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FORUM ARCHIVE file dated June2006

Posted by: Peter	Posted on: Friday June 30 2006 11:55pm
Apparently the previous CLERKS II link was a fake (way to go JoBlo). By the time they fixed the error, the real CLERKS II link already had 10,000 friends join. Oh well... Sorry!

Posted by: adam	Posted on: Friday June 30 2006 7:16pm
50 worst video game names ever http://www.gamerevolution.com/feature/worst_names -A

Posted by: Peter	Posted on: Friday June 30 2006 9:50am
DO THIS ASAP, you Myspace users! Want to have your name in the credits of CLERKS II? You need a myspace account! The first 10,000 people to add the name Mooby's Presents CLERKS II to your friends list will have their names added to the movie's credits. Easy, huh? Read more about it here: http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=11912

Posted by: CrowScape	Posted on: Friday June 30 2006 12:26am
Stupid penguin mafia is waging a price war on dry noodles.

Posted by: Peter	Posted on: Thursday June 29 2006 5:04pm
Correction: Quietly not Quitely. The exclamation, however, is still valid.

Posted by: Peter	Posted on: Thursday June 29 2006 5:03pm
I was really hoping that one would slip through the cracks quitely. Curse you CJOS!!!

Posted by: CJOS	Posted on: Thursday June 29 2006 4:49pm
Congratulations go out to Peter's lampreys. One of them has made the cover of Marquette Magazine. Oh, and the article mentions Peter and even includes his photo too. http://www.marquette.edu/magazine/summer06/gallery.shtml

Posted by: adam	Posted on: Thursday June 29 2006 4:10pm
God Youtube is addicting... for good measure some classics: Yatta: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-feLDOpJfYg (original) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz0hiXnd9ns (on Jimmy Kimmel Live) and of course, Daler: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyv8LYKyYZc Now.. B_W.. We need to talk about getting "Gin" up there. -A

Posted by: adam	Posted on: Thursday June 29 2006 3:24pm
@intrigue: Awesome! -A

Posted by: intrigue	Posted on: Thursday June 29 2006 10:39am
from the askninja guys and gals an emo gal ponders the death of words http://youtube.com/watch?v=JMvMzQ4Vu-8

Posted by: B_W	Posted on: Wednesday June 28 2006 11:45am
I don't know who this 'David' is, but that doesn't look like a good time to me. B_W

Posted by: intrigue	Posted on: Wednesday June 28 2006 10:09am
a picture of a blonde david, enacting either his greatest fantasy or his greatest fear, either way he sure looks like he is having fun. http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Image:Ihavenopants.jpg

Posted by: Peter	Posted on: Wednesday June 28 2006 10:03am
Actually B_W. That was the trailer release date for "Phantoms", in which Ben Affleck was the bomb.

Posted by: B_W	Posted on: Wednesday June 28 2006 10:01am
Hey, the grip at work wanted to check out the 'pulgari trap' trailer, and it [the trailer] claimed it would come out in May 2003. Well, it's been three years, post that date...did I miss something? ;) Or was that announcement for the 'Thrill Killers'? B_W

Posted by: CrowScape

Posted on: Tuesday June 27 2006 3:30pm

Here's a link to global ocean currents: http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es2401/es2401page01.cfm?chapter_no=visualization I don't see how shutting off the northern thermal current would cause the southern thermal current to cool down Antarctica. Quite the oppposite should occur, as there would be a lot more heat at the equator that would end up being syphoned down to the antarctic.

Posted by: nearscape

Posted on: Tuesday June 27 2006 11:43am

I thought the oceanic currents are the first thing affected by polar melting. When something warms up and melts somewhere, the currents shift and then effectively cool something else. That could explain the transfer of ice mass from Arctic to Antarctic. Earth is the most temperate planet in the system not just because of the atmosphere, but also because we're the only planet with flowing oceans keeping balance. The shortage of flowing water is the first and biggest obstacle to terraforming Mars, more so than the transit system at least. It is definitely a complex issue, and politicians simplifying and making a stink about it isn't very productive. I mean, even if the U.S. took the most extreme steps to curb human emissions of CO2 right now, the system won't be affected until you get China, India, Russia, etc. on board. Good luck with that, Mr. Gore. Oh, and stop those damn volcanoes while you're at it (he did, after all, invent the environment). Meanwhile, there's much more productive things we can spend our time and money on.

Posted by: CrowScape	Posted on: Tuesday June 27 2006 11:12am
But if solar radiation were melting the poles, how does the fact that Antarctica is gaining in ice mass work?

Posted by: Intrigue

Posted on: Tuesday June 27 2006 10:40am

ok, so here is what i think,.... Global warming is not caused by us, in fact I think it is silly to even assume that we know what the weather really was 20 years ago with accurate data. We produce more weather data today in one year than we would have in the previous 4-8 years, assuming that information colection/processing doubles every 2 years. We have more supper computers processing weather now than most other areas of science. Don't get me wrong, i do accept that the weather is changing, in fact i think that is kind of the point of the weather, but i am not so arrogant to assume that we are causing the entire world to warm up. It would be nice if we could simply produce a bunch of crappy cars and terraform a planet, heck there might be hope yet to terra form Mars(1/3 the size of the earth). We would simply need to build x billion cars and ship them to the Martians, figuring that SUVs would work better we can finally get rid of all of the Ford, Porsche, Land Rover, GM, Hummer, etc... and give them to someone that does not yet have SUVs. This would be great because then we could see all of the white picket fences from earth once the Martians finally invent the suburbs. Ok, so I am being a little sarcastic, and I don’t really think that Martians would want our SUVs, but in the end, it is this simple: we are getting aware enough now of the weather, that we realize that it could lead to the eradication of the human species, and so we are trying to figure out what that means. Yes, it is important that we start taking care of the planet, but I don’t know what that means, and neither does anyone here, alls it means is that we can start trying. If we consider the environment before we act, then there might be a hell's chance in heaven that we might actually make headway on the topic, just as the Wright brothers created flight after hundreds of years all the while man was dreaming of man in flight. I don't expect the earth to cool down, but Wisconsin has gotten more temperate (warmer winters, cooler summers) since i can remember over the last 27 years, even thought that is just an emotional memory and not recorded data. Yes, I too remember walking up hill both ways to school barefoot in the snow in April and September, heck I don’t remember a Halloween/ 4th of July day that didn't rain, while I remember Memorial Day being nice almost every year. My point is that our perception of weather is more acute now and that in and of itself makes global warming and changing jet streams seem more like an issue than I really think they are. I think the leading cause of climate change is the degrading electromagnetic field of the earth. Geologists can track magnetic intensity through miles of rock beneath us, and from what they report; the earth cycles its poles every 2000 years. It also seems that the weather is in such a cycle, and so is life. It would make more sense to me that as the ozone layer (the earth shield from solar energy) at the poles erodes, that we are accepting more energy from the sun and that energy is being filtered through the poles, causing them to melt, without warming the planet directly, but rather just melting the poles and letting thermodynamics move small amounts of energy around the world differently. I would bet that if the sun puts out a certain amount of energy pre ozone layer per sq meter that if you examine the growing radius of the hole in the ozone, that you would be able to see the holes surface area growing at a rate ~(PI) r^2 and the energy level growing at Esqm[2006]*(PI)*r^2-Esqm[2005]*(PI)*r^2 = E[yearly-delta]= energy necessary to cause observed weather effects. I would bet that this is almost 90% of the problem. Again, it is only my opinion and my bet that the magnetic field of the earth has more to do with global warming than our lust for burning fossil fuels. Who knows, maybe the reduction of crude oil in the earth's crust causes the plate tectonics to change, and intern the magnetic field. futher reading: http://forum.physorg.com/index.php?showtopic=955 http://www.theozonehole.com/magnetic.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming

Posted by: intrigue	Posted on: Tuesday June 27 2006 9:41am
If you are using firefox, and sometimes IE, you will need to refresh the page to see your post as they both tend to cache even script based results.

