1 Weird, "The Machine" was a nickname an old girlfriend gave me once.

2 Hexadecimal rocks!

3 Too late for me, damn it!

4 Fuck Google. (I hope they didn't read that)

5 Sooo... if'n somone downloads child porn on one, is Google then liable?

6 Welcome to the Machine.

7

I can't wait for Google Borg.

8 Mainframes with green screens ..old is new again.

9 I've never understood the appeal of cloud computing. I like to have as much data as possible stored locally.

10 The Machine doesn't bother me, it's the System that'll fuck ya.

11 Bad kharma man, bad kharma.

12 Meh. You know who's going to buy Chromebooks? Poor people that can't afford anything else. As long as it has the cachet of Hepatitis C, this isn't anything we're going to have to worry about. But no, you shouldn't trust Google one bit. They've proven that time and time again.

13 We got no FOOD, we got no JOBS...our pets' HEADS ARE FALLING OFF!

14

Sneakers what a good movie. I miss River Phoenix.

 

I like when Dan Akroid mentions getting information from a friend who fought in the gulf war, for the other side.

15 >>>You know who's going to buy Chromebooks? Poor people that can't afford anything else. They're not even all that cheap. Although I guess for the price point you get more storage space than most computers.

16

In Soviet Union, computer programs you.

17 That's why commenters here always keep their emotions on the down-low.  Don't want to feed the ace-machine.  The ace-machine flourishes on fear and loathing.  Beware the machine.

18 BTW, "cloud computing" is what we used to call "timesharing." it's about as cutting-edge as disco.

19 yeah, ben, I guess Sneakers is pretty good. I hate even saying it's pretty good though. Robert Redford and all. It's definitely not really good. But better than "so-so meh."

20 Weird, "The Machine" was a nickname an old girlfriend gave me once.

Posted by: John Ensign at May 13, 2011 06:56 PM (+lsX1)

She gave me that nickname too!

21 Umm, I know a thing or two about federal law enforcement and search warrants/court orders/subpoenas for online email because of my job of 30 years   - I can't believe you didn't know they could do that, Ace - and I would never, ever, ever use this moronic "cloud" thing. It's an open invitation to have the government, and anyone else to steal and/or manipulate your personal information.

22 The idea of the Thin Client comes and goes.  Perhaps there is a niche for those people who look upon computers as appliances rather than tools they enjoy sharpening and tinkering with. 

The Mac people, like my Pop, who I'll be helping over the phone and when I mention Right-Mouse, sighs and asks why Windows has to be so complicated when his Mac only has the one button.

23 I have gmail. I get a lot of work related email with files attached. I use to download all the files but it got to be too much. The emails also contain substantive material that I need. So, I just store everything on gmail. If they ever make it impossible to download the attached files-- I'm screwed. But, I don't have the time or storage to download all these files.

24 The Machine likes central processing and everything in the world being recorded in binary code and doesn't like secrets; the Machine is conditioning us step-by-step to accept its preferred paradigm of the world.

For what it's worth, the Machine still has one basic flaw.

25 There is no privacy on the innertubes.   Binary is absolute.

26 Google = EVIL

27
That's why commenters here always keep their emotions on the down-low.




You must have missed the epic Pollock vs Cod thread. Made Gaga vs Madonna, 9mm vs .45 and North vs South look like Sunday School.

28 Osama was an early adopter. Look where that got him.

29 The niche may also be those people who have their entire family photo album on their machine, and never back it up.  Disk drives die, people.  That's why there is a booming business in data recovery from crashed out hard drives.

30 BTW, "cloud computing" is what we used to call "timesharing." It's so old it's new.

31

yeah, ben, I guess Sneakers is pretty good. I hate even saying it's pretty good though. Robert Redford and all.

It's definitely not really good. But better than "so-so meh."

It was good for its time. It was in a genre that seemed to flourish in the 1990s.

I too hate Redford, but I remember a ton of lines from that movie.

"Turn around, Midnight"

32 Sneakers was ok, the problem is Robert Redford can't act anymore. Three Days Of The Condor was better.

33 There is another system.

34 Alinsky: If you push a negative hard enough, it becomes a positive!

35 Don't worry about this. In a few weeks you'll be able to trust Apple with all your crap and gay porn instead!

36 WEB TV!

Dumbasses have been trying to do this every three years since the mid-1980s.

It always fails, but I guess the lure is strong enough to drag them back every time. Kind of like socialism - you know, you don't own or control anything you have, but it's cheap!

There is a "success" angle here of "mobile identities" that can store certain data and programs that are fairly mobile and access on public terminals, android and iPhone phones, etc. There is no "standard" for that behavior, there are many apps and services that don't inter-operate well.

As far as the "appliance" that does everything cheap, well, no. It will not keep up with technological changes, and won't do anything well but documents and e-mail. Which is enough for some people, they did sell a lot of webTV thingies, but it didn't take long to die as a market.

Also, bad timing right after the Sony/Playstation hack.

BTW, no, none of your online data is secure. You should lie a lot when applying for things/accounts online. If you want secure data online you have to encrypt it before it goes online, and even that's no guarantee. Also disguise it. That's also no guarantee.

37 They're not even all that cheap. Although I guess for the price point you get more storage space than most computers.

How many terabytes does the average person really need? Or can they even use?

38

How many terabytes does the average person really need? Or can they even use?

i probably use 30% of my computer.

I'm not doing autocad or anything. Just come music, some pictures, and some documents.

 

39 37 Don't worry about this. In a few weeks you'll be able to trust Apple with all your crap and gay porn instead!

Posted by: Steve Jobs at May 13, 2011 07:05 PM (oDUHp)

wha...WHAT???

40 I don't even trust my own network.  2 drives on every PC.

41 This is Unix; I know this!

42 How many terabytes does the average person really need? Or can they even use?

3.  Grandfather, father, son.

43 >>>How many terabytes does the average person really need? Or can they even use? 72 terabytes, yes.

44 I'm sure our personal information is perfectly safe in the hands of rabid leftist neo-venture capitalist moonbats. Right?

Absolutely. There's nothing to fear in having all your personal data stored online on some server you can't control.

45 You must have missed the epic Pollock vs Cod thread. Made Gaga vs Madonna, 9mm vs .45 and North vs South look like Sunday School.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 13, 2011 07:03 PM (7YzRS)

 

I missed that one.  Missed the longbow thread too.  I guess I have too much of a life (and a job).

46 O.T.: Anybody following the use of super injunctions in the UK? Celebrities caught dipping their wicks elsewhere get them to shut up the adverse publicity. Quite popular among actors and footballers. It's amazing that they can get away with this crap.

47 Re: Sneakers

Would have been 100% better if not for the last minute before the credits, after the shy guy asks for the girl's phone number.

You know, where Hollywood gave Republicans the finger for no story-telling reason - the guy with the secret chip stealing from (was it the NRA or GOP?) and giving to some lefty cause.

Kind of like how The Kingdom lost two stars in the last minute of screen time. A lot of movies do that.

Not like the game Far Cry 2, which lost ALL of its stars at the end, and went negative. Freakin' Dostoevsky would have killed himself at the end of that game.

48 This is Unix; I know this!

Oh shit, I laughed so hard at that interface.  Movie interfaces are either 3D graphical cities, or they are super powerful command line hacking things.

Access Denied.

