If he were truly evil, he would do what Steve Jobs does and give NONE of his money away to charity. It would save Gates billions of $ that he could spend on hats instead of actually helping people.
Well, I thought the first half of season 2 was pretty weak too. But with 2.5, they really brought it back up to speed. I hope they do the same with season 4.5. I too haven't been very impressed with season 4 so far. Seems like it's just sort of dragging now.
Of course, it depends largely on the kind of science fiction you like ("hard" vs. "soft," literary vs. pulp, etc.) but, as a big fan of serious science fiction (no pulp or Star Trek books for me, thanks), I've found that the best place to start is Gardner Dozois's Year's Best Science Fiction anthology. First of all, if will give you some great reading itself. But, more importantly, it will give you a great introductory essay on some of the year's best science fiction novels, and a great list of quality authors to look for (if you like their short story).
I've been a long-time science fiction fan and this has been THE book for me each year, in filtering out the diamonds from the shit.
These aren't starving kids in Africa, for crying out loud. It's just a museum. And, however important the historical significance of the site, it's hardly fair to make a snide remark about not getting funding from a foundation that has MUCH more important issues to deal with. If anything, they should be getting funding from the British government (and obviously THEY don't think it's so important).
I know this is/., and there is many a Bill-basher here who would probably take ANY opportunity to blast him, but COME ON.
I really wish more Americans had a mentality like they have in Japan. In Japan they're actually proud of their native companies doing well, and the populace is loyal to them. Here in the U.S., we have absolutely no loyalty to our own companies, and are more likely to bash the hell out of them than acknowledge the good they do for our economy or our role in the world marketplace. If Sony and Nintendo went under tomorrow, Japanese citizens would be committing suicide. If Microsoft went under tomorrow, most U.S. citizens would be cheering about it like it were really a great thing.
With any luck, we'll pass a law letting us euthanize the boomers long before then. We'll lead them into the gas chambers with promises of Beatles reunions and muscle cars. It will save Social Security and Congress a much better place.
I'm just worried that it might one day affect shows that don't completely suck ass. The only shows I watch on NBC are fairly mediocre anyway (The Office and SNL). I could easily live without them. But NBC/Universal also owns Battlestar Galactica (which I *do* care about). I would hate to stop watching the broadcast BSG shows and go to torrents, but it would be very easy to do if I wanted. Of course, then I wouldn't have to look at ANY commercials--fast forwarded or otherwise.
Maybe CBS is trying to get hip with the youngsters. This is a network that has been know for the last 20 years as the ancient relic network. They've actually had several "60 Minutes" hosts die in the middle of news segments recently without anyone even noticing. Poor Andy Rooney has been dead for several years, and they still cut to his rotting corpse at the end of each show.
They really NEED some modernization over there. Granted they will have to explain the concept of the "internet" to many of their staffers, but hey if they can learn to use a telegraph, they can learn the internet too. And maybe someone on a CNET forum can tell them about Andy.
The Fermi Paradox is a joke. Any attempt to predict the existence of life in the universe is absolutely meaningless without knowledge of how life even BEGINS, or how common the processes are which lead to it. There could be quadrillions of planets out there with life, or there could just as easily be 0. Until we get some idea of how life even began HERE, we will likely have no clue how common it could be out THERE. Short of finding native life on other bodies within this solar system or coming to a thorough understanding of how it began on earth, there is simply no way to really know how common life (as we know it) is in the universe.
I didn't "jump" at anything. No one ever told me that those UFO sightings were secret spy aircraft. It's just the blatantly obvious conclusion.
Here is what we know:
Strange unidentified craft (UFO's) seen near U.S. airbases, mostly at night
Secret testing of spyplanes, spy ballons, and prototype stealth aircraft by the air force in the late 40's, 50's, and 60's
The height of Cold War secrecy and paranoia
Air force and other government officials telling UFO witnesses to keep their damn mouths shut about what they saw
Now, the reasonable person looks at that evidence and says "Oh well, these UFO's were obviously test aircraft and spy-planes that the government was trying to keep secret." The nutball (i.e., you), conversely, looks at it and says "Obviously these are the craft of alien species who have traveled across the vast distances of interstellar space, just to do the extraterrestrial equivalent of a drive-by, coincidentally near U.S. airbases at the height of the Cold War."
