you.
Our society is set up pretty well to prevent abuses by the police. If an officer wants to detain you, you can cooperate or leave. If you choose to leave, then can let you go, arrest you, or beat the crap out of you. If they arrest you, you can get an attorney. If they beat the crap out of you, you take the police department to court and get a big fat check from the city.
Does a big fat check make up for getting the crap kicked out of you? I doubt it. But remember: Power WILL be abused by some percentage of those who wield it, no matter what. Our society is free because the people with a gun and a badge are accountable for their actions.
No one wants trouble. But when trouble finds you (like it did outside the club), you find out just what kind of citizen you are. Be afraid if you want, but the only way you really lose is if that fear makes you forget to stand for your rights.
The greatest erosion in our civil rights and liberties doesn't come from fear... it comes from not wanting to be bothered. We'd all rather keep our heads down and go on our way than do the right thing and waste an evening at a police station.
Very true, but consider: I live in Texas and the United States of America, and I've never met anyone who believes in Intelligent Design. I've seen people talk about it on TV, that's about it. Based on what I see on TV and Slashdot, I live in one of the most rabid, idiotic, and poorly informed places around. Why is it not like that in real life?
That leaves (at least) two possibilities: 1. The media is systematically lying to us, or 2. I tend to hang out with people of similar mind.
[Maurice Kottelat] said the record of finding the world's smallest fish was not important, preferring to focus on what he said was "scientifically significant." "What's important is finding a complete vertebrae in a body so small," he said.
So... finding the world's smallest fish is important, then?
Re:Myth TV is the way to go for HTPC
on
The Year of the HTPC
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
What an irritating post.
MythTV (from Knoppmyth) gave me plenty of trouble installing it. I solved all the problems I had (with help from the forums) but the total installation was about a day. Your implication that MythTV installation is simple enough that you have a right to insult those who had trouble with it makes me doubt whether YOU have actually tried MythTV.
I will say this: MythTV is incredible for something you get for free. I hope it continues to develop to the point that I would use it instead of SageTV.
Your post just boils down to the idea that people get the government they deserve.
I don't see how lack of fragmentation prevents any of what you have listed (except perhaps the Swiss thing, but the Swiss have been getting rich off banking for a long time). I also don't see how fragmentation directly causes those things.
If the people in China do not want their internet censored by their government, then they should damn well stand up and say so. Blood may flow... but blood always flows eventually, one way or another.
I hope, sometime in my lifetime, the US and a democratically elected China can be good friends.
A very large percentage of players are playing either Night Elves or Undead. Some other races (Dwarves, Gnomes, Trolls) are not played very much at all.
Are you happy with this situation? If not, what do you think would have evened out the race populations?
While it sounds like a lot of fun for the researchers involved, and anything that stems the spiral of the US into a culture of anti-intellectualism is a good thing in my book.
We were at work all evening to figure out how to remove the insulation fibers from the outside of the suits so they don't contaminate the air system. Those fibers are sticky little bastards.
But we heard this morning that there is not going to be a 4th EVA this trip. Oh well, we're ready for it next time.
Hmmm... because every SAM fired at an aircraft always hits? Because the radar guided AAA in the Gulf or Vietnam brought down a plane with every shot?
There's such a thing as countermeasures, you know. If the Wraith have the technology to decoy your guided missles, which they certainly do, you are better off using weapons that at least go where you point them.
I've built an LCD projector. Despite all the naysayers here, it gave an excellent picture, it looked pretty snazzy, my girlfriend thought it was cool, and it was much quieter than an X1, which is the projector I compared it to.
I used a 17" 1280x768 flat panel monitor, a 250 watt metal halide bulb, a pair of 220mm focal length fresnels and a triplet lens out of a 3M 9200 projector.
All you people bitching about how a DIY projector looks sitting in your living room should be ashamed of yourself. If you cannot design and build a good looking case, that is your fault.
Hmmm, what does a 1280x768 native projector sell for these days? 2 or 3 grand? I built mine for $400, and it took about a month. Most of that time was making the case.
