Duh! You're not supposed to upgrade your computer. You're supposed to go buy a new computer with a new Windows license. It helps the economy! What, you want the terrorists to win or something?:^)
First, tanks, airplanes, and even precision guided missiles are known for their "collateral damage." As always, the last thing you do when you're engaging an enemy with superior firepower is give them a great big target. You mix and mingle with the population. Consider Iraq, Vietnam, and the early strategies of the American Revolution.
Imagine how many more recruits an insurgent group would get if the government, say, used tanks and artillery to destroy an apartment building where a suspected insurgent was hiding. Kill 100 or so innocent Americans to get one insurgent.
The other nice thing about smaller weapons is that they can assist you in getting bigger weapons. So while a pistol versus an M-16 in a straight-on fight is useless, if you are able to sneak up on the guy carrying the M-16 and shoot him with your pistol, you can take his M-16.
Well, first, a boarding pass can get you to the gate. From there, you can force your way onto a plane.
Remember the guy who stormed the gate at BWI Airport back in '70s? He was going to hijack a plane and crash it into the White House and kill Nixon? Ah...found it.
Obviously, it'd be trickier to get through security with a.22 and a couple of gallons of gasoline than it was in 1974...
I'm blessed with a thin beard (yes, it sucked when I was 16, but now I appreciate it). I can go for a week or so before I should shave and about two weeks before I need to shave. Using a blade doesn't seem to change this equation. So an electric razor works nicely for me, also.
But electrics are not immune from this, either. I remember an advertisement for an electric razor which proclaimed that it had 36 blades! So if Gillette carries it too far, Norelco and Braun will step in and shut them all up.
The National Summit on Video Games, Youth, and Public Policy is hosted by The National Institute on Media and the Family and Iowa State University.
First session was an overview presented by Douglas Gentile. You can buy his book here. Next, they had a session on "Violent Video Games: Effects and Public Policy" from Craig Anderson. Then they had a panel discussion with Joanne Cantor, Kim Thompson, Douglas Gentile, and one person from the ESRB.
I can go on, but it looked like a mutual masterbation get-together from the names I saw in attendance. So I can see why the games press didn't want to go.
[...] Norton utilities is just a part of Symantec's model
Actually, Symantec has done next to nothing with Norton Utilities for years. Other than make sure it works, the NU team at Symantec is small-to-nonexistant.
At least on the Windows side, Norton Utilities is synonymous with disk repair. They have something like 95% of the market and mindshare. If your hard disk crashes, you go buy Norton and hope it fixes it. I'll admit, I'm not a Windows user, but I can't name a competitor to Norton Utilities on the Windows side. Maybe someone else can, but they're certainly not "well known" and "trusted" like Norton Utilities.
Norton Utilities is Symantec's cash-cow. No effort, loads of profits. That's why it's still around. Same with their FAX software and PCanywhere. But Symantec considers itself a "Security Solutions Provider."
Well, I won't be quite so fanboyish, but I'm also eagerly waiting to see what Apple delivers.
Actually, I've been cellphoneless for six months. Somehow I survive. I can't use a cellphone when I drive, I have a phone at work so people can reach me there, I have a phone at home so people can reach me when I'm at home. If I'm somewhere else, they can leave a message and I'll get back to them at my earliest convenience.
I figure I'd wait and see what Apple delivers before I consider getting another one. If Apple's is no good, I may just remain cellphoneless and buy an iPod for my car/bike.
Why is the information industry the only industry with goddamn KILLER APPLICATIONS [...]?
A "Killer Application" is so great that people will go out and buy hardware just to use it. Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect caused lots of people to buy IBM PCs back in the day. Pagemaker and Photoshop caused lots of people to buy Macs. E-Mail and the World-Wide Web caused lots of every-day people to go buy Windows PCs. I don't know much about gaming, but I'd imagine that Halo was a "Killer Application" in that it caused lots of people to go buy Xboxes just to play it.
In the vernacular, something that is "Killer" is very good (eg, "They make a killer salsa, man!"). So a "Killer Application" is one that is so good that it will cause people to buy into the whole platform.
