I only flew on one once (although I did get to play with the simulator, that was one cool computer) but it was on the way back from Thailand. Bugs were pretty much worked out by then. The navigation did go out in Japan where the pilots didn't want to stay, they were pissed. It touched down so softly I couldn't tell when we were on the ground.
They wanted to stay in Alaska (had to do with per diem), they bounced it three times on landing but weren't able to break it. All us passengers got bumped for a fire truck.
the soldiers were selected from the fittest of the population.
While that's strictly true, almost every man that wasn't disabled was in some branch of the service then; all six of my uncles were, my dad was a couple of years too young. During WWII there was such a shortage of non-handicapped men in the US that major league baseball had one-armed players on their teams.
Indeed, I was stationed at Dover when the first C5-As were rolled out. You wouldn't believe the trouble they had... landing gear not coming up/down, engines falling off, fires, hell even one of the giant cranes that serviced the aircraft's tailsection fell over at another base and killed two guys, grounding the whole fleet of C5s for a few weeks.
A year or two later they pretty much had all the bugs ironed out. After that the worst that happened was one poor guy I worked with was towing one and hit a hangar door with a wing and did ten million dollars worth of damage (he got off the hook, the wing walker got the blame).
I was 25 when EP IV came out, watched it at the theater with two friends the same age and we all loved it. EPV was even better. EPVI sucked donkey balls, those Ewoks were really REALLY bad. I've never seen worse costuming in any movie (although one or two Star Trek episodes had a few as bad). So I'll agree about EPVI, but not IV or V.
Oh please. This geek culture icon has already been thoroughly ruined by the Prequel movies.
It's been my observation that the only ones who share your opinion were children when EPIV came out. I was in my twenties, and about the only difference I saw was the effects and costumes were far better in the prequels.
As an adult watching them, the one that ruined the franchise was EPVI. I mean, Jesus... those midgets in the cheezy bear costumes were REALLY lame. I had to forget just how bad VI was to even watch EPI; if that had come out two years after EPVI I probably wouldn't even have watched it.
IMO, EPIII was excellent, especially the opening scene with the big space battle, and the fight between Obi-Wan and Vader. I see bitching about the "mitichlorians" but you have to remember, these aren't human, they're aliens from another time and another galaxy. That alone demands a HUGE suspension of disbelief -- a race from another galaxy looks exactly like us?? That's harder to swallow than FTL travel.
let's get real: for the government, the insurance companies, the health care providers, etc, etc, etc, ad eternum...that's a good thing.
How is it a good thing when someone who gives you their money dies??? Every one of those entities has every reason to try to keep the cash flowing.
But of those entities, the one that is dragging down our life expectancy is the insurance industry. They are nothing but corporate leeches. They add no value, but probably half of your health care dolars go to them while they do nothing for your actual health. Countries with higher life expectancies have government-run single-payer systems that don't have to pay millions per year each to the CxOs, boards of directors, and stockholders.
But the key here is range... as in it has highs and lows. Contrast that with someone like Nickelback, where everything is at a constant volume all the time.
That was exactly my point. Listen to Nickleback at three and you;ll hear every note. Listen to Zeppelin's "The Ocean" (on LP, they stupidly compressed the dynamics on the CD) and if it isn't cranked to ten, the soft part in the middle is inaudible. Which is why the older music would have been harder on the ears.
And this is what's wrong with the world, old geezers are still in control of rock music. You're supposed to be listening to easy listening or Guy Lombardo by now -- you guys fucked everybody and smoked all of the good drugs, and now we can't do any of that.
LOL! Actually, today's reefer is far better than all but the best back in the seventies, and you really wouldn't want to smoke elephant tranquilizer (phencyclidine). As to music, well, it's not our fault that we were so good at making music.
I had a discussion with my dad once, who opined that the music of his youth (Glen Miller, Tomy Dorsey) was the best music recorded, but he's wrong. My generation never listened to those old guys and my dad's only 21 years older than me. OTOH today's twentysomething are still listening to the same music I did (and still do) forty years ago.
Of course, back then we used joints and pipes and bongs, and it was a social thing. Today's youth (and even most geezers) use one hitters. I far prefer the old way there.
I don't know about that, I've been to a few concerts where the ringing lasted for hours afterwards
Fire a 20 guage shotgun, just one round, and your ears will ring for hours. Imagine if your job site were as loud as that concert? Most factories are louder. Most everyone I know who's my age and worked in construction or in a factory wear hearing aids.
Yes, I have known some wealthy people who got their wealth through the grace of God (I don't believe the myth of the self-made man) and used it for good, but if you look at the Romneys of the world, well, how can you possibly buy a thriving business, close it, lay off its employees and sell the assets for a tidy profit and still call yourself a Christian? That was what Romney did for a living, and he was the least conservative of all the Republican candidates. Don't get me started on Gingrich and Norquist...
That's been my experience as well. Hell, half wouldn't even need that. I don't know how many meetings I've had to attend that did nothing but waste my, er, my employer's time.
Thank you for that, it was informative. I really don't have any reason to bank online, and know better than to give any sensitive info to anyone who calls me.
