World of Warcraft, before the NES?!?! Were the writers huffing paint?
The NES was pretty much the best console for a decade - WoW isn't 4 years old yet, and doesn't have a quarter the market that Nintendo pretty much created. Atari barely scratched the surface until that thing came around and introduced something beyond the basic arcade game to the home user.
Lol right on both counts, was too late to edit - and I AM a little drunk...
Drunken Cochrane was a funny idea though.
The Matrix was bad - I'm being too hard on Back to the Future but sometimes they just weren't consistent (first one wasn't bad but I'm shoving the trilogies together here, SW and Matrix included). *why the HELL did Biff bring back the Delorean?*
Why was the Matrix bad, no it wasn't just Keanu...he was good for THAT part, but it was the machines. Smart enough to design a cage fit for a biological supercomputer, but not smart enough to get into LEO and build solar panels? Excuse me? Plus the analogy was supposed to make us think about our own world, to parallel it, and there it just didn't hold up. An ST spinoff with the mind of the collective would have been lightyears ahead of this metaphysically speaking.
Eh its Monty Python in space.
Look at it that way and its not too bad.
I suppose its kind of science fictiony...some interesting ideas...but ultimately, only really funny and intriguing if you're blitzed out of your mind.
I don't care what the critics and the hardcores say - First Contact kicked ass.
Drunken Zefram Cochrane piloting the first warp flight, Borg Queen getting some beat down with acid by Data...it was good, very good. Better than Back to the Future, and without a doubt better than the turd mongler Matrix movies. "Red pill, blue pill", how about the cyanide pill so I don't have to watch this piece of crap for another minute longer...
I didn't love Star Wars, it was pretty good, but it's just not science fiction. Because something takes place in space with ships and laser guns doesn't make it sci fi. It was as much fantasy as the Neverending Story with a dog flying in LEO, or the Lord of the Rings with hobbits and wizards smoking the chronic.
Brilliant post - for anyone who as actually WATCHED TNG - this is the truth.
They tried very hard to show people how complex the future could be.
For anyone who thinks they took the science out of science fiction - look at your fucking cell phone. If it's Motorola, look at the symbol. Star trek, or something like it, will be our future - and you better hope its not the borg - because THAT is inside of us. We are one...maybe, but I hope it's something we can balance in time, even after time has little meaning.
Because for the most part, it is that simple - the educated uncaring, educated caring, or uneducated ignorant uncaring/caring, that's the conflict.
Feeling vs thought, gut instinct vs logic, pleasure and pain vs intrigue and interest - that's what it comes down to in drama. You can muddle it up split it up into more complex ideas, but it always, always can boil down to this.
This is what sells, at least when its close to the heart and mind. The more complex science fiction, that which could actually save our ass and not just jerk off old Shakespeare crap, does not sell very well, unless it has the advantage of brilliantly beautiful visuals - ala TNG, most of the reason why it sold so well. The stories, stunning for the most part, but it's not what sold the show.
Here's a basic summary of how light bulbs that you screw into sockets work.
The electricity in your house is vibrating at a frequency of 60Hz, or 60 times per second. (basically one pulse of 60hz, then off, followed by a pulse of 60hz, then off, etc)
The lights vibrate at a frequency of 120hz, to create a mean wavelength of 60hz. (Fluorescent have their own ballast which can alter this frequency much more dramatically, but this is standard for halogen or standard incandescent bulbs)
LEDs at 120hz, you notice a very distinct flicker. This is because there is no light generated in between the pulses, because there is very little heat created. The heat in a halogen or incandescent bulb releases photons on the off pulse, making much more consistent, continuous light.
...when cell phones have backup batteries attached to GPS transmitters...
Yes, all cell phones made since 2005 have a secondary battery with a GPS transmitter attached. The battery is attached to the microphone as well.
So we always do the easiest, most destructive thing?
Are you telling me its easier to build a lean-to than it is to break it down?