[...] not everyone wants to fake being a child molester just so the fbi will dispose of their batteries.
Well, there are other benefits, too. The neighborhood parents make sure their kids stay the hell off my lawn! I can back my car out of the driveway without having to worry about running over some rugrat on a tricycle, though the FBI chase car sometimes gets in my way. Also, I get to eat all the hallowe'en candy I buy.:^)
Seriously, though, this is part of the trash service where I live. I actually live relatively close to where they take all the trash (sometimes uncomfortably close when the weather is warm, the breeze is right, and one of they conveyor belts is broken) and a few of my neighbors work at the place. I know they sort out glass, plastic, aluminum, and batteries.
Actually, I do this too. But I get to do it without a guilty conscience.
The people who collect my trash haul it off to a big warehouse where my trash gets picked through. Anything that is recyclable is picked out and recycled by the trash company.
Of course, this also means I had to buy a shredder to make sure people picking through my trash don't get old credit card statements, etc. But I end up with two trash cans in the house--"Confidential" and "Other." Not the maze that the environmentalists would have me run through--clear bottles, colored bottles, cans, etc.
[...] this would be like them going around *saying* they saw the assistant principle kissing another female.
Well...no.
It's one thing in a message board to say something like that. You are somehow uniquely identified as not being that person. In this case, they actually created a myspace account and claimed to be her. Very different.
Personally, I don't have a problem with holding the parents responsible for something like this. There's a fine line. The kids crossed the line. The parents are responsible for teaching the kids where that line is.
And, once the competition was over, there was no need to go back. That's the problem with competition: Once you've won the race, it's over. You go home and rest on your laurels.
Personally, I like the idea of cooperation towards a goal. It seems to improve the chances that we'll stay awhile. Heck, ISS has been manned for something like five years.
Well, the "reason" for cable was actually for environments which did not receive terrestrial broadcast.
In the late 60s or early 70s, my grandmother--living in rural Vermont--had cable. Why? Because her house was stuck against the side of a mountain and she could pretty much only pick up one TV station. I remember going to her house and being amazed because she got all the channels in the TV Book (we only got channel 3 and channel 8).
So you were watching the same stations that you could pick up with an antenna. The only advantages to cable, back then, was clear images without fine tuning for every channel and pretty much all the regional stations (you could watch news from Boston).
The HBOs and such came in the mid-70s. But even then, other than "movie channels", most of the content had advertising. Remember the "superstations" WTBS (1976) and WGN (1978)?
Well, sometimes they can. But they have to be down-and-out.
"Lost" is a great example (and, I suppose, "Desperate Housewives", though I don't watch it). ABC was one of the least-watched broadcast networks. They tried doing the same stuff the other networks were doing. That didn't work. So they tried something new and different because, after all, what did they have to lose? Worked out pretty well for them.
The invulnerable cheerleader, her character makes absolutely no sense... she's worried she'll be branded as a freak and yet goes out her way to film herself doing plain freakish things.
Actually, the invulnerable cheerleader is, at least so far, the most interesting character and storyline.
SPOILER ALERT! STOP READING IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LATEST EPISODE AND DON'T WANT SOMETHING GIVEN AWAY
On the one hand, she has this ability that she wants to explore. She's walked into fire, jumped off various things, impaled herself, mangled her hand, had her head turned 180 degrees, etc. Yet she's always fine afterwards. How far does she have to go to hurt herself?
Conversely, she's a 16 year-old high school student. She seems to like being a cheerleader (remember her defense of cheerleading when her dad put it down) and she feels she would probably lose her position as a cheerleader (and the popularity perks that come with it) if everybody knew of her abilities. That's why she didn't speak up when the other girl took credit for saving the fireman.
So at the same time, she's mortified and fascinated by her abilities. Think of early Spiderman comics and Peter's conflict with being the unpopular nerd while, at the same time, being the popular superhero. Also think of the kids from "The Incredibles"--they have these superpowers that they can't use.
