Posts by tom 24

Carly Fiorina unleashes 'demon sheep'

To quote MST3K...

"Would somebody please tell the director about compressing time through editing?"

The Prisoner set for Sunday release

Love triangle?

A love triangle? They didn't want number 2 to be faceless and soulless? They're going to develop the "characters", and leave the short-story format for more of a soap-opera style, aren't they! Golly.

I do hope they develop that love triangle; it promises to be a lot more interesting than that boring "wanting to escape" part. And I'm so looking forward to seeing the human side of number 2, explore his human and sympathetic side, maybe even have some dramatic moments that explore their sameness and differences in more heart-rending depth. They don't have to wallow in that boring "prisoner trying to escape" thing; they can explore the various dramatic and interesting relationships with the characters around him!

I can see it now: he refuses to fully commit to a relationship, because he believes he is going to escape one day, resulting in dramatic tension. Oh golly! They could have long, heated conversations about it! One of them could become slightly upset, and leave you wondering if they're going to break up, only to reconcile the next week! Wow!

This promises to be as good as the new Doctor. I'm weeping tears of joy. Really.

Glenn Beck loses and wins domain name case

So you say it's a smear campaign?

A lot of the reactions I see on news sites are in this style: "This is a smear campaign posing as political satire."

Which, interestingly, sounds like a Glenn Beck tactic.

Maybe it is more correctly described as a "meta-smear campaign posing as political satire of a smear campaign posing as political satire"? Or something like that.

Beer icon, because I have the flu, and haven't had a pint for a week. :(

Microsoft in Bing jingle kiddie vid outrage

And I just got out of therapy...

It took me all this time to recover from the original song. Why did I click? Why?

I may have to start drinking early. Well, earlier than usual.

New Doctor Who is 'simply the best'

What, no sarcasm?

No, no, people, you're doing this all wrong. Your responses should be along the lines of:

"Oh my, he's EVEN BETTER? I can hardly WAIT for the new series to come out on DVD, pay $75 plus shipping, wait through the non-skippable extended-length advertisements, and enjoy an entire season of an unremarkable soap opera with special effects!"

I thought I was a fan of the doctor, until I bought "seasons one and two". I guess I was wrong.

Brit space agency to probe 'crackpot' antigravity device

Now that's a cool video!

My goodness, what an astounding video! They have made a device that, without human intervention, TURNS BY ITSELF. (Yes, I am being sarcastic BTW.)

I wonder what function the oscilloscope provides, that is so vitally essential to this turning action that it has to be mounted on the turning portion of the contraption.

This would be much more convincing if it were shot on blurry VHS video.

Court kicks YouTube rant missus into touch

For the sake of record, it really should be said

This song is simply dreadful.

Now it's official. OK?

Revolting postmen force early Windows 7 launch

Don't you mean... earlier?

Oh come on, this is hardly the first time a version of Windows has shipped prematurely. This version is just shipping two more days before it's ready than we had expected.

US boffins use Obama dough to study clouds

Oh, those clouds.

How disappointing. For a second there, I thought they were using the money to research something, you know, something that wouldn't get funding otherwise. Pure optimism, I know.

So, on the bright side, I'm still capable of optimism. And here I thought US politics had burned out that part of my soul, scattered the ashes over a landfill, and built condos over that.

Giant megaships to suck 'stranded' Aussie gas fields

Megaships!

I think it's shameful that they are building giant megaships when they could easy make do with ordinary megaships.

Police charge anarchist over G20 protest network

Everyone has a conspiracy theory, apparently.

"The big problem is that anarchism (and it's close cousin, American libertarianism and its unbridled free market) is impossible in practice due to human nature."

Exactly. But that doesn't make the libertarian end goal of "anarchy" pointless. A 100% efficient engine is not a poor goal just because it is impossible. The engineer works towards maximum efficiency, knowing that it simply isn't going to happen. In the same way, a good conservative works towards zero government interference, knowing that his representative will be selling out his ideals to the highest bidder, and then redefine "conservative" to mean something completely different. Ugh.

So the point is that as an /ideal/, anarchy does not equate to blowing up buildings for fun, any more than capitalism equates to secret police organizations orchestrating the blowing up of buildings to give the government additional mind share when starting a war. As an ideal, anarchy is good; it is the is the ultimate "100% efficiency" goal of conservatism, even though we know it is really impossible (because people are such amazing asshats).

Of course, to many people anarchy means "destroy the government with no plan for what happens after". This is clearly not a good thing. I'm pretty sure Curious George would not approve, although he might do it by accident without meaning to, and end up soaking wet and shivering outside in the cold, somehow learning a valuable lesson about why you should read about the issues before you go to the polls to vote.

(Jolly Roger, reminding you that you can't break the rules if there aren't any.)

International hacker buried $1m in backyard

Top Shelf!

Wow, this guy's a serious brand whore. BMW, Tiffany, Rolex, Glock... he just has to have the name brand versions! Maybe if he was a little more thrifty, he could have stolen less money, maintained a lower profile, maybe stayed out of jail for a longer. Or indefinitely. Makes me want to start a life of crime just to show people how it's done.

[*] Well, actually a Glock 27 is a pretty good value, and it doesn't really pay to cheap out on firearms...but to point that out would totally ruin the flow.

(Paris, because I said "brand whoring". Heh heh.)

Good Day Sunshine as Beatles hits iTunes? Er, nope

Influential but not Essential...

Thanks Dr. R, for summing things up so beautifully. IBNE.

I want to say I couldn't care less, but I notice I'm here typing a comment. So, I guess I could care less. I think I'll give that a try.

German Pirate Party MP charged in child porn case

Mixed Signals

It seems like the message here is that it's OK to possess child porn, as long as you're voting the right way.

Apple Store pillaged in 31 seconds

Two-and-a-half minutes...

This video would be exciting and entertaining, if it weren't for the news anchors trying so hard to make it sound exciting and entertaining.

Mechwarrior maker claims Microsoft 'destroyed' studio's culture

Well, as a MWM fan...

I can say this: none of the post-MS versions of the game were what I would call "fun". And they keep trying to "fix" the game by making it "faster". Clueless.

Mechs should be clunky and slow. Anything else is just "Robot suit anime".

Outlook (finally) coming to the Mac

Outlook... Outlook... wait, you mean the email client?

And this is supposed to be good news?

Canadian privacy chief flunks Facebook

You can fail facebook?

I wasn't even aware it was offered as a course. Is MySpace a prerequisite?

Microsoft invests $1m in IT girls

Call my cynical...

"Tech workers cost money; how can we increase competition so they'll be cheaper? Hey, if women weren't put off by the horror of a tech career, that would nearly double the number of qualified applicants for any position! How can we (quickly and relatively cheaply) sell women on the idea that a tech career is fun and rewarding?"

*sigh* Why aren't they trying to discourage men, that's what I want to know!

Most IT pros not planning on Windows 7 rollout

Nothing could be as bad?

"...and because nothing could ever be as bad as Windows Vista."

I realize this is supposed to be rhetorical, or perhaps sarcastic, but I *immediately* thought of NT 3.5.

Silverlight 3: closer to what client-side .NET should have been

and Eventually Linux

"Eventually." This sums up Microsoft's open-source strategy nicely, as well as perfectly describing their "Core API Documentation Strategy", and their "third party application compatibility strategy", and their "EC compliance Strategy".

Video game sales hit three-year low in US

"Established Franchises"

"June 2009 may be looking up with the release of good number of games based on established franchises"

Games with recognizable brand names and boring gameplay are our best sellers? And they blame it on the economy. Thanks EA.