I read Ubik in 1970 when reality dissolving in front of your eyes was standard weekend fare, thanks to Bear and others.
What I would consider to be a great movie made from this would wind up as a cult film. In order to be really popular movie, it would needs be a crappy adaptation of the book.
>Most countries (including the USA) have rules on the exportation of military technology. They don't want John Doe to export 100,000 artillery shells to a war zone (or an enemy) without approval.
Approval requires that the right people get a cut of the profits.
Curious, but he didn't mention "Bob" either. I would have thought meeting, romancing, and marrying Melinda would rate a mention as well. Might make for a rough night in the Gates household over that.
>This was an inappropriate thing for him to be doing, and he knew he was breaking the rules.
It was not only inappropriate, but also illegal. He wasn't just breaking the rules, he was breaking the law. There are different standards for public employees. It is one thing to read/. or blog about tech or Futurama or why Hello Kitty should be shot. You can't do politics. Period. Well, unless you're Karl Rove and can disappear the evidence.
>It's not that people won't pay for music, most people would happily pay for high quality DRM free music, but they don't want to offer that.
I'll add that I will happily pay for music that is not only DRM free, but also will play in all my devices, not try to root my computer, not phone home, etc. Just put good music on Red Book Standard CDs, and it will sell.
I always thought that one of the advantages of the Italian system was that the government could never get it together to actually do anything.:-) The Veltrusconi, if they work together, have enough seats to actually pass legislation. Scary, that.
Computing used to be about iron core memory and lots of blinky lights. The ferrite core memory is all gone, but blinky lights are still cool. The more the better, but they really shouldn't be all blue.:-)
HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. It regulates Health Insurance. It contains a Privacy Standard that regulates how Protected Health Information (PHI) may be used. A little piece of it says that your SSI# can't be used as your ID number in health insurance. There are still lots of legitimate uses for that number both in and out of health insurance.
Nothing in HIPAA has anything to do with the court system. I want court records to be public documents. I want unredacted court records to be public documents. We don't need secret courts and we don't need secret police, whatever George Bush might think.
>This is why I like the Daily Show versus regular news. Regular news broadcasts a quote from a politician: "I've always been against foo!"
Network news used to be like that. In 1972 Hubert Humphrey and George McGovern were vying for the Democratic nomination. The California Democratic primary rules stated it was winner take all delegate votes. After he lost, Hube the Cube filed suit to force the delegates to be awarded proportionally. Walter Cronkite reported the story and then showed a clip of him interviewing The Hump on the subject prior to the election. Humphrey was asked about the winner take all thing and specifically if he would sue if he lost. His answer was that the current rules were wonderful, and he would never do that. "That would make me something of a spoilsport," he said, or something close to that. There was a lot of that in CBS's coverage of the Watergate scandal as well. I really miss Uncle Walter.
As with most things, you learn far more when something goes wrong, than when it all goes right. By these standards the February 1997 fire aboard Mir and Apollo 13 have taught us more about how to survive space than any other missions.
Once I almost got started on a MMORPG project with a few friends. The ostensible leader of the project offered me:
1) no creative control whatsoever (imagine being micromanaged by the very duck that's trying to nibble you to death), and
2) no money. At least until the project started making money. Or as the saying goes, "I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a MMO today."
When I seemed less than grateful at the terms, I was out of there so fast I left a contrail. Haven't talked to those friends in a very long time either.
Hmmm... Is that because they're living in a fish box behind the Vista del Mar Saloon or because now they only talk to people with a seven figure income or better?
Actually, that's a load of crap. Pure, pure crap.
Assume an environment where changes are small and strength affords a huge advantage. In such a circumstance, the minor changes are just noise and the physically stronger species get their genes into next generations better, in direct contradiction of the "most adaptable" principle.
Actually it's not crap, although it is not really something Darwin ever said. Your example above is true only for the geologically short period of time where the environment remains stable. Change always comes, sooner or later. When the environment changes, your example species must either change with it or become extinct. Some species retain a great deal of genetic variability, while others do not.
I live in a townhouse community, and I can pick up seven wireless networks besides mine. Of those, two are secured. When my Comcast is out, it's nice to have some backup access through one of my neighbors' DSL or satellite service. I don't abuse it, but I do connect for a quick POP mail check or such. I wouldn't dream of doing anything financial over such a link.
I agree both with the choice of a colon for the first semicolon and with the rest of the comment. He's using semicolons to set of groups of commas. e.g. I'm thinking of three groups of colors: red, white, and blue; red, gold, and black; and red, white, and green. Everybody but Faulkner and Hawwthorne would call it a run-on sentence though.