She shares her abilities with the school geek because (a) he's a nerd and probably isn't freaked out by the whole "superhero" thing and (b) he's an unpopular kid who gets the bask in the glow of being around and seen with the popular girl (remember the line, "I'll talk to you tomorrow--in public"?) The filming is, again, part of that high school thing. Perhaps it was his idea--I don't remember.
And the fact that her father is being set up as the chief villain means that, at some point, there's going to be an interesting confrontation there--especially since he knows his adopted daughter is one of the people he's searching for. How he got the tape remains a mystery, of course...
You're right, though. So far I haven't been all that impressed with the rest of them. Hiro, at the moment, is little more than comic relief. As for the rest, most of them are dealing with "Gee, I think I there's something wrong with me" which gets a little bit tedious.
Slashdot Mirror
Step 1: Cut & Paste Press Release ...There's no step 3. There's no step 3!
Step 2: Profit!
Step 3:
Duh! You're not supposed to upgrade your computer. You're supposed to go buy a new computer with a new Windows license. It helps the economy! What, you want the terrorists to win or something? :^)
Well, yes and no.
First, tanks, airplanes, and even precision guided missiles are known for their "collateral damage." As always, the last thing you do when you're engaging an enemy with superior firepower is give them a great big target. You mix and mingle with the population. Consider Iraq, Vietnam, and the early strategies of the American Revolution.
Imagine how many more recruits an insurgent group would get if the government, say, used tanks and artillery to destroy an apartment building where a suspected insurgent was hiding. Kill 100 or so innocent Americans to get one insurgent.
The other nice thing about smaller weapons is that they can assist you in getting bigger weapons. So while a pistol versus an M-16 in a straight-on fight is useless, if you are able to sneak up on the guy carrying the M-16 and shoot him with your pistol, you can take his M-16.
Well, first, a boarding pass can get you to the gate. From there, you can force your way onto a plane.
.22 and a couple of gallons of gasoline than it was in 1974...
Remember the guy who stormed the gate at BWI Airport back in '70s? He was going to hijack a plane and crash it into the White House and kill Nixon? Ah...found it.
Obviously, it'd be trickier to get through security with a
I'm blessed with a thin beard (yes, it sucked when I was 16, but now I appreciate it). I can go for a week or so before I should shave and about two weeks before I need to shave. Using a blade doesn't seem to change this equation. So an electric razor works nicely for me, also.
But electrics are not immune from this, either. I remember an advertisement for an electric razor which proclaimed that it had 36 blades! So if Gillette carries it too far, Norelco and Braun will step in and shut them all up.
Dude, check out Extreme Programming! That will let you take your skillz TO THE MAX!!
The National Summit on Video Games, Youth, and Public Policy is hosted by The National Institute on Media and the Family and Iowa State University.
First session was an overview presented by Douglas Gentile. You can buy his book here. Next, they had a session on "Violent Video Games: Effects and Public Policy" from Craig Anderson. Then they had a panel discussion with Joanne Cantor, Kim Thompson, Douglas Gentile, and one person from the ESRB.
I can go on, but it looked like a mutual masterbation get-together from the names I saw in attendance. So I can see why the games press didn't want to go.
At least on the Windows side, Norton Utilities is synonymous with disk repair. They have something like 95% of the market and mindshare. If your hard disk crashes, you go buy Norton and hope it fixes it. I'll admit, I'm not a Windows user, but I can't name a competitor to Norton Utilities on the Windows side. Maybe someone else can, but they're certainly not "well known" and "trusted" like Norton Utilities.
Norton Utilities is Symantec's cash-cow. No effort, loads of profits. That's why it's still around. Same with their FAX software and PCanywhere. But Symantec considers itself a "Security Solutions Provider."
(Disclaimer: I'm a former Symantec employee)
Well, I won't be quite so fanboyish, but I'm also eagerly waiting to see what Apple delivers.
Actually, I've been cellphoneless for six months. Somehow I survive. I can't use a cellphone when I drive, I have a phone at work so people can reach me there, I have a phone at home so people can reach me when I'm at home. If I'm somewhere else, they can leave a message and I'll get back to them at my earliest convenience.
I figure I'd wait and see what Apple delivers before I consider getting another one. If Apple's is no good, I may just remain cellphoneless and buy an iPod for my car/bike.
