Quality science fiction authors (not the pulp hacks), aren't TRYING to predict the future. They know better than anyone that's a pointless pursuit. Real science fiction writers, are merely using a genre setting to comment on the PRESENT, and perhaps on the human condition in general. Anyone who seriously thinks they can predict the future is a fucking retard. In the past, every time someone has tried they were laughably off. Even when someone does occasionally luck onto to getting some small thing right, like a specific piece of technology, they usually screw up its context and use in some fundamental way, or they make some assumption that turns out to be untrue (Arthur Clarke assuming that NASA would continue on with Apollo-level funding for example). No serious writer is arrogant enough to think their predictions are actually going to come true. They're literary devices, not prognostications.
Have a blue-tooth wristband that measures your heartrate- if your heart stops beating it sends an e-mail out to your loved ones.
It's funny how those were a mainstay in 80's action films like "Escape From New York" and "Aliens." But now, when we finally have the technology to make them happen, no one is wearing them.
When this guy was appointed, was there any doubt in anyone's mind that his SOLE responsibility would be to act as a shill for the big media industry? It's not like anyone believed for a second that he was EVER going to represent consumer interests or the rights of the general citizenry.
Sadly, that doesn't make him any different than the Congress or President. Hell, even the Supreme Court is ruling that corporations have a *right* to bribe as many public officials as they like. If you want to find someone representing the unwashed-masses-without-lobbyists, you'll have to turn to the EFF. The U.S. government is just a corporate subsidiary now.
Maybe you could rig it with a dead man's switch. While it's active, you periodically have to click on the "I'm okay" button. If you don't, it broadcasts a "Something is wrong" message. Should work, unless the cops think to pull the battery.
Hey, I like the Kindle. It's dirt cheap. The display doesn't give me a headache. And it's small, light, and simple.
Yeah, I'm disappointed that we haven't seen more of the promises delivered on too. But there is no need to run down the Kindle. It delivers on exactly what it promises and does it cheaply and well.
There are also other similar movies to Super like Defendor and Special. I liked all three myself (didn't care much for Kick Ass though). But I have to say that Special is probably my favorite of the bunch, just for the great ending.
Seriously, it's not like it's some passing fad either. I know they're an obsessive people by nature, but Jesus Christ, for decades now they've been CRAZY about robots (and technology in general, but ESPECIALLY robots). I mean they're fucking INSANE about robots. Granted, I guess it's a better obsession for them to have than empire-building, but wouldn't more varied interests be a little more healthy?
It's always the prostitute, the low-level drug dealer, the addict drug runner, etc. who end up in jail. The pimps and high-level drug dealers always walk away clean. Cops have learned that it's a lot easier to go after the low-level easy target than to do the *real* work of busting the scum at the top. That's not to excuse what the low-level scum does, but still, if the cops REALLY wanted to make a dent in this crap (and not just get some press *looking* like they're doing something), they would be taking on the guys who this stuff was shipped *too*. Don't tell me the U.S. couldn't put pressure on Russia and other eastern European counties to deal with this stuff if they really wanted to.
If Batman and Green Lantern aren't superheroes, how did they get into the Super Friends? Even those pussy-ass Wonder Twins had more in the way of superpowers than them (worthless as they were).
In real life you can't just "hide in the shadows" and just pop-out to fight. In real life, even finding street crime is actually rather difficult. You basically have to patrol around the shittiest neighborhoods busting drug-dealers, hang around the bar district breaking up fights, etc. And, unlike comic books, there aren't always convenient places to hide when you're walking around in an urban environment looking for crime-especially when you don't have superpowers or miraculous Bat-vehicles to rely on.
That's funny, I had *two* idiots, I mean a developer and DBA, come into my office today wondering why our application even needed a GUI, much less one that was appealing or user friendly.
No kidding. Looks like they're phasing out the print edition altogether and creating some sort of CNN parody site. Everything is geared towards their TV show now, not the print edition. Almost every story is video-only now.
You might be pretty happy to see them if you were in trouble and the cops just kept driving. I'd rather have some well-meaning, if a little deluded, "superhero" help me out than some lazy-ass cop who acts like I'm waking him up from nap-time when I dial 911.
Fortunately I live in the kind of neighborhood where I can dial 911 and the cops will show up in minutes and call me "sir" to boot. But not everyone does.