Posted by: intrigue

Posted on: Tuesday June 27 2006 9:39am

first off, if shit increased to 1% of our atmostphere, candle manufactures would sell alot more scented candles, because that shit whould stink. Second, the amound of CO (methane) from that shit would become very flamable as plants dont use methane in photosynthesis. So, lighting those candles woulb both freshen the air, and produce particle based carbon and CO2, which plants use in photosynthesis. So i dont buy the shit argument.

Posted by: B_W	Posted on: Monday June 26 2006 10:54pm
Hey, they were the ones that insulted us. We didn't want a fight. B_W

Posted by: CrowScape	Posted on: Monday June 26 2006 4:07pm
Besides, those Chinese children have really tiny fingers that are perfectly suited to handling those tiny hardware screws.

Posted by: adam	Posted on: Monday June 26 2006 3:05pm
Now.. NS.. B_W... I love my mac and while it cost a pretty penny to buy, I've never had a laptop that's been as durable as this one. -A

Posted by: B_W	Posted on: Monday June 26 2006 1:36pm
Yeah, that was funny. Garage built. ;) At least my 'logic board' didn't cost $999.99 to replace. :) B_W

Posted by: nearscape

Posted on: Monday June 26 2006 12:51pm

Maybe they decided they payed off the cost of re-engineering it for OSX? I dunno. When they first acquired it i think it was Irix only, maybe Linux too. Funny thing is, I'm pretty sure the Linux version is still 5k. It does support my theory that Apple takes a loss on most of their software sales. There's no way that the $1300 for Final Cut Studio pays for the development of all those products, considering how small their market is. And the recent controversy about their hardware being manufactured in Chinese sweatshops that basically own their employees (under some of the same Taiwanese suppliers that Dell uses - the irony!) also shows just how bad they're gouging you on their hardware to make up for it. Strange way of doing business if you ask me. http://www.ipodobserver.com/story/27281 At least, Whisky, we can really look forward to the next time some Mac zealot berates our "garage-built shit" computers. Hey, my garage at least has better working conditions than were your Apple was made!

Posted by: B_W

Posted on: Monday June 26 2006 10:55am

Crow, How is the Prey Demo? My computer is still in a tender condition and alas I cannot enjoy it. For the moment. NS, Why would they drop the price of the product six fold overnight? That's really weird. Kinda like this Avid quote we got the other day. For the Nitris, the first quote was for 130k, then after we said 'Boo!' [tm] it dropped to 100k for the same system. What happened to that 30k? Was that in there just for fun? And more importantly, what happened to the 2.5k in shake? Hmmm? ;) B_W

Posted by: nearscape	Posted on: Monday June 26 2006 10:50am
Shake 4.1 supports Intel Macs...and just went from $3,000 to $500! That's HOT! http://www.apple.com/shake/

Posted by: CrowScape	Posted on: Sunday June 25 2006 10:37pm
Prey Demo is Available! www.prey.com

Posted by: CrowScape

Posted on: Sunday June 25 2006 8:40pm

This isn't 1% of my house being on fire, this is the pilot light on my stove being 1% bigger, and I'm not going to call the fire department to cut down my doors, break my windows, and hose down my house for that. Of course, I don't necessarily like my pilot light using more fuel, simply because that means my gas bill goes up, and the people at the natural gas company are a bit surly and rude for my taste, but this is far from being a threat to my life or the existence of my home. In fact, I can cook faster now, as before my stove was always running a little cool, so I can feed more people when they come over, but that is really stretching the analogy. http://www.junkscience.com/Greenhouse/

Posted by: eygx0r	Posted on: Sunday June 25 2006 7:58pm
It's not letting me post, either. Suffice it to say: do you wait until three rooms in your house are aflame before calling the fire department? I mean, having 1% of your home on fire really isn't that significant. Right?

Posted by: eygx0r	Posted on: Sunday June 25 2006 7:57pm
Seems like it's being odd to me, too. One percent, sure. Sounds small. Then remember that it's the ENTIRE FUCKING WORLD we're talking about. It's not like 1% of your bedroom or 1% of your car. 1% of the GLOBE. If atmospheric levels of airborne poop increased by 1%, there'd be one turd every 100 turdunits of air. Everywhere. That's a lot. Also, sources plz.

Posted by: eygx0r

Posted on: Sunday June 25 2006 7:56pm

One percent, sure. Sounds small. Then remember that it's the ENTIRE FUCKING WORLD we're talking about. It's not like 1% of your bedroom or 1% of your car. 1% of the GLOBE. If atmospheric levels of airborne poop increased by 1%, there'd be one turd every 100 turdunits of air. Everywhere. That's a lot. Also, sources plz. You seriously don't think that it'll be way too late by the time you have to have a hermetically-sealed house and wear a scuba tank? Do you wait until three rooms are aflame before calling the fire department, because, well, having 1% of your house on fire isn't worth notice?

Posted by: CrowScape	Posted on: Sunday June 25 2006 6:15pm
5) Human beings suffocate at 0.6 percent. So I'll worry about CO2 emmissions causing catestropic global warming after I have to wear a SCUBA-tank to go outside my hermetically sealed house. Sorry if that's myopic of me.

Posted by: CrowScape	Posted on: Sunday June 25 2006 6:14pm
4) Human beings have raised atmospheric CO2 levels by ONE PERCENT. In order to double CO2's impact on global warming (that is, add an extra five degrees), CO2 would have to compose 9 percent of the atmosphere.

Posted by: CrowScape	Posted on: Sunday June 25 2006 6:14pm
3) Carbon dioxide has a logrithmic impact on climate, meaning that the first unit has more of an impact than the second, which has more than an impact than the third, etc.

Posted by: CrowScape	Posted on: Sunday June 25 2006 6:14pm
2) Carbon dioxide makes up a fraction of the remainder (high-end, 8.5 percent of total, meaning CO2 is responsible for roughly 5F).

Posted by: CrowScape	Posted on: Sunday June 25 2006 6:13pm
1) The biggest green house gas is water vapor. Water vapor accounts for 90 percent of the greenhouse effect (which is 59F, so watervapor accounts for roughly 53F).

Posted by: CrowScape	Posted on: Sunday June 25 2006 6:13pm
The bulletin board is being funny with what it will and will not allow me to post, so my response will be posted a sentence at a time.

Posted by: eygx0r

Posted on: Sunday June 25 2006 5:46pm

Crow. Don't be myopic. Climate change can happen for a number of reasons. The last Ice Age didn't end because of SUVs, it ended because the world isn't a static organism. The thing is, it ended over the course of millenia, not of just a few hundred years. Yes, industrialization hit hard from 1800-1950 or so, and yes the factories then were hugely more inefficient than they are today, but even 10 factories that release, say, 100 units of badness a year is nothing compared to 1000 factories that release 10 units of badness a year PLUS cars cars cars.

Posted by: CrowScape

Posted on: Sunday June 25 2006 1:38pm

So, in the early 20th Century, were we busy de-industrializing? Were we emmiting less CO2 into the air than we were during the 19th Century, when temperatures were rising? If CO2 levels correlate with air temperature, how can a single factor like glacial melt completely reverse centuries of CO2 buildup? Why has the average global temperature dropped durring the past 8 years? Why is the global temperature on Mars rising? Why is there climate change on Jupiter? How many SUVs are on those planets?

