"Scientists studying how a new composite material reacts with microwaves have found that the waves refract in a way the defies a law of physics.
Somehow, I doubt it. The article headline says the same thing. The material doesn't defy anything, our knowledge of the laws is just lacking. It's a nitpick, but it's silly to say it defies the law.
Yes, the announcers/sportscasters on Battlebots are annoying. But we have to be reminded sometimes: the whole world isn't the slashdot crowd. Comedy Central/Battlebots/Everyone else involved has to try to appeal to a larger audience, including those people who watch sports with human athletes. I love the techie bits too, but I think Battlebots has a good mix - It could be all talk. At least Battlebots occasionally goes "behind the scenes" to highlight some of the robots. If everyone in the key demographics were/. readers and MIT grads, it wouldn't be an issue. But the real world has people who wanna hear silly anouncers and see things beat eachother, regardless of what the tech specifics.
Did they think they wouldn't be able to find the astronauts or NASA again if they didn't fill out customs paperwork? Do government agencies typically need to fill out such paperwork for other instances? Could they have been rejected and sent back to the moon? Who at the Hawaii airport decided that Cuban cigars, textiles from China, and moon rocks all fit into the same category?
It's just strange - will they do the same thing when people start going into space on their own? Will the Microsoft/Disney/Pepsico shuttle be required to declair if it has any fruit on board?
(this isn't mine, I read it online, but thought it very fitting today. Enjoy.)
He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim and five cubits high. It took a line ofthirty cubits to measure around it. -- 1 Kings 7:23
Friends, I'd like to take a moment or two to discuss with you the biggest whopper in the whole liberal lie of mathematics. The liberals like to tell us that pi is what they call a "transcendental number." This is, of course, shameless liberal jargon that has no meaning whatsoever. They are teaching our children that pi goes on and on forever without repeating itself, and that it is not representable by any polynomial with integer coefficients. This, my friends, represents only the latest in a long string of liberal lies meant to undermine God and his Creation.
The true value of pi is exactly three, as evidence by the Scripture quote above. It is universally agreed by all honest mathematicians that there is no evidence for a transcendental pi. Not one iota. Friends, you and I know that the Bible is the wholly inerrant word of God, and that the liberals are barking up the wrong tree. That doesn't stop them from spreading their socialist "transcendental number" propaganda. See, the liberals like stuff like this. They like anything that makes mankind think of itself as small and insignificant. This makes it easier for them to control the minds of our children. After all, why not listen to some liberal, if you are not capable of fully representing a single number?
This is an out-and-out lie.
The whole mathematical system has been invented by communists so that they can gain a foothold in decent society. Along with this comes the damnable "Metric" system, which was invented in the socialist Mecca of Europe. The liberals want us all to use this "Metric" system. They want to force us into conformity so that they can run our lives. They tried it once in the 1970s.. remember, that, friends? They put up all of those speed limit signs with metric measurements on them (kilowatt-hours? hectares? who knows!) Of course, God's good Christians responded warmly by shooting them down. Therefore, I am glad to report that the Metric system has not caught on in decent society, unless you count the increasing popularity of the nine-millimeter bullet.
Really, friends, the only unit of measure that we need is the cubit. This is a Biblical, Godly unit of measure that can be used for everything that the socialist Metric system is supposed to be used for. You can say "The Johnson baby was one tenth of a cubit long" or "It is 78.8 quintillion cubits to Alpha Centauri" (though the latter is a lie, of course; the stars are simply fixed points on a celestial sphere that lies somewhere beyond our planet Earth, which is the center of the Universe.) My swimming pool holds forty cubic cubits of water.
So let's fight the fight, friends. Let's fight transcendental numbers. Let's fight the Metric system. Let's wage a war against the liberals that intend to enslave our minds through obfuscated mathematics and anti-God systems of measurement. Write your congressman and school board and insist that they use books that teach that pi == 3 and transcendental numbers don't exist. We can do it, my friends. We can do it if we all stick together.
Though Paypal's been around for a while, Amazon's honor system is pretty new. They're popping up all over the place because they're new, and because a lot of site operators are just testing the waters. It doesn't hurt me to have a couple little logos on my site, especially if they might bring me cash to run the site. It's a free system to let users who are interested donate - of course it's popping up everywhere.
I think it's FAR too early to say that micropayments are a failure, and that we need to Save Our Sites. Most folks run sites out of love, and will continue to do so. Micropayments are just a way that we might be able to make some cash doing what we would do anyway. The Good Reverend I'm different, just like everybody else.
1.CD's don't fit into pockets.
2.CD's scratch easily as they are not protected by any casing like floppies and these new DataPlay discs.