OVERRIDE!

Access Granted.

49 49 He stole from the GOP,I believe.Maybe others as well.

50 There IS no right to privacy.

51 Kind of like how The Kingdom lost two stars in the last minute of screen time. A lot of movies do that.

What happened in the last 2 minutes?

52 Access Denied. OVERRIDE! Access Granted. Hey! How did you know my password for everything? I used to use "password" but I got clever and changed it.

53

Yeah, I wouldn't trust Google with squat but I'm getting more and more paranoid lately.

On the other privacy hand, since I dealt blackjack for many years, surveillance cameras don't bother me. I'm kind of used to the idea of being potentially taped anywhere in public.

54 Yeah, i still don't trust anybody enough to keep my files, however innocuous, anywhere but my own hard drive. Memory is cheap these days and that's why everyone is offering up a place for you to put your files, because they have plenty of space, but i'm just not gonna do it. I was amazed at how invasive even my new Android phone was, on just about every app that came with it i had to allow Google permission to use my location, share it and so on.

55 Just come music, some pictures, and some documents.

 

Posted by: Ben at May 13, 2011 07:06 PM (DKV43)

Speaking of fascinating new ideas.  Or are you talking about that 70s porn soundtrack stuff?

56
The storage space argument doesn't really hold much water anymore. Not when you can buy a 1TB external backup drive for around $100. 

Other than storage, I can't think of any reason why the cloud is any more useful than a dedicated desktop/laptop computer. You can get free open-source versions just about any software the average person/business might need just by downloading from the web. And since it's open-source, it's perfectly legal.

Actually, the only thing the cloud has going for it is that it's computing for lazy people who don't do backups.

57 And since this is a quasi-security thread   TrueCrypt.com

Simple, invisible and free.

58 No, really, it's totally private.

59 48 O.T.: Anybody following the use of super injunctions in the UK? Celebrities caught dipping their wicks elsewhere get them to shut up the adverse publicity. Quite popular among actors and footballers. It's amazing that they can get away with this crap.

Posted by: Tough US Immigration Policies at May 13, 2011 07:08 PM (x/4B/)

They don't have free speech. Duh.

60 #48 Yes, re superinjunctions. I even made it a point to find out who they were protecting ( from the twitter outing), just because. I don't even recognize the names except Jeremy Clarkson, but that is in some dispute.

61 Will they check to see if you own all your content?

62 Also, how come my computer isn't like those cool ones in the movies where every keystroke makes a sine wave beep as I type?

63 The storage space argument doesn't really hold much water anymore. Not when you can buy a 1TB external backup drive for around $100. 


Word.  At one of my clients, the disk array has 20T+ of redundant RAID storage and it takes up the floor space of a refrigerator.

Times have changed.

64 Backup?  I could've used some of that.

65 Will they check to see if you own all your content?

Posted by: FlaviusJulius at May 13, 2011 07:12 PM (qIHlG)

Your paranoia is disquieting, citizen.

66 I can think of one use for cloud storage: Music, if you have a lot of it. Set up your library once and stream it anywhere from any device. That's it though, and you need to have a metric fuckton of songs for it to make sense.

67 The ChromeBook is basically an Android Tablet at twice the cost. I hope they don't sell a single one, it's offensively arrogant.

They'll sell a few, of course.

68 Meanwhile, what's going on with the Althouse blog (apparently deleted by Blogger from the web for being "spam") is ridiculous, surreal. What *is* going on with the Althouse blog?

69 Yeah, another vote for TrueCrypt or similar software. Plus, if Barry stays in until 2016, we may want to get more familiar with torproject.org.

70 OT but dayum, even Canadians are blasting Romney on Sun News.  I love it!

71 53 Kind of like how The Kingdom lost two stars in the last minute of screen time. A lot of movies do that.

What happened in the last 2 minutes?

Posted by: PBoilermaker at May 13, 2011 07:10 PM (jU2vI)

Moral Equivalence. They had a scene where the good guys angsted and the bad guys sat around plotting badness, basically using the same phrases, to show that the people stopping terrorists were really all the same as the child-raping hand-cutting, goat-screwing school-bus-bombing savages they were fighting.

Basically turning the movie on its head.

72 HD video

73 500 gig ex hard drives are $60-$70 bucks. Cloud is un necessary.

74

Shit, people.  Let's face it.  Even if one doesn't use this service, the etherworld knows absulutely everything about us.  I'm not fooling myself anymore.  Even if I unplugged my computer right now and never used it again, people would still be able to track my every move.

Personal privacy has been dead for a long time.

75 Meanwhile, what's going on with the Althouse blog (apparently deleted by Blogger from the web for being "spam") is ridiculous, surreal. What *is* going on with the Althouse blog? Blogger is down. All Blogspot-hosted blogs are hosed. Just reason #7,398 not to trust Google to host your life.

76 >>>Ace here's G4's sort of review of one of the prototypes of these from a few month back if you want to have a look at their opinions on it. is the video game girl with the tits on it?

77 I can think of one use for cloud storage: Music, if you have a lot of it. Set up your library once and stream it anywhere from any device.

I actually do that on my Roku box, although it has a 10gb limit for the free version and i got a shitload more than 10gigs but i ain't payin' for it damnit.

78 This is Ace's best post in awhile.

I don't think I'm overstating it by too much when I call Google the largest private espionage organization in history.

You tell 'em!

79

Funny... as my old HotMail account got highjacked today....

nothing on the web is safe...

80 Morgan Webb. Yeah, it's not her. Just two dweebs. Thanks for nuttin'.

81 Moral Equivalence. They had a scene where the good guys angsted and the bad guys sat around plotting badness, basically using the same phrases, to show that the people stopping terrorists were really all the same as the child-raping hand-cutting, goat-screwing school-bus-bombing savages they were fighting.

Huh.  I didn't read it that way.  I got more of a Those squatting savages never learn and they delude themselves into thinking they are the good guys vibe.  But, to each his own.

82 I am waiving at the Google Earth cameras right now.

83 71 Meanwhile, what's going on with the Althouse blog (apparently deleted by Blogger from the web for being "spam") is ridiculous, surreal. What *is* going on with the Althouse blog?

Posted by: lael at May 13, 2011 07:15 PM (9fJ3H)

She pissed off the leftists and unions, take a wild guess what happened.

84 Kids put everything on Facebook. They don't have the same sense of privacy that an older generation does. They will be fully receptive, IMO. Not me.

85 SE Cupp was on Beck's show today though.MMMM,SE Cupp....

86 web-based email without warrant so long as it's more than six months old.

Well, ace. That is surprising! I wonder if you would have been surprised when Bush/Cheney eviscerated our fourth amendment rights, you would have blogged fiery remonstrations and Olympian denouncements of the conversion of the Internet into a Big Brother spy portal.

If only you had known!

87 I thought distributed computing was dead when the PC killed the VAX.  I guess the ADP wizards never gave up their control fantasies.

88 >>>Kids put everything on Facebook. They don't have the same sense of privacy that an older generation doe exactly, they have no sense (as we older ones do) of how fundamentally weird this is. To them, it's normal.

89

Posted by: lael at May 13, 2011 07:15 PM (9fJ3H)

I agree.  At first I thought it was just that Blogger was down, but it's back up and her site isn't available.  I'm a little hopeful since the message said the name wasn't available to a new blog either.  My fingers are crossed that it's a mistake and nothing permanent.  The PR for Blogger would be pretty bad if they booted her.

