I don't think "fan service" means what you think it means. There was actually very little of that (damn it).
Oh, c'mon. There was a lot of it. The finest example i can think of right now is --- SPOILERS! --- making Han Solo and Chewie appear magically in the Millenium Falcon, now in the middle of god-knows-where, just to give them their iconic "we're home" scene.
Yes. That shot was amazing. Point is, the movie is basically a collection of fan service scenes with no real plot connecting them; it was almost an afterthought.
Plausibility. I can be down with space wizards and light swords alright, but you have to play by the same rules you've created. My problem was not with the SW mythology but the fact that the plot made no sense whatsoever.
So, "whenever you notice something like that, a wizard did it", right?
I fear I might be overanalysing what its essentially supposed to be a kids movie, but c'mon. The plot was clearly secondary to providing iconic scenes (f.e. Han and Chewy returning to the Falcon). Say what you want about the originals; at least they were consistent in their mythology.
I should wonder how a guy who can stop a blaster shot mid air without even looking at it manages to get shot several times a while after, but i turned off my brain by that moment.
Same here. The movie is chock full of unforgivable plot holes. From what i can remember right now...
...... SPOILERS AHEAD......
So, Luke is missing. For no apparent reason. But somehow there's a map to his location. Conveniently split in two halfs. Which everyone is aware of, again, for no apparent reason. And one is withheld by no other than R2D2?
Finn, raised as a soldier his whole life, suddenly grows a conscience and quits after slaughtering a village. Doesn't stop him from killing a shitload of his old mates afterwards. Isn't he a bit too self aware?
Poe Dameron pulls a resurrection that would make Jesus jealous. Zero explanations provided....same as the magical appearance of Chewy and Han Solo on the Millennium Falcon, which is now literally in the middle of nowhere. That one was cringe worthy....but not as much as Luke's lightsaber showing up in the exact saloon our heroes visit. Out of all the saloons in the galaxy.
Kylo Ren: worst villain ever. One minute an incredible badass who can stop a blaster shot without even looking at it, the second he's been beaten up by a janitor with zero sword experience.
An Rey. From scavenger extraordinary to master of the force in literally a little over 30 minutes. The "you will release me" scene was just too much.
What exactly the Resistance was resisting to all these years?
Why do Rey an Leia hug at the end? Did they even meet before that?
Man, i could go on all day. The movie is a treat to the eyes and Harrison Ford just shines on it. The rest? You've seen it all on EP IV. With better writing, i might add.
Now, is it a good movie? So... no. Not by a long stretch, i might add. Looks great, Harrison Ford is fantastic and it is loaded with iconic scenes... but man, the script is a poor rehash of EP IV, and ridden with glaring plot holes as well.
No. They should be crucified for not disclosing it. Juniper has been selling backdoored security products which, as the article explains, allowed not only the NSA to eavesdrop communications but anyone else as well. RSA took money from the NSA to default that same compromised RNG and never announced it; they should held accountable.
As for your second question, no. Backdoors are never a proper answer when discussing cryptography, on any form.
Judging from what i've read so far it is pretty obvious that the original Dual_EC_DRBG-based backdoor was placed there quite intentionally. Juniper has a lot to answer for.
Fair enough, on countries with a free exchange market it is an option. Doesn't free you from currency conversion taxes though, which are (sadly) common.
You can plate with copper just as well. Yes, i, know gold is a very interesting material for engineering, but the point is that its golds value comes from the fact that it is scarce. Period.
Prices would plummet (for a while at the very least). The BTC market, for all its current popularity, is still ridiculously small and medium to large operations can shake its value a lot; it has happened several times this year alone.
Now let's go to Lake Superior. See how well that works for you:)
This is exactly what i'm talking about. Water, per se, has no intrinsic value - like most things economics, value is just a function of the supply/demand balance.
Right. Tell me you can't see people distrusting a digital currency if we found out it was surreptitiously designed by the NSA.
Look, i like the idea of BTC and, again, i find its design sound. People more capable than me have already thoroughly dissected it, and found nothing obviously funny with it. But sadly designs and protocols live and die for much more than their technical merits. See what happened to the last TrueCrypt release after someone thought it found a hidden message referring to the NSA, even when no evidence of foul play or backdoors where found whatsoever.
It is not. Knowing who the author is might very well impact BTCs reputation and adoption though, specially if we found out some government agency is behind it.
I do. BTC is gaining a lot of traction as the defacto digital currency standard, and we have no idea who's behind it.
Bitcoin is a solid design and has survived a lot of scrutiny so far, but imagine what would happen if we found out that the design was introduced by, say, the NSA.
There's a good number of reasons for this, and they're not immediately obvious.
- Optimize fuel usage; you want to burn only as much as you need on takeoff - Reduce engine wear as much as possible. Engine overhauls are awfully expensive for airlines. - Don't overthrust engines in case of failure. If an engine goes out on takeoff with too much airspeed the airplane might not be able to correct yaw before running out of runway.
On small piston aircrafts, yes, you usually go full power on takeoff every time. Airlines are a very different beast though.
Slashdot Mirror
Thanks! I really think you captured my shallow worthlessness with that rephrase.
Well, that's exactly what happens when you sell your franchise. Specially one as marketable as Star Wars.
I don't think "fan service" means what you think it means. There was actually very little of that (damn it).
Oh, c'mon. There was a lot of it. The finest example i can think of right now is --- SPOILERS! --- making Han Solo and Chewie appear magically in the Millenium Falcon, now in the middle of god-knows-where, just to give them their iconic "we're home" scene.