Sadly for my DIY projector hobby, I saw a CRT projector and was completely blown away. I picked up a Sony 1270Q CRT projector with mint tubes for $400, and I'm pleased as punch. The contrast in a CRT (and bear in mind, my CRT is 10+ years old) is better than even the $10000 modern LCDs and DLPs. I know, I have compared them.
So, to summarize for all you whipper-snappers who don't have the skill or patience to build a good DIY LCD projector: It is possible, fun, cheap, and interesting to build your own LCD projector. You can easily beat the resolution and color depth availible in current LCD projectors for a quarter of the cost.
But if you really care about the image, get an old CRT. It's 4' long, 3' wide, 2' tall, has 3 7" lenses, and weighs 150lbs, but damn that image is something else.
(P.S. CRTs don't have native resolutions, but for those who keep score my CRT can resolve about ~650 lines when it is properly setup. So while I lose some lines while watching 720p and 1080i, the image still looks fantastic. A good 8" or 9" CRT will do 1080p without breaking a sweat, but those will still cost you a few grand.)
Slashdot Mirror
It baffles me that no one has adapted David Drake's "Redliners" to the big screen. I would have thought it would be a movie long before "The Forever War".
They are both excellent books written by Vietnam vets about the alienation that soldiers feel from the society that sent them off to fight. "The Forever War" is the better book, but it gets that status from book virtues: deep thought, character development, and the reader's imagination about what society looks like each time the main character returns from a mission.
"Redliners", while a more simple story, paints things with a broader brush that I figure makes a better movie. Try reading the first chapter, it's in the Baen free library.
History differs from the statement expressed in your last paragraph. "Healthy tension" and "Equilibrium" is what led to all the European wars of the 1700s, 1800s, and finally WWI. WWI, of course, led directly to WWII.
A plurality of nations of equal military strengh would lead to WWIII in short order, unless you think something basic about people has changed in the last 60 years.
Brian
About time someone struck a blow for federalism. Good for Maine.
Right! Because everyone who disagrees with you is Un-American!
That is what you are saying, yes?
Do you think you are God, because you hear yourself when you pray?
It is possible for someone to disagree with you and still believe in freedom and democracy. I mean holy crap, you didn't even understand the blogger bill you are criticizing! If you feel that as Americans we should be more informed you are in luck. You have the advantage of starting very close to home.
It may work out really well. Widespread CCTV may be the answer to the random crimes that have plagued the urban dweller for as long as there have been urban dwellers.
Just the same, I'm glad the theory is being tested in a country other than my own.
We've had limits on "caveat emptor" for quite a while now.
Or is it all right for a food package to put "peanut free" on food that does contain peanuts? I'm not talking about a bag of peanuts either... Candy that nominally does not contain peanuts often is "contaminated" by nearby candy producing lines.
The basic principle in America is that an advertiser is not allowed to outright lie to you. We can all certainly debate whether that's what Rockstar did here (I, personally, do not feel that anyone was willfully deceived), but we threw out the idea of unlimited buyer bewareing a long time ago.
It goes like this: Many people in the country feel that exposure to sex harms their children. (I know, I know, but it's their belief and I don't tell people what to believe.) Thus, Rockstar did the equivalent of putting "peanut free" on a jar of peanuts and feeding it to someone who is allergic.
I don't agree, but I do understand.
Hurry, sign the bill! They've got a battering ram at the door and I'm running out of furniture!
Since I've already posted and, thus, cannot moderate...
This is actually a pretty good "Ask Slashdot." When I made the jump to Insteon, the only information out there was on the Insteon and Smarthome websites. Since both of these places were trying to sell me something, it made sense to take what they said with a grain of salt.
Having made the purchase, however, I can honestly say that Insteon is what we have always wanted from X10: Reliable, fast, reliable, inexpensive compared to other protocols, and reliable.
You can call this whatever kind of turf you want if it makes you feel better. I am glad to add to the amount of knowledge on the Internet for anyone investigating the wonderful world of home automation.
Ask and ye shall receive:
Promixis Announces the immediate availability of Insteon Support for Girder 4.0
Minneapolis, MN - February 22th, 2006: Promixis LLC today released the first public beta of the Insteon plugin for Girder. The plugin allows full control over your SmartLabs' INSTEON devices through the powerfull Girder automation software.