3.Portable CD players are terribly bulky as they must house fair sized motors to spin heavy and unweildy CD's and must house the CD entierly.
4.CD's are still primarily a music meduim. Aside from the breach into the software installers, backups and games market, they are not too successful at photo storage, video storage and are silly for e-books.
As for your first three points, they didn't save the Minidisk. And for your forth, plenty of people get their photos developed right to disk now. And they don't need to be good for video storage, we have DVDs that are the same size.
You've made a lot of good points. Ultimately, however, you fail to realize your points apply to network television, not just Star Trek. Actors have contracts. All shows of all non-present eras make references to the present. All shows exist in a universe with "zero consequences". Some more of your points:
The Trek writers cannot develop characters that are remotely believable. Only mindless, one dimensional cliche's.
Trek characters, IMO, are deeper than most sitcom or hour drama characters. we'll have to agree to disagree.
They cannot handle character development. They tried on DS9, but it was always herky-jerky and forced. People didn't develop over time, they developed in one of their two or three designated character development episodes. Even then they couldn't convince anybody with an IQ above 74 that it was remotely natural and believable. At the end of TNG, everybody was almost exactly the same as they were Season 1. Let's not even mention Voyager.
Again, I disagree. Trek characters are considerably more developed - Take a look at Picard season one compared to Picard seasons six and seven. Hell, look at all the characters. Your point isn't specific to Star Trek, you could replace the title with any show that's ever been on television.
They cannot handle long-term story arcs. The Trek way is to start a war in one ep and forget about it for oh......8 episodes or so, with a few infrequent cut and paste mentions here and there. Even then, you can forsee the outcome 3 seasons in advance. Their "surprises" are incredibly weak and convoluted. God forbid they start a conflict in an ep that isn't the season finale!
The DS9 Dominion War was too long and got silly...but it's silly to say they "forgot" about it. it was always in the background.
No character ever dies unless the actor playing them asks for more money or quits in frustration when the writers can't think of anything to do with them. Everybody has their nice 6 year contract.
Trek actors, as far as I know, don't have set contract lengths at the beginning of the runs of each series. We saw various characters (most notably Tasha, Judiza and Kes) all leave, and they all left for different reasons. Once again, your points are NOT specific to Trek, but to television in general.
The writers cannot come up with a new and exciting story, most of it is recycled from other Trek shows, and even if they can write a script you could consider "passable" everything is neatly wrapped up by the end of the hour.
That's one of the oldest jokes about television - from the Leave it to Beaver days to now - the drama gets wrapped up before the show's over. This is NOT something just Trek deals with, and says nothing of the Trek writing.
The surroundings are always sterile and unrealistic. Unless you count the one, single "plot-device-personal-possesion" each major character has.
As stated by other posters, when Trek goes dark, fans don't like it. Once more, most shows are "sterile and unrealistic" - it's fiction, remember? And if you'd like, I'll supply you with a huge list of personal possessions each character has and appears in episodes.
The solution to any problem is a particle-of-the week/technical thing we have never heard of before. While the "realistic" and "logical" soltion is impossible because of veteron radiation or something.
This is called a "plot device". Maybe you've heard of it. Non-sci-fi shows have a non-sci-fi version - drama is interesting because the "easy" way is often impossible. Star Trek didn't come up with it.
The Federation believes itself to be infallible.
The Fonz believes himself to be cool. So?
All bad guys are one-dimensional caricatures who either die or come around to the infallible Federation way of doing things. Not to mention the fact they look like 50 other aliens we have seen.
Make-up departments don't have the biggest budgets. Besides - humans play the characters. Get over it.
Here's the bottom line: Star Trek is a popular franchise with a core group of fans and many fringe fans. Trek's fans are probably more dedicated than any other besides possibly soap opera fans, and Trek fans tend to use the internet a little more, so you hear about it a little more. Trek still makes money, and there will always been a new series on the horizon as long as money keeps coming in. The most important point you should remember, however, is that Star Trek is a television show. If you don't like it, don't watch it. It contains human actors wearing make up. It's written by human beings with a much tougher job than most television writers, because of the history they need to know with every episode. But it's just TV. Just fiction. Don't get so worked up.
I also lived in Santa Cruz for a short while (4 years, while in school). I moved away for various reasons, but I have to take issue with your stereotypes. There are a lot of homeless folks. And a lot of rich white kids, away from home for the first time. Oddly enough, some of the homeless people are rich white kids, in it for the expirence. There are, however, all sorts of decent, hard working people and college students who are there for learning. But I'd advise anyone against moving to Santa Cruz - housing is a joke (if you can find it), it's so liberal it made me (a pretty liberal person in my own right) look like a raging conservitive, and paranoia of everything runs rampant (some of the bigger civil issues lately have revolved around bulding a borders bookstore, because it would hurt the smaller chains, screw the free market, and hippies telling me that 90% of dentists are wrong in regards to floridation, and we should get rid of it). Interesting city...stay away.