"Not only am I unintimidated by litigation; I sometimes rather miss it."
I hate to be that guy, but the fellow who wrote that letter doesn't understand how to use a semi-colon.
"Use a semicolon between the clauses of a compound sentence when the conjunction is omitted or when the connection is not close." (Taintor and Monro, 1988, The Secretary's Handbook) The writer has used a sentence of the "not only, but rather" from and used a semicolon in place of the missing conjunction "but".
Good point. I forgot to mention the speed issue. I think it varies a bit over/under 50 depending a bit on the drag coefficient of the particular body. I drive a 1997 BMW Z3. I have a 4 hour drive I take once or twice a month at speeds considerably over 50. With the AC off, I get 30 mpg with the hardtop, 29 with the ragtop up, and 27 with the ragtop down. AC doesn't seem to make a noticeable difference in any of those. The mileage is good, but it does want 91 octane, which is getting a bit pricey.
I don't understand why modern cars get such lousy mileage.
Air conditioning, for one thing.
Modern cars get better mileage with the windows rolled up and the AC on than with the with the AC off and the windows rolled down. Of course the best mileage is with the AC off and the windows up, but the passengers might be done to medium-well at the end of the trip.
>They vaccinate you for measles when you're two (MMR). How many three year olds do you see giving birth? Wouldn't it make more sense to vaccinate girls and only gorls, and only at puberty?
Well, the kill thing seems to not be gender specific, and the same goes for the blind thing. The measles vaccine does not give lifetime immunity. You need periodic boosters.
>Then don't let anyone in the country unless they've been vaccinated.
I'll have INS add that to the Border Patrol checklist immediately.
>The vaccines scare us because the diseases don't. And they don't because of the vaccines.
Right you are! I am old enough to remember the polio epidemics in the summer and being scared shitless of winding up in an iron lung. Swimming pools and libraries got closed and people were afraid to go to the ballgame. These Luddites should go live in Afghanistan or The Sudan with their like-minded brethren.
Slashdot Mirror
>The hero will get a rez and be back to fight the boss monster next week.
So it's like the old Flash Gordon serials, then? Or, given the state of the SCi-Fi Channel these days, Flesh Gordon.
I read Ubik in 1970 when reality dissolving in front of your eyes was standard weekend fare, thanks to Bear and others. What I would consider to be a great movie made from this would wind up as a cult film. In order to be really popular movie, it would needs be a crappy adaptation of the book.
>Most countries (including the USA) have rules on the exportation of military technology. They don't want John Doe to export 100,000 artillery shells to a war zone (or an enemy) without approval.
Approval requires that the right people get a cut of the profits.
>but didn't mention Vista
Curious, but he didn't mention "Bob" either. I would have thought meeting, romancing, and marrying Melinda would rate a mention as well. Might make for a rough night in the Gates household over that.
>This was an inappropriate thing for him to be doing, and he knew he was breaking the rules.
It was not only inappropriate, but also illegal. He wasn't just breaking the rules, he was breaking the law. There are different standards for public employees. It is one thing to read /. or blog about tech or Futurama or why Hello Kitty should be shot. You can't do politics. Period. Well, unless you're Karl Rove and can disappear the evidence.
>It's not that people won't pay for music, most people would happily pay for high quality DRM free music, but they don't want to offer that.
I'll add that I will happily pay for music that is not only DRM free, but also will play in all my devices, not try to root my computer, not phone home, etc. Just put good music on Red Book Standard CDs, and it will sell.
I always thought that one of the advantages of the Italian system was that the government could never get it together to actually do anything. :-) The Veltrusconi, if they work together, have enough seats to actually pass legislation. Scary, that.
>Homosexuality: not even mentioned in the Gospels, and the Old Testament has more to say about the evil of pork.
Thou shalt not pork thy neighbor or thy neighbor's wife? (Sorry, not enough espresso yet.)
>I wonder if the crowd already has its own Flickr group set up -- if not, what are they waiting for on that front?
Well, there's this one
Computing used to be about iron core memory and lots of blinky lights. The ferrite core memory is all gone, but blinky lights are still cool. The more the better, but they really shouldn't be all blue. :-)
HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. It regulates Health Insurance. It contains a Privacy Standard that regulates how Protected Health Information (PHI) may be used. A little piece of it says that your SSI# can't be used as your ID number in health insurance. There are still lots of legitimate uses for that number both in and out of health insurance.
