half-nekkid 250 lb. goth chicks in air-tight corsets
Yeah, well I can top that.
I was at TorontoTrek this year. There's a regular contingent of Klingons who come in uniform and makeup.
Also this year, 300 was in theaters.
Apparently, the Klingons liked the movie. So much so, that they decided to come in Spartan costumes from the movie.
Let's look at some facts:
The Spartan costume, from 300, is basically a cape and a leather thong.
The actors from 300 either trained for months, or were already bodybuilders, meaning they looked good when all they wore was a cape and a thong.
The Klingons at the convention are not real Klingons, nor are they actors from 300. They are either overweight, or beanpole-esquely underweight. Most have not seen sunlight for a long time.
Sidenote: This is the best of the lot. For the sanity of the Internet, it seems like most of th e photos were not committed to even a semi-permanent digital state. Most had drawn on, yes I swear DRAWN on, "muscles" with lipstick.
public void main() { Universe parallels[]; int max = MAX_UNIVERSES; bool multiverse_exists = true; for (i=0; i++; i<MAX_UNIVERSES) { parallels[i] = new Universe; }
while (multiverse_exists) { multiverse_exists = run_multiverse(parallels); }
Yeah, I take it this controller won't work very well for Silent Hill. If you aren't stressed, you aren't playing the game right.
Though this does remind me of the computers in a sci-fi book I was reading, the Species Imperative series by Julie Czerneda. Her computers monitor you for fatigue (breathing, droopy eyes, etc). Then they start popping up warnings saying "Hey, you're getting tired. Stop working in 15 minutes". The warnings get progressively more intrusive. Eventually, the computer saves your work and shuts down until you get some rest. It's all customizable, of course-- but the idea is that the main character, who tends to be a workaholic, recognizes that her work goes to crap after a certain point of fatigue, but doesn't have the self control to stop.
I'm surprised they're not trying to capitalize more on this. The piece about the "hard science" of gaming was mostly fluff, but it did highlight an interesting point: if you want ultra realistic graphics and physics, you need a crapton of CPU power. Intel, or some other enterprising folks with a lot of computers hanging around, should take up the challenge
When I play WoW (and I use "I" figuratively, since I don't actually), my computer doesn't have to process everything to do with Azeroth. I let Blizzard do that, and all my CPU needs to do is display what I'm looking at. Which is a good thing, because my computer probably can't handle running a WoW server AND draw the graphics AND do everything else it needs to.
Why not take this one step further, and farm out the physics and graphics processing to a remote super computer cluster? Let's say I play a game where the goal is to knock down a building. I want every brick, tile and support beam in that building to be represented by an object that is controlled by a physics engine, which in turn will be able to simulate every stress, strain and force at work. My CPU certainly can't do that-- but if the CalculatePhysics() routine farms out to a beowulf-whatever-- returning to my CPU only the resultant vectors-- maybe its doable.
Sure it would be neat to have photorealistic fire that can burn the entire environment and interact with water in a realistic manner. But is that what you really want?
Yes, because I want the creative field to be as open as possible, with as few technical limitations as possible. I want to be able to play a game where I'm a firefighter trapped in a building with a psychopathic arson, who is intent on burning me an my team alive. I want a intelligent, thinking AI who understands how combustibles work, and I want the environment to follow those laws of physics. I want my firefighting apperatus to interact with that fire realistically-- from the ABCD fire extinguisher to my flame-retardant jacket. I want teammates who will act watch my back, get smoke inhalation, panic or radio back to the chief-- not because some linear script programmed them to, but because they figured it out on their own.
I'm not saying that the technology should advance to make this game-- but it should advance so that it is possible to make this game. Games worked just fine on cardboard. But someone made Pong anyways. Games worked just fine with text descriptions, but people made Rogue anyways. Games worked just fine without graphics, but people made Pacman anyways. Games worked just fine without 3D, but people made Doom anyways. And so on and so on.
The main reason is because books take years to produce. Their price, layout and covers are set long before they hit the shelves-- and the policies that govern those aspects are set even longer before that. So the decision to set the book at US/CAD=US+30% was made something in the region of two to three years ago.
BUT, the argument goes, even two to three years ago, the CAN/US ratio wasn't that bad. Sure, but years ago the rate had been that bad years ago. Yes, the dollar was improving (or de-improving, depending on which side of the 49th you're on)-- but would it keep up that trend? If the bookmakers kneejerked and switched all their pricing right then and there-- what would happen in a few years when the books came out? Would the market reflect their prediction?