90 I wonder if you would have been surprised when Bush/Cheney eviscerated our fourth amendment rights

Hahahahaha!

91 Blogger is down. All Blogspot-hosted blogs are hosed.

Just reason #7,398 not to trust Google to host your life.

Posted by: Rajiv Vindaloo at May 13, 2011 07:18 PM (oDUHp)

I can get to other blogspot sites, but not althouse.

92 Ooooh. I want to say VAX, AS400, Cobol, Fortran again.  The good times.

93 And why can't I type 700 words-per-minute like those people do?

Posted by: Soap MacTavish at May 13, 2011 07:16 PM (vbh31)

 

It's because you're not a computer genius.  Computer geniuses can do absolutely everything well except fucking. 

94
I can think of one use for cloud storage: Music, if you have a lot of it. Set up your library once and stream it anywhere from any device.

That's it though, and you need to have a metric fuckton of songs for it to make sense.





How many 3 minute songs can someone listen to in a day?

I'd reckon that the average playlist has a maximum of around 4-8GB of their favorite music that they listen to on a regular basis (weekly/daily), with maybe twice that amount of music that is listened to occasionally (monthly).

95

There was an ariticle in the Seattle Times about chrome book, it's more expensive than a laptop that does more and it isn't much smaller. They thought people might buy it because it's google. If they do that's their problem.

I never use anything google, what happens when they find out you hate Obama and load a bunch of child porn on your cloud for ya and call the cops. fuck those guys.

96 What sort of stuff did Althouse blog about?

97 Also, OpenPGP for all your conspiracy needs.

98 Well, ace. That is surprising! I wonder if you would have been surprised when Bush/Cheney eviscerated our fourth amendment rights,

Posted by: Lucifer, John Ashcroft's personal savior at May 13, 2011 07:20 PM (BHSVg)

Clinton. Carnivore. Bush just used it against terrorists instead of conservative talk show hosts.

99 There's no goddamn privacy anymore!

100 The whole thing is to be able to charge you a monthly fee. All these computer companies want to be like the cable and phone companies.

101

Posted by: FlaviusJulius at May 13, 2011 07:23 PM (qIHlG)

She and her husband broke, and followed up on, the story of the complete union freak-out in Madison.

102 Now, I have horrible luck with hard drives - they die on me at the drop of a hat, so a drive less computer is a nice idea. All my stuff on someone else's server - that part is not appealing at all. When this hard drive dies I'm opting for a solid-state flash drive. No moving parts, solves most issues.

103 One of the single stupidest movie hacker gimmicks ever perpetrated had to be in "Independence Day." Because you just wouldn't even question some earthling hacker's cheesy laptop computer system being fully compatible with the technology of a freaking interstellar space-faring civilization. No, no incompatibilities with hardware, with voltages or current, with freaking operating systems or syntax or machine language written by aliens thousands of years advanced over you or even if you have a fucking dongle that plugs into... hey, why would aliens even have plugs? And the weasel hacker can bring down an advanced alien vessel the size of Rhode Island in seconds with a virus he wrote because, I guess, aliens don't have anti-virus software. Oh man, that was one stoooopid plot gimmick.

104 All Blogspot blogs were down earlier. They must be bringing it back up in sections or something. Instapundit posted saying that was Althouse's problem.

105
And why can't I type 700 words-per-minute like those people do?



One-handed, even (think Stallone and Banderas in Assassins).

106 exactly, they have no sense (as we older ones do) of how fundamentally weird this is. To them, it's normal.

Posted by: ace at May 13, 2011 07:20 PM (nj1bB)

Yeah it will be normal until their future boss checks out their facebook page and takes a pass on hiring them. Which probably explains some of why 18-29 year olds have a 25% unemployment rate.

107 I refuse to make another video of myself dancing for quarters on the wharf, while bottomless and in a tube top, possibly high on PCP, if my parents and coworkers won't accidentally see it.

108 OT but I must plug VirginMobile-US's no-contract $25 a month unlimited text and data plan.  My son is well pleased with his android phone and tethers his laptop to the internet with it.  Savings to me=$60 a month.

109 Will this Cloud you speak of affect my Pong or WordPerfect?

110 The whole thing is to be able to charge you a monthly fee. All these computer companies want to be like the cable and phone companies. Yeah, no thank you.

111 Meanwhile, what's going on with the Althouse blog (apparently deleted by Blogger from the web for being "spam") is ridiculous, surreal. What *is* going on with the Althouse blog?

Posted by: lael at May 13, 2011 07:15 PM (9fJ3H)

Maybe they got tired of her insufferable, pointy-headed, elitest, Obama-voting BS.

Just spitballin'.

112 113 How you doin'?

113 I hear HD porn videos are popular in the middle east

114 I'd reckon that the average playlist has a maximum of around 4-8GB of their favorite music that they listen to on a regular basis (weekly/daily), with maybe twice that amount of music that is listened to occasionally (monthly).

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 13, 2011 07:22 PM (7YzRS)

I have around 3,000 songs on my playlist but most of them are the other dozen or so songs on that particular album that I don't listen to.

I probably only listen to a couple hundred or so faves according to my mood. I mostly use my Ipod for podcasting.

115 You buy a couple of three ex hard drives and they outlast your next 10 computers. No monthly fees. The Althouse thing reminds me of last year when during everyone draw moohamhead day Facebook repoed  my farm.

116

And the weasel hacker can bring down an advanced alien vessel the size of Rhode Island in seconds with a virus he wrote because, I guess, aliens don't have anti-virus software.

We had anti-virus software but it was McAffee.

117 Yea, wait until they cancel your account because you linked a Mohamed photo somewhere.

118 Because you just wouldn't even question some earthling hacker's cheesy laptop computer system being fully compatible with the technology of a freaking interstellar space-faring civilization.

Heh.  I received this CERT Bulletin after that movie came out.

119 #123 Okay, I grant you that makes it plausible.

120 You mean Google has my porn stash too?

121 Omy 233 songs,1.09 mb on my playlist.

122 I spurn Google and rely strictly on AceOS. The only laptop that runs for twelve hours on a bottle of Valu-Rite hooch. We call it clod computing.

123 @125 B. Patch As root, install the "evil" package from the distribution tape. The alpha candidate for that package was code-named "Cheney."

124 If Google has everything you ever did on it's computers, are you still alive?

125 You mean Google has my porn stash too?

Posted by: zombie bin Laden at May 13, 2011 07:30 PM (1IjKi)

Somebody need a porn 'stache?

126

If this story is true, it means google has CP. If they have CP then they are child molesters and all should be in prison for a very long time...like a google years.

Well?

127 I actually liked ID4 while watching it and for a while afterwards.Mass hypnosis is the only thing that makes sense.

128 The only laptop that runs for twelve hours on a bottle of Valu-Rite hooch. We call it clod computing. In AceOS, it's not called "compiling," it's called "distilling."

129

I have around 3,000 songs on my playlist but most of them are the other dozen or so songs on that particular album that I don't listen to.

I probably only listen to a couple hundred or so faves according to my mood. I mostly use my Ipod for podcasting.

Hell, I have about 7800 songs in mine (I just checked). But I have about 5 different playlists set up for different moods, with about 75 songs each that I use at work or home. 90% of my music listening is with just under 400 songs.

