What would you do if you could cut the amount of time you spend every day typing e-mails, making forum posts, typing in reports and otherwise putting fingers to keyboard to communicate your message? For several years there have been companies such as IBM and ScanSoft whose aim has been to allow you to simply talk into a microphone and have that voice translated into text. Considering you can speak at hundreds words a minute, the potential of getting more work done in a shorter period of time is phenomenal. Writing the Great American novel while you sit back in your chair (or even lying flat on a bed) with eyes closed, hands at your side, while playing music into your headphones would suddenly become within the grasp of just about every person...literate or not.
The problem with this theory is a difficult one to conquer. The computer does not understand words and it does not understand the context of which we are speaking. And although computers do a pretty good job of figuring out mathematical formulas, displaying graphics on a screen and playing already existing sounds such as CDs and voice, the idea that it could somehow "make sense" of human words and translated into text format is a huge challenge. Perhaps, that is why I quickly became frustrated and annoyed with such programs in the past. In fact, I couldn't seem to hit the "uninstall" button fast enough.
Scansoft recently released version 8 of their Dragon Naturally Speaking program. With it came claims of "A Breakthrough in Accuracy" that provided better than 25% improvement in accuracy. But what really turned my head was their claim of a "breakthrough in flexibility" in that it was now working with Pocket PCs.
At that claim, I thought it was high time I let go of my vow to never try Voice to text apps again and give Dragon Naturally Speaking another try. Is Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 really the breakthrough that they claim? Can it translate my deep "Isaac Hayes" type of voice into readable text? Or will the product type each one of my sentences to look something like a two-year-old would write? Read on to find out...
Installing Dragon Naturally Speaking:
Installation is about like any other app. You put a CD in the CD-ROM drive and then a brings up the splash screen. You choose installation location, etc. I did have a small problem installing it, though. As seen by the screenshot below:
Image
My problem occurred because I have Visual Studio installed on my computer. So what I had to do was go to ScanSoft's site which they have bug listed. It's a matter of deleting a certain DLL or renaming it so that it was not picked up by the installer anymore. Once that DLL is renamed the install process completed just fine.
The Desktop Client
After install, you will probably start working with the desktop client. For this review I used the professional version however, all three versions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking come with a noise canceling microphone. When you first launch the program, it tests the volume level and shows you how to adjust the microphone for better recognition.
The next step is an interesting feature I have not observed in any other speech to text application. The New User Wizard will trying adapt your current speech patterns by spidering its way through your my documents folders and three year send items box in your e-mail. I if first did not think this would do anything to improve the accuracy of the speech engine, but after seeing it in action, I'm now a believer! I will discuss accuracy later, but I must say that having Dragon NaturallySpeaking pick up and spell correctly my friends names, my server names and paths on the first try -- heck it even recognized words I've made up in the past! That feature alone was just about enough to blow my mind.
Image
Next, the New User Wizard gives you three more options of what you can do next. You can start the tutorial, see what's new in version 8 or begin dictating. "Begin dictating?", I thought. "What about the 45 minute to an hour session of reading some book so the recognition engine can translate
I got an aftermarket car stereo with digital radio, cassette player, and an 1/8th inch headphone jack for my crappy high-school car ('84 Toyota Carolla) in '96, I'm sure you can still find them. When I eventually got an iPod (the stereo had been moved through 2 other cars be then), it sure came in handy. No FM, no crappy tape adapter, just line-in!
Ah, you're from Indiana, that explains it. Kind of like Illinois, without the gleaming, intelligent metropolis in the NE corner.
Diesel cars are NOT that dirty, almost ALL the crap you see coming out of a trucks pipes when it accelerates is PARTICULATE matter, meaning it settles to the ground intead of stinking up the atmosphere.
While we're talking about the environment, I'm SO sick of W naming all these bills things like the "Healthy Forest Act". Couldn't he just be honest and call it the "Cut Down Trees Act"? I'm not being partisan here, cutting down trees my be healthy for forests, it may not...but with a name like that I feel like I have a giant, VERY dishonest ad agency cramming my government down my throat. And I don't have the option of voting with my wallet, I HAVE to take it and like it (beacuase 51% of the people agree, most of which live in some very "interesting" states).
