So write an original time travel novel or screenplay that leverages an understanding of string theory. Relativistic time travel has been done, both by observing it and ignoring it. Big whoop. Write one that takes us into a *really* weird spacetime model.
I'M MY OWN GRAMPA - Homer & Jethro 1956 RCA Victor 6765
Many, many years ago when I was 23 I was married to a Wider who was purty as can be This Wider had a grown-up daughter who had hair of red My father fell in love with her and soon they two were wed
This made my dad my son-in-law and changed my very life For my daughter was my mother cause she was my father's wife To complicate the matter even though it brought me joy I soon became the father of a bouncing baby boy
I'm my own grampa, I'm my own grampa It sounds funny I know But it really is so I'm my own grampa
My little baby then became a brother-in-law to dad And so became my uncle though it made me very sad For if he was my uncle then that also made him brother Of the Wider's grown up daughter who of course was my step-mother
My father's wife then had a son who kept them on the run And he became my granchild for he was my daughters son My wife is now my mother's mother and it makes me blue Because although she is my wife she's my grandmother too
I'm my own grampa, I'm my own grampa It sounds funny I know But it really is so I'm my own grampa
Oh if my wife is my grandmother then I'm her grandchild And every time I think of it, it nearly drives me wild For now I have become strangest case you ever saw As husband of my own grandmother I'm my own grampa
I'm my own grampa, I'm my own grampa It sounds funny I know But it really is so I'm my own grampa
At some point, it appears that certain values of the ideas of freedom and democracy and human rights have been diminished. When they were written into the founding principles of certain revolutionary governmnents, they were held to be ideals that trancscend national boundaries and governments.
Now, we seem willing to accept the idea that things like "Constitutional rights" only apply to "citizens", and even then, only when those rights are abridged as a direct act of government.
That belief stems from what appears to be a recent change in attidudes -- that the idea of individual rights is too complicated and difficult to take seriously, that we should only hold these principles high when the negative consequences of doing otherwise become obvious. Never simply because we have these beliefs as the most important and basic elements to our ethos.
If it were so, a company like Microsoft would find itself without employees, investors, or customers, a day after this information came to light. But look! We don't *really* believe that rights like free speech are more important than life and death, do we?
In the amount of time it would take me to print 100 4x6's, the turnaround from ophoto.com is faster. If I was really pressed to do it, and I had nothing else to do but watch the printer, of course the printer is faster, but that's never the case.
Paper and ink costs are slightly higher than the cost of lab prints.
I've tried to explain this to lots of people, and some of them get it, while others never get past the false notion that "you can buy another printer instead of ink".
For those that are sensible about the whole thing, the convenience wins over the price anyway.
I'm really happy with OPhoto, especially for 8x10s. I won't be buying printer ink, and will probably get some monochrome laser printer for documents when my color printer runs out. It's simply a false economy for photo -- presentation graphics are another story.
"I can print the same quality prints that wal-mart does off of an $80 printer from the same wal-mart."
No you can't, and you can't do it as cheaply either.
That Epson or even the Canon 6-ink printer does not give similar quality to the Fuji Frontier system in the lab, and you can't buy that.
You might be *satisfied* with the output and economy of an inkjet printer, but that's beside the point.
The primary arguments in favor of an inkjet printer are, instant results, and privacy.
As for instant results, I've found that I can get back mail order prints for Ophoto faster than I can print a large number of 4x6's at home, because it takes work to do it, I have to watch the printer, and it's a false economy for a large number of prints, which always happens after a trip. For a half dozen or so prints, sure, I like the results I get and it's quick enough.
Privacy, certainly if I was doing something like surveillance, forensics, or studio nudes, I'd go to a certain kind of lab, or, here's the argument for a lab/darkroom in your office or home or studio or whatever.
But it's not cost-effective. It's *close*, but you can't beat 17-25 per print for 4x6, or $3.00 for 8x10s. Consider the price of ink and paper, as well as wear-and-tear on the printer. Also consider that inkjet prints really don't hold up as well as even the cheapest lab prints.