Some features
* Device control
* Device change events
* Group change events
* Device enumeration and detection
* Automatic level polling
* Device manager for naming and configuration
* Full integration into the Girder UI
* PLC link management (not completely implemented)
* Coming features include sophisticated group and link management.
Insteon is awesome. It takes away all the headaches I have had with X10 devices.
Now, if the question is really, "How does Insteon compare to other, more expensive, home automation devices?" then I don't know. My experience is only with X10 and Insteon, and compared to X10 Insteon is the bee's knee's.
There is not a very large selection of types of Insteon devices right now, but that should change in 2006. For us Mac folks, the current version of Indigo has pretty good Insteon support.
Are you seriously suggesting that a system where you can hit someone in the head with a brick and get away with it is better than one where you would have to answer for your action?
Getting sued would be the least unpleasant outcome of hitting an American with a brick.
Global warming is the issue that makes me wonder just why I want to be President when I'm older.
Imagine yourself to be a policy maker in Washington. You know there is ample evidence to support the idea that a warmer Earth will cause major globe altering changes. A likely scenario is that the Earth will get gradually warmer until either massive stores of methane beneath melting permafrost or massive stores of methane clathrate on the continental shelves will let go. This would result in a large spike of global temperatures, which causes more methane to let go which causes higher temperatures. Evidence from ice cores indicates that these methane-temperature spikes are brief when viewed on the geologic time scale, but from a human point of view a thousand years of bad crop yields and superhurricanes would certainly change things. Such a temperature spike could occur within a year if the tipping point for methane release was reached, and there is some evidence that it is already too late to prevent the required global average temperature rise.
So what do you, the policy maker, do about it? If it is too late to prevent it from happening, all you can do is seek to ease the effects. Easing the effects means altering the world climate so your crops get grown, because a nation that does not feed its people is a nation on its way out. We've already taken our first steps towards (intentionally) affecting such things as atmospheric carbon dioxide, deep ocean currents, and desert formation. One day a "weather influencing machine" will be science, not science fiction.
If we know anything about the global climate, it is that you cannot make one area greener without making another area dryer. Would the US make the US better for crops if it causes famine in Europe? Would Europe make Europe better for crops if it causes famine in South America? Would China make China better for crops if it causes famine in Africa?
Heavy lays the head that wears the crown. In terms of potential abuse to cause loss of life, the technology that results from the quest to lower global temperatures will make nuclear weapons seem like chump change.
Just something to think about for future world decision makers.
But the option is there if you choose to use it.
I sympathize with your story, but it seems like the argument you are making is that you have the right to never have the outside world intrude on your life. That's not how the human race works.
Consider:
In any society, there will be people with more power than others.
Power WILL be abused by some percentage of those who wield it.
There is NOTHING that can prevent that abuse of power from taking place. If there was, it wouldn't be power.
The thing that makes one society free and another society slave is the recourse you have for when an abuse of power has been visited on you.
Our society is set up pretty well to prevent abuses by the police. If an officer wants to detain you, you can cooperate or leave. If you choose to leave, then can let you go, arrest you, or beat the crap out of you. If they arrest you, you can get an attorney. If they beat the crap out of you, you take the police department to court and get a big fat check from the city.
Does a big fat check make up for getting the crap kicked out of you? I doubt it. But remember: Power WILL be abused by some percentage of those who wield it, no matter what. Our society is free because the people with a gun and a badge are accountable for their actions.
No one wants trouble. But when trouble finds you (like it did outside the club), you find out just what kind of citizen you are. Be afraid if you want, but the only way you really lose is if that fear makes you forget to stand for your rights.
The greatest erosion in our civil rights and liberties doesn't come from fear... it comes from not wanting to be bothered. We'd all rather keep our heads down and go on our way than do the right thing and waste an evening at a police station.
Very true, but consider: I live in Texas and the United States of America, and I've never met anyone who believes in Intelligent Design. I've seen people talk about it on TV, that's about it. Based on what I see on TV and Slashdot, I live in one of the most rabid, idiotic, and poorly informed places around. Why is it not like that in real life?