Posted by: nearscape	Posted on: Sunday June 25 2006 11:17am
Yeah, I'd imagine the invention of the freeway would have something to do with that.

Posted by: eygx0r

Posted on: Saturday June 24 2006 1:04am

B_W: Ah, ok. I didn't see it before it was "fixed." Crow: It's being called "climate change" now because the general warming put out by CO2 emissions is causing the polar ice caps to melt, which is cooling the oceans, which has some funky effects. People see shit like that, misinterpret it, and say OMG NO GLOBAL WARMING, so I'd say "climate change" is a less loaded term. Also, CO2 emissions DID get supercharged in the last 50 years. Beep beep, who's got the keys to the Jeep? VROOM.

Posted by: CrowScape

Posted on: Friday June 23 2006 5:44pm

Well warming than the past 400 years... or 2000... they seem confused. I do like how midway through the 20th Century warming due to greenhouse gases suddenly got supercharged. Apparently CO2 was on vacation or slacking off in the first half of the 20th century when global temperatures were dropping. Oh well, you can tell we're at the tail end of the global warming hysteria, as the term "Climate Change" is being trotted out with more and more regularity. This way they can cover all the bases.

Posted by: B_W	Posted on: Friday June 23 2006 4:51pm
Peter, That was a great post! Crow, Now, how about some more info on this super sweet space water! Any space bacteria there? B_W

Posted by: nearscape	Posted on: Friday June 23 2006 4:49pm
No, that's pretty much what I was looking for, an informed dissertation on what, if anything, is actually interesting here. Now, to balance it out with some completely uninformed dissertation from our elected representatives! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A2p0dzmSn8

Posted by: Peter

Posted on: Friday June 23 2006 1:20pm

What do you want me to say, NS? That we have finally discovered alien life? It's possible. I can't say that definitely though. Here's a couple things to be skeptical about: 1) The cells survive even in superheated water. If these cells are bacteria, like Godfrey Louis claims, then we have precendent for bacteria that can handle the heat. They are called Thermophilles ( thermophilla genus) and were first discovered at vent hole caps in Yellowstone Lake. That alone isn't enough evidence. The question is, if these are thermophilla , how did they get in a position to rain upon a home? Were they on a plane that accidently dumped it's cargo? I don't know. 2) Always read carefully - his experiments SUGGEST there is no DNA. That doesn't mean that there isn't any DNA. The problem with our good doctor is that he hasn't scientifically published his methods yet. I don't know what he did: HPLC, lipid extraction, etc. Until he explains his process for studying them, I can't be sure if I believe him when he says there's no DNA. When I first saw them, they look oddly like erythrocytes -red blood cells - which, when mature, have no nucleus and no DNA. I sincerely doubt that he would be foolish enough to confuse an erythrocyte with a bacterium. The troubling matter is that you need DNA for replication to occur (at least as far as we know). Thus, if they are only mature RBC's how could they proliferate? Also, RBC's would not survive superheating. Similar to my previous point, what proof do we have that they do indeed proliferate? We don't have that evidence. Until Dr. Louis publishes in a scientifically accepted journal, his conclusions are suspect. That doesn't mean that what he says can't be true. In all honesty, I hope that he publishes one heck of an article that can't be refuted and starts up a new branch of biology - crypto or astrobiology. These are exciting times, however, one must remain skeptical lest their blind faith come back to slap them in the face. I have heard a lot of stories like this one - too good to be true. Sadly, all of them were. They are the results of accidents, careless planning, serendipitous failures, and occassionally experimenter fraud (research techs lying about their data just to be published in an upstanding magazine). All I can say is that it is 'possible' that he's discovered an extraterrestrial organism. His proof however, is not as rock solid as the CNN article would lead you to believe.

Posted by: nearscape	Posted on: Friday June 23 2006 12:00pm
Speaking of Science, I was hoping to at some point get commentary from our resident biologist on the whole Alien-Blood-Rain thing. http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/06/02/red.rain/index.html

Posted by: B_W

Posted on: Friday June 23 2006 11:25am

Let's get 'down' with my main man, TR! "The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else." "Theodore Roosevelt in the Kansas City Star", 149 May 7, 1918 W00T! B_W

Posted by: B_W	Posted on: Friday June 23 2006 9:37am
Or I should say, 'That's THE Joke'. (MY EYES THE GOOGLES DO NOTHING!) B_W

Posted by: B_W	Posted on: Friday June 23 2006 9:36am
Oh, that was a 'joke'. ;) B_W

Posted by: Peter	Posted on: Friday June 23 2006 9:28am
B_W, I think eygxor was commenting on your global warming article (which was updated since it was first posted to correct the error). The article should have said that the Earth is NOW the warmest it's been in 2000 years.

Posted by: B_W	Posted on: Friday June 23 2006 9:14am
Crow, You never knew before? :) There was that one night...but I won't get into that. It will ruin your political career. B_W

Posted by: B_W	Posted on: Friday June 23 2006 9:13am
From the 15 seconds I looked at it I thought it said that Jackson was releasing the Lord of the Rings again on DVD with more content, and he's already released DVDs in the past, just like George. I will reread the article now and see how far off I am. B_W

Posted by: CrowScape	Posted on: Friday June 23 2006 3:11am
Fuzzbump: This is a tangy whiskey drink served in a coconut. Before you saw this, you never imagined that whiskey could be so... feminine.

Posted by: eygx0r	Posted on: Thursday June 22 2006 9:36pm
B_W, You know that's not what that article says, right?

Posted by: Peter

Posted on: Thursday June 22 2006 4:16pm

B_W, Yes, I realize that Peter Jackson still hasn't altered anything in the movies, thereby making him better than Lucas in most people's minds. Regardless of what you think, the reason I posted this wasn't to demean Peter Jackson in any way (I like him just as much as the rest of you guys do). As for picturing PJ whenever you think of me, I'm flattered. Now if only I could be thought of as the next great director like Peter Jackson, then I'd be golden. Whoops! Looks like my delusions are setting in a little earlier than usual...time for my medication.... I was hoping more people would catch the very unusual detail that BOTH the Extended Edition AND the Theatrical edition (seamless branching or not) DVD content would fit on a TWO disc along with 300 new minutes of footage. The Extended Editions alone were four discs each and the theatrical editions were two each. The extras on the Theatrical edition never appeared on the Extended editions. I don't care how good the seamless branching is, there is no way to get all that to fit on two discs without making the video quality look like spoitz on a normal DVD. Blu-ray might be another issue, but not with that insane MPEG-2 nonsense. Someone definitely has their details wrong - My guess is that the new sets will actually not contain any of the extras from the previous release. That way, disc one could legitimately hold both the theatrical and extended cuts via branching and the new documentaries would fit on disc 2 easily.