"Wal-Mart processing (or, really, any non-dedicated film lab) is garbage"
Wal-Mart's processing is pretty good, at least the ones that use Fuji Frontier systems. This may be short of the expectations from an individual hand-made optical lab print, but, it's good enough for gallery work, even at A1 size. My favorite print ever, is an A1 size (594x841mm) from just such a printer. I can't tell it's not a wet process print, and I have no criteria that would make it "better."
Me: Yes, and I will be happy to provide such proof if ordered to do so by a court. My attorney's name is D****** *. P****, and his number is ###-###-####.
"When technology gets good enough and cheap enough that an amateur can do as well as a professional, guess what? "
Well, there are a few areas where an experienced photographer, professional or otherwise, will do something very slight, instinctively, that will make an enormous difference in the result.
There's also the fact that in some situations, knowing how to manipulate lighting is as important as any other aspect of photography.
"Wedding photography... WTF? It's my face, don't I own the copyright to my own image?"
You are free to negotiate that, but if you fail to do so, then no. It will be spelled out in the contract. Wedding photographers do deal with situations where the subject is not authorized to sign the standard contract, since their photo rights already belong to someone else, in the case of celebrities like actors, models and athletes.
Hire a photographer that will work according to the terms of the contract YOU write (or your lawyer or your agent), but be prepared to pay a premium for the service.
Nobody is taking away your right to negotiate a work for hire. In fact, it's routinely done, although it is much more common to go for a package deal with a set price and boilerplate contract terms, because most people don't care.
I'd stop worrying so much about Bush, and start considering that the next CiC could be even worse. The next Republican candidate might be running against a field that includes Hilary Clinton and Howard Dean. Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld could smoke them...
My cable provider refuses to carry Sci Fi, except for the way overpriced digital cable product. I'd go as far as to say Sci Fi channel is the *only* interesting thing in the digital cable line, and that's not enough to make me want it.
Now, when they release these things on DVD, that's when I see them.
"The answer is because the Linux market is too expensive to support for the increase in sales that it would generate. "
The real problem is that there aren't a dozen or fifty or more different competing operating systems for the architecture out there. There is one very dominant system, which is so thoroughly dominant that it's pretty safe to regard the suggestion of any alternative as a joke.
If this weren't the case, things would be a lot different. A hardware company could give specs only to, let's say, Microsoft, if they were happy with the, oh, 15% market share that got them.
That's not the state of affairs today. There are a whole lot of OS alternatives, but none with the sort of leverage needed to demand a change in the status quo.
Want to change it yourself? Create a device that is so fundamentally different from anything that's come before, that it becomes the new killer thing that everyone Must Have. Then refuse to license your patent to Microsoft.
The last thing I want to hear from you is how you can't do that because it's too hard...
Are we talking about the same things? Production level means, multitrack recording, effects, audio mixing and editing, mastering, the sort of application space that's dominated by Digi/ProTools, Seinberg/Nuendo, Digital Performer, that sort of thing.
There's nothing on that order for Linux yet either, but at least there is a pretty good starting point in certain projects. At the low level, depending on what hardware you choose, some of the drivers are as good or better than the Windows ASIO, MME, or DX drivers.
I haven't looked very hard for it, but I have not found much of anything in the way of audio production tools at the application or driver level for BSD that aspire to be contenders in the professional arena.
I realize that something like Ardour has a LONG way to go before you'd consider it alongside Nuendo or Sequoia, but that's the goal. Imagine having a product that, given a $7000 software budget, the open source alternative stacks up nicely in the features checklist? It's not really all that far away!
Your question tells me you're thinking inside the wrong box. I don't want to "listen to music", I want to compose, perform, record, mix, and master music using, among other things, computer tools.
I'm a musician. I want a multitrack recorder that's not encumbered by any invasive IP constraints. I'd like for the entire system from the user interface down to the device driver to be open source so that I can use it as a starting place for developing my own systems.
I also want signal processing and synthesis capabilities. On linux, we are getting there. Some of the drivers are far better than just "getting there", and in some cases perform better than the mainstream commercial equivalents. (I'm referring to [some] ALSA drivers and the Jack interface for low-latency work).