Setting prices that far in the future is risky and uncertain. The book publishers have to follow policies, and trends, and make huge guesses. They're usually pretty accurate, but as the radical currency value shifts we're seeing now indicate-- they sometimes get it wrong. Maybe since the dollar has been shifting so dramatically for so long, the next "generation" of books will reflect a more reasonable gap. Or maybe the market will shift back to a 30% exchange rate. Who knows? But you can bet the book publishers are spending a lot of money paying people to give them their best estimate.
Oh, and as a sidenote: There's not much use complaining to the bookstore about it. They don't set the prices. In fact, they are just as hard done by. They paid (numbers guesses) $5USD to sell a book with a tag of $10USD, and now that $10USD is only worth $6.50 in comparison to the original currency.
A second sidenote: No, your local book seller won't let you pay in USD for the USD price. See above.
Another sidenote: No, they won't be manually changing the prices. Given thousands of items they have in store, can you imagine the logistics of sending around Betty Minimum Wage with a price gun, the financial page and a calculator to reprice them-- every single day?
First, instead of the $15 per month cards, get yourself a $25 3-month card. Or a $100 1 year card. Same thing. You'll be paying significantly less than $15 per month.
Second, keep in mind that the balance in your account can be used for anything Virgin offers, including plans. If you've manage to build up a couple hundred dollars in your account, go to the My Account section of the site, and change your account type. Switch it to a $20/month with 200 minutes plan (or a $10/month, $0.10/minute plan). Drain your account a bunch. Then when you're low on account cash, switch it back to a pay-as-you-go, and buy more cards.
Or blow your cash on $5 ringtones. Whichever is easier for you.
I am curious about how much of an fishing expedition they could go on if they got someone on the stand?
Let's say they do, somehow, manage to use a prove-nothing Boilerplate get Joe Downloader into court. He argues that their evidence means nothing. They then put him on the stand, and ask "Did you download these mp3s?"
Let's say Joe actually did. Is the RIAA allowed to ask a broad, point-blank question like this? If he says "No", he's perjuring himself. Can he refuse to answer on the grounds that they should do their own damn evidence gathering, and not expect him to implicate himself?
I download seventeen and a half craptons of TV (stuff I've missed or that isn't available in my area). I hate commercials. I can't afford the same craptonage of DVDs (I'm a student), nor would I actually purchase most of this watch-once stuff.
HOWEVER...
If:
the broadcasters / content owners were to host high quality episodes on their website
IF that content was near HD quality, proper resolution, proper sound, no "fake black bars"-- call it ~800MB for a 1 hour show
those episodes were just as fast or faster than the sometimes-slow-as-molasses "pirated" sites (I'm fine with Torrents, if taking some of the bandwidth load is a pre-req to them offering large media files 24/7)
Those files were available at the same time, or minutes earlier, than the broadcast
These were actually downloadable files that I could watch on my own time, on my own machine, with my own software, without any DRM (read: *NOT* in a flash player)
Then I could tolerate ONE commercial per break without reaching for the mute or fast-forward button. One 30-secondish commercial. It might be a benefit, in fact. I kind of like that brief pause between "scenes". It gives you a minute to digest it all before leaping into the next scene. I *MIGHT* even tolerate a 10-second overlay ad at the bottom of the screen (provided it's small, silent, and doesn't cover up any on-screen text like they do now you fuckers!). In fact, if the providers were smart, they'd have a script that inserts different commercials every week so that they aren't stale (and they can sell more "time" to advertisers)
That's my conditions. Anything more than that, and it becomes easier/more desirable to fast forward the commercials, or find someone who has clipped the commercials, or clip them myself.
I noticed that this is about the FCC "killing off" broadcast TV. But their plans seem to differ from those of the CRTC, the Canadian equivalent. So what's going to happen in border towns like Detroit or Buffalo, where Canadian broadcast signals are easily available?
There's nothing wrong with wanting to keep the computers safe from the users, but don't neglect the opposite of this.
As every poster has pointed out, you can rock-solid a computer with Kiosk modes, virtual machines, etc, etc. But if you're going to put a tool like the Internet into the hands of (shall we say) "unskilled" users, you have a responsibility to protect them from the baddies.
Before anyone gets on the computer for the first time, drill some basic saftey tips into them. Do not give out passwords. Do not give out personal data. Do not give out financial data. Not to anyone, no matter how legit it looks. For many, this is probably their first experience on the internet. You cannot take for granted that they have been ingrained with The Basics. They don't know about Phishing. They don't know people can make a website that looks exactly like their banks' website. They don't know about Nigeran princes. Their bases have only every belonged to them.