Posted by: nearscape

Posted on: Thursday June 22 2006 3:46pm

I have acquired the human pants! "Mariachi Pants This is a pair of pants you stole from a mariachi. You stole his pants because he didn't have an accordion. He didn't have an accordion because a different Accordion Thief had already stolen it from him." Thanks for the link Peter, he skimmed most of those points on Usenet a while back, but there was more detail there. I'm still trying to decide whether it was actually a good idea. Probably not though. His claims of "story arc and accessible stand-alone episodes at the same time!" is still in the easier said than done category IMO. B5 was never really able to attract casual viewers, part of the reason it was a struggle to renew every year. That, and I think his feelings on how interesting the Kirk-Spock-McCoy dynamic is are a bit...exaggerated by nostalgia. I don't think there's much there, especially when you take away Leonard Nimoy. ;)

Posted by: B_W

Posted on: Thursday June 22 2006 3:44pm

Wow, 2000 years ago, when we weren't burning anything but cow dung, the earth was HOTTER! Shocking. Guess things aren't so bad now are they? ;) http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/global_warming Peter, Who is enamored with Jackson? Perhaps I should be, becuause at least HE can adapt a story that has some continuity. And he MIGHT not be a GIANT ASS! (refer to previous Lucas posts) So what, he's not changing the flavor of the story each time he releases a new edition. There is just more in there. I will probably wait for the HD verison myself, but that's just me. When that gets realieased, I betcha Peter will complain about that too! ;) In fact, I think I am now officialy enamored with Peter Jackson. I will replace that lovely image of the only real man i know, Pateras Placas, with that of Mr. Jackson. And smile every time I see it. Bring on the new editions! I love more content, not changing the content! HUZZAH! David

Posted by: intrigue

Posted on: Thursday June 22 2006 3:42pm

bluRay in no way requires an mpeg 2 stream, sony however has decided to use one, that is probably why it looked like ass in tokyo. MPEG2 requires anywhere from 60-300Mps for 1080i, and since bluray can only do 54Mbs that explains why it looked like ass in tokyo. 1080p on the other hand can be rendered in VC-1 between 20Mbs and 135Mbs. Not using 4th generation codecs is a bonehead thing to do, i think sony is living on another planet, with intel and their (SPW) Satisfaction per Watt metrics. 54Mbs with 4th gen codecs will look awsome. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG-2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VC-1

Posted by: Peter	Posted on: Thursday June 22 2006 9:56am
Nearscape, Here's one for you: http://bztv.typepad.com/newsviews/files/ST2004Reboot.pdf Apparently, JMS tried to "reboot" Star Trek a little while back Here's his 15 page treatment for why he would do it and what he would do with it. Basically sounds like Shadows and Vorlons in the world of Star Trek.

Posted by: nearscape

Posted on: Thursday June 22 2006 9:54am

I would imagine that it will turn into a decision for each content-producing studio to make. Even if Sony Pictures is stubborn, that shouldn't keep WB, Fox, Paramount, etc. from encoding stuff how they see fit. Someone will bring a player to market that takes care of it. For example, my DVD player plays all kinds of stuff that is outside of spec, like MP3 and WM9. If MPEG-2 was really a problem, the content holders would not be scrambling over to Blu-Ray the way they are. That's just M$ marketing spin probably. It might actually be a benefit, as they may already own hardware to accelerate the encoding process, and would be looking at a considerable expense to change to some new, "unproven" (in their eyes) format and workflow. Just because it has been around for a while doesn't make it worthless. Many engineers would call that a "standard", I would think.

Posted by: Peter	Posted on: Thursday June 22 2006 9:39am
For those of you trashing Lucas but completely enamored by Peter Jackson, read this entertaining piece of news http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=11822 I hope those of you holding out for the original SW discs also held out on buying the LOTR editions!

Posted by: B_W	Posted on: Thursday June 22 2006 9:38am
I've got your MPEG-2 right here buddy. B_W

Posted by: intrigue	Posted on: Thursday June 22 2006 8:06am
from what i have read, h.264,vc-1, and mpeg2 are all options on either format, so it would be more accurate to say that MS has a stake in both, but sony is refusing to use h.264 or VC-1 for blu-ray production.

Posted by: CrowScape	Posted on: Wednesday June 21 2006 9:55pm
I just can't believe that someone forgot to turn off the rat faucet. The tavern's rat bill has to be through the roof

Posted by: B_W

Posted on: Wednesday June 21 2006 4:06pm

Kruger, You told me just yesterday that Microsoft doesn't have any stake in HD DVD, and now according to you they have an HD DVD program manager? Hmmm...seems like you need to get your facts straight! ;) >According to Microsoft's HD DVD program manager, Sage Schreiner, in a published interview, "On a >quality 1,920-by-1080p display, MPEG-2 will not look as good as VC-1 (or H.264)." " P.S Happy Birthday BTW, now you're 28 - 1. The clock is ticking...TO YOUR DOOM!!! B_W

Posted by: CrowScape	Posted on: Wednesday June 21 2006 2:41pm
Well, it makes sense. How else is Sony suppossed to throw away its capacity advantage?

Posted by: intrigue

Posted on: Wednesday June 21 2006 11:56am

my plan was to not support hddvd and to go with sony, but this is the dumbest thing i have heard yet from sony. WHY would we use a 20 year old codec is beyond me. From what I can tell h.264 is Apple/quicktime, and VC-1 is really WM9. Sony is going MPEG-2 to cheat MS and or Apple out of money. This is lame, and it may be enough for me to wait for HVD(holographic verisital disc). http://www.inphase-technologies.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_Versatile_Disc "The Blu-ray side, led by Sony Pictures, is currently advocating MPEG-2 compression as the way to provide the highest-quality images. A Sony Pictures spokesman says that all of their initial releases will be encoded in MPEG-2, which requires more disc capacity to encode a movie. Sony and their other owned studios do not support HD DVD and do not intend to release discs in the format. Sony also owns a number of Blu-ray patents. The HD DVD camp will be releasing most of their discs in either MPEG-4 or VC-1. According to Microsoft's HD DVD program manager, Sage Schreiner, in a published interview, "On a quality 1,920-by-1080p display, MPEG-2 will not look as good as VC-1 (or H.264)." "

Posted by: Dream BBQ Child	Posted on: Tuesday June 20 2006 10:24pm
Imagine going to a Korprate Media party and spending the pre-media time talking about becoming a non-profit group. Then imagine the media ensuing as ususal. That was pretty much what I did tonight. In Green Bay. Let me type that again. I did that in Green Bay. And it was good. Espically this one Dancing for Peanuts film. That was really REALLY good.

Posted by: Peter

Posted on: Tuesday June 20 2006 9:57pm

Nearscape, The CineAlta protoype was used to film one (and only one) scene in Phantom Menace (The nightime scene where Qui-gon takes a blood sample from Anakin on Tatooine). By the time Attack of the Clones came around they were using the CineAlta HDW-F900. The prototype on Episode 1 shot at a resolution less than the 1440 x 1080 (which is the resolution of the HDW-F900. Episode 3 was shot on the HDW-950 (1920 x 1080 resolution). The bitrate info on both cameras is correct. Here's a link to the camera's website: http://bssc.sel.sony.com/BroadcastandBusiness/DisplayModel?m=10014&p=2&sp=19&id=70976

Posted by: eygx0r	Posted on: Tuesday June 20 2006 5:15pm
NOT MY NARD JAR! Damnit. That bastard.

Posted by: nearscape	Posted on: Tuesday June 20 2006 5:07pm
"Deep within the Spooky Forest, you are attacked by the Wolfman. Perhaps you can defeat him by kicking him in the nards. That's right. Wolfman's got nards. He gets the jump on you. He kicks you in the nards. Yup, this is a Soviet Russian wolfman. If you're female, just assume you have a jar of nards in your backpack. And that you have a backpack. Argh! You lose 1 hit point." Best. Game. Ever.

Posted by: nearscape	Posted on: Tuesday June 20 2006 5:02pm
Just got this quest in Kingdom of Loathing. "Looking for a Larva in All the Wrong Places The Council of Loathing wants you to bring them a mosquito larva, for some reason. They told you to look for one in the Spooky Forest, in the Distant Woods. How can a woods contain a forest? Suspension of disbelief, that's how." Fucking. Awesome.