There are even some applications that are better than merely 'getting there', such as Ardour. There are not a whole lot of native synths or synth building toolkits yet, but that's something I'm trying to help change myself.
Something like this, but targetted for a platform other than win32, would be a huge step in the right direction: http://www.synthedit.com/
Yes, I know all about VST wrappers. I'd rather see something develop from the ground up in the FOSS community that was so much better than the status quo, as to cause a sea change.
So, to answer your question, "YES", I want production-quality audio systems, open source or otherwise.
I had a job at one of the most stuffy and conservative places possible - the legal department at an oil exploration company headquarters.
After a while, I became so good at my job, that the people who would mention anything like a dress code, knew better.
Be indispensible. Be so good that when you say you're quitting to go on to better things, people actually cry. Petty crap like being precisely on-time, or dress codes, will NOT be a problem.
"Because the motivations behind the cutting edge of the body modification movement is grounded in shock value."
For some, one of the motivations of extreme appearance stuff was for the express purpose of becoming unemployable so as to remain on the dole. That only works in countries where you can do it indefinitely of course.
Some types of BM might get you out of the draft, if it comes up.
Slashdot Mirror
[...accept the fact that there are more measurable dimensions beyond time...]
So are there only 10, or are there 26?
And where does TimeCube guy fit in to all of this?
So write an original time travel novel or screenplay that leverages an understanding of string theory. Relativistic time travel has been done, both by observing it and ignoring it. Big whoop. Write one that takes us into a *really* weird spacetime model.
I'M MY OWN GRAMPA -
Homer & Jethro 1956 RCA Victor 6765
Many, many years ago when I was 23
I was married to a Wider who was purty as can be
This Wider had a grown-up daughter who had hair of red
My father fell in love with her and soon they two were wed
This made my dad my son-in-law and changed my very life
For my daughter was my mother cause she was my father's wife
To complicate the matter even though it brought me joy
I soon became the father of a bouncing baby boy
I'm my own grampa,
I'm my own grampa
It sounds funny I know
But it really is so
I'm my own grampa
My little baby then became a brother-in-law to dad
And so became my uncle though it made me very sad
For if he was my uncle then that also made him brother
Of the Wider's grown up daughter who of course was my step-mother
My father's wife then had a son who kept them on the run
And he became my granchild for he was my daughters son
My wife is now my mother's mother and it makes me blue
Because although she is my wife she's my grandmother too
I'm my own grampa,
I'm my own grampa
It sounds funny I know
But it really is so
I'm my own grampa
Oh if my wife is my grandmother then I'm her grandchild
And every time I think of it, it nearly drives me wild
For now I have become strangest case you ever saw
As husband of my own grandmother I'm my own grampa
I'm my own grampa,
I'm my own grampa
It sounds funny I know
But it really is so
I'm my own grampa
At some point, it appears that certain values of the ideas of freedom and democracy and human rights have been diminished. When they were written into the founding principles of certain revolutionary governmnents, they were held to be ideals that trancscend national boundaries and governments.
Now, we seem willing to accept the idea that things like "Constitutional rights" only apply to "citizens", and even then, only when those rights are abridged as a direct act of government.
That belief stems from what appears to be a recent change in attidudes -- that the idea of individual rights is too complicated and difficult to take seriously, that we should only hold these principles high when the negative consequences of doing otherwise become obvious. Never simply because we have these beliefs as the most important and basic elements to our ethos.
If it were so, a company like Microsoft would find itself without employees, investors, or customers, a day after this information came to light. But look! We don't *really* believe that rights like free speech are more important than life and death, do we?
We're supposed to. That's the point.
...to round up the Jews for the death camps. Why not hang them for not wanting to be shot? Why me? Everybody killed the Jews."
Eichmann, testimony in Jerusalem, after the same buck-passing strategy had failed officers senior to himself already at Nuremburg.
Does this Godwin the thread?
...the words speak YOU!
When words are outlawed, only outlaws will speak.
"I can't imagine ever using a retail service like Walmart."
