The modern movie-going experience is horrible. Bad food at a high-price, noisy patrons and then finally when you get situated you are bombarded with obnoxious advertising. Seriously? I'll take a home experience any day of the week than be stuck in some dark TGIFridays-like tacky environment.
I agree 100% with what you are saying. What I'm referencing (and not clearly I'm sad to admit) is specifically the Lese Majeste laws - not everything else. Those laws have accreted around the King to protect the positions of power that surround the throne.
First off I'd like to suggest that anyone with even the smallest passing interest in this read these series of articles here: http://www.zenjournalist.com/download-thaistory-123/ it is without a doubt the best resource ever published in terms of providing context on the situation.
As someone with a personal interest in this (my wife and her family are Thai) I will say that the entire thing is a disgusting mess and has nothing to do with HRH King Bhumibol directly. The Lese Majeste laws are used by Bangkok elites to quell dissent. Pure and simple. If anything it degrades the monarchy more than anything since it turns the kings "face" into a symbol of oppression. This is veering the country into a dangerous direction since it is the monarchy who was perceived (perhaps wrongly) as a moderating force between the Bangkok elites and the more agrarian populace (who are mad to be middle class). The smallest shift from perceiving the monarchy as a force of moderation to one of oppression in the country is something that the country won't long tolerate. Even with national censorship, don't think for a second it will have a lasting effect - facts that range from the socially important (like the Queen's tacit support of yellow-shirt violence) to the sordid (like the prince's sexual escapades) still get talked about amongst friends. Young Thais are connected internationally and they are interested in this material no matter their political leanings. What complicates it further is the fact that the military's ranks are now filled with many red shirt supporters even though the top brass supports the elites using the king as a figurehead.
There is not a lot that outsiders can do. You can boycott thailand as a tourist destination or write letters to the companies who manufacture there letting them know that you are not pleased that they financial support such a regime (which they do).
Seriously, forget the academics. Put 10 teens in a room of various social types with a smart developer who listens and a programmable mobile device. You'll come out with a product.
I'm one of those mac lovers people love to flame. However, I love Premiere Pro and use it over FCP on a Windows box. I'm sorry but I do everything else on a mac but *GASP* the user experience with PP is far superior FCP. FCP is a great alternative to Avid boxes but I was never an Avid user. I can work so much faster in PP and it's a GREAT program. I'm happy that I can go back to my mac to use Premiere Pro!
Re-reading what I wrote it does seem like *major* troll material. I'm sorry, but I've been involved in too many PR and marketing meetings with technology companies to think otherwise. Microsoft is taking all of this very seriously - having a "dialogue" with the constituents of open source to to appear like a team player. If I were to create a media plan as to where one needed to shape opinion Slashdot would be at the top of the list in big bold type since it is a gathering place of thought leaders who don't particularly espouse the MS POV.
I'm somewhat uncomfortable with these interviews since they completely fall in line with PR strategy to shape opinion with the "slashdot crowd". Who initiates these interviews anyway?
The thing we need to be watching is not if Apple ports OSX to work on non-Apple hardware. We need to be watching how well the intel macs run Windows. If Apple does this - they win. Seriously, they win. Why? Every single person I know who has a mac and a windows machine ends up using OS X at every turn except when they have to use a Windows box. I have a PC and a Mac and I only use the mac for games and 3dsmax. If you can run windows dual booting on a powerbook you will see a corporate invasion of macs like nothing you've ever seen. Then, over time, you'll slowly see more and more native support of OS X apps while people look for any excuse to stop booting into windows.
Microsoft makes a PDF-like format, Microsoft takes over municipal water works, Microsoft creates new ice-cream cone. My god, can't Microsoft leave anything alone? This is what is going to kill MS; they are doing too many things and fighting too many wars on too many fronts in an effort to maintain market dominance. You would think large companies would ditch MS wholesale simply because MS may one day use the revenue to compete with them.
I've been using Nero's encoder over DIVX recently for a variety of reasons.
1) It looks better and the files are smaller for comparable settings.
2) The mp4 files I burn with it run *perfectly* on my Mac and on my PC without needing extra software.
3) DIVX itself intentionally *BORKS* standard conforming Mp4. In fact people sometime synonmously use mp4 with DIVX - which bothers me immensely.
This is so sad. The rhetoric is so polarized now that if I want less government interference in my life I'm "anti-bush"? I miss the days when Republicans were conservatives.
Well, for one, it would make the whole confusing use of clock speeds vs platform processor go away. It would also make it easier to emu windows software and port games. However, the new IBM PPC chips seem to kick all sorts of major ass. Why give that up? I'm betting anything this is for iPod chips.
Listen, stories like this are more about selling technology to a frightened industry than it is about a valid technique to save that industry. These people are scared to death about losing money in the way the music industry has and, much like the music industry, will entertain just about every hair-brained customer frustrating technology they encounter. Needless to say the music industry is still around and is still being forced to reinvent itself in a way that benefits the consumer and artist more.