Print out some Golden Rules, and post them in the computer lab/common area/whatever. If the computers are going to be in the resident's apartments, make sure you print out something that can be stuck to the monitory.
Send them out to play, but not in traffic.
You can do some things behind the scenes as well. Route everything through a gateway you control. Make sure you have some good security on it. Go grab PeerGuardian's list, and maybe mvps.org's host file. Keep it up to date so that it blocks all the well known phishing sites. Concider blocking any outbound request for an IP address (rather than an URL). Run a mail server with a kickass spam filter, and give them all their own email boxes. (grandpaAbe@shadyacres.com). It also makes it easier to whitelist their friends&family email addresses to let legit attachments through.
Try running guided tours of the Internet. Don't just pluck them down and say "here you go". Show them good places to go, and how to get there. News sites. Wikipedia. National Geographic's site. Typing Tutor sites. Maybe some instructional courses: How to use Flickr to view and post family albums. How to edit a Wikipedia article about the hometown they grew up in (and know everything about... preserve the knowledge!)
Do this right, and not only will you have safe comptuers-- but you'll also have safe, happy, productive users.
As others have pointed out, this is a useless tactic. Yes, when you mail something to yourself, it gets date stamped. Great, wonderful. But there's no onus on the post office to ensure that you have properly sealed the envelope in anyway. You could leave it completely open and empty, and they'll mail it to you. Later on, at any time, you can put something into the envelope and seal it.
But what if the post office insists on datestamping over the enclosure of the envelope? Then it MUST be sealed. Sure-- or at least that end of the envelope does. Some envelopes can have two openings, because of the way they're folded. Have them timestamp over the second end. Or unseal the second end and reseal it later.
Or steam open the envelope, and very carefully reseal it afterwards so that the timestamp matches up.
Or use a plain white envelope, and a pair of chopsticks. Roll your document around the sticks, then stick the sticks into the envelope through the bottom where it isn't QUITE sealed along the fold.
There are so many ways to tamper with it. And you forget there's also the question of chain of possession. Who has actually had the envelope from the time it was stamped until the time you present it to the courts?
And what about a biased source? You're suing someone because you claim you own what they're say they own. Your proof? "Because I said so."
The main issue here isn't proving that you own something. It's that you own it, and that you came up with it, and that you came up with it first. As others have mentioned, use the patent office. Use a notary. They're all trusted third parties who can verify the when of it.
And to prove that you actually came up with it-- simple. Show your work. Keep every rough draft, concept sketch, hand-drawn Rose diagram, cvs revision and so forth. If someone does steal the final product, it becomes a huge advantage to you. The other guy says "This is my idea". You say "This is my idea, and here's fifteen boxes of evidence that demonstrate the process I went through to create it." Who do you think the judge is going to believe?
Slashdot Mirror
Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine!
I think this article would have been funnier if it was as I first read it-- that STEVE'S Mom showed up and bitched him out.
Not a problem. I got over-enthusiastic. She overflowed. Now, at least, I have a pool in my car.
Youngsters these days and their high-tech solutions. Yeesh.
I'll let some other troll post the goatse link.
Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it. =)
Pound the gavel.
Yeah, well I can top that.
I was at TorontoTrek this year. There's a regular contingent of Klingons who come in uniform and makeup.
Also this year, 300 was in theaters.
Apparently, the Klingons liked the movie. So much so, that they decided to come in Spartan costumes from the movie.
Let's look at some facts:
The result? Click if you dare!
Sidenote: This is the best of the lot. For the sanity of the Internet, it seems like most of th e photos were not committed to even a semi-permanent digital state. Most had drawn on, yes I swear DRAWN on, "muscles" with lipstick.
1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 5 Mod points for Halcyon! {thunderbolt, lightning, kid-friendly-maniacal laughter}
public class Universe {}
public void main() {
Universe parallels[];
int max = MAX_UNIVERSES;
bool multiverse_exists = true;
for (i=0; i++; i<MAX_UNIVERSES)
{
parallels[i] = new Universe;
}
while (multiverse_exists)
{
multiverse_exists = run_multiverse(parallels);
}
}
Though this does remind me of the computers in a sci-fi book I was reading, the Species Imperative series by Julie Czerneda. Her computers monitor you for fatigue (breathing, droopy eyes, etc). Then they start popping up warnings saying "Hey, you're getting tired. Stop working in 15 minutes". The warnings get progressively more intrusive. Eventually, the computer saves your work and shuts down until you get some rest. It's all customizable, of course-- but the idea is that the main character, who tends to be a workaholic, recognizes that her work goes to crap after a certain point of fatigue, but doesn't have the self control to stop.