Well, the women I've seen from 3000AD seem to have pretty firm breasts...
In the vernacular, something that is "Killer" is very good (eg, "They make a killer salsa, man!"). So a "Killer Application" is one that is so good that it will cause people to buy into the whole platform.
Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life.
Seriously, though, this is part of the trash service where I live. I actually live relatively close to where they take all the trash (sometimes uncomfortably close when the weather is warm, the breeze is right, and one of they conveyor belts is broken) and a few of my neighbors work at the place. I know they sort out glass, plastic, aluminum, and batteries.
Actually, I do this too. But I get to do it without a guilty conscience.
The people who collect my trash haul it off to a big warehouse where my trash gets picked through. Anything that is recyclable is picked out and recycled by the trash company.
Of course, this also means I had to buy a shredder to make sure people picking through my trash don't get old credit card statements, etc. But I end up with two trash cans in the house--"Confidential" and "Other." Not the maze that the environmentalists would have me run through--clear bottles, colored bottles, cans, etc.
Actually, I remember when one of the versions of Internet Explorer for Macintosh installed itself into a folder called "Microsoft Internet."
It's Microsoft's Internet. We just live in it.
Personally, I like the idea of cooperation towards a goal. It seems to improve the chances that we'll stay awhile. Heck, ISS has been manned for something like five years.
The problem is that when you wake up, the world will have become a pussy-whipped, Brady Bunch version of itself run by a bunch of robed sissies.
Well, the "reason" for cable was actually for environments which did not receive terrestrial broadcast.
In the late 60s or early 70s, my grandmother--living in rural Vermont--had cable. Why? Because her house was stuck against the side of a mountain and she could pretty much only pick up one TV station. I remember going to her house and being amazed because she got all the channels in the TV Book (we only got channel 3 and channel 8).
So you were watching the same stations that you could pick up with an antenna. The only advantages to cable, back then, was clear images without fine tuning for every channel and pretty much all the regional stations (you could watch news from Boston).
The HBOs and such came in the mid-70s. But even then, other than "movie channels", most of the content had advertising. Remember the "superstations" WTBS (1976) and WGN (1978)?
"Lost" is a great example (and, I suppose, "Desperate Housewives", though I don't watch it). ABC was one of the least-watched broadcast networks. They tried doing the same stuff the other networks were doing. That didn't work. So they tried something new and different because, after all, what did they have to lose? Worked out pretty well for them.
SPOILER ALERT! STOP READING IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LATEST EPISODE AND DON'T WANT SOMETHING GIVEN AWAY
On the one hand, she has this ability that she wants to explore. She's walked into fire, jumped off various things, impaled herself, mangled her hand, had her head turned 180 degrees, etc. Yet she's always fine afterwards. How far does she have to go to hurt herself?
Conversely, she's a 16 year-old high school student. She seems to like being a cheerleader (remember her defense of cheerleading when her dad put it down) and she feels she would probably lose her position as a cheerleader (and the popularity perks that come with it) if everybody knew of her abilities. That's why she didn't speak up when the other girl took credit for saving the fireman.
So at the same time, she's mortified and fascinated by her abilities. Think of early Spiderman comics and Peter's conflict with being the unpopular nerd while, at the same time, being the popular superhero. Also think of the kids from "The Incredibles"--they have these superpowers that they can't use.
She shares her abilities with the school geek because (a) he's a nerd and probably isn't freaked out by the whole "superhero" thing and (b) he's an unpopular kid who gets the bask in the glow of being around and seen with the popular girl (remember the line, "I'll talk to you tomorrow--in public"?) The filming is, again, part of that high school thing. Perhaps it was his idea--I don't remember.
And the fact that her father is being set up as the chief villain means that, at some point, there's going to be an interesting confrontation there--especially since he knows his adopted daughter is one of the people he's searching for. How he got the tape remains a mystery, of course...
You're right, though. So far I haven't been all that impressed with the rest of them. Hiro, at the moment, is little more than comic relief. As for the rest, most of them are dealing with "Gee, I think I there's something wrong with me" which gets a little bit tedious.