I'm pretty sure that we're much the same as most other people.

130 If Google has everything you ever did on it's computers, are you still alive?

Posted by: Cherry π at May 13, 2011 07:32 PM (+sBB4)

You realize we're all living in a simulation run on a Google server.

131 114 OT but I must plug VirginMobile-US's no-contract $25 a month unlimited text and data plan.  My son is well pleased with his android phone and tethers his laptop to the internet with it.  Savings to me=$60 a month.


Same here, got it about a month ago after Chemjeff talked about it, couldn't be happier with it. Only drawback is no roaming, but the coverage is good enough to where there shouldn't be a problem unless i'm way out in the sticks of Montana or something.

132 132 He even has a good porn name.Hmm,do we know everything about the mans past??

133 Of course we are bitching about Google cloud hosting a PC, on a weblog hosted by "Pixy" somewhere in the South Pacific running on some hacked together server scripts; when we should be dialing into Ace's basement BBS.

134 Go to Insty & scroll down for links about Ann Althouse- a self-important admin or mod, nightcruzr, has shut her down and is acting like Mussolini- or Duh!1....

135 You realize we're all living in a simulation run on a Google server. Blue pill, red pill?

136 140, whaaaa!!!

137 If you don't own the content you are storing and Google stores it, doesn't that make Google a co conspirator?

138 Sure, a significant portion of the computer-using population would have no problem with this. Those people who's computer usage is limited to e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, and occasionally creating documents.

These are the same people I tell to buy a computer from a known manufacturer, so they've got the backstop of a warranty.

These are the same people that could use nothing but an iPad and would probably be happier for it.

139 Until my local isp gets a whole lot more reliable, cloud computing would mean too many periods of slow computing or no computing. I'd rather have as much as possible under my own control.

140 This day in history, 1846: James K. Polk convinces Congress to declare war on Mexico.

Hmmmmmm. . . .

141 49 Re: Sneakers
Would have been 100% better if not for the last minute before the credits, after the shy guy asks for the girl's phone number.
You know, where Hollywood gave Republicans the finger for no story-telling reason - the guy with the secret chip stealing from (was it the NRA or GOP?) and giving to some lefty cause.

He hacked the Republican National Committee and sent all their money to the United Negro College Fund.

It's been almost 20 years and I remember that so clearly.  It was one of the ultimate out-of-left field Hollywood fuck-yous and destroyed the entire movie that preceded it.

Fuck Sneakers.

142 Blue pill, red pill?

Posted by: George Orwell at May 13, 2011 07:35 PM (AZGON)

BLUE!

143

They are going to want to tie this into the smart grid bullshit. 

144 I'm still looking for the Girl in the Red Dress.

145 Google's cloud just disappeared a bunch of blogs, including Althouse the last couple of days. Who wants to deal with that crap from a lefty political corporation. Hey Boss, the cloud ate my report is going to get your ass fired no matter what. Cloud my ass.

146 The only laptop that runs for twelve hours on a bottle of Valu-Rite hooch.

I've actually run laptops on ethanol, or more precisely on batteries charged by an ethanol or methanol fuel cell.  It works.

147 They have a spare.

148 Trinity or Girl in the Red Dress?

I'll take the red one.

149 This whole "internet" thing is just a fad.

150 I'm more worried about all these companies that collect personal data and put it on the web for free. Because I deal with criminals, I'm very protective of my home address. However, it came up during a recent google search from a license I had over 25 years ago. I hate these fuckers. And there are so many of them.

151 Personal computers have gotten so powerful that I feel compelled to participate in these distributed processing things.  Unless I'm running a couple of virtual machines and watching a movie at the same time, my processor barely gets off idle.

I've been folding proteins for a couple of years now.

152 I'll take the red one.

Yep, She doesn't talk much.

153 I've been folding proteins for a couple of years now.

Posted by: toby928™ at May 13, 2011 07:40 PM (GTbGH)

More visually pleasing than SETI@Home.

154 157 This whole "internet" thing is just a fad.

Posted by: er at May 13, 2011 07:39 PM (+aMaK)

Isn't it?!

155 One of the single stupidest movie hacker gimmicks ever perpetrated had to be in "Independence Day." Because you just wouldn't even question some earthling hacker's cheesy laptop computer system being fully compatible with the technology of a freaking interstellar space-faring civilization.

No, no incompatibilities with hardware, with voltages or current, with freaking operating systems or syntax or machine language written by aliens thousands of years advanced over you or even if you have a fucking dongle that plugs into... hey, why would aliens even have plugs? And the weasel hacker can bring down an advanced alien vessel the size of Rhode Island in seconds with a virus he wrote because, I guess, aliens don't have anti-virus software.

Oh man, that was one stoooopid plot gimmick.

Posted by: George Orwell at May 13, 2011 07:25 PM (AZGON)

I don't know - its pretty much the gimmick in War of the Worlds, just electronic instead of biological.

156 More visually pleasing than SETI@Home.

Indeed.  I should ask kratos if they really look like that.

157 Just look at what Google is doing to Ann Althouse (Whether you love her or hate her or don't care).  Althouse2 dot blogspot dot com.

They treat you like garbage once you rely on their cloud.

158 I don't know - its pretty much the gimmick in War of the Worlds, just electronic instead of biological.

I made those three-fingered fucks my bitch.

159 164 An actual virus is more believable however.It's ability to mutate quickly makes it very difficult to defend against.I could conceive of the aliens thinking they were covered against biologicals and than getting caught unaware by a mutation.

160 I don't think the White Rabbit Girl got enough love.  She was smokin'.

161 its pretty much the gimmick in War of the Worlds, just electronic instead of biological. Much easier to believe susceptibility to biological contamination between lifeforms, if you postulate they have similar biochemistry. But even then, it's a stretch. You can't give your dog a cold, or vice versa.

162

Being conformed to the machine is, sadly, a real thing.  Last Christmas I was in an under-developed part of a tropical island nation, and at first did NOT like the feeling of having no internet access.  When I was finally able to tap a relative's service it was a feeling of relief. 

However, after a few more days I realized how little I need computerization.  It's a really nice tool, but that's all it is.  I then saw that what one really needs is sunshine, ice, vodka, tonic, and rice-and-beans.  Interacting with real, live human beings (other than co-workers and libtards) has a certain charm after all. 

163 54 Access Denied.

OVERRIDE!

Access Granted.

Hey! How did you know my password for everything? I used to use "password" but I got clever and changed it. Posted by: George Orwell at May 13, 2011 07:11 PM

George Orwell's security code is 1-6-3-0-9 ...

164 I've been folding proteins for a couple of years now.

That is actually very biologically relevant to figure out - how proteins fold into their tertiary and quaternary structures is still considered a black-box process. 

165 167 Someone did an interesting book based on the idea that that could NOT have been more than an expiditionary force or recon.That even a dying high tech enemy could scrape up more forces.So,all it did was buy time until the main force landed.

166 "
No, no incompatibilities with hardware, with voltages or current, with freaking operating systems or syntax or machine language written by aliens thousands of years advanced over you or even if you have a fucking dongle that plugs into... hey, why would aliens even have plugs? And the weasel hacker can bring down an advanced alien vessel the size of Rhode Island in seconds with a virus he wrote because, I guess, aliens don't have anti-virus software. "

It was particularly amusing that he would be able to write an effective virus in just a few hours.  He learned their language, their systems, their security, and wrote the virus in hours.