Walmart stores I've seen, have Fuji Frontiers. That's *not* bad.
> Try that at home at any price
In the amount of time it would take me to print 100 4x6's, the turnaround from ophoto.com is faster.
If I was really pressed to do it, and I had nothing else to do but watch the printer, of course the printer is faster, but that's never the case.
Paper and ink costs are slightly higher than the cost of lab prints.
I've tried to explain this to lots of people, and some of them get it, while others never get past the false notion that "you can buy another printer instead of ink".
For those that are sensible about the whole thing, the convenience wins over the price anyway.
I'm really happy with OPhoto, especially for 8x10s. I won't be buying printer ink, and will probably get some monochrome laser printer for documents when my color printer runs out. It's simply a false economy for photo -- presentation graphics are another story.
"I can print the same quality prints that wal-mart does off of an $80 printer from the same wal-mart."
No you can't, and you can't do it as cheaply either.
That Epson or even the Canon 6-ink printer does not give similar quality to the Fuji Frontier system in the lab, and you can't buy that.
You might be *satisfied* with the output and economy of an inkjet printer, but that's beside the point.
The primary arguments in favor of an inkjet printer are, instant results, and privacy.
As for instant results, I've found that I can get back mail order prints for Ophoto faster than I can print a large number of 4x6's at home, because it takes work to do it, I have to watch the printer, and it's a false economy for a large number of prints, which always happens after a trip. For a half dozen or so prints, sure, I like the results I get and it's quick enough.
Privacy, certainly if I was doing something like surveillance, forensics, or studio nudes, I'd go to a certain kind of lab, or, here's the argument for a lab/darkroom in your office or home or studio or whatever.
But it's not cost-effective. It's *close*, but you can't beat 17-25 per print for 4x6, or $3.00 for 8x10s. Consider the price of ink and paper, as well as wear-and-tear on the printer. Also consider that inkjet prints really don't hold up as well as even the cheapest lab prints.
"Wal-Mart processing (or, really, any non-dedicated film lab) is garbage"
Wal-Mart's processing is pretty good, at least the ones that use Fuji Frontier systems. This may be short of the expectations from an individual hand-made optical lab print, but, it's good enough for gallery work, even at A1 size. My favorite print ever, is an A1 size (594x841mm) from just such a printer. I can't tell it's not a wet process print, and I have no criteria that would make it "better."
>Clerk: Can you prove that you own the copyright.
Me: Yes, and I will be happy to provide such proof if ordered to do so by a court. My attorney's name is D****** *. P****, and his number is ###-###-####.
I would like my merchandise now please.
"When technology gets good enough and cheap enough that an amateur can do as well as a professional, guess what? "
Well, there are a few areas where an experienced photographer, professional or otherwise, will do something very slight, instinctively, that will make an enormous difference in the result.
There's also the fact that in some situations, knowing how to manipulate lighting is as important as any other aspect of photography.
"Wedding photography... WTF? It's my face, don't I own the copyright to my own image?"
You are free to negotiate that, but if you fail to do so, then no. It will be spelled out in the contract. Wedding photographers do deal with situations where the subject is not authorized to sign the standard contract, since their photo rights already belong to someone else, in the case of celebrities like actors, models and athletes.
Hire a photographer that will work according to the terms of the contract YOU write (or your lawyer or your agent), but be prepared to pay a premium for the service.
Nobody is taking away your right to negotiate a work for hire. In fact, it's routinely done, although it is much more common to go for a package deal with a set price and boilerplate contract terms, because most people don't care.
No merchant is "timid" about selling a product that moves and makes them lots of money.
>Can they still trademark the word "Numbers" if it's
> already the title of a song by Kraftwerk?
Can Microsoft trademark the word "Windows" if it's already the name of a building feature?
Can the FSF trademark the word "Gnu" if it's already the name of an African antelope?
I'd stop worrying so much about Bush, and start considering that the next CiC could be even worse.
The next Republican candidate might be running against a field that includes Hilary Clinton and Howard Dean. Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld could smoke them...
Ah, is that the same thing? It's that old?