And maybe you can join the space patrol.
I'm surprised they're not trying to capitalize more on this. The piece about the "hard science" of gaming was mostly fluff, but it did highlight an interesting point: if you want ultra realistic graphics and physics, you need a crapton of CPU power. Intel, or some other enterprising folks with a lot of computers hanging around, should take up the challenge
When I play WoW (and I use "I" figuratively, since I don't actually), my computer doesn't have to process everything to do with Azeroth. I let Blizzard do that, and all my CPU needs to do is display what I'm looking at. Which is a good thing, because my computer probably can't handle running a WoW server AND draw the graphics AND do everything else it needs to.
Why not take this one step further, and farm out the physics and graphics processing to a remote super computer cluster? Let's say I play a game where the goal is to knock down a building. I want every brick, tile and support beam in that building to be represented by an object that is controlled by a physics engine, which in turn will be able to simulate every stress, strain and force at work. My CPU certainly can't do that-- but if the CalculatePhysics() routine farms out to a beowulf-whatever-- returning to my CPU only the resultant vectors-- maybe its doable.
Yes, because I want the creative field to be as open as possible, with as few technical limitations as possible. I want to be able to play a game where I'm a firefighter trapped in a building with a psychopathic arson, who is intent on burning me an my team alive. I want a intelligent, thinking AI who understands how combustibles work, and I want the environment to follow those laws of physics. I want my firefighting apperatus to interact with that fire realistically-- from the ABCD fire extinguisher to my flame-retardant jacket. I want teammates who will act watch my back, get smoke inhalation, panic or radio back to the chief-- not because some linear script programmed them to, but because they figured it out on their own.
I'm not saying that the technology should advance to make this game-- but it should advance so that it is possible to make this game. Games worked just fine on cardboard. But someone made Pong anyways. Games worked just fine with text descriptions, but people made Rogue anyways. Games worked just fine without graphics, but people made Pacman anyways. Games worked just fine without 3D, but people made Doom anyways. And so on and so on.
Point conceded. =)
It might expose some government employees to some good books.
A large, clear, well-defined target is always appreciated.
BUT, the argument goes, even two to three years ago, the CAN/US ratio wasn't that bad. Sure, but years ago the rate had been that bad years ago. Yes, the dollar was improving (or de-improving, depending on which side of the 49th you're on)-- but would it keep up that trend? If the bookmakers kneejerked and switched all their pricing right then and there-- what would happen in a few years when the books came out? Would the market reflect their prediction?
Setting prices that far in the future is risky and uncertain. The book publishers have to follow policies, and trends, and make huge guesses. They're usually pretty accurate, but as the radical currency value shifts we're seeing now indicate-- they sometimes get it wrong. Maybe since the dollar has been shifting so dramatically for so long, the next "generation" of books will reflect a more reasonable gap. Or maybe the market will shift back to a 30% exchange rate. Who knows? But you can bet the book publishers are spending a lot of money paying people to give them their best estimate.
Oh, and as a sidenote: There's not much use complaining to the bookstore about it. They don't set the prices. In fact, they are just as hard done by. They paid (numbers guesses) $5USD to sell a book with a tag of $10USD, and now that $10USD is only worth $6.50 in comparison to the original currency.
A second sidenote: No, your local book seller won't let you pay in USD for the USD price. See above.
Another sidenote: No, they won't be manually changing the prices. Given thousands of items they have in store, can you imagine the logistics of sending around Betty Minimum Wage with a price gun, the financial page and a calculator to reprice them-- every single day?
Second, keep in mind that the balance in your account can be used for anything Virgin offers, including plans. If you've manage to build up a couple hundred dollars in your account, go to the My Account section of the site, and change your account type. Switch it to a $20/month with 200 minutes plan (or a $10/month, $0.10/minute plan). Drain your account a bunch. Then when you're low on account cash, switch it back to a pay-as-you-go, and buy more cards.
Or blow your cash on $5 ringtones. Whichever is easier for you.
Let's say they do, somehow, manage to use a prove-nothing Boilerplate get Joe Downloader into court. He argues that their evidence means nothing. They then put him on the stand, and ask "Did you download these mp3s?"
Let's say Joe actually did. Is the RIAA allowed to ask a broad, point-blank question like this? If he says "No", he's perjuring himself. Can he refuse to answer on the grounds that they should do their own damn evidence gathering, and not expect him to implicate himself?