Posted by: nearscape

Posted on: Tuesday June 20 2006 4:39pm

http://www.worldofwar.net/cgi-bin/news/viewnews.cgi?id=EEVplEZpAkbMuJzITL Apparently, WoW has achieved MMORPG monopoly status, preventing new competition and thereby slowing innovation. Is this finally the end of the 1st generation of the genre? It is obvious that nothing is going to do this type of game better without somehow doing it different. The move now has to be away from the "persistent universe" of today's MMORPGs to an emerging or evolving universe. http://www.atriarch.com/news/news.html Atriarch may be one of the first of the next generation, where the players can actually build new structures and cities in the game. Too much biological harvesting in one area will actually change the ecology. Sounds more than a little chaotic to me, but I'd love to see it simply because it would be different. Also, remember that the Prey demo will be out this weekend.

Posted by: nearscape	Posted on: Tuesday June 20 2006 4:10pm
Not much work today. For curiosity (and Peter, correct me if I'm wrong), SW:ep2 was shot on a Sony CineAlta prototype, which would equate to modern-day HDCAM at around 144mbps. Episode 3, IIRC, moved to 4:4:4 HDCAM SR at 440mbps.

Posted by: nearscape	Posted on: Tuesday June 20 2006 3:56pm
Oops, I missed Whisky's favorite medium. 90mbps 4:2:2 SD Digital Betacam

Posted by: nearscape	Posted on: Tuesday June 20 2006 3:49pm
So you see why neither format can really handle HD. They can't even handle professional SD. For example: 10mbps 4:2:0 SD DVD 25mbps 4:1:1 SD DV 37mbps 4:2:0 HD HD-DVD 50mbps 4:2:2 SD DVCPRO 54mbps 4:2:0 HD Blu-Ray 100mbps 4:2:2 HD DVCPRO-HD (which still downsamples to 960x720p or 1280x1080i) 176mbps 4:4:4 SD 8-bit uncompressed 1328mbps 4:4:4 HD 10-bit uncompressed Very disappointing.

Posted by: nearscape

Posted on: Tuesday June 20 2006 3:36pm

I found some info on the bitrate caps I was looking for. "Both next-generation DVD formats have more headroom than broadcast. HD DVD, for example, has a transfer rate up to a maximum of 36.55 mbps, almost twice that of HDTV broadcast television. Blu-ray is even faster, with a bit rate on prerecorded discs (ROM) of up to 54 mbps. These higher rates mean better, cleaner images." http://www.hometheatermag.com/hookmeup/506hook/

Posted by: nearscape

Posted on: Tuesday June 20 2006 3:25pm

I'm assuming Intrigue will get both actually, at least once the XBox HD-DVD comes out, simply because it has something to do with XBox. ;) I look forward to seeing both in action, but given how crappy Blu-Ray looked, and how much less space HD-DVD has, I really don't have my hopes up. And the movie studios don't seem to either. HD DVD Only Universal, Weinstein Blu-ray Only 20th Century Fox, Lions Gate, Disney, Sony Pictures (includes Columbia TriStar, MGM), Miramax Blu-ray and HD DVD Warner Brothers, Paramount, New Line, HBO Also, who's buying an $800 Blu-Ray player? Not me. Especially not with a $600 PS3 on the horizon that "covers the bases".

Posted by: B_W	Posted on: Tuesday June 20 2006 2:13pm
Yeah, but the HD units are going for $500, vs $800 for a blu-ray. I don't know. The fight is on, and we shall see who wins. I haven't personally SEEN HD-DVD yet, so I don't know it's quality. When Kruger get's his blu-ray setup then I will see it with my own eyes. ;) B_W

Posted by: nearscape	Posted on: Tuesday June 20 2006 11:29am
I noticed that most of the Blu-Ray titles on Amazon are going for $20, and HD-DVD for $25. Hmm....

Posted by: intrigue	Posted on: Tuesday June 20 2006 10:08am
the reason bluray will win http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EZ7ZY0/qid=1150815963/sr=8-2/ref=pd_bbs_2/103-5009910-4469465?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=130

Posted by: B_W	Posted on: Monday June 19 2006 3:48pm
Hmmm...well for Blu-Ray to dominate the market, it first has to GET to market. ;) Second, I haven't seen a price under $800 for a player. 3rd, the players look like the ones I saw in Japan, which sucked. 4th I don't think more layers = more bitrate, nothing has said that would be the case. SO I don't know about this. David

Posted by: nearscape

Posted on: Monday June 19 2006 11:47am

Meh, at least Betamax was decent quality for the period. These new discs don't seem to be able to play anything better than low-bitrate HDV. Personally, when it comes to HD films and video, I wouldn't mind going back to tape cassettes at this point. Go to Best Buy and buy a film on some mass-produced DVCPRO-HD variant. It'd cost more, but at least it would put all these fancy HDTVs to good use for a change. What I'm watching/waiting for: 1) Blu-Ray market dominance 2) Quad-layer discs to start rolling out 3) 2nd or 3rd generation players that are cheaper and read quad-layer Of course, this assumes that extra capacity will lead to higher bitrates, not just longer crappy HDV. I don't know if these players have a bitrate cap the way the DVD standard does, or if they can read different codecs and stuff.

Posted by: adam	Posted on: Monday June 19 2006 3:55am
Bah.. Blue-ray.. I'm staying away from that and HD-DVD until all the shit sorts itself out. I don't want to end up haveing the "Betamax" of the format. -A

Posted by: intrigue	Posted on: Sunday June 18 2006 9:25pm
i dont think i am buying any more dvd's, time to move forwards to the next gen. on a real BluRay disk, lucas could put every starwars clip

Posted by: B_W	Posted on: Friday June 16 2006 3:56pm
clear as crystal. B_W

Posted by: nearscape	Posted on: Friday June 16 2006 12:31pm
Warning! NSFW. As in, no work will be safe from it. http://www.kingdomofloathing.com/login.php All your meat are belong to us.

Posted by: Peter	Posted on: Thursday June 15 2006 3:18pm
B_W, I thought I made it clear that I agreed considering that ILM got rid of its physical effects unit.

Posted by: B_W	Posted on: Thursday June 15 2006 2:53pm
NS, I liked that Bush Generator. Does anyone here remember SimBush, for Bush Sr??? It was GRREAT! The difference was that it made a speech on it's own that never ended. And it was GRRREAT! Did I mention it was great? Peter, Did we agree on something, or did we agree to disagree? B_W

Posted by: nearscape	Posted on: Thursday June 15 2006 12:31pm
http://www.cafegamer.com/swf/President_Bush_Speech_maker.swf

Posted by: Peter	Posted on: Thursday June 15 2006 10:19am
B_W, I think my previous post about ILM dropping their Physical effects unit was some justification of that.

Posted by: B_W	Posted on: Wednesday June 14 2006 5:12pm
oh, and if Lucas did push all these hot to trot new technologies out into the market, then by nature he's also killed the things that made the original films like Star Wars so great...REAL EFFECTS... Way to go! B_W

Posted by: B_W

Posted on: Wednesday June 14 2006 5:11pm

Peter, I understand what you are saying...but I don't credit Lucas for NLE's . They would have happened anyway. And compositing, that would have happened too. Mind you, his lack of decision making ability helped push both of those market's ahead. I mean, back in the day, like literally thirty five years ago, he was hot, but now he reminds me of one of my clients who can't make a decision, keeps making changes, and keeps creative control when he shouldn't. Accept my client doesn't have a legion of fanboys keeping him in business. I mean, Star Wars is his toy, and he can piss all over it every day, but that still doesn't mean it's right. Burning money in front of orphans is bad business too, and that's kind of what it fells like sometimes. But it's his world and that's fine. A urine soaked basket full of fine. So, who has a laser disc player? Oh, and I watched 'cars' this week. And it was good. Really f*cking good. Almost...too good. David R.

Posted by: Peter	Posted on: Wednesday June 14 2006 4:53pm
Adam, You call that the Millenium Falcon? It's missing the radar, and the sideboard turret gun! How could you possibly call that the Falcon? Just kidding. Awesome cake, she truly outdid herself this time! Congrats!