I wish this country was actually a collection of quazi-independent states where things could be different, instead of 90% federal law (sure, it's less than that, but when the fed threatens to take away all your federal highway funds if you don't bump your drinking age from 18 to 21, well, that's a federal law in state's clothing). Sigh....just venting I guess....W will continue to fuck up, but at least I can blame my neighbors instead of an election-stealer like in 2000.
I've had my 1st Generation PS2 repaired twice (by Sony via mail, for free). The neat thing is that if any of your games are damaged by the PS2 (I got some beautiful circular scratches ground into the discs, making them very unplayable even on OK PS2s), they cut you a check for the ORIGINAL retail price of all the games. Pretty good customer service, or fear of being sued again.
Website run by people on Antarctica
on
Exploring Antarctica
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Check out Big Dead Place, a great website run by some very funny and bitter people that work at McMurdo (largest of the 3 American stations).
Charity drives like "fuck a winter-over" and the ever-popular column "Ask a Fucked Up Winter-Over" make it worth the visit. See how these people really live.
"Twenty percent of all searching was sex-related back in 1997; now it's about 5 percent,"
I'd say most people have more porn than they can look at in a lifetime, and in addition now that EVERYONE is using the internet, a much smaller percentage of the overall searching population are horny geeks. I had a webpage in 97 (and was in highschool), so you can guess what part of the searching population I fell into...=)
a movie version of Final Fantasy II? IMHO FFII had the best plot of all the FFs, and it doesn't have all the anime-esque/techno stuff tossed into it (I'm sorry, I could never get very into FFVII VIII or X). Seriously, Cecil and his battle with his inner demons (and emerging as a paladin), Rydia the summoner, great quest, airships, dwarves, elemental demons, the death of Palum and Porum early on in the flick (shocker!), it would be awesome!! Hell, I was so into that game when I was 12/13 I was depressed for a week after finishing it.
And PLEASE PLEASE, no long, weird, poorly translated speeches about the nature of the human soul or philosophy, a-la Ghost in the Shell.
I think the main difference between this and most other power production methods is that the inputs and outputs are all things that are readily produced and consumed in nature. There's GOT to be a way to set this up so that the produced CO2 can be used by different organisms to produce more O2 and CH4 (methane).
While you can't keep this going forever (energy is not free as in beer), it could greatly reduce the amount of inputs and outputs that have to be removed/added to the system. How hard would it be to grow huge amounts of these organisms on giant mats or lattices, let them consume/produce as required, and filter out the benifits? What percentage of conversion could we get (how much would it reduce the input/output required)? Any microbio/chem people want to weigh in?
I know this idea of RSS 2.0 feeds with enclosures is great and all for getting non-live data, but I've found timed recording of live radio MUCH more useful (with content I want to listen to.
On my Mac, I use RadioRecorder, a free app that lets you schedule when you want a particular feed (in one of several formats) to be recorded. So I record NPR's Morning Edition from 5 to 6:30 am, and then listen to it on my 6:45 - 7:30 bus ride (shitty radio reception on pocket radio).
I can listen to Car Talk from the weekend! I can listen to Talk of the Nation from yesterday! I can listen to the kick-ass Chicago class-rock station I like instead of crappy DC classic rock radio! It's all stuffed into iTunes automagically, no muss, no fuss. And best of all, good content.
A digital Pearl harbor is not FUD. One day our increasing reliance on automated and interconnected systems to run or critical infrastructure is going to bite us in the ass, and HARD.
It doesn't have to be terrorist related, it could be incompetence or not rebooting your aging Windows system once a month, a-la the recent air traffic control blackout. And we're in serious shit if a tech-savvy threat manages to penetrate power distribution, emergency call, or air-traffic control systems, or who knows maybe all three, and shut it all down right before a devestating physical attack. It's a huge force-multiplier, but in addition it can be a force unto itself. Imagine the whole country going without grid power for a month or two. Not a pretty picture.
As usual, no one will do anything serious until there is a major incident (involving loss of life), after which "computer security" will be beat into our skulls every minute of every day, even if it's draconian and won't actually make people much safer, just like transportation security is today.
In retrospect, this letter should be of no surprise to you. For years now I have stood by you despite the terrible things people have said. We have always managed to work through our serious problems but too many things have been swept under the table. I do not think I can stand (idly) by you any longer.
What's that? No, another service pack will not help, not this time.