Simple concept - its easier to build something that destroys than it is to build the thing itself.
Sure we can LEARN a lot from nuclear testing - but is it really a good idea?
Basically we probably shouldn't be screwing with high energy physics involving micro-singularities on a quantum scale.
Replicate positive things in the universe - not the nasty things. Suffice it to say it's obviously harder to build a star than a black hole. Like it's easier to build bombs than buildings.
Tracking eyes is creepy - sorry.
The comp is paid for with advertising, ad blockers don't work, its there.
Forcing people to look at the adverts is unbelievably creepy, wierd, and reeks all kinds of Orwellian corporate crap.
Advertising paying for computers...ok, maybe - but having software forcing people to look at that - no way, no how, that should be illegal. It allows for a very nasty corporate culture of absolute profit guarantee to creep into places it shouldn't be allowed to (it shouldn't be allowed at all, it's wrong, but here something can be done to stop it)
Don't like to nitpick - but ethanol is not a fossil fuel.
It is a hydrocarbon, but it was not formed through a several million year process of compression and heat from complex biological molecules to petroleum products.
Sitting in front as a screen isn't always applicable.
Many people read before bed, or when outdoors. Reading on a small screen is impractical and annoying.
Ultimately the only way to make this practical was said in TFA.
"That's the predicament of digital music and digital video right now. Unprotected content over large BitTorrent networks is akin to having a Star Trek replicator. In order to have a DRM model that parallels the book model, you have to make copying music and movies as tough as photocopying a book."
In other words...keep doing exactly what their doing now. The only reason we don't have books pirated is because it takes expensive machines to properly bind and print a book. They aren't going to be able to improve the media so much that we can't replicate it - unless they want to pull some BS collusion with manufacturing companies. Digital media is inherently cheap to reproduce, if you can read it, you can copy it.
Do you have any idea what 10% of that country converted into solar cells would cost, require?
It's probably into the tens of trillions - and the production capacity to do that doesn't exist. Not only that what use would having all the electricity produced in Australia do?
Most energy is lost in the line. Running 400kv lines from Australia to North America would be a brutal waste until we have carbon nanotube powerlines.
I know for the most part when something isn't supposed to leak out - it doesn't.
Tell me there aren't incredibly illegal and unethical things done every day by otherwise good people under the guise of national security and the public good.
This certainly isn't the case here...they wouldn't need to shut down the telescope to obfuscate the truth of some global stability shattering images...but the possibility remains. I don't really see the point of having images paid for by the US government being subject to copy restictions for any amount of time, nor do I see the need for them to be held onto. I've never seen a reasoning anywhere - maybe someone can enlighten us as to why?
The datastream comes down from the sats, into dishes, and then goes to various datacenters through their network.
Would it be that difficult to have a live stream for all the projects just like they have for SOHO and the like? It wouldn't JUST be for the nutters either - having the raw data available would allow universities, and other private entities to examine the data as well. The post-processed images are nice, but it would be nice to see the original information right off the sats.
Having the datastream (raw, not the processed images), from NASA satellites freely available would eliminate any chance that they might try to "protect" us from something we may or may not be ready for. Chances are (and its 1000-1), that this has never occured, but honestly...if they DID see something strange, really strange, would they show us?
The answer is they probably wouldn't, not unless we were "ready".
Ironically your post is in conflict with your sig, lol sorry had to say it.
Had these companies been smaller...IE more obscure, they would have the "security" of not having Microsoft goons knocking at their door.
Slashdot Mirror
World of Warcraft, before the NES?!?! Were the writers huffing paint? The NES was pretty much the best console for a decade - WoW isn't 4 years old yet, and doesn't have a quarter the market that Nintendo pretty much created. Atari barely scratched the surface until that thing came around and introduced something beyond the basic arcade game to the home user.
Lol right on both counts, was too late to edit - and I AM a little drunk...
Drunken Cochrane was a funny idea though.