The Good Reverend
Re:And this is on Slashdot because ...
on
Hannibal's Return
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· Score: 1
Because this is part of Jon's "sunday mornings are slow and we'll have non-relevant movie reviews" features. There are plenty of better places to get movie reviews; I don't go to Ebert's site for tech news.
Nike's obvious defensiveness with regard to the use of the words "sweatshop," "child labor," "Nike sux," et al. lead us to one thing:
Truth hurts, don't it.
I think it has more to do with Nike having the right to decide what does and doesn't go on thier products. If I ran a company, I wouldn't want messages against me on my products. They have every right to decide.
Scanning through, there's already a few posts that discuss how this isn't Slashdot material. Let me continue.
I enjoy slashdot. I read it daily. I'm not a Linux nut, and some aspects of the tech information go over my head. That's fine. I expect that. I enjoy the pop-tech news, the neat gadgets, and industry news from both the linux and non-linux sides. I even enjoy the occasional movie review of a tech themed movie.
But "Saving Silverman"? I know it's sunday morning here, and there's not much else going on. But I can read movie reviews anywhere. This isn't even a tech themed film - just as Jon described, it's a dumb buddy movie - anyone going to see it pretty much knows what to expect. I'm glad Jon chimed in with all sorts of pop culture references to make his review look like a college essay. That's great. I majored in American Popular Culture in college. I wrote a lot of papers describing the social spects of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the implications of the future in Blade Runner. But I wouldn't post either of those to/. even if I could. Why? It's not the right audience.
While this post isn't unique, I hope Jon reads it: I enjoy your writing style and the points you have to make on most things. But the TV ads, Roger Ebert and my college pop culture classes taught me all I need to know about dumb buddy movies, thanks.
Can you somehow sue, under the assumption that that particular pull of the slot machine lever could of possible hit the grand prize?
Nope, sorry. Most (if not all) slot machines have a disclaimer that in the case of an error, all spins are void. Even without MS getting into the fold, slot machines occasionally fail (walk around a casino sometime while they're fixing one - absolutly fascinating). I'd be pissed if I was going to win and there was some error, but there's nothing you can do about it.
"But would a trailer like that capture the hearts of the audience at large?
Why not? The "masses" aren't any one kind of moviegoer. They don't "need" a murder or chase scene...you'll notice many movies have those elements, because it's what sells. Now, is this because it's what the audience wants or what the studios think the audience wants? People will go to the movies no matter what. They'll tend to see something that at least partially sparks their interest, but they'll go if the studios put out crap or art, because they like to see a movie.
The Good Taco's rant seems to me why a lot of folks now a days have preconceived notions about Linux and it's users. It's a sort of elitism of "I'm so cool that bagging on M$ and saying how rarely I visit their site makes me a better person." While I agree that a DNS failure isn't really news, Taco's little rant just reinforces stereotypes about the blind, pointless "I'm better than you" attitudes many people hold about their freakin' computer operating system. Calm down dude. It's software. We know you don't go to their site. We know you're better than that. We know, we know.
McCoy: "Would you mind telling me how we plan to convert this whale tank?"
Scott: "Ordinarily I could do it with transparent transistors."
Sulu: "I'm afraid you're a number of years too early for that."
Scott: "I know. We've got to find a twentieth century equivalent."
McCoy: "But where?"
Later...
Nichols: "Transparent Transistors?"
Scott: "That's the ticket, laddie."
Nichols: "It'd take years just to figure out the dynamics of this matrix."
McCoy: "Yes, but you would be rich beyond the dreams of avarice!"
--
McCoy: "You, uh, realize, of course, if we give him the formula, we're altering the future."
Scott: "Why? How do we know he didn't invent the thing?"
We can't find kidnappers, rapists, and murders, but we can track down two idiots who sent out 50 million emails and had 12k idiots fall for their ploy..
I agree with your other points, but it does tend to be quite a bit easier to find someone who's interested in selling you something. They have to pick up your money somewhere, most likely the place you send it.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Caught in a power crunch even before winter has begun, California ordered some major commercial users to cut back on electricity Thursday...
California doesn't have power crunches in the winter - most of the state is mild enough. Summer is when we typically have our "power crunch"; everyone and their mother using their AC.