I remember when we met, a warm April day, in 1992. For years I had been hearing about you, about your graphical user interface, innovations, and problems in the courtroom... I had seen you here and there, but it was not until that fateful day, April 6, that our relationship became serious. Though you had changed with the times, never like this. I was almost knocked off my feet when I first saw you. Right then I knew it, you had to be mine. Who else could offer me what you could? I wanted, no, I needed, your TrueType font support, your video playback capability, your color screen savers...
As time progressed so did my needs. Our affair took its next serious step on August 24, 1995. At the time I thought our happiness would never end. You brought me places I never thought possible. How could I refuse your Plug-and-Play cabability or your TCP/IP stack? I mean, you gave up your best friend, DOS, so our relationship could progress unhindered. It hurts me to look back at us, two starry-eyed lovers wanting nothing more than each other's company.
Then it almost all came tumbling down. June 25, 1998. What were you thinking? Were you thinking at all? You changed, like in 1995, but not like I thought you would. Still clinging to your DOS kernel, like a small, lost child clutching its teddy bear. Where was the OS I had learned to love? You feebly proffered USB support, DVD playback, and a Quick Launch toolbar, but you were beginning to mix with a bad crowd. With that invasive Internet Explorer. I knew about what happened... You let him access your Explorer. I thought that was something special between us.
Though we had a bit of a falling out afterwards, my love was rekindled after February 17th, 2000. You were once again new- Professional- just like I thought you could one day be. I knew you were once again stable, not like back in 1998, and that you were the only OS for me. I remembered what had drawn me you you in the first place- ease of use, speed, your stunning looks, your compatibility. I remember saying, "I hope things never change because I love you the way you are."
I thought that what we had meant something- your transformation in 2000 seemed to cement that. I know now that I was wrong. By Sept 17 you tried to change for the Millennium. I saw right through you- trying to settle down and fit in better with the 'home-user'. Did you think I would love you more because of a few cosmetic changes? I was not impressed with the full-color icons, fancy skins, or your new media player. I thought what we had was deeper than that. Luckily you gave me a choicer, I did not have to choose the new you, the old version would be fine. I know you meant well but you just shouldn't have done that, especially with the '1998' episode so fresh in my mind.
By October 25, 2001 more changes had come. Everyone told be how great the new you would be. I got so tired of hearing about how up to date, easy to work with, and slick looking you had become. That was all I could take. You changed so much that I didn't even know you any more. I really dug some of your new features but the old you, the you from 2000, could have done all this. So why did you have to change at all? I didn't want to upgrade you or make you into something you were not.
Well, like I wrote, I have reached my limit. Its going to take more than an automatic update to fix our relationship. I just don't feel like I know you anymore. For example, do you know what I found on the computer a few days ago? Spyware! I wonder who let that in...
If you get involved in the right educational program you get all that and more, and Uncle Sam pays the bill.
In May I graduated from "Cyber-Corp", a Computer Science - Information Assurance master's degree (or undergrad if that's your thing) program that is funded by NSF. I took many full, real college credit classes (3 or 4 semester hours) on Penetration Testing, Systems Certification and Accreditation, Digital Forensics Secure Network Design and Implementation, Secure E-Commerce, the list goes on. And this isn't some wussy program, we also had compiler design (try building a recursive-descent Pascal compiler without lex or yacc, and you don't even get an LL1 grammar to start with) and a heavy concentration on formal proofs and methods (non-interfenence, DITSCAP). I also got all 5 DoD Information Assurance certificates (ISSO, Designated Approving Authority, etc) blessed by the NSA's INFOSEC training program.
Anyway, I got my MS for free so long as I work for the gov after graduation for a year and a half (which I do now), and about 80% of grads go to DoD and various intelligence agencies (NSA, CIA, FBI Forensics Lab, NIST, Commerce, etc). It's a fantastic program taught by some of brightest security minds in the country (at least at University of Tulsa, where I went, best school out of the 20 or so that do the program). Great stuff, check out the University of Tulsa Cyber-Corp page , I'm not sure what the national program's page is. Oh yeah, and they pay you a stipend to live on while you go to school, so no work. =)
I'm the one who has to have everybody throw rocks at me all the time, so at least if they're going to throw rocks at me, they're going to throw rocks at me for something I love rather than something I think is not very good, or at least something I think is not finished.
George old boy, no one threw rocks at you until you decided to tell everybody what should and shouldn't like. Seriously, what a bitch. I wouldn't mind the special editions so much if the original movies were available in decent, DVD form. You don't HAVE to watch them, you have the luxury of ignoring them. But to say that the original series "doesn't exist anymore"? That's retarded. People fell in love with that he created in the first place, and to say "no, you're all idiots, you aren't allowed to watch that anymore, you must watch THIS version and like it" is an act of total assitude.