Does that DVD include the episodes that weren't ever aired? Thanks, I'll check it out.
My cable provider refuses to carry Sci Fi, except for the way overpriced digital cable product. I'd go as far as to say Sci Fi channel is the *only* interesting thing in the digital cable line, and that's not enough to make me want it.
Now, when they release these things on DVD, that's when I see them.
"The answer is because the Linux market is too expensive to support for the increase in sales that it would generate. "
The real problem is that there aren't a dozen or fifty or more different competing operating systems for the architecture out there. There is one very dominant system, which is so thoroughly dominant that it's pretty safe to regard the suggestion of any alternative as a joke.
If this weren't the case, things would be a lot different. A hardware company could give specs only to, let's say, Microsoft, if they were happy with the, oh, 15% market share that got them.
That's not the state of affairs today. There are a whole lot of OS alternatives, but none with the sort of leverage needed to demand a change in the status quo.
Want to change it yourself? Create a device that is so fundamentally different from anything that's come before, that it becomes the new killer thing that everyone Must Have. Then refuse to license your patent to Microsoft.
The last thing I want to hear from you is how you can't do that because it's too hard...
>And how is that one supposed to be pronounced in a
> hip manner?
"We're running Xi" XiOS would sound cool enough I guess. Xinux? CygXi?
> Actually, pretty good.
Are we talking about the same things?
Production level means, multitrack recording, effects, audio mixing and editing, mastering, the sort of application space that's dominated by
Digi/ProTools, Seinberg/Nuendo, Digital Performer,
that sort of thing.
There's nothing on that order for Linux yet either, but at least there is a pretty good starting point in certain projects. At the low level, depending on what hardware you choose, some of the drivers are as good or better than the Windows ASIO, MME, or DX drivers.
I haven't looked very hard for it, but I have not found much of anything in the way of audio production tools at the application or driver level for BSD that aspire to be contenders in the professional arena.
I realize that something like Ardour has a LONG way to go before you'd consider it alongside Nuendo or Sequoia, but that's the goal. Imagine having a product that, given a $7000 software budget, the open source alternative stacks up nicely in the features checklist? It's not really all that far away!
> you want production servers to make sounds????
Your question tells me you're thinking inside the wrong box. I don't want to "listen to music", I want to compose, perform, record, mix, and master music using, among other things, computer tools.
I'm a musician. I want a multitrack recorder that's not encumbered by any invasive IP constraints. I'd like for the entire system from the user interface down to the device driver to be open source so that I can use it as a starting place for developing my own systems.
I also want signal processing and synthesis capabilities. On linux, we are getting there. Some of the drivers are far better than just "getting there", and in some cases perform better than the mainstream commercial equivalents. (I'm referring to [some] ALSA drivers and the Jack interface for low-latency work).
There are even some applications that are better than merely 'getting there', such as Ardour. There are not a whole lot of native synths or synth building toolkits yet, but that's something I'm trying to help change myself.
Something like this, but targetted for a platform other than win32, would be a huge step in the right direction:
http://www.synthedit.com/
Yes, I know all about VST wrappers. I'd rather see something develop from the ground up in the FOSS community that was so much better than the status quo, as to cause a sea change.
So, to answer your question, "YES", I want production-quality audio systems, open source or otherwise.
I had a job at one of the most stuffy and conservative places possible - the legal department at an oil exploration company headquarters.
After a while, I became so good at my job, that the people who would mention anything like a dress code, knew better.
Be indispensible. Be so good that when you say you're quitting to go on to better things, people actually cry. Petty crap like being precisely on-time, or dress codes, will NOT be a problem.
"Because the motivations behind the cutting edge of the body modification movement is grounded in shock value."
For some, one of the motivations of extreme appearance stuff was for the express purpose of becoming unemployable so as to remain on the dole.
That only works in countries where you can do it indefinitely of course.
Some types of BM might get you out of the draft, if it comes up.
"He said that facial hair makes people seem more dark, mysterious, like they're hiding something. "
Like a hare lip, or an ugly scar left over from a carcinoma, for instance?