Posted by: Peter	Posted on: Wednesday June 14 2006 9:00am
This might be the beginning of the end for ILM... Sadly, AICN has posted that ILM is getting rid of its physical effects crew. This is the crew that made ILM famous for StarWars, Indiana Jones, The Explorers, etc. This is a sad day in Hollywood. CGI is washing the blood off it's hands as we speak... http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=23591

Posted by: adam	Posted on: Tuesday June 13 2006 8:25pm
Ok.. Y'All have to check out the cake Emalee made me for my birthday: http://www.commanddotcom.com/blog/2006/06/13/emalee-must-love-me-or-something/ -A

Posted by: Peter

Posted on: Tuesday June 13 2006 4:14pm

Nearscape, You do bring up several good points. I was/am fully aware of these ultimate edition DVD releases that you mentioned, but actually prefer the separate edition releases. In some way (and I know that I'm stretching what you said to fit this argument), under your standards Peter Jackson is somewhat of a jerk as well. He could have just as easily had both the theatrical and extended editions of the LOTR trilogy in one package but instead he sold them separately (I realize that part of the point is that Peter Jackson actually released all the versions of LOTR on DVD while George still toys with his fans). But Peter Jackson did delay the editions, just like George to get most fans to double-dip and get both the theatrical and extended editions of LOTR. What does irk me is that George is not giving people the option to buy just the original editions, we have to buy the SE discs as well. That, plain and simple, is a money ploy (I don't deny that). As I said, there are things that George does that annoys the living daylight out of me, but I still support him more than I'll ever bash him. Does George have a poor connection to his fans? It appears that way. Compared to the interaction of some directors with their fanbase - Joss Whedon, Peter Jackson, and J.M.S to name a few, George is pretty absent. However, compare that to the other end of the scale, directors like James Cameron, Ridley Scott, Rick Berman, and David Lynch who go out of their way to mock their fanbase (just listen to some of their DVD commentaries sometime!), George is not quite that bad. Also F.Y.I. while Lucas technically only directed 1/3 of the original trilogy, he actually directed 2/3rds of it. Richard Marquandt, the director of ROTJ, was a puppet director. Because of George's merchandising deal (I know...this point will spark more debate), he signed away his rights to direct the sequels (yes...this implies that he cared more about the merchandising revenues than the quality of the films). However, he was truly the director on Return of the Jedi, not Richard. Richard's directing style was this..."George what do you want me to tell the actors to do in this take" and George tells him. So while Richard was director credited on the movie, George was the actual director. I can't say the same for Empire. Irving Kershner was the director on that film in every sense of the position. (and here comes the inevitable counterpoint - Empire is considered the best of the original trilogy and that's the one that George had the least control over.) By the way, I still consider ANH my favorite of all six. Tell Randall and Dante that they can take their Empire versus Jedi debate to Mooby's.

Posted by: nearscape

Posted on: Tuesday June 13 2006 3:33pm

The ironic thing is, Peter, is that George actually could give everyone what they wanted. And he could have done it many years ago. DVD supports, and has always supported, multiple concurrent streams of both audio and video. Why not just put both versions on one disc and be done with it, once and for all. There would have to be some clever authoring to make it all fit and work properly, but this has all been done before. I have 3 excellent examples in my collection. 1) Star Trek The Motion Picture Director's Cut 2) Independence Day Collector's Edition 3) Terminator 2 (the short-lived "set off the alarms" metal edition from around 2000) All these movies contain multiple versions of the film on a single-sided DVD, versions that sometimes have drastically different running times, and plenty of extra streams of content. They are definitive, and I will never have to buy them again until the discs literally rot away or a good HD version comes out (which will not happen soon because both BluRay and HD-DVD are too small for it). So here's what George could do. At the main menu, you select whether you want additional scenes not in the theatrical release. Obviously, these additional scenes only have one angle. Then, while you're watching, when a scene comes up that is common in both versions (which is most of the trilogy), you can change angle and get either the original dirty rips, the restored prints, or that fancy CGI stuff. Same goes for the 5.1 audio. This is really quite basic. Put it in a box and sell it for $100 (the price is irrelevant, whatever it is fanboys and detractors alike will pay it, just like they always do). That way, anyone watching this master-disc can literally cut as they go and get exactly what they want. But it will never happen. Because then you couldn't release 14 more half-assed versions with intentional flaws for guaranteed revenue. George is too good of a business man for that. He doesn't give a fuck about the films. You two are obviously are more invested in the content than he ever was. He didn't even direct 2/3rds of the trilogy, remember? Me, I have the luxury of not having grown up watching Star Wars so I can look at it from a more technical perspective.

Posted by: eygx0r	Posted on: Tuesday June 13 2006 2:39pm
The public demands penishead versions of all past Korporate Media.

Posted by: Peter

Posted on: Tuesday June 13 2006 1:15pm

B_W, We agree on the very fundamental points. While I agree that George has done some things in the past (and is continuing to do so currently) that only helps to perpetuate the popular notion that he is a jerk (use whatever explitive you want in place of jerk), but he also does a tremendous amount of good for the world of media. Take the good and the bad. Because of George we have NLE's, digital filmaking, and digital image manipulation software (technically, those last 2 are harder to justify). I can't say that I can fully defend all of his actions (occasionally some his decisions astound and upset me as well). He releases extraneous box sets and asks his fans to pay a subscription fee to see content on www.starwars.com, but he also set up the Presidio complex and has a knack for hiring some of the best talent in the bussiness. To get back to the point, he's giving you the StarWars that you loved as a kid (the Laserdisc versions are the same that you would seen in theaters and grew up with. He began "effing" it, as you put it, when he released the re-masters in 1995. You should be happy that he's releasing the original and not the remaster from that perspective. However, even I like the better picture quality and sound that came with the remasters which aren't being released on DVD. You and I are proposing the same thing, if you don't like it don't buy it. If anyone is that desperate for the 1995 remasters on DVD, I will take my widescreen copies and burn them to DVD for you. Somehow, though, I know that won't solve the problem until George himself releases that version on DVD. At least you guys are more sensible than the AICN talkbackers who want the ultra-customized Star Wars DVD releases - They want Greedo to shoot first, but they don't want to have transparent snowspeeder cockpits. They want the original Ewok victory celebration but they want to keep the more open look of Bespin from the SE's. They want to keep the digital X-wings from the ANH:SE space battle, but not the new scene with Jabba. You guys can at least point to a pre-existing edition and are saying "Give us that one in DVD format". I know that there is little I can say that can persuade you away from the thought that George is a money-grubbing jerk who screwed everything up just as there is little chance that you can dissuade me from supoorting Lucas.

Posted by: B_W

Posted on: Tuesday June 13 2006 12:01pm

Yes, but Peter, I didn't watch Blade Runner every week when I was a kid. I watched Star Wars. And guess what, I haven't seen any of the original trilogy in like, TEN YEARS. Why? Becuase HE effed it. If you want your blade runner, make a big stink about it, like I am about STAR WARS. (and have been for ten years!!!) It's easy to bash Lucas because he's a giant ASS. Mind you, he has every right to be an ASS, just like I have the right to 'remaster' all of my Korporate media, replacing everybody's head with a giant penis, but that doesn't make it a GOOD IDEA. ;) Or a popular idea. But if I did that, and everyone complained, perhaps I would see the light, and put out a QUALITY product instead. Whine a lot and vote with your dollars, it's the American way! B_W

Posted by: stinkoman	Posted on: Tuesday June 13 2006 11:08am
eating pudding with a SPOOOON!!!