That would be hard to believe if it was Windows 8, let alone a completely independent of humans developed system.

A non idiot version of that movie would have had this character working for Area 51 for a decade, playing with the alien computer on the spaceship all that time, slowly learning how it works, and realizing there is a flaw in their code because they just didn't think like we do.

It would still be a good reference to War of the Worlds for modern times.

167 176 Yeah,your idea is a good one.

168

Trust Google? Why not? Because when I trust Google after a few Dos Equus beers, it just spreads the legend of my personality,

Stay thirsty, my friends.  And trust Google. But mostly stay thirsty.

169 Identify for retina scan.

170 George Orwell's security code is 1-6-3-0-9 ... Knock it off, pointy-ears. I saved Starfleet ass and the entire galaxy from Aldebaran to Zeta Prime with that trick. Meanwhile you had to go get a third degree suntan playing nuclear hero in the engine room. I had to do a whole new movie to rescue you from that cock-up.

171 A non idiot version of that movie would have had this character working for Area 51 for a decade, playing with the alien computer on the spaceship all that time, slowly learning how it works, and realizing there is a flaw in their code because they just didn't think like we do.

So, you're saying that Hippie Cmdr Data should have cracked it, rather than being strangled and used as a ventriloquist's dummy.

172 169 I don't think the White Rabbit Girl got enough love.  She was smokin'.

Posted by: FUBAR at May 13, 2011 07:44 PM (1fanL)

Hey Handsome!

173

I'm pretty sure that we're much the same as most other people.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 13, 2011 07:33 PM (7YzRS)

Probably. I know lefty's whose playlists are social statements.

They'll have albums from obscure, shitty, socially aware "artists" that they never listen to but have on their iPod just in case someone asks about whether ot not the're listening to Common right now.

Me, I just rediscovered Ropin' the Wind, maybe one of the greatest albums ever.

174 HA HA, bitches!  This is why I invented the internet.

175 175 167 Someone did an interesting book based on the idea that that could NOT have been more than an expiditionary force or recon.That even a dying high tech enemy could scrape up more forces.So,all it did was buy time until the main force landed.

Using native bacteria as a weapon against an invading alien force was handled better in V (I'm thinking of the early 1980's miniseries) than in War of the Worlds. 

176 Someone did an interesting book based on the idea that that could NOT have been more than an expiditionary force or recon.That even a dying high tech enemy could scrape up more forces.So,all it did was buy time until the main force landed.

Posted by: steevy at May 13, 2011 07:46 PM (MLyR6)

There was also a sequel by another author where Edison and  a bunch other scientists invent some electric spacecraft, invade Mars, and use the canals to drown the entire planet.

177

That is actually very biologically relevant to figure out - how proteins fold into their tertiary and quaternary structures is still considered a black-box process. 

Our Lawyers will be contacting you.

178
 Interacting with real, live human beings




Your ideas confuse and frighten me.

179 Does Blogspot have a competitor?

180 Meanwhile you had to go get a third degree suntan playing nuclear hero in the engine room. I had to do a whole new movie to rescue you from that cock-up.

Don't even get ME started!

181 Using native bacteria as a weapon against an invading alien force was handled better in V (I'm thinking of the early 1980's miniseries) than in War of the Worlds. 

Posted by: Kratos (Ghost of Sparta) at May 13, 2011 07:50 PM (c0A3e)

Well, in WoW it was accidental, unless you are using 'using' referring to the author, rather than the protagonists.

182

Insidiously -- without many noticing or taking stock of the situation, because it just happens step by step and it's so convenient to just go with it -- the Machine is adapting our psychology to better interface with us.

Notice also the subtlety of it, which I believe is the real secret to its success. Any large-scale "guidance" must, of necessity, depend upon it. How else to "nudge" people?

Some note the morally important need to "win hearts and minds." If we have that capability, what's to prevent its use here as well? IMHO, the media is attempting a weak effort to do this as they did in '08 with The Vapid One®. Their distortion of the truth was/is so blatently evident to anyone with two functioning neurons to rub together as to be almost comical, weren't the stakes so high.

We see these insidious things happening and those who benefit from, or gain power from, whatever they're doing have the psychologic gall to call anyone wrong (or worse) who disagrees with whatever they're doing. Their motives are always as pure as the driven snow.

To them.

183

There was also a sequel by another author where Edison and  a bunch other scientists invent some electric spacecraft, invade Mars, and use the canals to drown the entire planet.

Posted by: Oldcat at May 13, 2011 07:50 PM (z1N6a)

Doesn't mars have Eurpean electric recepticles though?

184 I've got over 3000+ record albums and a great turntable. Most of my CDs are retreads of albums wore down to the nub. Who needs ipods to carry the music when it's all in your head. Google be damned.

185 Is it just me, or was Data three times cubed the pain in the ass Spock was? Sheesh, he was a fucking machine and if I were in command of that sack of chips and fiber optics, I would have had him recycled into solid waste disintegrators. The prick wouldn't even get a proper skin dye. Always looked like he had jaundice, and there wasn't a speck of liver in his body.

186

Posted by: Los Angeles NAACP Office at May 13, 2011 07:50 PM (o92B0)

Black Holes! 

187 One of the single stupidest movie hacker gimmicks ever perpetrated had to be in "Independence Day." Because you just wouldn't even question some earthling hacker's cheesy laptop computer system being fully compatible with the technology of a freaking interstellar space-faring civilization.
---
I thought they were implying that recovered alien technology had led to the US computer industry, and Apple specifically. Though it didn't make much sense as the ship was deactivated until the attack.

188 Does Blogspot have a competitor?

Posted by: FlaviusJulius

 

Blogfido?  Just guessin' here.

189

Doesn't mars have Eurpean electric recepticles though?

Posted by: robtr at May 13, 2011 07:52 PM (MtwBb)

That's why we drowned them.

190 180 George Orwell's security code is 1-6-3-0-9 ...

Knock it off, pointy-ears. I saved Starfleet ass and the entire galaxy from Aldebaran to Zeta Prime with that trick. Meanwhile you had to go get a third degree suntan playing nuclear hero in the engine room. I had to do a whole new movie to rescue you from that cock-up. Posted by: James Tiberius Kirk at May 13, 2011 07:49 PM

Admiral Kirk's true suit size is 44 large, he downloads ABBA, and prefers latex over leather

191 There was also a sequel by another author where Edison and a bunch other scientists invent some electric spacecraft, invade Mars, and use the canals to drown the entire planet. I think that was Garrett P. Serviss's "Edison's Conquest of Mars."

192 gooooooooooooooooooooooooood

193 195 Is it just me, or was Data three times cubed the pain in the ass Spock was? Sheesh, he was a fucking machine and if I were in command of that sack of chips and fiber optics, I would have had him recycled into solid waste disintegrators.

And he had sex with the Borg Queen, ewwww!  That alone would have earned Data a one-way ticket out of the nearest air lock. 

194 Edison is dead.

195 Is it just me, or was Data three times cubed the pain in the ass Spock was?

Dude, I am programmed in multiple techniques. A broad variety of pleasuring.