The worst part is how he acts like we've hurt his precious feelings. I LIKE movies that don't have tons of CGI cheese, and I LIKE the way the first SW movies were created. Ever see Aliens? That movie ROCKS becuase of the use of miniature models and lack of CGI (and awesome plot/acting), imagine if Ridley Scott was like "no, sorry, all old copies of Aliens have been destroyed, you have to watch this new version where the Aliens and Bishop are all fake-looking CGI, AND the mother Alien gives Ripley the finger, thus justifying the nuking of LB426". He'd get run out of town on a rail, just like Lucas has.
Bottom line: If you're selfish enough to make movies only for yourself (as Lucas clearly does), at least offer the fans of your original work the OPTION of seeing it, instead of pretending it doesn't exist (and by not releasing it on DVD, he's literally throwing it away) and that it's a piece of shit. Way to make friends, George.
Oh, and don't give me any crap about the "millions" it costs to restore the films, you'd make 1000x that amount on DVD sales, and if not that's tiny fraction of the Skywalker Ranch's giant vault of cash.
A neat tool, I got it working after some initial confusion (talk about lack of documentation, that is part of software development, you know), I found the content to be...err...lacking.
I mean, as much as I like listening to IT babble all day, I get enough of that at work, and after work, and with my friends, etc. Sure would be nice if NPR, or CNN, or any new site not related to hard-core IT or crazy eclectic blogging supported RSS 2.0 with enclosures....
Slashdot Mirror
That's exactly what happened, thanks for the support mmkkbb.
What would you do if you could cut the amount of time you spend every day typing e-mails, making forum posts, typing in reports and otherwise putting fingers to keyboard to communicate your message? For several years there have been companies such as IBM and ScanSoft whose aim has been to allow you to simply talk into a microphone and have that voice translated into text. Considering you can speak at hundreds words a minute, the potential of getting more work done in a shorter period of time is phenomenal. Writing the Great American novel while you sit back in your chair (or even lying flat on a bed) with eyes closed, hands at your side, while playing music into your headphones would suddenly become within the grasp of just about every person...literate or not. The problem with this theory is a difficult one to conquer. The computer does not understand words and it does not understand the context of which we are speaking. And although computers do a pretty good job of figuring out mathematical formulas, displaying graphics on a screen and playing already existing sounds such as CDs and voice, the idea that it could somehow "make sense" of human words and translated into text format is a huge challenge. Perhaps, that is why I quickly became frustrated and annoyed with such programs in the past. In fact, I couldn't seem to hit the "uninstall" button fast enough. Scansoft recently released version 8 of their Dragon Naturally Speaking program. With it came claims of "A Breakthrough in Accuracy" that provided better than 25% improvement in accuracy. But what really turned my head was their claim of a "breakthrough in flexibility" in that it was now working with Pocket PCs. At that claim, I thought it was high time I let go of my vow to never try Voice to text apps again and give Dragon Naturally Speaking another try. Is Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 really the breakthrough that they claim? Can it translate my deep "Isaac Hayes" type of voice into readable text? Or will the product type each one of my sentences to look something like a two-year-old would write? Read on to find out... Installing Dragon Naturally Speaking: Installation is about like any other app. You put a CD in the CD-ROM drive and then a brings up the splash screen. You choose installation location, etc. I did have a small problem installing it, though. As seen by the screenshot below: Image My problem occurred because I have Visual Studio installed on my computer. So what I had to do was go to ScanSoft's site which they have bug listed. It's a matter of deleting a certain DLL or renaming it so that it was not picked up by the installer anymore. Once that DLL is renamed the install process completed just fine. The Desktop Client After install, you will probably start working with the desktop client. For this review I used the professional version however, all three versions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking come with a noise canceling microphone. When you first launch the program, it tests the volume level and shows you how to adjust the microphone for better recognition. The next step is an interesting feature I have not observed in any other speech to text application. The New User Wizard will trying adapt your current speech patterns by spidering its way through your my documents folders and three year send items box in your e-mail. I if first did not think this would do anything to improve the accuracy of the speech engine, but after seeing it in action, I'm now a believer! I will discuss accuracy later, but I must say that having Dragon NaturallySpeaking pick up and spell correctly my friends names, my server names and paths on the first try -- heck it even recognized words I've made up in the past! That feature alone was just about enough to blow my mind. Image Next, the New User Wizard gives you three more options of what you can do next. You can start the tutorial, see what's new in version 8 or begin dictating. "Begin dictating?", I thought. "What about the 45 minute to an hour session of reading some book so the recognition engine can translate
Dude, you know these robots are only in it for the old people's medicine. Sam Waterston says "Get robot insurance!!"