For those wondering about these new "superheroes," it's actually a movement of sorts. There was an excellent HBO documentary on them a while back. They're even forming groups now. When I heard about the documentary, I just expected to laugh at these guys. But it's actually a very interesting portrait of some well-meaning, though often a little deluded, guys who really do want to make the world a better place. I ended up feeling both sorry for them and a little envious of them at the same time.
One of the best points they made was that they are "patrolling" areas where the cops really don't give a shit. For example, at one point in the documentary a homeless guy gets run over by a car during one of the superhero group patrols. It's the "superheroes" who stop to help him. But when they call the cops to report it, they don't even show up. Even when they try to flag down a cop car as the guy is still laying on the ground bleeding, the cops just keep driving. It's the "superheroes" who take him to the hospital and then even track down the car that hit him (driven by an obviously intoxicated driver). But, again, when they call the cops on the drunk driver, they're basically told to fuck off.
As crazy as these guys are, I can't say that I don't understand why they do what they do. It's not just a bunch of losers wanting to be the comic book heroes of their fantasies. Some of them really do look around and say that the world NEEDS superheroes, especially the neighborhoods where no one else (including the cops) seems to give a shit. Part of me wishes I could have their faith in humanity. They may be deluded, but they're certainly not do-nothing cynics.
IIRC, Sony denied anything had been compromised *last time* too. It was only days later that they admitted the scale of the attack and how successful it had been.
I suspect similar software's already in use at Ft. Meade and Langley.
I certainly hope not.
This will make things LOOK pretty. It won't make missing data suddenly appear. At best it will make something ugly LOOK a little better. But that's just a computer-generated illusion, not a reflection of reality.
They're ALWAYS in an uproar about some shit or another. That's like saying "Linux community upset about changes to kernal" or "Sony being criticized for heavy-handed move" or "Apple fans anxiously awaiting next Apple announcement."
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Quality science fiction authors (not the pulp hacks), aren't TRYING to predict the future. They know better than anyone that's a pointless pursuit. Real science fiction writers, are merely using a genre setting to comment on the PRESENT, and perhaps on the human condition in general. Anyone who seriously thinks they can predict the future is a fucking retard. In the past, every time someone has tried they were laughably off. Even when someone does occasionally luck onto to getting some small thing right, like a specific piece of technology, they usually screw up its context and use in some fundamental way, or they make some assumption that turns out to be untrue (Arthur Clarke assuming that NASA would continue on with Apollo-level funding for example). No serious writer is arrogant enough to think their predictions are actually going to come true. They're literary devices, not prognostications.
This is Voltron, standing by.
Have a blue-tooth wristband that measures your heartrate- if your heart stops beating it sends an e-mail out to your loved ones.
It's funny how those were a mainstay in 80's action films like "Escape From New York" and "Aliens." But now, when we finally have the technology to make them happen, no one is wearing them.
Hallowed be his name.
When this guy was appointed, was there any doubt in anyone's mind that his SOLE responsibility would be to act as a shill for the big media industry? It's not like anyone believed for a second that he was EVER going to represent consumer interests or the rights of the general citizenry.
Sadly, that doesn't make him any different than the Congress or President. Hell, even the Supreme Court is ruling that corporations have a *right* to bribe as many public officials as they like. If you want to find someone representing the unwashed-masses-without-lobbyists, you'll have to turn to the EFF. The U.S. government is just a corporate subsidiary now.
That's nonsense. Those people out there are fighting the big corporations with the power of their MacBooks!
Maybe you could rig it with a dead man's switch. While it's active, you periodically have to click on the "I'm okay" button. If you don't, it broadcasts a "Something is wrong" message. Should work, unless the cops think to pull the battery.
That just gave me the idea for a "I'm Getting Shot!" app.
Hey, I like the Kindle. It's dirt cheap. The display doesn't give me a headache. And it's small, light, and simple.
Yeah, I'm disappointed that we haven't seen more of the promises delivered on too. But there is no need to run down the Kindle. It delivers on exactly what it promises and does it cheaply and well.
There are also other similar movies to Super like Defendor and Special. I liked all three myself (didn't care much for Kick Ass though). But I have to say that Special is probably my favorite of the bunch, just for the great ending.
They're cops. They have it in their union contracts that no "policing" will be required of them.