Second, this just seems created to me. Local news going crazy (as they typically do) about the crisis, and how we all better turn off our Christmas displays... it's making old ladies think thier one string of blinking lights is going to take out the state's power grid. Yet we aren't being asked to not cook, iron, or use hot water - all things that will use considerably more electricity than even a large display of holiday lights. There's news in this, but I don't know if there's an actual story in there anywhere.
t seems to me that the Copernican effect is running out of control. Every day, almost, scientists strive to convince us that we are small and insignificant as a civilisation. I would disagree with this, however. We, the human race, are the most important things we know of.
"Copernican Effect"? Interesting. I was under the assumption that we're here to learn and explain...and it started WAY before Copernicus.
However, both your points are valid. We are the most important things we know of. On our planet, we are clearly the species that's accomplished the most in culture and mass communication. We have a written history, and we've overcome great odds to get where we are today. As a species, we've done well.
On the other side of the same coin, however, is the fact that we're an interesting, though microscopic, part of the universe. The universe is HUGE...much bigger, I believe, than any of us are really capable of comprehending. Science has nothing to do with making this so, it's always been. It just happens that we, as an interesting culture, have developed the method of discovering just how small we are. I think it's an important part of a culture or species to realize just how small they are in the Grand Scheme...it means we're advancing.
The seven words (shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits) for the most part are dirty as far as the FCC goes (piss is marginal nowadays). They are not, however, the only 7. When I was a radio DJ, I couldn't say "cock" unless referring to a rooster, and I couldn't say "pussy" unless referring to a cat (and even that was questionable, since everyone knows what I'd be implying). I also can't say twat, nor can I damn someone to hell on the radio. Those are just the FCC's rules.
There is the strange case of some songs, that for reasons never shared with this former DJ, are perfectly acceptable. No radio station I've ever heard has ever censored the line "Who the fuck are you" from that Who's "Who are you", or the phrase "good bullshit" from Pink Floyd's "Money". Similarly, anyone can say "shat" (the past tense of shit) on TV or the radio, as most people don't seem to know what it means.
While I don't agree with the FCC, I can see the point: some people might very well hear the offensive words when they weren't expecting it,or their children might hear them. While I see absolutely wrong (and everything right) with creative uses of words and letters, I understand that some people can be offended. But in a web site address, who cares? You're not going to type it in, and you're not going to see advertising for it, and you're not going to see it in a search engine unless you're looking for it...and even so, the words in a domain name are NOTHING compared the pictures and words ON websites with names as inconspicuous as whitehouse.com.
If you don't like it, don't look at it...I think that's what all this comes down to. If you don't want your children looking at words and letters in offensive combinations, check to see what they're doing online. But don't stop me from doing what I want to do if it doesn't hurt you.
Is that really in 4 dimensions? Or just one way to make a 3d maze on a flat screen? I don't see where the 4th dim comes in. You can move L and R, and back and forth to adjacent squares. It just seems like a 3d maze and you view slices of it that you can move between.
The 4th dimension comes in because you can move to any white space in any of the adjacent squares, not just 2 of them (up and down). Imagine moving in your own square as 2 dimensions (left and right), the squares above or below your big sqare as the third dimension (up and down), and the squares to the left and right of your big square as your forth dimension (left and right, but on a different "level").
The Age of Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurzweil is an awesome book. Along the same lines is Eliezer S. Yudkowsky's Meaning of life page, at http://www.sysopmind.com/tmol-f aq/ meaningoflife.html. It's like a sped-up Kurzweil. It's all very cool =)
Acid rain is nothing new to the world... just ask anyone in L.A.... And hot spells... let's go into the gobi and ask people there how they feel about hot spells...
I live within a few miles of Los Angeles, and acid rain isn't a problem. Rain here is just rain. If you want acid rain, try Canada, though I've heard predictions and reality aren't quite matching up. As for the Gobi, it's a desert. Some deserts do tend to get hot.
It is a known fact that the record companies charge artificially high prices for music
It's a known fact that every business charges more for it's goods and services than it costs to produce, it's called capitalism. Any industry that doesn't turn a profit (save startups) won't last very long. While I agree that the record companies take the point and run with it, they're in business to make a buck, just like everyone else. And I agree with the original poster: if this was me or you, getting some songs to listen to, that's one thing. But advertising anonymous access is just asking for trouble.
Slashdot Mirror
"Scientists studying how a new composite material reacts with microwaves have found that the waves refract in a way the defies a law of physics.
Somehow, I doubt it. The article headline says the same thing. The material doesn't defy anything, our knowledge of the laws is just lacking. It's a nitpick, but it's silly to say it defies the law.
The Good Reverend
I'm different, just like everybody else.