Posted by: Peter

Posted on: Tuesday June 13 2006 9:35am

Whisky, Let me make sure I understand you correctly, you would like the 1995 remastered version of the original trilogy on DVD, am I correct? You are aware that changes to the movies had already occured with that edition, right? Nothing earth-shattering, just some changed lines and some alteration of shots. Everyone, The laserdisc versions, which is what's being released on DVD, is the Star Wars that you grew up with because George didn't change anything for that release. I don't really see that big of an issue since the whole 5.1 sound manipulation occurred with the Special Editions, not with the original trilogy and most of the remastered version isn't the pure original trilogy that the laserdisc release is. As I said before, it seems that people want a customizable original trilogy release - "I want the remastered look of the 1995 editions, but the 5.1 sound mix of the Special Edition DVDs" - and business doesn't work that way. If you really disapprove of these editions, the best way to show your disapproval is to NOT BUY THEM! Besides, the thing that I find most hilarious about this is all of the AICN talkbakers who yell at Lucas for releasing these editions will also be the ones claiming that he's not making HD or Blu-ray versions of the films fast enough. Geez...George should never have brought the movies to DVD, that way none of you would have a chance to complain. I don't hear anybody else complaining about the horrible treatment some other famous Sci-Fi properties have gotten. My best example is Blade Runner. Blade Runner was one of the first 5 DVD movies made, except it was the "director's cut", which as it turns out wasn't Scott's version anyway. Only now are they releasing Blade Runner, the theatrical cut, on DVD - and guess what? It's not the remastered version of Blade Runner. It's the VHS master, complete with 2.0 sound. (Sounds familiar, doesn't it?). Why isn't everyone as up in arms about this? This is Ridley Scott's sanctioned move (he's doing it to coincide with his "ultimate" or "deluxe" cut of the movie which he claims is the way he always wanted the movie to be but never got a chance to show it. In a sense, this is a "Special Edition" of Blade Runner. (Hopefully this all sounds very familiar). And you know what? The fan community is praising him for it!!! WTF!?! Here's someone who's doing exactly what George is doing and getting praised for it. Yet Lucas does it and he gets nth degree! (Other recent examples of similar business practices: Lynch's "Dune" and Superman - "The Donner editions" (which Richard Donner isn't even involved on!). It's very easy to bash Lucas (and believe me, he does little to negate his negative connotative persona and perspective). But when it comes down to it, he has not done anything unfair and he is still the same imaginative genius that showed you a completely new universe growing up. In short, you can bash George all you like, which is your right and prerogative, and I will continue to support the man.

Posted by: B_W

Posted on: Monday June 12 2006 3:39pm

Forgive my tardiess, it's been awhile since I have had the pleasure of being 'on'. Peter, This isn't rocket science. You know that copy of Star Wars I have on VHS tapes at home, I want that, on DVD, looking good. For this I will pay money. American money. No, I highly doubt anyone would complain...because they would be getting what they WANTED. (Which is what we HAVEN'T gotten in like twenty some years...) As far as his 'promises' go, well George's isn't known for his integrity, so I don't think him breaking a 'promise' to restore a childhood dream is so 'un-natural'. Eh, this is par for the course. I will still be ripping my own version from lazerdiscs, and possibly breaking in to different retail establishments to piss all over these bastardized original release DVDs with a gin piss so powerful it will separate the layers of plastacine right before your very eyes. B_W

Posted by: intrigue	Posted on: Friday June 9 2006 5:47pm
peter, great find, too bad my DVR wont let me set up the show yet.

Posted by: Peter	Posted on: Friday June 9 2006 12:25pm
Check out this 3 minute preview for the new NBC show "Heroes" coming this fall (click on the preview button to bring up the player/media). There's a couple of great clips of a Japanese guy shouting "YATTA!!!" http://www.nbc.com/NBC_First_Look/Heroes/

Posted by: CrowScape	Posted on: Thursday June 8 2006 10:57pm
BTW everyone: Happy Dead Zarqawi Day! W00T!

Posted by: Peter	Posted on: Thursday June 8 2006 3:09pm
When Lithuanians outnumber Americans at a Bulls game in Chicago...now this is a beautiful sight! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S7Rmganggg

Posted by: Arnold	Posted on: Thursday June 8 2006 2:57pm
"Well, I hope you leave enough room for my fist, because I'm going to ram it into your stomach and pull out your *$%#-@#$@# SPINE!"

Posted by: Peter

Posted on: Thursday June 8 2006 2:40pm

Crow, Yes, I am suggesting that people just take one of the 1995 editions of the trilogy on VHS (and yes, the original trilogy was released on widescreen no fewer than three times in VHS format) and make a DVD copy of them. There are still plenty of unopened copies of this release floating around eBay and other secondary markets so getting one in decent quality (i.e. not destroyed by multiple viewings using that blasted intrusive media format known as VHS) shouldn't be an issue. As for "bringing them up to DVD quality" that all depends upon your definition of "DVD quality". Worst comes to worst, take the Special Edition DVD copies and only dub in the 1995 version for scenes that you want to be "special editionized". This way you can have your Han shoots first, but not lose your non-transparent Snowspeeder cockpit. Yes that takes work and complaining is much easier. Bah!

Posted by: intrigue	Posted on: Thursday June 8 2006 2:32pm
maybe if sally struthers was released into the industrial light and majic wearhouse for just 41 cents a day you too could support an original copy of the theatrical version of star wars.

Posted by: CrowScape

Posted on: Thursday June 8 2006 12:11pm

Peter: How would you suggest that people make a remastered edition of the Original Trilogy without all the wrongly-inserted CGI on their own? Do you know someone who has the original films? Or are you suggesting that people can somehow take an old VHS copy (were widescreen versions of the original released?) and technomagically bring it up to DVD quality? I was going to buy this edition, but then after hearing how half-assed it is, I'm still not buying.

Posted by: Peter

Posted on: Thursday June 8 2006 11:30am

Ha Ha, very funny Dr. Jones. It doesn't matter what George does, the peanut gallery will complain. They want the original trilogy on DVD, he provides it, but they complain it's not the one they wanted. George can't release the 1995 re-releases (final release pre-Special Edition) on DVD because he made a promise that this would be the last time these movies would be available in a format the way they are (That's why he has to claim that the movies were "taped over"). However, this absolves him from releasing the original trilogy as they were shown in theaters. Even if George gave the public what they wanted, he would still get complaints. It seems like everyone wants something different in their "original trilogy" DVD release. George is being more than fair and people are complaining. Guess what, if you don't like the version being released, don't buy it!!! If you want some version of the trilogy done to the specs that you want them at why don't you go out and make the copy you want. Otherwise get off of the phone and quick being an idiot.

Posted by: nearscape	Posted on: Thursday June 8 2006 10:32am
Peter, have you heard the news? http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/06/07

Posted by: intrigue	Posted on: Thursday June 8 2006 9:18am
not to oxymornon it , but what big whisky ment to say was, "Square all the way, like squarewaves!" Do you have the 1kHz test tone down, cause I am down with that?, oooohh Yeah!

Posted by: B_W	Posted on: Thursday June 8 2006 2:07am
on saturday. I should have probably mentioned that. B_W

Posted by: B_W	Posted on: Thursday June 8 2006 2:07am
Yeah, 'Satisfaction Per Watt'. SPW for short. Sounds great to me. ;) I just gave AMD a call today, I should have passed that along. :) BTW, you all should come out to the Inferno Nightclub to see some hot visuals I will be mixing up. eygx0r is gonna be spinning it up oldschool. totally square action, all the way. B_W

Posted by: eygx0r	Posted on: Thursday June 8 2006 12:05am
Turn signals are not optional, straight up. Also: satisfaction per watt? That sounds like something a dildo manufacturer should be concerned with. Might Intel have a new market on the horizon?