196

The idea of cloud computing is that all your files are stored in one place so you can access them from anywhere any time on any device. Plus guaranteed backups and redundancy so in theory the cloud is never down.

Now, just because I understand why cloud computing is supposed to be the hottest thing since sliced bread, that doesn't mean that I think it is a great idea and you won't catch me storing any of my stuff in the "cloud"

I've worked around computers, and especially servers, far too long to trust them. And, once they have you convinced to store your data there they'll start charging more. Plus, with Google and Apple too you need to watch out for how they plan to monetize the service.

Information may want to be free, but Google and Apple are going to ensure you pay for it in the end.

197 A non idiot version of that movie would have had this character working for Area 51 for a decade, playing with the alien computer on the spaceship all that time, slowly learning how it works, and realizing there is a flaw in their code because they just didn't think like we do.

Posted by: Dustin at May 13, 2011 07:47 PM (Q3nWV)

And it would have taken no real extra effort to film it that way. Just have Goldblum leaning over the shoulder of a tech at the lab talking about something they've been working on based on the ship's computer over the last ten years of study, and boom, instantly a plausible explanation.

But given a choice between plausible and stupid, Hollywood goes with stupid.

198 I thought they were implying that recovered alien technology had led to the US computer industry, and Apple specifically. STEVE JOBS IS A SPACE JOOO HOARDING MARTIAN GOLD!!!

199 Only half of comments reload.

200

I've got over 3000+ record albums and a great turntable

 

I went Vinyl shopping today...nothing like an actual record. 

201

Isn't Skynet an anagram of "Google and Apple"?

Wait, that's not right.

202 195 Is it just me, or was Data three times cubed the pain in the ass Spock was? Sheesh, he was a fucking machine and if I were in command of that sack of chips and fiber optics, I would have had him recycled into solid waste disintegrators.

The prick wouldn't even get a proper skin dye. Always looked like he had jaundice, and there wasn't a speck of liver in his body.

Data?  Data from The Next Generation?!  Are you talking about that massive Frisbee-shaped clusterfuck that took our old ship's name and has a bridge that looks like the lobby of the Regulus Marriott?  Yeah, I was there.  Saw her off when she was launched.  Let me tell you, I was laughing my ass off inside the entire time.  Just wait'll you baby-face fuckers find out what kind of horrors you're going to have to deal with out there.  IN FUCKING SPACE.

Really, the opportunity for a little schadenfreude was about the only thing that could have dragged my 137-year-old ass off the porch.  I'm OLD, God damn it.  I've DONE this shit and DEALT with these fucking parodies of nature with weird shit on their foreheads and CURED stuff like Rigellian fever and Antarean clap and even put Spock's fucking BRAIN back in his frog-green head.  I even FOUND A CURE FOR DEATH, for Christ's sweet fucking sake.  How many other ship's doctors did THAT?  The fucking quack on the Exeter couldn't even keep his crew from turning into exploded packets of FUCKING SWEET 'N LOW in orbit of a planet where everyone else lives to six thousand and here I am in a cramped sickbay unlocking the secrets of Life itself.  Yeah, motherfuckers, you better fucking BELIEVE I deserved a promotion to Admiral.

Anyway, where was I?  Oh yeah, the "Enterprise-D" or whatever they called it.  (Real fucking cute.)  I had some sickly-looking fucking robot who kept blathering on about how he wanted to fuck the tactical officer escorting me around all day.  He was a joke; the ship was a joke; the entire fucking crew of Spandex-wearing shitheads were a joke.  The men wore miniskirts, for the love of shit.  What was that all about?  In my day we kept the WOMEN in miniskirts manning the switchboards and doing the laundry.  Those were the good old days, I tell ya, before all this touchy-feely metrosexual ratshit infected the service.... oh fuck where was I ANYWAY Astroboy showed me the hotel-lobby bridge, that sucked; I met the new ship's doctor and her bitch-ass genius kid and wanted to kill myself right there; I even ran into Captain Baldo and told him in no uncertain terms that his effete French faggot ass had better GET ITS SHIT TOGETHER AND DO SOMETHING about this sad joke of a ship before he got everyone under his command killed.  This isn't a fucking pleasure cruise to Alpha Centauri, I told the frog; you may think you can run around in these painted-on uniforms with your cock hanging out on this shitfuck of a vessel that looks like a 1980s Kenmore appliance ad but you're going out into DEEP FUCKING SPACE, FRENCHIE, and it's not PLEASANT out there.  All your fucking around is going to get everyone KILLED.

I don't know if fucking Frogboy heard me; he just wandered back into his Ready Room to ruminate over a cup of fucking tea, if you can believe it.  Yeah, I figured, this ship is definitely fucked.  So I let C-3PO drag me back down to the airlock, but before I disembarked he showed me this weird fucking thing he called the "holo-deck".  Tell it what I want to see, the droid said, and it'll appear right there in the room as some kind of hollergramwhateverthefuck.  Okay you fucking blasted machine, I said, I'LL TELL THIS FUCKING SHIP what I want to see, and lo and behold when the doors opened there was Chapel, 27 years old, tits even bigger than I remember them and wearing nothing but a giant shit-eating smile and the cuffs that were pinning her ankles behind her ears.

So I pulled rank and told Talky Toaster to go pound sand, and my flight back to Georgia was delayed.  Several years later I heard they blew the whole thing up by letting the God damned woman psychiatrist drive the fucking thing right into a planet, which is about the way I expected that tin can to go.  A shame about the holo-thing though.

203 Dude, I am programmed in multiple techniques. A broad variety of pleasuring.

Posted by: Ladies Love Cool D at May 13, 2011 07:56 PM (GTbGH)

+1,000

204 Does Blogspot have a competitor?

*cough*

205 Don't forget to read the User Agreement!

206 Admiral Kirk's true suit size is 44 large, he downloads ABBA, and prefers latex over leather Well, is there something wrong with that? Don't be so judgmental. Even your Senator McCain liked ABBA.

207 I thought they were implying that recovered alien technology had led to the US computer industry, and Apple specifically. Though it didn't make much sense as the ship was deactivated until the attack.

Posted by: Methos at May 13, 2011 07:53 PM (uqJo6)

 

It wasn't deactivated-deactivated.

208

Everything at your fingertips in something like a Samsung Galaxy tab size is pretty cool, but it will cut into interpersonal time too. For the workaholic, more multitasking, less talking or meeting people.

209 214 I meant one that occasionally works.

210 I've got over 3000+ record albums and a great turntable. Most of my CDs are retreads of albums wore down to the nub. Who needs ipods to carry the music when it's all in your head. Google be damned.

Posted by: lurker at May 13, 2011 07:52 PM (SSiGe)

Or, learn to play an instrument and find a local band that shares your musical interests to play with. Even if you're only playing a triangle or vibraslap (ayup!)

I play guitar and have played with church groups and garage bands. I've never made any money doing it but it's a blast, even if you suck like I do!

211 minx cc home is a blank page.

212 195 Is it just me, or was Data three times cubed the pain in the ass Spock was? Sheesh, he was a fucking machine and if I were in command of that sack of chips and fiber optics, I would have had him recycled into solid waste disintegrators.

The prick wouldn't even get a proper skin dye. Always looked like he had jaundice, and there wasn't a speck of liver in his body. Posted by: James Tiberius Kirk at May 13, 2011 07:53 PM

Picard had him programmed and designed for plausible deniability. One "make it so" from Baldy eu Frog and Gordi wiped clean those "contemplative sessions" in Chrome Dome's quarters.