In other words, you're not privy to special insight. You haven't pierced some veil of government secrecy. You're just a paranoid nutball who can't see the blatantly obvious conclusion. Like Fox Mulder, you WANT to believe--and so you do, irrespective of the obvious conclusion staring you right in the face.
as for the comparison to Columbus, you are just showing your profound ignorance on that one. You obviously have absolutely no clue on how vast the distances are between even nearby solar systems. What Columbus did was propose sailing 2 or 3 times farther than anyone had ever sailed before. That is several orders of magnitude beneath what it would take an intelligent species to journey between solar systems.
Let me put it this way, the fastest craft humans have ever launched was Voyager 1 (now traveling at 38,600 mph). Voyager would have taken over 9 years to reach Pluto at max speed. Pluto is about 8.3 light minutes away from earth. That was the fastest human craft ever created, and it took a huge expenditure of energy and resources for even that tiny craft to be launched and accelerated to that speed. And at Voyager's rate of speed, if it were traveling to the NEAREST solar system to earth (Proxima Centauri, a mere 4.2 light years away), it would take it about 2.4 *MILLION* years to reach it.
Starting to get an idea of the scale we're talking about here? This isn't just crossing an ocean. And any species that could figure out how to send large craft across those kind of distances in any reasonable time wouldn't give a rat's ass about our pathetic, primitive little species. We'd be no more than ants to them.
I also don't have any evidence of the nonexistance of the Loch Ness monster, Bigfoot, fire-breathing dragons, and magical unicorns. Does that make them plausible too?
Hey Mulder, here's a scoop. They weren't trying to cover up aliens, they were covering up their secret spy aircraft. Why do you think most of these "UFO cover-ups" involved strange craft spotted near air force bases at the height of the Cold War? Project Blue Book wasn't about little green men, it was about making sure no one had gotten a good look at their latest prototype stealth planes and also checking to see if any hillbillies might have actually spotted any Soviet spy planes in the area.
No alien civilization is expending the mammoth amount of resources needed to traverse the vast distances of interstellar space just to stick a probe up your ass. Deal with it.
If I had to work at the RIAA, I would wake up every day just wanting to swallow a bullet. What kind of bottom-of-the-barrel desperate loser would voluntarily work at a place which is pretty much guaranteed to follow you for the rest of your IT career as a permanent black mark on your resume? Half their employees must be convicted felons with no other options, or something. Couldn't these guys get jobs at a place where they would be less despised (like an abortion clinic)?
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Wow, I really wanted to buy Vista before, what with all the glitches and problems. Now I REALLY want it.
If he were truly evil, he would do what Steve Jobs does and give NONE of his money away to charity. It would save Gates billions of $ that he could spend on hats instead of actually helping people.
But how can a Wookie live on Endor?!?!
Well, I thought the first half of season 2 was pretty weak too. But with 2.5, they really brought it back up to speed. I hope they do the same with season 4.5. I too haven't been very impressed with season 4 so far. Seems like it's just sort of dragging now.
I hope your irony is intentional.
I've been a long-time science fiction fan and this has been THE book for me each year, in filtering out the diamonds from the shit.
I know this is /., and there is many a Bill-basher here who would probably take ANY opportunity to blast him, but COME ON.
I'm not aurging anymore with you, nutball. Arguing with a true believer is pointless.
I thought they were going to divide it up again, and do the "Season 4.0 and Season 4.5" thing.
I really wish more Americans had a mentality like they have in Japan. In Japan they're actually proud of their native companies doing well, and the populace is loyal to them. Here in the U.S., we have absolutely no loyalty to our own companies, and are more likely to bash the hell out of them than acknowledge the good they do for our economy or our role in the world marketplace. If Sony and Nintendo went under tomorrow, Japanese citizens would be committing suicide. If Microsoft went under tomorrow, most U.S. citizens would be cheering about it like it were really a great thing.
With any luck, we'll pass a law letting us euthanize the boomers long before then. We'll lead them into the gas chambers with promises of Beatles reunions and muscle cars. It will save Social Security and Congress a much better place.