You need to re-read the article. I'm not talking about plain speed - I'm talking about the speed of GUI!!!! There is no way that my laptop is going to render as fast as my AMD. What my 15" powerbook does as fast as my AMD box is redraw screens, move menus, move quicktime and populate large directories as fast as the AMD box. From a GUI point of view it feels faster.
I hope I'm not blasting my NDA saying this, but we've been using seed builds for a while and the one thing that I think many people will be pleasantly surprised with is the sense of responsiveness/speed. I'm using a spanking new G4 laptop and using Tiger on it makes it feel like I have an ever faster machine (which is what I said about 10.3!). Everything is more responsive; screen redraws, directory listings, quicktime videos, etc. It's on-par with my AMD64 box with XP in terms of GUI resposiveness now!
I simply don't understand the zealotry here. If this was a good show (which it is not by almost every barometer of taste) then I could understand it. Why arent they trying to save the franchise rather than the show? Wouldnt it make more sense to say "Hey, give US a better new show" rather than "save the show that no one watched". WIth BSG having the raised the bar so high - I find this all very hard to understand.
[quote]In other words, from the audience's point of view, it matters not a jot whether Douglas Adams wrote any particular part of this movie; it only matters that it should sound like he wrote it.[/quote]
The guy actually says this. No, it only matters if the FILM IS GOOD. I don't care if it sounds like him one whit.
I'm sorry but these types of reviews are simply the worst on account of the person being so terribly close/obsessed to the orginal source material. Why not ask my ex-wife to give my current girlfriend a review of me?
"Paul Rosenzweig, a conservative lawyer and prominent proponent of the Pentagon's controversial Total Information Awareness project,
I'm sorry but if you are for TIA you are not a conservative. Republicans ceased being conservatives the day they co-opted the Christian Right as a tactic to erode the non-wealthy power base of the Democrats. I'd vote for a true conservative if any exist.
I am a partner at a software development company and one thing that is really shifting my company over to the use of Linux is the quality of developers seems to be higher. It seems that Linux and Java are make great in-roads in the educational institutions and that "top geeks" are all using non-Microsoft based operating systems. I'm a best tool for the job kind of person but it seems that the talent pool is driving us away from using Microsoft. So my questions are: Do you think Microsoft is doing enough on campus to train the next generation of developers? What is Microsoft doing to ensure that it does'nt lose a generation of new developers to Linux?
That article was bad. I don't want to be unusally cruel - but 10th graders are above using such a narrative advice. I think the author hamfistedly confused improbablity with insight.
Slashdot Mirror
The modern movie-going experience is horrible. Bad food at a high-price, noisy patrons and then finally when you get situated you are bombarded with obnoxious advertising. Seriously? I'll take a home experience any day of the week than be stuck in some dark TGIFridays-like tacky environment.
I agree 100% with what you are saying. What I'm referencing (and not clearly I'm sad to admit) is specifically the Lese Majeste laws - not everything else. Those laws have accreted around the King to protect the positions of power that surround the throne.
First off I'd like to suggest that anyone with even the smallest passing interest in this read these series of articles here: http://www.zenjournalist.com/download-thaistory-123/ it is without a doubt the best resource ever published in terms of providing context on the situation. As someone with a personal interest in this (my wife and her family are Thai) I will say that the entire thing is a disgusting mess and has nothing to do with HRH King Bhumibol directly. The Lese Majeste laws are used by Bangkok elites to quell dissent. Pure and simple. If anything it degrades the monarchy more than anything since it turns the kings "face" into a symbol of oppression. This is veering the country into a dangerous direction since it is the monarchy who was perceived (perhaps wrongly) as a moderating force between the Bangkok elites and the more agrarian populace (who are mad to be middle class). The smallest shift from perceiving the monarchy as a force of moderation to one of oppression in the country is something that the country won't long tolerate. Even with national censorship, don't think for a second it will have a lasting effect - facts that range from the socially important (like the Queen's tacit support of yellow-shirt violence) to the sordid (like the prince's sexual escapades) still get talked about amongst friends. Young Thais are connected internationally and they are interested in this material no matter their political leanings. What complicates it further is the fact that the military's ranks are now filled with many red shirt supporters even though the top brass supports the elites using the king as a figurehead. There is not a lot that outsiders can do. You can boycott thailand as a tourist destination or write letters to the companies who manufacture there letting them know that you are not pleased that they financial support such a regime (which they do).
Seriously, forget the academics. Put 10 teens in a room of various social types with a smart developer who listens and a programmable mobile device. You'll come out with a product.
I'm one of those mac lovers people love to flame. However, I love Premiere Pro and use it over FCP on a Windows box. I'm sorry but I do everything else on a mac but *GASP* the user experience with PP is far superior FCP. FCP is a great alternative to Avid boxes but I was never an Avid user. I can work so much faster in PP and it's a GREAT program. I'm happy that I can go back to my mac to use Premiere Pro!
This will totally ensure that my children will have people to pump their gas and clean their homes!