That leaves (at least) two possibilities:
1. The media is systematically lying to us, or
2. I tend to hang out with people of similar mind.
Both of those options are disturbing.
What an irritating post.
MythTV (from Knoppmyth) gave me plenty of trouble installing it. I solved all the problems I had (with help from the forums) but the total installation was about a day. Your implication that MythTV installation is simple enough that you have a right to insult those who had trouble with it makes me doubt whether YOU have actually tried MythTV.
I will say this: MythTV is incredible for something you get for free. I hope it continues to develop to the point that I would use it instead of SageTV.
Your post just boils down to the idea that people get the government they deserve.
I don't see how lack of fragmentation prevents any of what you have listed (except perhaps the Swiss thing, but the Swiss have been getting rich off banking for a long time). I also don't see how fragmentation directly causes those things.
If the people in China do not want their internet censored by their government, then they should damn well stand up and say so. Blood may flow... but blood always flows eventually, one way or another.
I hope, sometime in my lifetime, the US and a democratically elected China can be good friends.
A very large percentage of players are playing either Night Elves or Undead. Some other races (Dwarves, Gnomes, Trolls) are not played very much at all.
Are you happy with this situation? If not, what do you think would have evened out the race populations?
While... what? My brain just exploded.
We were at work all evening to figure out how to remove the insulation fibers from the outside of the suits so they don't contaminate the air system. Those fibers are sticky little bastards.
But we heard this morning that there is not going to be a 4th EVA this trip. Oh well, we're ready for it next time.
Sucks to be you, man. The rest of us are having a party. Go Discovery! (Even if it does mean I have to work the 4:30am to 1:30pm shift :+P)
Um, are you familar with the civil service?
1. They don't get elected.
2. They can be very technically skilled in their field of study.
3. Only very top level positions in the government are political appointies. The ones who actually do the work are civil service.
You are aware that NASA "deals in hard facts which, when ignored, cause problems" right? You are aware that NASA is a government agency, right?
The CIA/FBI/DOE/etc. are much the same.
Hmmm... because every SAM fired at an aircraft always hits? Because the radar guided AAA in the Gulf or Vietnam brought down a plane with every shot? There's such a thing as countermeasures, you know. If the Wraith have the technology to decoy your guided missles, which they certainly do, you are better off using weapons that at least go where you point them.
I've never heard every engineer at JSC say "Doh!" at the same time before.
I've built an LCD projector. Despite all the naysayers here, it gave an excellent picture, it looked pretty snazzy, my girlfriend thought it was cool, and it was much quieter than an X1, which is the projector I compared it to.
I used a 17" 1280x768 flat panel monitor, a 250 watt metal halide bulb, a pair of 220mm focal length fresnels and a triplet lens out of a 3M 9200 projector.
All you people bitching about how a DIY projector looks sitting in your living room should be ashamed of yourself. If you cannot design and build a good looking case, that is your fault.
Hmmm, what does a 1280x768 native projector sell for these days? 2 or 3 grand? I built mine for $400, and it took about a month. Most of that time was making the case.
Sadly for my DIY projector hobby, I saw a CRT projector and was completely blown away. I picked up a Sony 1270Q CRT projector with mint tubes for $400, and I'm pleased as punch. The contrast in a CRT (and bear in mind, my CRT is 10+ years old) is better than even the $10000 modern LCDs and DLPs. I know, I have compared them.
So, to summarize for all you whipper-snappers who don't have the skill or patience to build a good DIY LCD projector: It is possible, fun, cheap, and interesting to build your own LCD projector. You can easily beat the resolution and color depth availible in current LCD projectors for a quarter of the cost.
But if you really care about the image, get an old CRT. It's 4' long, 3' wide, 2' tall, has 3 7" lenses, and weighs 150lbs, but damn that image is something else.
(P.S. CRTs don't have native resolutions, but for those who keep score my CRT can resolve about ~650 lines when it is properly setup. So while I lose some lines while watching 720p and 1080i, the image still looks fantastic. A good 8" or 9" CRT will do 1080p without breaking a sweat, but those will still cost you a few grand.)