OK, name one felony that an otherwise law-abiding citizen would commit (with the exception of smoking pot, which is a misdemeanor or less in most places).
It would have to either be an incredibly expensive machine to buy, or prone to frequent breakdowns, to be more expensive than minimum wage. Note that the robots in the auto factories are doing the jobs formerly done by well paid humans. Once you buy and program the thing, the only cost is electricity and ocassional maintenance.
I've often wondered why Fast Food isn't cooked by machine, although it's easy to see why there are cashiers -- because that's what people expect and they'd probably switch fast food restaraunts if their favorite one ceased to have humans taking their orders and money. An awful lot of food is already prepared and cooked by machine -- TV dinners, twinkies, cupcakes, hot pockets, almost everything you get out of a vending machine and microwave and plenty at the grocery store.
Look at the auto industry, unions got a living wage, the humans got replaced by robots.
They would have been replaced by robots even if they were minimum wage. Robots do it cheaper, faster, and better than humans.
Drop pot to the States? Sure, that pleases stoners. And pisses off soccer moms and Christian loonies.
Good comment, but support for legal pot has gone from 12% in 1969 to over 50% today. I have no idea why Christian "loonies" would be against legalizing pot (although I would characterize anyone who is against its legalization as a loonie), since there's absolutely nothing in the bible against it, and it has been used for thousands of years and was not unknown to the ancients who wrote that tome. The only thing that would keep a Christian from smoking pot is Paul's warning to obey authority.
Yes, computers have been "him" since the building-sized pocket calculators that ran on vacuum tubes, just as vehicles have been traditionally "her". It's a simple anthropomorphism. I talk to my car and computer when they piss me off, but I'm under no illusion that they hear me or think. Of course, the problem is that some are under that illusion, even some who should know better.
It's well known that mastery of a second language is complete when you can swear with a native speaker's flair, because you need to understand the social background to the language - something which is a huge challenge for a fucktard computer.
Slashdot Mirror
I only flew on one once (although I did get to play with the simulator, that was one cool computer) but it was on the way back from Thailand. Bugs were pretty much worked out by then. The navigation did go out in Japan where the pilots didn't want to stay, they were pissed. It touched down so softly I couldn't tell when we were on the ground.
They wanted to stay in Alaska (had to do with per diem), they bounced it three times on landing but weren't able to break it. All us passengers got bumped for a fire truck.
And people wonder why I didn't reenlist...
the soldiers were selected from the fittest of the population.
While that's strictly true, almost every man that wasn't disabled was in some branch of the service then; all six of my uncles were, my dad was a couple of years too young. During WWII there was such a shortage of non-handicapped men in the US that major league baseball had one-armed players on their teams.
Indeed, I was stationed at Dover when the first C5-As were rolled out. You wouldn't believe the trouble they had... landing gear not coming up/down, engines falling off, fires, hell even one of the giant cranes that serviced the aircraft's tailsection fell over at another base and killed two guys, grounding the whole fleet of C5s for a few weeks.
A year or two later they pretty much had all the bugs ironed out. After that the worst that happened was one poor guy I worked with was towing one and hit a hangar door with a wing and did ten million dollars worth of damage (he got off the hook, the wing walker got the blame).
I was 25 when EP IV came out, watched it at the theater with two friends the same age and we all loved it. EPV was even better. EPVI sucked donkey balls, those Ewoks were really REALLY bad. I've never seen worse costuming in any movie (although one or two Star Trek episodes had a few as bad). So I'll agree about EPVI, but not IV or V.
Full book, with original illustrations
From the department of redundancy department, brought to you by Captain Obvious.
My daughter bought that for me as a Christmas present. Fortunately, my house was burgled and all my DVDs stolen before I had a chence to watch it.
Yeah the Germans famously do not have a sense of humor.
Q: How many germans does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Das ist nicht lustig, du Arschloch!
Oh please. This geek culture icon has already been thoroughly ruined by the Prequel movies.
It's been my observation that the only ones who share your opinion were children when EPIV came out. I was in my twenties, and about the only difference I saw was the effects and costumes were far better in the prequels.
As an adult watching them, the one that ruined the franchise was EPVI. I mean, Jesus... those midgets in the cheezy bear costumes were REALLY lame. I had to forget just how bad VI was to even watch EPI; if that had come out two years after EPVI I probably wouldn't even have watched it.
IMO, EPIII was excellent, especially the opening scene with the big space battle, and the fight between Obi-Wan and Vader. I see bitching about the "mitichlorians" but you have to remember, these aren't human, they're aliens from another time and another galaxy. That alone demands a HUGE suspension of disbelief -- a race from another galaxy looks exactly like us?? That's harder to swallow than FTL travel.
let's get real: for the government, the insurance companies, the health care providers, etc, etc, etc, ad eternum...that's a good thing.
How is it a good thing when someone who gives you their money dies??? Every one of those entities has every reason to try to keep the cash flowing.