Wesley on the other hand needed a lot more incentive to keep his yap shut ..

213 195 Is it just me, or was Data three times cubed the pain in the ass Spock was?

Posted by: James Tiberius Kirk at May 13, 2011 07:53 PM (AZGON)

Oh, God, it was a one-episode gimmick spread over seven seasons and, what, 4-5 movies?

The Most Learning-disabled Artificial Lifeform 12 years running...

"Well, Data, that's the third time you've hijacked the ship and killed several people. If this keeps up, you're going to be grounded for a whole week, young man!"

214 But given a choice between plausible and stupid, Hollywood goes with stupid.

Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith at May 13, 2011 07:56 PM (bxiXv)

If you want to enjoy modern cinema, your only option is to turn off your brain and just go with it.   Those Hollywood fools wouldn't recognize a good story if it kicked them in the balls.  A few times, once in a great while, they have taken good stories, made faithful movies, and earned bazillions of dollars.  Take the Lord of the Rings movies as an example.  There have been a few others here and there - flukes.  They never figure out why those movies worked.  They never get why a good story IS a good story.  There are a million great books out there, crossing all genres, that would make fine movies.  Yet those stories remain undiscovered except by readers.

 

215 From the sidebar:  Disney Trademarks “Seal Team 6″


WTF™ ?

216 Posted by: Dr. Leonard McCoy at May 13, 2011 07:58 PM (FYCiJ) You had me at " a bridge that looks like the lobby of the Regulus Marriott."

217
Or, learn to play an instrument and find a local band that shares your musical interests to play with.





Except that you have to deal with.........musicians.

218 Heh, the Sun News Network is calling Osama Bin Laden "Toad in the Hole."

219
Baldy eu Frog



I LOL'd. Bravo.

220 Is it just me, or was Data three times cubed the pain in the ass Spock was?
At least he never turned me into a fucking cube.

221 Yeah, now that I think about it... the logbook of the Enterprise-D was probably titled "Guest Registration."

222 Here's that cloud service for music i mentioned earlier if anyone's interested, 10gb free, gotta pony up some  $ if you want more.

223 Posted by: Dr. Leonard McCoy at May 13, 2011 07:58 PM (FYCiJ)

That was ten kinds of awesome

224 Except that you have to deal with.........musicians.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 13, 2011 08:02 PM (7YzRS)

 

That's why I love playing country. Everybody is drankin' and no one gives a shit if you miss a note or chord.

Well, mostly.

225 Several years later I heard they blew the whole thing up by letting the God damned woman psychiatrist drive the fucking thing right into a planet She tried to do that once a month.

226 Or, learn to play an instrument and find a local band
ErikW at May 13, 2011 08:00 PM (P60UN)

Cornet in the civic band--jazz, dixieland, American Standards, also Sousa and the like. Popular small town favorites. Good times. Guitar since I was kid, just for my own amusement.

227

@212 - epic...

 

228 If you run out of proteins to fold, let me know. I got a whole bunch saved up in a jar that I can mail - no charge.

229 Posted by: Dr. Leonard McCoy at May 13, 2011 07:58 PM (FYCiJ) Mind if I crosspost that at memoirsofastarshipcaptain dot blogspot dot com?

230 I think that was Garrett P. Serviss's "Edison's Conquest of Mars."

Posted by: George Orwell at May 13, 2011 07:55 PM (AZGON)

Sounds like it - a real ripsnorter.

231

My favorite thing about Google is their company motto "Don't be evil" 

Assholes. Douche bags. Etc.  

232 Google was always evil. It's more so today.

All the "free" benefits/tools you use from them require you to give up quite a bit. The actual street price is pretty hard to gauge, but it is costing you. What price liberty/freedom/privacy?

233

"Well, Data, that's the third time you've hijacked the ship and killed several people. If this keeps up, you're going to be grounded for a whole week, young man!"

Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith at May 13, 2011 08:02 PM (bxiXv)

That sounds more like Westley Crusher.

234 My favorite thing about Google is their company motto "Don't be evil" Perhaps it is merely a typo. It could be "Don't see evil."

235

I don't know - its pretty much the gimmick in War of the Worlds, just electronic instead of biological.

Yeah, right. The Martians are so advanced that they plant spaceships here thousands or millions of years ago; they go and develop a transport system where they ride lightning bolts to man the ships and have force fields that deflect all our weaponry and ray guns that vaporize people...but they forgot to invent nasal decongestant?

236 Mind if I crosspost that at memoirsofastarshipcaptain dot blogspot dot com?

Damn it, Jim,  I'm a DOCTOR!  I don't have TIME for this navel-gazing shit!

_{Yeah, go for it.}

237 ...but they forgot to invent nasal decongestant? Well, maybe they had socialized medicine on Mars and medical science died out. No, that would not be politically correct for a Hollywood product. I'm stumped.

238 Cornet in the civic band--jazz, dixieland, American Standards, also Sousa and the like. Popular small town favorites. Good times. Guitar since I was kid, just for my own amusement.

Posted by: lurker at May 13, 2011 08:07 PM (SSiGe)

Nice! I played alto sax in junior high and high school but was disappointed (and maybe a bit disillusioned) that I couldn't be in orchestra as a sax player.

I was just getting good and didn't want to switch to violin at the time.

Funny enough, I sold the sax long ago but picked up a cheap student violin recently. I'd like to larn me some fiddlin'!

239

That's why I love playing country. Everybody is drankin' and no one gives a shit if you miss a note or chord.

Well, mostly.

My music experience has all been playing guitar in rock bands. If you assume that all rock/pop musicians are douchebag fuckface unreliable drug-fiend alcoholic flakes.....you'll rarely be disappointed.

240

Cornet in the civic band--jazz, dixieland, American Standards, also Sousa and the like. Popular small town favorites. Good times. Guitar since I was kid, just for my own amusement.

Bass, drums and percussion here. Blues, which is just as forgiving for boo boos. The folks I play with really don't care if everything sounds perfect or not, sometimes raw is good. We always smile at the end of a gig.

And while we're on the subject, did you hear about the guitar player who locked his keys in his car?

It took them two hours to get the drummer out.

_*rimshot*

241 Picard had him programmed and designed for plausible deniability. One "make it so" from Baldy eu Frog and Gordi wiped clean those "contemplative sessions" in Chrome Dome's quarters.

The Gallic captain was a good sport, and that's why I let him back talk me. What did you THINK "Q" stands for anyway

242

Yeah, right. The Martians are so advanced that they plant spaceships here thousands or millions of years ago; they go and develop a transport system where they ride lightning bolts to man the ships and have force fields that deflect all our weaponry and ray guns that vaporize people...but they forgot to invent nasal decongestant?

Posted by: LGoPs at May 13, 2011 08:11 PM (+Uv5V)

Well in the original, they fired them to earth shells fired from huge cannon.  I don't think they had shields - a couple of walkers were demolished by the ship "Thunder Child".  They did have range, and speed. 

243 @246 I want to post your screed, but blogger.com is more hosed today than a ward room full of Captain Kirk's female yeomen.

244 And the weasel hacker can bring down an advanced alien vessel the size of Rhode Island in seconds with a virus he wrote because, I guess, aliens don't have anti-virus software.