Yes, the announcers/sportscasters on Battlebots are annoying. But we have to be reminded sometimes: the whole world isn't the slashdot crowd. Comedy Central/Battlebots/Everyone else involved has to try to appeal to a larger audience, including those people who watch sports with human athletes. I love the techie bits too, but I think Battlebots has a good mix - It could be all talk. At least Battlebots occasionally goes "behind the scenes" to highlight some of the robots. If everyone in the key demographics were /. readers and MIT grads, it wouldn't be an issue. But the real world has people who wanna hear silly anouncers and see things beat eachother, regardless of what the tech specifics.
The Good Reverend
I'm different, just like everybody else.
Did they think they wouldn't be able to find the astronauts or NASA again if they didn't fill out customs paperwork? Do government agencies typically need to fill out such paperwork for other instances? Could they have been rejected and sent back to the moon? Who at the Hawaii airport decided that Cuban cigars, textiles from China, and moon rocks all fit into the same category?
It's just strange - will they do the same thing when people start going into space on their own? Will the Microsoft/Disney/Pepsico shuttle be required to declair if it has any fruit on board?
The Good Reverend
I'm different, just like everybody else.
(this isn't mine, I read it online, but thought it very fitting today. Enjoy.)
.. remember, that, friends? They put up all of those speed limit signs with metric measurements on them (kilowatt-hours? hectares? who knows!) Of course, God's good Christians responded warmly by shooting them down. Therefore, I am glad to report that the Metric system has not caught on in decent society, unless you count the increasing popularity of the nine-millimeter bullet.
He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim and five cubits high. It took a line ofthirty cubits to measure around it. -- 1 Kings 7:23
Friends, I'd like to take a moment or two to discuss with you the biggest whopper in the whole liberal lie of mathematics. The liberals like to tell us that pi is what they call a "transcendental number." This is, of course, shameless liberal jargon that has no meaning whatsoever. They are teaching our children that pi goes on and on forever without repeating itself, and that it is not representable by any polynomial with integer coefficients. This, my friends, represents only the latest in a long string of liberal lies meant to undermine God and his Creation.
The true value of pi is exactly three, as evidence by the Scripture quote above. It is universally agreed by all honest mathematicians that there is no evidence for a transcendental pi. Not one iota. Friends, you and I know that the Bible is the wholly inerrant word of God, and that the liberals are barking up the wrong tree. That doesn't stop them from spreading their socialist "transcendental number" propaganda. See, the liberals like stuff like this. They like anything that makes mankind think of itself as small and insignificant. This makes it easier for them to control the minds of our children. After all, why not listen to some liberal, if you are not capable of fully representing a single number?
This is an out-and-out lie.
The whole mathematical system has been invented by communists so that they can gain a foothold in decent society. Along with this comes the damnable "Metric" system, which was invented in the socialist Mecca of Europe. The liberals want us all to use this "Metric" system. They want to force us into conformity so that they can run our lives. They tried it once in the 1970s
Really, friends, the only unit of measure that we need is the cubit. This is a Biblical, Godly unit of measure that can be used for everything that the socialist Metric system is supposed to be used for. You can say "The Johnson baby was one tenth of a cubit long" or "It is 78.8 quintillion cubits to Alpha Centauri" (though the latter is a lie, of course; the stars are simply fixed points on a celestial sphere that lies somewhere beyond our planet Earth, which is the center of the Universe.) My swimming pool holds forty cubic cubits of water.
So let's fight the fight, friends. Let's fight transcendental numbers. Let's fight the Metric system. Let's wage a war against the liberals that intend to enslave our minds through obfuscated mathematics and anti-God systems of measurement. Write your congressman and school board and insist that they use books that teach that pi == 3 and transcendental numbers don't exist. We can do it, my friends. We can do it if we all stick together.
The Good Reverend
I'm different, just like everybody else.
Though Paypal's been around for a while, Amazon's honor system is pretty new. They're popping up all over the place because they're new, and because a lot of site operators are just testing the waters. It doesn't hurt me to have a couple little logos on my site, especially if they might bring me cash to run the site. It's a free system to let users who are interested donate - of course it's popping up everywhere.
I think it's FAR too early to say that micropayments are a failure, and that we need to Save Our Sites. Most folks run sites out of love, and will continue to do so. Micropayments are just a way that we might be able to make some cash doing what we would do anyway.
The Good Reverend
I'm different, just like everybody else.
1.CD's don't fit into pockets.
2.CD's scratch easily as they are not protected by any casing like floppies and these new DataPlay discs.
3.Portable CD players are terribly bulky as they must house fair sized motors to spin heavy and unweildy CD's and must house the CD entierly.
4.CD's are still primarily a music meduim. Aside from the breach into the software installers, backups and games market, they are not too successful at photo storage, video storage and are silly for e-books.