Posted by: Intrigue

Posted on: Wednesday June 7 2006 10:32pm

If you ever wanted to see what happens to a company when marketing takes over a company rather than engineering and design, you can watch intels slippery slide. Today intel announced that the industries latest metric "ppw or performance per watt" is not the optimal metric. This quote from the article says it all. "Performance per watt is very misleading," Raj Yavatkar, an Intel fellow, told The Register. "Rather than focusing on performance per watt lets look at satisfaction per watt." http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/06/07/intel_spw_metric/

Posted by: CrowScape	Posted on: Tuesday June 6 2006 10:16pm
No Prime, we do know what turn signals are: they are signs of weakness.

Posted by: Prime	Posted on: Tuesday June 6 2006 4:22pm
Here I found the test. I took it and got 90%. Its not that difficult but maybe all that pollution around Jersey is having some kind of side effect... http://www.gmacinsurance.com/SafeDriving/2006/test.asp

Posted by: Prime	Posted on: Tuesday June 6 2006 4:12pm
I was on a trip once with a guy at my work place. He commented about the traffic up around New Jersey area saying that they had no clue what turn signals were. If they saw one they ignored it and the only way to merge into traffic was to weave back and forth until people thought you were crazy. Then they would give you room and then you could take advantage of that and merge.

Posted by: CrowScape	Posted on: Tuesday June 6 2006 3:32pm
Turn signals are easy, as are gears. In fact, New Jerseyans are so proficient with shifting gears that we are prepared to throw ourselves into reverse on a busy highway if we ever realize that we have just passed our exit.

Posted by: nearscape	Posted on: Tuesday June 6 2006 10:38am
...remind me to never drive in New England, ever. Wisconsin drivers can't operate a simple turn signal, and we're some of the best in the country? Sweet Jeebus...

Posted by: adam	Posted on: Tuesday June 6 2006 3:27am
It's working here as of 3:30a -A

Posted by: CrowScape	Posted on: Monday June 5 2006 11:02pm
New Jersey rockin it at #48 baby! Boo-yah!

Posted by: nearscape	Posted on: Monday June 5 2006 5:10pm
the initech site isn't working correctly either right now; we're looking into it.

Posted by: Prime	Posted on: Monday June 5 2006 2:17pm
Take this for what you will Headline--Mysterious red cells might be aliens http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/06/02/red.rain/index.html

Posted by: Peter	Posted on: Monday June 5 2006 10:32am
We seem to have run into a "Policy Violation". Does anyone know what that's about? When I type in "spoolan.com" it gives me an error page with "Policy Violation". Did somebody forget to pay the forwarding fee? Or is this gate.com getting upset that we are hosting a site within a site (I think it's the former rather than the later).

Posted by: Peter	Posted on: Monday June 5 2006 9:42am
America's Best/Worst Drivers... http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Insurance/Insureyourcar/P151501.asp?GT1=8288 Wisconsin-11th Best Drivers Illinois -21st Best Drivers This proves nothing! You hear me? Nothing!

Posted by: Prime	Posted on: Monday June 5 2006 9:23am
Go to hell for 6/6/6 and come back to tell everyone about it http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/06/03/hell.party.ap/index.html

Posted by: intrigue	Posted on: Monday June 5 2006 9:04am
only geniuses may apply, 5d rubic's cube application, for me the 4d one is pretty intense http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/06/04/1211220&from=rss

Posted by: Peter

Posted on: Sunday June 4 2006 6:59pm

To anyone interested. Warner Brothers is once again teaming up with Amazon.com to present DVD decision 2006 whereby previously unreleased on DVD movies with the top ten most votes will join the ranks of the soon-to-be-outdated medium known as the DVD. (That's right, you get to pick which 10 out of a list of thirty make the cut...is this really a vote, 1/3 of the films make it?)Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dvddecision2006 You can vote up to 30 times. May I suggest the Sarafian classic (also featuring a great John Williams score), "The Man who Loved Cat Dancing".

Posted by: Peter

Posted on: Friday June 2 2006 1:11pm

I can see the business world now... "Johnson, you should be typing up those TPS reports, not playing Halo 3. I didn't buy these PS3's for the department for playing games..." Harrison's quote will go down in history as one of the great flubs in computer arrogance (right along with the Bill Gates classic "this computer has over 32 KB of disk space, that's more than anyone will ever need in their lifetime...")

Posted by: intrigue	Posted on: Friday June 2 2006 12:14pm
unless you can develop ps3 games on ps3s?

Posted by: nearscape	Posted on: Friday June 2 2006 11:56am
Oh noes! PCs are obsolete! http://www.beyondunreal.com/daedalus/singlepost.php?id=9474 Sony says so. It must be true! Except for the fact that PS3 content is developed on PCs, of course.

Posted by: Prime	Posted on: Friday June 2 2006 10:20am
So I gave my work place my 2 weeks notice last week and they aren't giving me anything to do, at all. So I get to spend my time browsing the web and playing solitaire. Only 1 more week to go...

Posted by: nearscape	Posted on: Friday June 2 2006 9:59am
hey Prime, and any other initechers that may be lurking, you can update your own character info on the personnel page now. http://www.spoolan.net/initech

Posted by: CrowScape	Posted on: Thursday June 1 2006 10:18pm
Chess has been fighting to be considered an Olympic game for decades. Apparently, gamers are a little less susceptible to stupid ideas than grand masters, as it took longer for them to mistake button mashing for a sport. Of course, the fact that baseball is also considered a sport is what really opened the door for all these other wannabes.

Posted by: Peter

Posted on: Thursday June 1 2006 2:42pm

Watch it when you dump on Chi-town, Prime....them's fighting words. But you are right on the point that there must not be enough Browncoats in Chicago to make it happen. (Makes sense seeing as how there were no midnight showings of Serenity in the entire state of Illinois). The showing on June 22nd in Milwaukee is at 7:30 PM. Tickets are $11 (that's including the $1 service charge), this is for charity after all. Sounds like a good time to me!

Posted by: Prime

Posted on: Thursday June 1 2006 1:43pm

"If you don't see your city listed, it might be up to you to make one happen. There is no central authority doling out screenings to these cities. It is entirely up to fans on the ground to organize a screening where they live." This is a fan based event. So it seems like there isn't a large enough fan base in Chicago to push for this. We all know Chicago sucks, this is just another reason why =) I hope that the showing is later in the day...

Posted by: Peter	Posted on: Thursday June 1 2006 12:10pm
I just found this... I say we must all do it! http://cantstoptheserenity.com/ Serenity back in Theaters this June 22 only (Showtime Cinema). How is it that Milwaukee is one of the 40 cities participating in this "worldwide" event? Chicago isn't even doing it!?! Not that I'm complaining...

Posted by: Peter

Posted on: Thursday June 1 2006 11:58am

I saw that yesterday and I was floored. The IOC would be stupid to consider this seriously. Mind you, it's not that I'm anti video games, just that this sets a bad precedent that could easily be manipulated by other activities. If you allow video games as an Olympic sport, why not board games or card games (especially of the CCG variety) "And now....accepting the Gold Medal in Babylon 5 CCG, Justin Bosar. Well, Tim, it didn't look like he had a chance until he drew that Power Posturing card, that gave him the extra influence and an increase to his diplomacy." On second thought...nerds would no longer seek persecution. In fact, they would be considered jocks! The whole social structure of the American High School system will be rendered asunder! HACK THE PLANET!!!

Posted by: intrigue	Posted on: Thursday June 1 2006 10:17am
spoolan summer 2008 might be a part of the olympic games http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/31/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/index.htm

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