Dude, he was using an Apple.  Clearly you Microsoft groupie dweebs have no clue as to the capabilities of a MacBook Pro.

245

Data = The universe's most advanced vibrator.

246 Is the internet a series of tubes?

247

Posted by: BackwardsBoy at May 13, 2011 08:22 PM (d0Tfm)

 

I'm sensing jealousy and shame.

248 I've been folding proteins for a couple of years now. Posted by: toby928™ at May 13, 2011 07:40 PM (GTbGH)<<< Me too. I was just re-watching that video of the chick who was fucking the Eiffel Tower and I folded enough protein to stock a GNC. If lightning would have hit that wad of Kleenex it would have created life.

249

How many terabytes does the average person really need? Or can they even use?

Great prediction #1. "640 kilobytes of RAM should be more than enough for anyone."

Great prediction #2. "Climate Change is going to DOOOOM us."

See, I just keep getting smarter.  I even managed to score a homely-looking wife, despite the disadvantage of having the largest net worth on the planet at the time.  I didn't drop out of Harvard for nothing!

250 Nice! I played alto sax in junior high and high school
ErikW at May 13, 2011 08:13 PM (P60UN)
Heh, started out on flute. Older brother played trumpet and I *so* didn't want to be a copy cat. Didn't last long. Went to a small school so we were always learning other instruments to fill in. Senior year played trumpet in the band, french horn in the orchestra, and trombone with the freshman band.

251 So when exactly does Google become self-aware?

252 There, the comment at 212 deserved its own special guest post.  McCoy is almost as much of a stentorian windbag as I am.  But I have four stripes and get to pork the female middies, so I'm not jealous.

253 My music experience has all been playing guitar in rock bands. If you assume that all rock/pop musicians are douchebag fuckface unreliable drug-fiend alcoholic flakes.....you'll rarely be disappointed.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 13, 2011 08:16 PM (7YzRS)

It happens in church too.

254 If lightning would have hit that wad of Kleenex it would have created life. You just gave me a smashing idea.

255 I don't understand who Google hopes to sell these turds to.  The MSRP is higher than a lot of better products that aren't just a web browser.  Or then there is their plan to rent them.  $20/mo for a min contract of 36 months?  Do the math guys, you would get a beter deal at Rent-a-Center.  Or the $23/mo for the 3G version.  Yea right, read the fine print.  That gets ya 100MB/mo and the ability to buy cards for more airtime.  Fail.

The real crazy part is that these are supposed to just run a browser yet they partnered with Intel and stuffed x86 chips in that jack up the battery by at least double to power that pig.  Had they been selling ARM laptops at least they could offer runtime/weights that wouldn't be available in a normal laptop.  But they didn't so who cares about the hardware?  At the prices they are selling them at I'd even bet the Microsoft Tax is even embedded in there.

But the real killer is they can't explain to a prospective buyer what they would get from one of these vs just installing Chrome and using the exact same Google apps on a typical laptop running Linux, OS X or Windows.  And the real laptop is less expensive.  Worse still Chrome OS is Open Source so if there is actually any uptake every laptop will simply offer a dual boot option.

256

266 I don't understand who Google hopes to sell these turds to.

Democrats?

257 253 @246

I want to post your screed, but blogger.com is more hosed today than a ward room full of Captain Kirk's female yeomen. Posted by: George Orwell at May 13, 2011 08:18 PM

I'll give it a shot

258 The MSRP is higher than a lot of better products that aren't just a web browser. Or then there is their plan to rent them. $20/mo for a min contract of 36 months? Do the math guys, you would get a beter deal at Rent-a-Center. Or the $23/mo for the 3G version. Yea right, read the fine print. That gets ya 100MB/mo and the ability to buy cards for more airtime. Maybe they could call it the Zune cloudtop.

259 Just got it up, kdbabear, thx

260

And just for the hell of it, I'll be watching Hank Jr's Country Boy Can Survive on YouTube till I get tired of it.

It was the first song I learned in Dropped D.

261

My Dear Ms. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly,

That there's pretty damn funny.  But there is a way to create life that's even more fun, sweetie-pie.

262 I cannot understand why people would use gmail for sensitive business communications. Are you out of your fucking minds? I'd buy my own server before I surrendered my business or personal info to these cocksmokes. Cloud computing - it's like Apple. For technophobes and chicks. "But it's so easy! It just works!" Yeah, and after a while, you don't notice the finger in your ass, either. Wow! You'll geotag the videos I posted to YouPorn of me jacking it to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? First of all, I thought it was porn, and my pants were already off and the video store would have been closed by the time I got there. I don't see why we have to involve the authorities. Their CEO TOLD you that if you trusted them, then you're a dumbfuck. So now they're launching Dumbfuck Online. It will be interesting to see who signs up for this.

263 Google- Working overtime just to make MicroSoft look warm and fuzzy.

264 Somebody here, I think, once posted a link to a search anonymizer. Anyone have that AND know how to alter Safari to use it in the search bar?

265 Buy a cheap netbook, or cheap laptop, and be done with it. Put some flavor of Linux on it (Just avoid Ubuntu > 10.X) and you're good to go.

Cheaper, sometimes a lot cheaper than Ipads or Chromebooks.  Always on. Flash no problem. Lots of apps (free in Linux, you can always dual-boot). Good to go.

LibreOffice is pretty decent (fork of OpenOffice, more development, better). Add the AltSearch macro (regular expressions) and you're pretty complete. Abiword for short/fast docs, LibreOffice for big icky complex ones, good to go. You can even back up regularly with an external HD and googling rsynch. Its not that hard. If you can bake a cake you can follow 1-2-3 directions.

Computers are just a tool. Not a means to themselves.

266 I use StartingPage. It works just fine. They actually give a shit about privacy.

267 Thanks Jane.

268
Back in the late '60s and early '70s, I remember people predicting that when home computing caught on we'd be using terminals and that the actual computing would be done elsewhere on giant mainframes that would store all our information. We seem to be headed back in that direction...

269

Trust Google--AND the cloud? 

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

 

270 No "cloud" for me.

The electronic media or the computer programs I buy, I want in a location where I have a reasonable amount of control over them. That means in my computer where I am physically at, not some location somewhere else where I haven't the slightest idea who has access to what, and who's poking around where.

271 Meh to Sneakers.  Maybe so, but...

This plus TSA plus the human-detecting "look through the walls" radar plus all the damn government cameras is the intro to Lacey's world as explained by David Drake.

272 So they introduce a cloud-based computer system... on a day when their blog network crashed for over 36 hours. Stand back... I don't want to trample you when I rush out to buy this thing, you betcha...

273 Cloud computing -- its all good....until it goes bad.

Of course the whole thing depends on code that's shiftable on the fly to any CPU type...which implies some sort of interpreted, universal format for binaries...which implies performance will suck greatly compared to native...and JIT compilation *should* be out of the question for security reasons.

274 Of course the whole thing depends on code that's shiftable on the fly to any CPU type...which implies some sort of interpreted, universal format for binaries...

I'm picturing it more like X-Windows, so you only have to create a binary of the presentation space once for each instruction set, not like a java thing.

275 And he had sex with the Borg Queen, ewwww!  That alone would have earned Data a one-way ticket out of the nearest air lock.

It was just a handjob.

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