Dude, I just want NCSA Mosaic to come back....go Illini!
I got an aftermarket car stereo with digital radio, cassette player, and an 1/8th inch headphone jack for my crappy high-school car ('84 Toyota Carolla) in '96, I'm sure you can still find them. When I eventually got an iPod (the stereo had been moved through 2 other cars be then), it sure came in handy. No FM, no crappy tape adapter, just line-in!
Ah, you're from Indiana, that explains it. Kind of like Illinois, without the gleaming, intelligent metropolis in the NE corner.
Diesel cars are NOT that dirty, almost ALL the crap you see coming out of a trucks pipes when it accelerates is PARTICULATE matter, meaning it settles to the ground intead of stinking up the atmosphere.
While we're talking about the environment, I'm SO sick of W naming all these bills things like the "Healthy Forest Act". Couldn't he just be honest and call it the "Cut Down Trees Act"? I'm not being partisan here, cutting down trees my be healthy for forests, it may not...but with a name like that I feel like I have a giant, VERY dishonest ad agency cramming my government down my throat. And I don't have the option of voting with my wallet, I HAVE to take it and like it (beacuase 51% of the people agree, most of which live in some very "interesting" states).
I wish this country was actually a collection of quazi-independent states where things could be different, instead of 90% federal law (sure, it's less than that, but when the fed threatens to take away all your federal highway funds if you don't bump your drinking age from 18 to 21, well, that's a federal law in state's clothing). Sigh....just venting I guess....W will continue to fuck up, but at least I can blame my neighbors instead of an election-stealer like in 2000.
I've had my 1st Generation PS2 repaired twice (by Sony via mail, for free). The neat thing is that if any of your games are damaged by the PS2 (I got some beautiful circular scratches ground into the discs, making them very unplayable even on OK PS2s), they cut you a check for the ORIGINAL retail price of all the games. Pretty good customer service, or fear of being sued again.
Check out Big Dead Place, a great website run by some very funny and bitter people that work at McMurdo (largest of the 3 American stations).
Charity drives like "fuck a winter-over" and the ever-popular column "Ask a Fucked Up Winter-Over" make it worth the visit. See how these people really live.
Oh, and they love John Carpenter's "The Thing".
"Twenty percent of all searching was sex-related back in 1997; now it's about 5 percent,"
I'd say most people have more porn than they can look at in a lifetime, and in addition now that EVERYONE is using the internet, a much smaller percentage of the overall searching population are horny geeks. I had a webpage in 97 (and was in highschool), so you can guess what part of the searching population I fell into...=)
How about a rousing game of Bolo? First networked, multiplayer game I ever played, waaay back in like 91 or so. Good times.
a movie version of Final Fantasy II? IMHO FFII had the best plot of all the FFs, and it doesn't have all the anime-esque/techno stuff tossed into it (I'm sorry, I could never get very into FFVII VIII or X). Seriously, Cecil and his battle with his inner demons (and emerging as a paladin), Rydia the summoner, great quest, airships, dwarves, elemental demons, the death of Palum and Porum early on in the flick (shocker!), it would be awesome!! Hell, I was so into that game when I was 12/13 I was depressed for a week after finishing it.
And PLEASE PLEASE, no long, weird, poorly translated speeches about the nature of the human soul or philosophy, a-la Ghost in the Shell.
This should be +6 Insightful.
I think the main difference between this and most other power production methods is that the inputs and outputs are all things that are readily produced and consumed in nature. There's GOT to be a way to set this up so that the produced CO2 can be used by different organisms to produce more O2 and CH4 (methane).
While you can't keep this going forever (energy is not free as in beer), it could greatly reduce the amount of inputs and outputs that have to be removed/added to the system. How hard would it be to grow huge amounts of these organisms on giant mats or lattices, let them consume/produce as required, and filter out the benifits? What percentage of conversion could we get (how much would it reduce the input/output required)? Any microbio/chem people want to weigh in?