Re-reading what I wrote it does seem like *major* troll material. I'm sorry, but I've been involved in too many PR and marketing meetings with technology companies to think otherwise. Microsoft is taking all of this very seriously - having a "dialogue" with the constituents of open source to to appear like a team player. If I were to create a media plan as to where one needed to shape opinion Slashdot would be at the top of the list in big bold type since it is a gathering place of thought leaders who don't particularly espouse the MS POV.
I'm somewhat uncomfortable with these interviews since they completely fall in line with PR strategy to shape opinion with the "slashdot crowd". Who initiates these interviews anyway?
The thing we need to be watching is not if Apple ports OSX to work on non-Apple hardware. We need to be watching how well the intel macs run Windows. If Apple does this - they win. Seriously, they win. Why? Every single person I know who has a mac and a windows machine ends up using OS X at every turn except when they have to use a Windows box. I have a PC and a Mac and I only use the mac for games and 3dsmax. If you can run windows dual booting on a powerbook you will see a corporate invasion of macs like nothing you've ever seen. Then, over time, you'll slowly see more and more native support of OS X apps while people look for any excuse to stop booting into windows.
Microsoft makes a PDF-like format, Microsoft takes over municipal water works, Microsoft creates new ice-cream cone. My god, can't Microsoft leave anything alone? This is what is going to kill MS; they are doing too many things and fighting too many wars on too many fronts in an effort to maintain market dominance. You would think large companies would ditch MS wholesale simply because MS may one day use the revenue to compete with them.
I've been using Nero's encoder over DIVX recently for a variety of reasons. 1) It looks better and the files are smaller for comparable settings. 2) The mp4 files I burn with it run *perfectly* on my Mac and on my PC without needing extra software. 3) DIVX itself intentionally *BORKS* standard conforming Mp4. In fact people sometime synonmously use mp4 with DIVX - which bothers me immensely.
This is so sad. The rhetoric is so polarized now that if I want less government interference in my life I'm "anti-bush"? I miss the days when Republicans were conservatives.
I should know and you should know that clock speeds are not the be-all end-all. However, most people are not that sophisticated.
Well, for one, it would make the whole confusing use of clock speeds vs platform processor go away. It would also make it easier to emu windows software and port games. However, the new IBM PPC chips seem to kick all sorts of major ass. Why give that up? I'm betting anything this is for iPod chips.
Listen, stories like this are more about selling technology to a frightened industry than it is about a valid technique to save that industry. These people are scared to death about losing money in the way the music industry has and, much like the music industry, will entertain just about every hair-brained customer frustrating technology they encounter. Needless to say the music industry is still around and is still being forced to reinvent itself in a way that benefits the consumer and artist more.
You need to re-read the article. I'm not talking about plain speed - I'm talking about the speed of GUI!!!! There is no way that my laptop is going to render as fast as my AMD. What my 15" powerbook does as fast as my AMD box is redraw screens, move menus, move quicktime and populate large directories as fast as the AMD box. From a GUI point of view it feels faster.
I hope I'm not blasting my NDA saying this, but we've been using seed builds for a while and the one thing that I think many people will be pleasantly surprised with is the sense of responsiveness/speed. I'm using a spanking new G4 laptop and using Tiger on it makes it feel like I have an ever faster machine (which is what I said about 10.3!). Everything is more responsive; screen redraws, directory listings, quicktime videos, etc. It's on-par with my AMD64 box with XP in terms of GUI resposiveness now!
I simply don't understand the zealotry here. If this was a good show (which it is not by almost every barometer of taste) then I could understand it. Why arent they trying to save the franchise rather than the show? Wouldnt it make more sense to say "Hey, give US a better new show" rather than "save the show that no one watched". WIth BSG having the raised the bar so high - I find this all very hard to understand.
[quote]In other words, from the audience's point of view, it matters not a jot whether Douglas Adams wrote any particular part of this movie; it only matters that it should sound like he wrote it.[/quote] The guy actually says this. No, it only matters if the FILM IS GOOD. I don't care if it sounds like him one whit.
I'm sorry but these types of reviews are simply the worst on account of the person being so terribly close/obsessed to the orginal source material. Why not ask my ex-wife to give my current girlfriend a review of me?
Now I know what people do between Dragoncons! Note to self: Don't cast girlfriend in movie.
I am a partner at a software development company and one thing that is really shifting my company over to the use of Linux is the quality of developers seems to be higher. It seems that Linux and Java are make great in-roads in the educational institutions and that "top geeks" are all using non-Microsoft based operating systems. I'm a best tool for the job kind of person but it seems that the talent pool is driving us away from using Microsoft. So my questions are: Do you think Microsoft is doing enough on campus to train the next generation of developers? What is Microsoft doing to ensure that it does'nt lose a generation of new developers to Linux?
That article was bad. I don't want to be unusally cruel - but 10th graders are above using such a narrative advice. I think the author hamfistedly confused improbablity with insight.
And water is not wet. If you are going to make sweeping statements provide an example so we point out your errant though processes.