I'm just worried that it might one day affect shows that don't completely suck ass. The only shows I watch on NBC are fairly mediocre anyway (The Office and SNL). I could easily live without them. But NBC/Universal also owns Battlestar Galactica (which I *do* care about). I would hate to stop watching the broadcast BSG shows and go to torrents, but it would be very easy to do if I wanted. Of course, then I wouldn't have to look at ANY commercials--fast forwarded or otherwise.
They really NEED some modernization over there. Granted they will have to explain the concept of the "internet" to many of their staffers, but hey if they can learn to use a telegraph, they can learn the internet too. And maybe someone on a CNET forum can tell them about Andy.
The Fermi Paradox is a joke. Any attempt to predict the existence of life in the universe is absolutely meaningless without knowledge of how life even BEGINS, or how common the processes are which lead to it. There could be quadrillions of planets out there with life, or there could just as easily be 0. Until we get some idea of how life even began HERE, we will likely have no clue how common it could be out THERE. Short of finding native life on other bodies within this solar system or coming to a thorough understanding of how it began on earth, there is simply no way to really know how common life (as we know it) is in the universe.
Then prove to me that magical unicorns don't exist. Show me your proof, sir!
Here is what we know:
- Strange unidentified craft (UFO's) seen near U.S. airbases, mostly at night
- Secret testing of spyplanes, spy ballons, and prototype stealth aircraft by the air force in the late 40's, 50's, and 60's
- The height of Cold War secrecy and paranoia
- Air force and other government officials telling UFO witnesses to keep their damn mouths shut about what they saw
Now, the reasonable person looks at that evidence and says "Oh well, these UFO's were obviously test aircraft and spy-planes that the government was trying to keep secret." The nutball (i.e., you), conversely, looks at it and says "Obviously these are the craft of alien species who have traveled across the vast distances of interstellar space, just to do the extraterrestrial equivalent of a drive-by, coincidentally near U.S. airbases at the height of the Cold War."In other words, you're not privy to special insight. You haven't pierced some veil of government secrecy. You're just a paranoid nutball who can't see the blatantly obvious conclusion. Like Fox Mulder, you WANT to believe--and so you do, irrespective of the obvious conclusion staring you right in the face.
as for the comparison to Columbus, you are just showing your profound ignorance on that one. You obviously have absolutely no clue on how vast the distances are between even nearby solar systems. What Columbus did was propose sailing 2 or 3 times farther than anyone had ever sailed before. That is several orders of magnitude beneath what it would take an intelligent species to journey between solar systems.
Let me put it this way, the fastest craft humans have ever launched was Voyager 1 (now traveling at 38,600 mph). Voyager would have taken over 9 years to reach Pluto at max speed. Pluto is about 8.3 light minutes away from earth. That was the fastest human craft ever created, and it took a huge expenditure of energy and resources for even that tiny craft to be launched and accelerated to that speed. And at Voyager's rate of speed, if it were traveling to the NEAREST solar system to earth (Proxima Centauri, a mere 4.2 light years away), it would take it about 2.4 *MILLION* years to reach it.
Starting to get an idea of the scale we're talking about here? This isn't just crossing an ocean. And any species that could figure out how to send large craft across those kind of distances in any reasonable time wouldn't give a rat's ass about our pathetic, primitive little species. We'd be no more than ants to them.
What a minute, you mean Mulder in the American version WASN'T gay?
I also don't have any evidence of the nonexistance of the Loch Ness monster, Bigfoot, fire-breathing dragons, and magical unicorns. Does that make them plausible too?
No alien civilization is expending the mammoth amount of resources needed to traverse the vast distances of interstellar space just to stick a probe up your ass. Deal with it.
It's actually legal to use roads as runways in Alaska. Planes even get the right-of-way when taxiing.
Thanks a lot you crippled bastard!
Just don't tell them about condoms. You'll piss off the Catholic Church and the Bush administrations.
If I had to work at the RIAA, I would wake up every day just wanting to swallow a bullet. What kind of bottom-of-the-barrel desperate loser would voluntarily work at a place which is pretty much guaranteed to follow you for the rest of your IT career as a permanent black mark on your resume? Half their employees must be convicted felons with no other options, or something. Couldn't these guys get jobs at a place where they would be less despised (like an abortion clinic)?
Yeah, good luck on that with Blender. I had to consult the Blender manual to figure out how to save a file.
You've never been to a public library?!?!?
Oh wait, I forgot. You're a Republican. Of course you've never been inside a library.