I wonder how similar this is to the new "Spotlight" feature to be included in Apple's OS 10.4 "Tiger".
Ease of use + rock solid architecture + great OS + great software = Apple/Mac OS X.
What's not to get?
Check out the Washington DC stream from American University NPR station (WAMU)
http://wamu.org/mp3/mp3.m3u
I know this idea of RSS 2.0 feeds with enclosures is great and all for getting non-live data, but I've found timed recording of live radio MUCH more useful (with content I want to listen to.
On my Mac, I use RadioRecorder, a free app that lets you schedule when you want a particular feed (in one of several formats) to be recorded. So I record NPR's Morning Edition from 5 to 6:30 am, and then listen to it on my 6:45 - 7:30 bus ride (shitty radio reception on pocket radio).
I can listen to Car Talk from the weekend! I can listen to Talk of the Nation from yesterday! I can listen to the kick-ass Chicago class-rock station I like instead of crappy DC classic rock radio! It's all stuffed into iTunes automagically, no muss, no fuss. And best of all, good content.
A digital Pearl harbor is not FUD. One day our increasing reliance on automated and interconnected systems to run or critical infrastructure is going to bite us in the ass, and HARD.
It doesn't have to be terrorist related, it could be incompetence or not rebooting your aging Windows system once a month, a-la the recent air traffic control blackout. And we're in serious shit if a tech-savvy threat manages to penetrate power distribution, emergency call, or air-traffic control systems, or who knows maybe all three, and shut it all down right before a devestating physical attack. It's a huge force-multiplier, but in addition it can be a force unto itself. Imagine the whole country going without grid power for a month or two. Not a pretty picture.
As usual, no one will do anything serious until there is a major incident (involving loss of life), after which "computer security" will be beat into our skulls every minute of every day, even if it's draconian and won't actually make people much safer, just like transportation security is today.
NCSA? Surely not the same guys at U of Illinois that created Mosaic?
Note the "=)". That means I was kidding...since when did ./ become such a serious place? Karma shmarma. =)=)=)
Why did I get modded down from 5 to 4? Not informative enough for you? =)
Dear Microsoft Windows,
In retrospect, this letter should be of no surprise to you. For years now I have stood by you despite the terrible things people have said. We have always managed to work through our serious problems but too many things have been swept under the table. I do not think I can stand (idly) by you any longer.
What's that? No, another service pack will not help, not this time. I remember when we met, a warm April day, in 1992. For years I had been hearing about you, about your graphical user interface, innovations, and problems in the courtroom... I had seen you here and there, but it was not until that fateful day, April 6, that our relationship became serious. Though you had changed with the times, never like this. I was almost knocked off my feet when I first saw you. Right then I knew it, you had to be mine. Who else could offer me what you could? I wanted, no, I needed, your TrueType font support, your video playback capability, your color screen savers...
As time progressed so did my needs. Our affair took its next serious step on August 24, 1995. At the time I thought our happiness would never end. You brought me places I never thought possible. How could I refuse your Plug-and-Play cabability or your TCP/IP stack? I mean, you gave up your best friend, DOS, so our relationship could progress unhindered. It hurts me to look back at us, two starry-eyed lovers wanting nothing more than each other's company.
Then it almost all came tumbling down. June 25, 1998. What were you thinking? Were you thinking at all? You changed, like in 1995, but not like I thought you would. Still clinging to your DOS kernel, like a small, lost child clutching its teddy bear. Where was the OS I had learned to love? You feebly proffered USB support, DVD playback, and a Quick Launch toolbar, but you were beginning to mix with a bad crowd. With that invasive Internet Explorer. I knew about what happened... You let him access your Explorer. I thought that was something special between us.
Though we had a bit of a falling out afterwards, my love was rekindled after February 17th, 2000. You were once again new- Professional- just like I thought you could one day be. I knew you were once again stable, not like back in 1998, and that you were the only OS for me. I remembered what had drawn me you you in the first place- ease of use, speed, your stunning looks, your compatibility. I remember saying, "I hope things never change because I love you the way you are."
I thought that what we had meant something- your transformation in 2000 seemed to cement that. I know now that I was wrong. By Sept 17 you tried to change for the Millennium. I saw right through you- trying to settle down and fit in better with the 'home-user'. Did you think I would love you more because of a few cosmetic changes? I was not impressed with the full-color icons, fancy skins, or your new media player. I thought what we had was deeper than that. Luckily you gave me a choicer, I did not have to choose the new you, the old version would be fine. I know you meant well but you just shouldn't have done that, especially with the '1998' episode so fresh in my mind.