As for your first three points, they didn't save the Minidisk. And for your forth, plenty of people get their photos developed right to disk now. And they don't need to be good for video storage, we have DVDs that are the same size.
The Good Reverend
You've made a lot of good points. Ultimately, however, you fail to realize your points apply to network television, not just Star Trek. Actors have contracts. All shows of all non-present eras make references to the present. All shows exist in a universe with "zero consequences". Some more of your points:
The Trek writers cannot develop characters that are remotely believable. Only mindless, one dimensional cliche's.
Trek characters, IMO, are deeper than most sitcom or hour drama characters. we'll have to agree to disagree.
They cannot handle character development. They tried on DS9, but it was always herky-jerky and forced. People didn't develop over time, they developed in one of their two or three designated character development episodes. Even then they couldn't convince anybody with an IQ above 74 that it was remotely natural and believable. At the end of TNG, everybody was almost exactly the same as they were Season 1. Let's not even mention Voyager.
Again, I disagree. Trek characters are considerably more developed - Take a look at Picard season one compared to Picard seasons six and seven. Hell, look at all the characters. Your point isn't specific to Star Trek, you could replace the title with any show that's ever been on television.
They cannot handle long-term story arcs. The Trek way is to start a war in one ep and forget about it for oh......8 episodes or so, with a few infrequent cut and paste mentions here and there. Even then, you can forsee the outcome 3 seasons in advance. Their "surprises" are incredibly weak and convoluted. God forbid they start a conflict in an ep that isn't the season finale!
The DS9 Dominion War was too long and got silly...but it's silly to say they "forgot" about it. it was always in the background.
No character ever dies unless the actor playing them asks for more money or quits in frustration when the writers can't think of anything to do with them. Everybody has their nice 6 year contract.
Trek actors, as far as I know, don't have set contract lengths at the beginning of the runs of each series. We saw various characters (most notably Tasha, Judiza and Kes) all leave, and they all left for different reasons. Once again, your points are NOT specific to Trek, but to television in general.
The writers cannot come up with a new and exciting story, most of it is recycled from other Trek shows, and even if they can write a script you could consider "passable" everything is neatly wrapped up by the end of the hour.
That's one of the oldest jokes about television - from the Leave it to Beaver days to now - the drama gets wrapped up before the show's over. This is NOT something just Trek deals with, and says nothing of the Trek writing.
The surroundings are always sterile and unrealistic. Unless you count the one, single "plot-device-personal-possesion" each major character has.
As stated by other posters, when Trek goes dark, fans don't like it. Once more, most shows are "sterile and unrealistic" - it's fiction, remember? And if you'd like, I'll supply you with a huge list of personal possessions each character has and appears in episodes.
The solution to any problem is a particle-of-the week/technical thing we have never heard of before. While the "realistic" and "logical" soltion is impossible because of veteron radiation or something.
This is called a "plot device". Maybe you've heard of it. Non-sci-fi shows have a non-sci-fi version - drama is interesting because the "easy" way is often impossible. Star Trek didn't come up with it.
The Federation believes itself to be infallible.
The Fonz believes himself to be cool. So?
All bad guys are one-dimensional caricatures who either die or come around to the infallible Federation way of doing things. Not to mention the fact they look like 50 other aliens we have seen.
Make-up departments don't have the biggest budgets. Besides - humans play the characters. Get over it.
Here's the bottom line: Star Trek is a popular franchise with a core group of fans and many fringe fans. Trek's fans are probably more dedicated than any other besides possibly soap opera fans, and Trek fans tend to use the internet a little more, so you hear about it a little more. Trek still makes money, and there will always been a new series on the horizon as long as money keeps coming in. The most important point you should remember, however, is that Star Trek is a television show. If you don't like it, don't watch it. It contains human actors wearing make up. It's written by human beings with a much tougher job than most television writers, because of the history they need to know with every episode. But it's just TV. Just fiction. Don't get so worked up.
The Good Reverend
I'm different, just like everybody else.
I also lived in Santa Cruz for a short while (4 years, while in school). I moved away for various reasons, but I have to take issue with your stereotypes. There are a lot of homeless folks. And a lot of rich white kids, away from home for the first time. Oddly enough, some of the homeless people are rich white kids, in it for the expirence. There are, however, all sorts of decent, hard working people and college students who are there for learning. But I'd advise anyone against moving to Santa Cruz - housing is a joke (if you can find it), it's so liberal it made me (a pretty liberal person in my own right) look like a raging conservitive, and paranoia of everything runs rampant (some of the bigger civil issues lately have revolved around bulding a borders bookstore, because it would hurt the smaller chains, screw the free market, and hippies telling me that 90% of dentists are wrong in regards to floridation, and we should get rid of it). Interesting city...stay away.