The Matrix was bad - I'm being too hard on Back to the Future but sometimes they just weren't consistent (first one wasn't bad but I'm shoving the trilogies together here, SW and Matrix included). *why the HELL did Biff bring back the Delorean?*
Why was the Matrix bad, no it wasn't just Keanu...he was good for THAT part, but it was the machines. Smart enough to design a cage fit for a biological supercomputer, but not smart enough to get into LEO and build solar panels? Excuse me? Plus the analogy was supposed to make us think about our own world, to parallel it, and there it just didn't hold up. An ST spinoff with the mind of the collective would have been lightyears ahead of this metaphysically speaking.
Eh its Monty Python in space. Look at it that way and its not too bad. I suppose its kind of science fictiony...some interesting ideas...but ultimately, only really funny and intriguing if you're blitzed out of your mind.
I don't care what the critics and the hardcores say - First Contact kicked ass.
Drunken Zefram Cochrane piloting the first warp flight, Borg Queen getting some beat down with acid by Data...it was good, very good. Better than Back to the Future, and without a doubt better than the turd mongler Matrix movies. "Red pill, blue pill", how about the cyanide pill so I don't have to watch this piece of crap for another minute longer...
I didn't love Star Wars, it was pretty good, but it's just not science fiction. Because something takes place in space with ships and laser guns doesn't make it sci fi. It was as much fantasy as the Neverending Story with a dog flying in LEO, or the Lord of the Rings with hobbits and wizards smoking the chronic.
Brilliant post - for anyone who as actually WATCHED TNG - this is the truth. They tried very hard to show people how complex the future could be. For anyone who thinks they took the science out of science fiction - look at your fucking cell phone. If it's Motorola, look at the symbol. Star trek, or something like it, will be our future - and you better hope its not the borg - because THAT is inside of us. We are one...maybe, but I hope it's something we can balance in time, even after time has little meaning.
Its the demon inside of us.
Because for the most part, it is that simple - the educated uncaring, educated caring, or uneducated ignorant uncaring/caring, that's the conflict.
Feeling vs thought, gut instinct vs logic, pleasure and pain vs intrigue and interest - that's what it comes down to in drama. You can muddle it up split it up into more complex ideas, but it always, always can boil down to this.
This is what sells, at least when its close to the heart and mind. The more complex science fiction, that which could actually save our ass and not just jerk off old Shakespeare crap, does not sell very well, unless it has the advantage of brilliantly beautiful visuals - ala TNG, most of the reason why it sold so well. The stories, stunning for the most part, but it's not what sold the show.
It's been around for over a decade - and it's called Echelon.
Here's a basic summary of how light bulbs that you screw into sockets work.
The electricity in your house is vibrating at a frequency of 60Hz, or 60 times per second. (basically one pulse of 60hz, then off, followed by a pulse of 60hz, then off, etc)
The lights vibrate at a frequency of 120hz, to create a mean wavelength of 60hz. (Fluorescent have their own ballast which can alter this frequency much more dramatically, but this is standard for halogen or standard incandescent bulbs)
LEDs at 120hz, you notice a very distinct flicker. This is because there is no light generated in between the pulses, because there is very little heat created. The heat in a halogen or incandescent bulb releases photons on the off pulse, making much more consistent, continuous light.
And does anyone else find the similarities between VeriChip and VersaLife (DeusEx nanotech umbrella corp), a bit creepy?
...when cell phones have backup batteries attached to GPS transmitters... Yes, all cell phones made since 2005 have a secondary battery with a GPS transmitter attached. The battery is attached to the microphone as well.
So we always do the easiest, most destructive thing? Are you telling me its easier to build a lean-to than it is to break it down? Simple concept - its easier to build something that destroys than it is to build the thing itself. Sure we can LEARN a lot from nuclear testing - but is it really a good idea?