By October 25, 2001 more changes had come. Everyone told be how great the new you would be. I got so tired of hearing about how up to date, easy to work with, and slick looking you had become. That was all I could take. You changed so much that I didn't even know you any more. I really dug some of your new features but the old you, the you from 2000, could have done all this. So why did you have to change at all? I didn't want to upgrade you or make you into something you were not.
Well, like I wrote, I have reached my limit. Its going to take more than an automatic update to fix our relationship. I just don't feel like I know you anymore. For example, do you know what I found on the computer a few days ago? Spyware! I wonder who let that in...
Windows, I know you will try to
- Macintosh
- Media Access Control
- Media Access Controler
- Mandatory Access Control
- Multiplexed Analogue Components
- Message Authentication Code
- Message Authenticity Check
- Multiplier Accumulator Chip
Get's confusing after a while, especially those of us in Info Assurance.If you get involved in the right educational program you get all that and more, and Uncle Sam pays the bill.
In May I graduated from "Cyber-Corp", a Computer Science - Information Assurance master's degree (or undergrad if that's your thing) program that is funded by NSF. I took many full, real college credit classes (3 or 4 semester hours) on Penetration Testing, Systems Certification and Accreditation, Digital Forensics Secure Network Design and Implementation, Secure E-Commerce, the list goes on. And this isn't some wussy program, we also had compiler design (try building a recursive-descent Pascal compiler without lex or yacc, and you don't even get an LL1 grammar to start with) and a heavy concentration on formal proofs and methods (non-interfenence, DITSCAP). I also got all 5 DoD Information Assurance certificates (ISSO, Designated Approving Authority, etc) blessed by the NSA's INFOSEC training program.
Anyway, I got my MS for free so long as I work for the gov after graduation for a year and a half (which I do now), and about 80% of grads go to DoD and various intelligence agencies (NSA, CIA, FBI Forensics Lab, NIST, Commerce, etc). It's a fantastic program taught by some of brightest security minds in the country (at least at University of Tulsa, where I went, best school out of the 20 or so that do the program). Great stuff, check out the University of Tulsa Cyber-Corp page , I'm not sure what the national program's page is. Oh yeah, and they pay you a stipend to live on while you go to school, so no work. =)
George old boy, no one threw rocks at you until you decided to tell everybody what should and shouldn't like. Seriously, what a bitch. I wouldn't mind the special editions so much if the original movies were available in decent, DVD form. You don't HAVE to watch them, you have the luxury of ignoring them. But to say that the original series "doesn't exist anymore"? That's retarded. People fell in love with that he created in the first place, and to say "no, you're all idiots, you aren't allowed to watch that anymore, you must watch THIS version and like it" is an act of total assitude.
The worst part is how he acts like we've hurt his precious feelings. I LIKE movies that don't have tons of CGI cheese, and I LIKE the way the first SW movies were created. Ever see Aliens? That movie ROCKS becuase of the use of miniature models and lack of CGI (and awesome plot/acting), imagine if Ridley Scott was like "no, sorry, all old copies of Aliens have been destroyed, you have to watch this new version where the Aliens and Bishop are all fake-looking CGI, AND the mother Alien gives Ripley the finger, thus justifying the nuking of LB426". He'd get run out of town on a rail, just like Lucas has.
Bottom line: If you're selfish enough to make movies only for yourself (as Lucas clearly does), at least offer the fans of your original work the OPTION of seeing it, instead of pretending it doesn't exist (and by not releasing it on DVD, he's literally throwing it away) and that it's a piece of shit. Way to make friends, George.
Oh, and don't give me any crap about the "millions" it costs to restore the films, you'd make 1000x that amount on DVD sales, and if not that's tiny fraction of the Skywalker Ranch's giant vault of cash.
A neat tool, I got it working after some initial confusion (talk about lack of documentation, that is part of software development, you know), I found the content to be...err...lacking.
I mean, as much as I like listening to IT babble all day, I get enough of that at work, and after work, and with my friends, etc. Sure would be nice if NPR, or CNN, or any new site not related to hard-core IT or crazy eclectic blogging supported RSS 2.0 with enclosures....