Seriously, it's not like it's some passing fad either. I know they're an obsessive people by nature, but Jesus Christ, for decades now they've been CRAZY about robots (and technology in general, but ESPECIALLY robots). I mean they're fucking INSANE about robots. Granted, I guess it's a better obsession for them to have than empire-building, but wouldn't more varied interests be a little more healthy?
It's always the prostitute, the low-level drug dealer, the addict drug runner, etc. who end up in jail. The pimps and high-level drug dealers always walk away clean. Cops have learned that it's a lot easier to go after the low-level easy target than to do the *real* work of busting the scum at the top. That's not to excuse what the low-level scum does, but still, if the cops REALLY wanted to make a dent in this crap (and not just get some press *looking* like they're doing something), they would be taking on the guys who this stuff was shipped *too*. Don't tell me the U.S. couldn't put pressure on Russia and other eastern European counties to deal with this stuff if they really wanted to.
eah, I never got the love for Superman either. Nothing can hurt him
They can't hurt him, but they can hurt the people he loves.
If Batman and Green Lantern aren't superheroes, how did they get into the Super Friends? Even those pussy-ass Wonder Twins had more in the way of superpowers than them (worthless as they were).
In real life you can't just "hide in the shadows" and just pop-out to fight. In real life, even finding street crime is actually rather difficult. You basically have to patrol around the shittiest neighborhoods busting drug-dealers, hang around the bar district breaking up fights, etc. And, unlike comic books, there aren't always convenient places to hide when you're walking around in an urban environment looking for crime-especially when you don't have superpowers or miraculous Bat-vehicles to rely on.
That's funny, I had *two* idiots, I mean a developer and DBA, come into my office today wondering why our application even needed a GUI, much less one that was appealing or user friendly.
No kidding. Looks like they're phasing out the print edition altogether and creating some sort of CNN parody site. Everything is geared towards their TV show now, not the print edition. Almost every story is video-only now.
Well, in the U.S. at least, the Guardian Angels have been around for decades.
You might be pretty happy to see them if you were in trouble and the cops just kept driving. I'd rather have some well-meaning, if a little deluded, "superhero" help me out than some lazy-ass cop who acts like I'm waking him up from nap-time when I dial 911.
Fortunately I live in the kind of neighborhood where I can dial 911 and the cops will show up in minutes and call me "sir" to boot. But not everyone does.
For those wondering about these new "superheroes," it's actually a movement of sorts. There was an excellent HBO documentary on them a while back. They're even forming groups now. When I heard about the documentary, I just expected to laugh at these guys. But it's actually a very interesting portrait of some well-meaning, though often a little deluded, guys who really do want to make the world a better place. I ended up feeling both sorry for them and a little envious of them at the same time.
One of the best points they made was that they are "patrolling" areas where the cops really don't give a shit. For example, at one point in the documentary a homeless guy gets run over by a car during one of the superhero group patrols. It's the "superheroes" who stop to help him. But when they call the cops to report it, they don't even show up. Even when they try to flag down a cop car as the guy is still laying on the ground bleeding, the cops just keep driving. It's the "superheroes" who take him to the hospital and then even track down the car that hit him (driven by an obviously intoxicated driver). But, again, when they call the cops on the drunk driver, they're basically told to fuck off.
As crazy as these guys are, I can't say that I don't understand why they do what they do. It's not just a bunch of losers wanting to be the comic book heroes of their fantasies. Some of them really do look around and say that the world NEEDS superheroes, especially the neighborhoods where no one else (including the cops) seems to give a shit. Part of me wishes I could have their faith in humanity. They may be deluded, but they're certainly not do-nothing cynics.
Could be worse. Google hired a former TV psychic as head of their Apps security.
And, no, I'm not joking.
IIRC, Sony denied anything had been compromised *last time* too. It was only days later that they admitted the scale of the attack and how successful it had been.
I suspect similar software's already in use at Ft. Meade and Langley.
I certainly hope not.
This will make things LOOK pretty. It won't make missing data suddenly appear. At best it will make something ugly LOOK a little better. But that's just a computer-generated illusion, not a reflection of reality.
They're ALWAYS in an uproar about some shit or another. That's like saying "Linux community upset about changes to kernal" or "Sony being criticized for heavy-handed move" or "Apple fans anxiously awaiting next Apple announcement."