The Good Reverend
Because this is part of Jon's "sunday mornings are slow and we'll have non-relevant movie reviews" features. There are plenty of better places to get movie reviews; I don't go to Ebert's site for tech news.
The Good Reverend
Nike's obvious defensiveness with regard to the use of the words "sweatshop," "child labor," "Nike sux," et al. lead us to one thing:
Truth hurts, don't it.
I think it has more to do with Nike having the right to decide what does and doesn't go on thier products. If I ran a company, I wouldn't want messages against me on my products. They have every right to decide.
The Good Reverend
2001-03-17 04:17:34. Just a guess. No real reason.
The Good Reverend
Scanning through, there's already a few posts that discuss how this isn't Slashdot material. Let me continue.
/. even if I could. Why? It's not the right audience.
I enjoy slashdot. I read it daily. I'm not a Linux nut, and some aspects of the tech information go over my head. That's fine. I expect that. I enjoy the pop-tech news, the neat gadgets, and industry news from both the linux and non-linux sides. I even enjoy the occasional movie review of a tech themed movie.
But "Saving Silverman"? I know it's sunday morning here, and there's not much else going on. But I can read movie reviews anywhere. This isn't even a tech themed film - just as Jon described, it's a dumb buddy movie - anyone going to see it pretty much knows what to expect. I'm glad Jon chimed in with all sorts of pop culture references to make his review look like a college essay. That's great. I majored in American Popular Culture in college. I wrote a lot of papers describing the social spects of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the implications of the future in Blade Runner. But I wouldn't post either of those to
While this post isn't unique, I hope Jon reads it: I enjoy your writing style and the points you have to make on most things. But the TV ads, Roger Ebert and my college pop culture classes taught me all I need to know about dumb buddy movies, thanks.
The Good Reverend
Can you somehow sue, under the assumption that that particular pull of the slot machine lever could of possible hit the grand prize?
Nope, sorry. Most (if not all) slot machines have a disclaimer that in the case of an error, all spins are void. Even without MS getting into the fold, slot machines occasionally fail (walk around a casino sometime while they're fixing one - absolutly fascinating). I'd be pissed if I was going to win and there was some error, but there's nothing you can do about it.
The Good Reverend
"But would a trailer like that capture the hearts of the audience at large?
Why not? The "masses" aren't any one kind of moviegoer. They don't "need" a murder or chase scene...you'll notice many movies have those elements, because it's what sells. Now, is this because it's what the audience wants or what the studios think the audience wants? People will go to the movies no matter what. They'll tend to see something that at least partially sparks their interest, but they'll go if the studios put out crap or art, because they like to see a movie.
The Good Reverend
The Good Taco's rant seems to me why a lot of folks now a days have preconceived notions about Linux and it's users. It's a sort of elitism of "I'm so cool that bagging on M$ and saying how rarely I visit their site makes me a better person." While I agree that a DNS failure isn't really news, Taco's little rant just reinforces stereotypes about the blind, pointless "I'm better than you" attitudes many people hold about their freakin' computer operating system. Calm down dude. It's software. We know you don't go to their site. We know you're better than that. We know, we know.
Flamebait? Probably. Do as you will.
The Good Reverend
McCoy: "Would you mind telling me how we plan to convert this whale tank?"
Scott: "Ordinarily I could do it with transparent transistors."
Sulu: "I'm afraid you're a number of years too early for that."
Scott: "I know. We've got to find a twentieth century equivalent."
McCoy: "But where?"
Later...
Nichols: "Transparent Transistors?"
Scott: "That's the ticket, laddie."
Nichols: "It'd take years just to figure out the dynamics of this matrix."
McCoy: "Yes, but you would be rich beyond the dreams of avarice!"
--
McCoy: "You, uh, realize, of course, if we give him the formula, we're altering the future."
Scott: "Why? How do we know he didn't invent the thing?"
--
The Good Reverend
We can't find kidnappers, rapists, and murders, but we can track down two idiots who sent out 50 million emails and had 12k idiots fall for their ploy..
I agree with your other points, but it does tend to be quite a bit easier to find someone who's interested in selling you something. They have to pick up your money somewhere, most likely the place you send it.
The Good Reverend
First off, the article is a little misleading:
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Caught in a power crunch even before winter has begun, California ordered some major commercial users to cut back on electricity Thursday...
California doesn't have power crunches in the winter - most of the state is mild enough. Summer is when we typically have our "power crunch"; everyone and their mother using their AC.