Nothing in HIPAA has anything to do with the court system. I want court records to be public documents. I want unredacted court records to be public documents. We don't need secret courts and we don't need secret police, whatever George Bush might think.
>This is why I like the Daily Show versus regular news. Regular news broadcasts a quote from a politician: "I've always been against foo!"
Network news used to be like that. In 1972 Hubert Humphrey and George McGovern were vying for the Democratic nomination. The California Democratic primary rules stated it was winner take all delegate votes. After he lost, Hube the Cube filed suit to force the delegates to be awarded proportionally. Walter Cronkite reported the story and then showed a clip of him interviewing The Hump on the subject prior to the election. Humphrey was asked about the winner take all thing and specifically if he would sue if he lost. His answer was that the current rules were wonderful, and he would never do that. "That would make me something of a spoilsport," he said, or something close to that. There was a lot of that in CBS's coverage of the Watergate scandal as well. I really miss Uncle Walter.
>So either Darl is the world's biggest idiot of a CEO, or he perjured himself, or SCO lied in their SEC filing.
I assume you are not using this as the logical OR. Clearly, any two, or more likely, all three could be true.
As with most things, you learn far more when something goes wrong, than when it all goes right. By these standards the February 1997 fire aboard Mir and Apollo 13 have taught us more about how to survive space than any other missions.
Judging from his poll numbers, it is safe to say that GWB has. The truthiness of this is beyond doubtability.
Once I almost got started on a MMORPG project with a few friends. The ostensible leader of the project offered me:
When I seemed less than grateful at the terms, I was out of there so fast I left a contrail. Haven't talked to those friends in a very long time either.
Hmmm... Is that because they're living in a fish box behind the Vista del Mar Saloon or because now they only talk to people with a seven figure income or better?Actually it's not crap, although it is not really something Darwin ever said. Your example above is true only for the geologically short period of time where the environment remains stable. Change always comes, sooner or later. When the environment changes, your example species must either change with it or become extinct. Some species retain a great deal of genetic variability, while others do not.
I live in a townhouse community, and I can pick up seven wireless networks besides mine. Of those, two are secured. When my Comcast is out, it's nice to have some backup access through one of my neighbors' DSL or satellite service. I don't abuse it, but I do connect for a quick POP mail check or such. I wouldn't dream of doing anything financial over such a link.
I agree both with the choice of a colon for the first semicolon and with the rest of the comment. He's using semicolons to set of groups of commas. e.g. I'm thinking of three groups of colors: red, white, and blue; red, gold, and black; and red, white, and green. Everybody but Faulkner and Hawwthorne would call it a run-on sentence though.
I hate to be that guy, but the fellow who wrote that letter doesn't understand how to use a semi-colon.
"Use a semicolon between the clauses of a compound sentence when the conjunction is omitted or when the connection is not close." (Taintor and Monro, 1988, The Secretary's Handbook) The writer has used a sentence of the "not only, but rather" from and used a semicolon in place of the missing conjunction "but".
>Only over 50 MPH.
Good point. I forgot to mention the speed issue. I think it varies a bit over/under 50 depending a bit on the drag coefficient of the particular body. I drive a 1997 BMW Z3. I have a 4 hour drive I take once or twice a month at speeds considerably over 50. With the AC off, I get 30 mpg with the hardtop, 29 with the ragtop up, and 27 with the ragtop down. AC doesn't seem to make a noticeable difference in any of those. The mileage is good, but it does want 91 octane, which is getting a bit pricey.
Modern cars get better mileage with the windows rolled up and the AC on than with the with the AC off and the windows rolled down. Of course the best mileage is with the AC off and the windows up, but the passengers might be done to medium-well at the end of the trip.
>They vaccinate you for measles when you're two (MMR). How many three year olds do you see giving birth? Wouldn't it make more sense to vaccinate girls and only gorls, and only at puberty?
Well, the kill thing seems to not be gender specific, and the same goes for the blind thing. The measles vaccine does not give lifetime immunity. You need periodic boosters.
>Then don't let anyone in the country unless they've been vaccinated.
I'll have INS add that to the Border Patrol checklist immediately.
>The vaccines scare us because the diseases don't. And they don't because of the vaccines.
Right you are! I am old enough to remember the polio epidemics in the summer and being scared shitless of winding up in an iron lung. Swimming pools and libraries got closed and people were afraid to go to the ballgame. These Luddites should go live in Afghanistan or The Sudan with their like-minded brethren.
>your not likely to when you get into your 60's and 70's. Enjoy your shingles.
Shingles comes from Varicella, chicken pox.