I download seventeen and a half craptons of TV (stuff I've missed or that isn't available in my area). I hate commercials. I can't afford the same craptonage of DVDs (I'm a student), nor would I actually purchase most of this watch-once stuff.
HOWEVER...
If:
Then I could tolerate ONE commercial per break without reaching for the mute or fast-forward button. One 30-secondish commercial. It might be a benefit, in fact. I kind of like that brief pause between "scenes". It gives you a minute to digest it all before leaping into the next scene. I *MIGHT* even tolerate a 10-second overlay ad at the bottom of the screen (provided it's small, silent, and doesn't cover up any on-screen text like they do now you fuckers!). In fact, if the providers were smart, they'd have a script that inserts different commercials every week so that they aren't stale (and they can sell more "time" to advertisers)
That's my conditions. Anything more than that, and it becomes easier/more desirable to fast forward the commercials, or find someone who has clipped the commercials, or clip them myself.
I noticed that this is about the FCC "killing off" broadcast TV. But their plans seem to differ from those of the CRTC, the Canadian equivalent. So what's going to happen in border towns like Detroit or Buffalo, where Canadian broadcast signals are easily available?
For sure; the Chinese plutonium has lead paint.
As every poster has pointed out, you can rock-solid a computer with Kiosk modes, virtual machines, etc, etc. But if you're going to put a tool like the Internet into the hands of (shall we say) "unskilled" users, you have a responsibility to protect them from the baddies.
Before anyone gets on the computer for the first time, drill some basic saftey tips into them. Do not give out passwords. Do not give out personal data. Do not give out financial data. Not to anyone, no matter how legit it looks. For many, this is probably their first experience on the internet. You cannot take for granted that they have been ingrained with The Basics. They don't know about Phishing. They don't know people can make a website that looks exactly like their banks' website. They don't know about Nigeran princes. Their bases have only every belonged to them.
Print out some Golden Rules, and post them in the computer lab/common area/whatever. If the computers are going to be in the resident's apartments, make sure you print out something that can be stuck to the monitory.
Send them out to play, but not in traffic.
You can do some things behind the scenes as well. Route everything through a gateway you control. Make sure you have some good security on it. Go grab PeerGuardian's list, and maybe mvps.org's host file. Keep it up to date so that it blocks all the well known phishing sites. Concider blocking any outbound request for an IP address (rather than an URL). Run a mail server with a kickass spam filter, and give them all their own email boxes. (grandpaAbe@shadyacres.com). It also makes it easier to whitelist their friends&family email addresses to let legit attachments through.
Try running guided tours of the Internet. Don't just pluck them down and say "here you go". Show them good places to go, and how to get there. News sites. Wikipedia. National Geographic's site. Typing Tutor sites. Maybe some instructional courses: How to use Flickr to view and post family albums. How to edit a Wikipedia article about the hometown they grew up in (and know everything about... preserve the knowledge!)
Do this right, and not only will you have safe comptuers-- but you'll also have safe, happy, productive users.
As others have pointed out, this is a useless tactic. Yes, when you mail something to yourself, it gets date stamped. Great, wonderful. But there's no onus on the post office to ensure that you have properly sealed the envelope in anyway. You could leave it completely open and empty, and they'll mail it to you. Later on, at any time, you can put something into the envelope and seal it.
But what if the post office insists on datestamping over the enclosure of the envelope? Then it MUST be sealed. Sure-- or at least that end of the envelope does. Some envelopes can have two openings, because of the way they're folded. Have them timestamp over the second end. Or unseal the second end and reseal it later.
Or steam open the envelope, and very carefully reseal it afterwards so that the timestamp matches up.
Or use a plain white envelope, and a pair of chopsticks. Roll your document around the sticks, then stick the sticks into the envelope through the bottom where it isn't QUITE sealed along the fold.
There are so many ways to tamper with it. And you forget there's also the question of chain of possession. Who has actually had the envelope from the time it was stamped until the time you present it to the courts?
And what about a biased source? You're suing someone because you claim you own what they're say they own. Your proof? "Because I said so."
The main issue here isn't proving that you own something. It's that you own it, and that you came up with it, and that you came up with it first. As others have mentioned, use the patent office. Use a notary. They're all trusted third parties who can verify the when of it.
And to prove that you actually came up with it-- simple. Show your work. Keep every rough draft, concept sketch, hand-drawn Rose diagram, cvs revision and so forth. If someone does steal the final product, it becomes a huge advantage to you. The other guy says "This is my idea". You say "This is my idea, and here's fifteen boxes of evidence that demonstrate the process I went through to create it." Who do you think the judge is going to believe?