Basically we probably shouldn't be screwing with high energy physics involving micro-singularities on a quantum scale. Replicate positive things in the universe - not the nasty things. Suffice it to say it's obviously harder to build a star than a black hole. Like it's easier to build bombs than buildings.
It only takes one universe consuming black hole to suck in the universe. How do you know you're not living in what will become that.
Tracking eyes is creepy - sorry. The comp is paid for with advertising, ad blockers don't work, its there. Forcing people to look at the adverts is unbelievably creepy, wierd, and reeks all kinds of Orwellian corporate crap. Advertising paying for computers...ok, maybe - but having software forcing people to look at that - no way, no how, that should be illegal. It allows for a very nasty corporate culture of absolute profit guarantee to creep into places it shouldn't be allowed to (it shouldn't be allowed at all, it's wrong, but here something can be done to stop it)
Don't like saying it but you're only protecting her from the guys who aren't so subtle - sneaky if you will.
Don't like to nitpick - but ethanol is not a fossil fuel.
It is a hydrocarbon, but it was not formed through a several million year process of compression and heat from complex biological molecules to petroleum products.
Sitting in front as a screen isn't always applicable.
Many people read before bed, or when outdoors. Reading on a small screen is impractical and annoying.
Ultimately the only way to make this practical was said in TFA.
"That's the predicament of digital music and digital video right now. Unprotected content over large BitTorrent networks is akin to having a Star Trek replicator. In order to have a DRM model that parallels the book model, you have to make copying music and movies as tough as photocopying a book."
In other words...keep doing exactly what their doing now. The only reason we don't have books pirated is because it takes expensive machines to properly bind and print a book. They aren't going to be able to improve the media so much that we can't replicate it - unless they want to pull some BS collusion with manufacturing companies. Digital media is inherently cheap to reproduce, if you can read it, you can copy it.
You can print out the free book from the net...but its on Printer paper, it's 250 - 400 sheets, and you have to fold and bind it.
Copying a movie or music onto a disk and playing it on your home theatre, stereo, computer, is exactly what you would be doing if you paid for it.
Interesting thought - but not a valid comparison.
Do you have any idea what 10% of that country converted into solar cells would cost, require?
It's probably into the tens of trillions - and the production capacity to do that doesn't exist. Not only that what use would having all the electricity produced in Australia do?
Most energy is lost in the line. Running 400kv lines from Australia to North America would be a brutal waste until we have carbon nanotube powerlines.
(thanks for the link I wasn't aware that they had this available)
I know for the most part when something isn't supposed to leak out - it doesn't.
Tell me there aren't incredibly illegal and unethical things done every day by otherwise good people under the guise of national security and the public good.
This certainly isn't the case here...they wouldn't need to shut down the telescope to obfuscate the truth of some global stability shattering images...but the possibility remains. I don't really see the point of having images paid for by the US government being subject to copy restictions for any amount of time, nor do I see the need for them to be held onto. I've never seen a reasoning anywhere - maybe someone can enlighten us as to why?
Would it really cost millions?
The datastream comes down from the sats, into dishes, and then goes to various datacenters through their network.
Would it be that difficult to have a live stream for all the projects just like they have for SOHO and the like? It wouldn't JUST be for the nutters either - having the raw data available would allow universities, and other private entities to examine the data as well. The post-processed images are nice, but it would be nice to see the original information right off the sats.
Having the datastream (raw, not the processed images), from NASA satellites freely available would eliminate any chance that they might try to "protect" us from something we may or may not be ready for. Chances are (and its 1000-1), that this has never occured, but honestly...if they DID see something strange, really strange, would they show us? The answer is they probably wouldn't, not unless we were "ready".
Ironically your post is in conflict with your sig, lol sorry had to say it. Had these companies been smaller...IE more obscure, they would have the "security" of not having Microsoft goons knocking at their door.
This isn't always true.
Resources can be wasted in competitive market grabbing that would have been better used improving the product.
I don't really want to know how much Intel spends on marketing.