Second, this just seems created to me. Local news going crazy (as they typically do) about the crisis, and how we all better turn off our Christmas displays... it's making old ladies think thier one string of blinking lights is going to take out the state's power grid. Yet we aren't being asked to not cook, iron, or use hot water - all things that will use considerably more electricity than even a large display of holiday lights. There's news in this, but I don't know if there's an actual story in there anywhere.
The Good Reverend
t seems to me that the Copernican effect is running out of control. Every day, almost, scientists strive to convince us that we are small and insignificant as a civilisation. I would disagree with this, however. We, the human race, are the most important things we know of.
"Copernican Effect"? Interesting. I was under the assumption that we're here to learn and explain...and it started WAY before Copernicus.
However, both your points are valid. We are the most important things we know of. On our planet, we are clearly the species that's accomplished the most in culture and mass communication. We have a written history, and we've overcome great odds to get where we are today. As a species, we've done well.
On the other side of the same coin, however, is the fact that we're an interesting, though microscopic, part of the universe. The universe is HUGE...much bigger, I believe, than any of us are really capable of comprehending. Science has nothing to do with making this so, it's always been. It just happens that we, as an interesting culture, have developed the method of discovering just how small we are. I think it's an important part of a culture or species to realize just how small they are in the Grand Scheme...it means we're advancing.
The Good Reverend
The seven words (shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits) for the most part are dirty as far as the FCC goes (piss is marginal nowadays). They are not, however, the only 7. When I was a radio DJ, I couldn't say "cock" unless referring to a rooster, and I couldn't say "pussy" unless referring to a cat (and even that was questionable, since everyone knows what I'd be implying). I also can't say twat, nor can I damn someone to hell on the radio. Those are just the FCC's rules.
There is the strange case of some songs, that for reasons never shared with this former DJ, are perfectly acceptable. No radio station I've ever heard has ever censored the line "Who the fuck are you" from that Who's "Who are you", or the phrase "good bullshit" from Pink Floyd's "Money". Similarly, anyone can say "shat" (the past tense of shit) on TV or the radio, as most people don't seem to know what it means.
While I don't agree with the FCC, I can see the point: some people might very well hear the offensive words when they weren't expecting it,or their children might hear them. While I see absolutely wrong (and everything right) with creative uses of words and letters, I understand that some people can be offended. But in a web site address, who cares? You're not going to type it in, and you're not going to see advertising for it, and you're not going to see it in a search engine unless you're looking for it...and even so, the words in a domain name are NOTHING compared the pictures and words ON websites with names as inconspicuous as whitehouse.com.
If you don't like it, don't look at it...I think that's what all this comes down to. If you don't want your children looking at words and letters in offensive combinations, check to see what they're doing online. But don't stop me from doing what I want to do if it doesn't hurt you.
The Good Reverend
Is that really in 4 dimensions? Or just one way to make a 3d maze on a flat screen? I don't see where the 4th dim comes in. You can move L and R, and back and forth to adjacent squares. It just seems like a 3d maze and you view slices of it that you can move between.
The 4th dimension comes in because you can move to any white space in any of the adjacent squares, not just 2 of them (up and down). Imagine moving in your own square as 2 dimensions (left and right), the squares above or below your big sqare as the third dimension (up and down), and the squares to the left and right of your big square as your forth dimension (left and right, but on a different "level").
The Good Reverend
Check out the 10-18-00 Savage Love column, hosted kindly by The Onion. It's available at http://avclub.theonion.com/savage.html.
It goes into much of what's wrong with Nader, and why he's not a good choice to make, no matter what.
The Good Reverend
The Age of Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurzweil is an awesome book. Along the same lines is Eliezer S. Yudkowsky's Meaning of life page, at http://www.sysopmind.com/tmol-f aq/ meaningoflife.html. It's like a sped-up Kurzweil. It's all very cool =)
The Good Reverend
Acid rain is nothing new to the world ... just ask anyone in L.A. ... And hot spells ... let's go into the gobi and ask people there how they feel about hot spells ...
I live within a few miles of Los Angeles, and acid rain isn't a problem. Rain here is just rain. If you want acid rain, try Canada, though I've heard predictions and reality aren't quite matching up. As for the Gobi, it's a desert. Some deserts do tend to get hot.
The Good Reverend
It is a known fact that the record companies charge artificially high prices for music
It's a known fact that every business charges more for it's goods and services than it costs to produce, it's called capitalism. Any industry that doesn't turn a profit (save startups) won't last very long. While I agree that the record companies take the point and run with it, they're in business to make a buck, just like everyone else. And I agree with the original poster: if this was me or you, getting some songs to listen to, that's one thing. But advertising anonymous access is just asking for trouble.
The Good Reverend