But of those entities, the one that is dragging down our life expectancy is the insurance industry. They are nothing but corporate leeches. They add no value, but probably half of your health care dolars go to them while they do nothing for your actual health. Countries with higher life expectancies have government-run single-payer systems that don't have to pay millions per year each to the CxOs, boards of directors, and stockholders.
But the key here is range ... as in it has highs and lows. Contrast that with someone like Nickelback, where everything is at a constant volume all the time.
That was exactly my point. Listen to Nickleback at three and you;ll hear every note. Listen to Zeppelin's "The Ocean" (on LP, they stupidly compressed the dynamics on the CD) and if it isn't cranked to ten, the soft part in the middle is inaudible. Which is why the older music would have been harder on the ears.
And this is what's wrong with the world, old geezers are still in control of rock music. You're supposed to be listening to easy listening or Guy Lombardo by now -- you guys fucked everybody and smoked all of the good drugs, and now we can't do any of that.
LOL! Actually, today's reefer is far better than all but the best back in the seventies, and you really wouldn't want to smoke elephant tranquilizer (phencyclidine). As to music, well, it's not our fault that we were so good at making music.
I had a discussion with my dad once, who opined that the music of his youth (Glen Miller, Tomy Dorsey) was the best music recorded, but he's wrong. My generation never listened to those old guys and my dad's only 21 years older than me. OTOH today's twentysomething are still listening to the same music I did (and still do) forty years ago.
Of course, back then we used joints and pipes and bongs, and it was a social thing. Today's youth (and even most geezers) use one hitters. I far prefer the old way there.
I don't know about that, I've been to a few concerts where the ringing lasted for hours afterwards
Fire a 20 guage shotgun, just one round, and your ears will ring for hours. Imagine if your job site were as loud as that concert? Most factories are louder. Most everyone I know who's my age and worked in construction or in a factory wear hearing aids.
Yes, I have known some wealthy people who got their wealth through the grace of God (I don't believe the myth of the self-made man) and used it for good, but if you look at the Romneys of the world, well, how can you possibly buy a thriving business, close it, lay off its employees and sell the assets for a tidy profit and still call yourself a Christian? That was what Romney did for a living, and he was the least conservative of all the Republican candidates. Don't get me started on Gingrich and Norquist...
That's been my experience as well. Hell, half wouldn't even need that. I don't know how many meetings I've had to attend that did nothing but waste my, er, my employer's time.
LOL, well modded! What makes it even funnier is that I am, in fact, American!
Er, maybe homophonophobic (yes, that is not a real word; I just made it up). Since he can't use homophones, he actually should be afraid of them!
Thank you for that, it was informative. I really don't have any reason to bank online, and know better than to give any sensitive info to anyone who calls me.
OK, name one felony that an otherwise law-abiding citizen would commit (with the exception of smoking pot, which is a misdemeanor or less in most places).
It would have to either be an incredibly expensive machine to buy, or prone to frequent breakdowns, to be more expensive than minimum wage. Note that the robots in the auto factories are doing the jobs formerly done by well paid humans. Once you buy and program the thing, the only cost is electricity and ocassional maintenance.
I've often wondered why Fast Food isn't cooked by machine, although it's easy to see why there are cashiers -- because that's what people expect and they'd probably switch fast food restaraunts if their favorite one ceased to have humans taking their orders and money. An awful lot of food is already prepared and cooked by machine -- TV dinners, twinkies, cupcakes, hot pockets, almost everything you get out of a vending machine and microwave and plenty at the grocery store.
Look at the auto industry, unions got a living wage, the humans got replaced by robots.
They would have been replaced by robots even if they were minimum wage. Robots do it cheaper, faster, and better than humans.
Drop pot to the States? Sure, that pleases stoners. And pisses off soccer moms and Christian loonies.
Good comment, but support for legal pot has gone from 12% in 1969 to over 50% today. I have no idea why Christian "loonies" would be against legalizing pot (although I would characterize anyone who is against its legalization as a loonie), since there's absolutely nothing in the bible against it, and it has been used for thousands of years and was not unknown to the ancients who wrote that tome. The only thing that would keep a Christian from smoking pot is Paul's warning to obey authority.
That's not real people (I hope there's no one like that)
Sadly, I've met people exactly like that -- and even weirder.
They want it to talk like a real person but it can't so they need the filter. Turing test failure.
Spock didn't really have the hang of it, sort of like Watson.
Neither did Kirk. And not just swearing -- "he did a little too much LDS".
"Him"?
Yes, computers have been "him" since the building-sized pocket calculators that ran on vacuum tubes, just as vehicles have been traditionally "her". It's a simple anthropomorphism. I talk to my car and computer when they piss me off, but I'm under no illusion that they hear me or think. Of course, the problem is that some are under that illusion, even some who should know better.
It's well known that mastery of a second language is complete when you can swear with a native speaker's flair, because you need to understand the social background to the language - something which is a huge challenge for a fucktard computer.
Este puta es mierde, pendecho!
How'd I do? Does that prove I'm human?
At least this proves that Watson isn't sentient for those who buy into the "thinking machine" myth.
Not that prudes are much more sentient...