Yes. That shot was amazing. Point is, the movie is basically a collection of fan service scenes with no real plot connecting them; it was almost an afterthought.
It did not. For starters, the plot is basically identical to EP IV.
Same here. Say what you want about Lucas, but at least his prequels tried something new instead of rehashing plots from EP IV-VI.
Plausibility. I can be down with space wizards and light swords alright, but you have to play by the same rules you've created. My problem was not with the SW mythology but the fact that the plot made no sense whatsoever.
So, "whenever you notice something like that, a wizard did it", right?
I fear I might be overanalysing what its essentially supposed to be a kids movie, but c'mon. The plot was clearly secondary to providing iconic scenes (f.e. Han and Chewy returning to the Falcon). Say what you want about the originals; at least they were consistent in their mythology.
I should wonder how a guy who can stop a blaster shot mid air without even looking at it manages to get shot several times a while after, but i turned off my brain by that moment.
Same here. The movie is chock full of unforgivable plot holes. From what i can remember right now...
So, Luke is missing. For no apparent reason. But somehow there's a map to his location. Conveniently split in two halfs. Which everyone is aware of, again, for no apparent reason. And one is withheld by no other than R2D2?
Finn, raised as a soldier his whole life, suddenly grows a conscience and quits after slaughtering a village. Doesn't stop him from killing a shitload of his old mates afterwards. Isn't he a bit too self aware?
Poe Dameron pulls a resurrection that would make Jesus jealous. Zero explanations provided. ...same as the magical appearance of Chewy and Han Solo on the Millennium Falcon, which is now literally in the middle of nowhere. That one was cringe worthy. ...but not as much as Luke's lightsaber showing up in the exact saloon our heroes visit. Out of all the saloons in the galaxy.
Kylo Ren: worst villain ever. One minute an incredible badass who can stop a blaster shot without even looking at it, the second he's been beaten up by a janitor with zero sword experience.
An Rey. From scavenger extraordinary to master of the force in literally a little over 30 minutes. The "you will release me" scene was just too much.
What exactly the Resistance was resisting to all these years?
Why do Rey an Leia hug at the end? Did they even meet before that?
Man, i could go on all day. The movie is a treat to the eyes and Harrison Ford just shines on it. The rest? You've seen it all on EP IV. With better writing, i might add.
Is it a movie to be seen on theaters? Absolutely.
Now, is it a good movie? So... no. Not by a long stretch, i might add. Looks great, Harrison Ford is fantastic and it is loaded with iconic scenes... but man, the script is a poor rehash of EP IV, and ridden with glaring plot holes as well.
No. They should be crucified for not disclosing it. Juniper has been selling backdoored security products which, as the article explains, allowed not only the NSA to eavesdrop communications but anyone else as well. RSA took money from the NSA to default that same compromised RNG and never announced it; they should held accountable.
As for your second question, no. Backdoors are never a proper answer when discussing cryptography, on any form.
Judging from what i've read so far it is pretty obvious that the original Dual_EC_DRBG-based backdoor was placed there quite intentionally. Juniper has a lot to answer for.
Fair enough, on countries with a free exchange market it is an option. Doesn't free you from currency conversion taxes though, which are (sadly) common.
You can plate with copper just as well. Yes, i, know gold is a very interesting material for engineering, but the point is that its golds value comes from the fact that it is scarce. Period.
Prices would plummet (for a while at the very least). The BTC market, for all its current popularity, is still ridiculously small and medium to large operations can shake its value a lot; it has happened several times this year alone.
Maybe they would if they had a track record of pulling shit like this.
The only thing i'd distrust the US Navy with is handling a budget.
Now let's go to Lake Superior. See how well that works for you :)
This is exactly what i'm talking about. Water, per se, has no intrinsic value - like most things economics, value is just a function of the supply/demand balance.
Credit cards don't; a lot of governments due though. The only way a CC company can exchange currency its through each country's central bank.
I wish i shared your optimism.
Right. Tell me you can't see people distrusting a digital currency if we found out it was surreptitiously designed by the NSA.
Look, i like the idea of BTC and, again, i find its design sound. People more capable than me have already thoroughly dissected it, and found nothing obviously funny with it. But sadly designs and protocols live and die for much more than their technical merits. See what happened to the last TrueCrypt release after someone thought it found a hidden message referring to the NSA, even when no evidence of foul play or backdoors where found whatsoever.
Not meaning to be a dick, but on modern economics all prices are based on speculation. Nothing has intrinsic value.
It is not. Knowing who the author is might very well impact BTCs reputation and adoption though, specially if we found out some government agency is behind it.
I do. BTC is gaining a lot of traction as the defacto digital currency standard, and we have no idea who's behind it.
Bitcoin is a solid design and has survived a lot of scrutiny so far, but imagine what would happen if we found out that the design was introduced by, say, the NSA.
Amen. I thought i was the only one. How the hell this did end up on AOS?
There's a good number of reasons for this, and they're not immediately obvious.
- Optimize fuel usage; you want to burn only as much as you need on takeoff
- Reduce engine wear as much as possible. Engine overhauls are awfully expensive for airlines.
- Don't overthrust engines in case of failure. If an engine goes out on takeoff with too much airspeed the airplane might not be able to correct yaw before running out of runway.
On small piston aircrafts, yes, you usually go full power on takeoff every time. Airlines are a very different beast though.