Cid_MCDP

Is that the one with Sean Penn, or the Walter Von Herzog documentary about the loon who hung out with Grizzly Bears? I liked that Australian film with Ray Winstone in it as a policeman trying to keep order by setting one brother against his other brothers. It is called The Choice, The Decision or something like that. Nick Cave did the music and may have done the screenplay as well. The Proposition. Class movie.

I really liked that TV show he did back in the day with the haunted hospital. That was friggin' awesome.

People who stand RIGHT next to me in line. Drives me crazy. People who tailgate me whilst driving. I've only been in one accident the 20 years I've been driving and that was the other guy's fault. I've avoided accidents more times than I can count because I'm heads-up about shit and have decent reaction times while knowing what my vehicle is/ is not capable of. When you tailgate me, all of that goes out the fucking window because now my reactions or skill doesn't matter, because your stupid ass is going to rear-end me if I have to slam on my brakes. Makes me especially crazy when my wife is in the car with me, because now you're risking her life as well. And for the record, no I don't drive the speed limit. I'm generally 5-10 over, so it isn't like I'm out for the Sunday drive. Bastards.

It's really good. Really well acted and directed. They don't shy away from things either, at times it's some uncomfortable fucking viewing. Haven't seen much of season 2. I missed when it started up, but season 1 was class.

I'm convinced that Rescue Me is the best show in TV in America.

1-1 draw. We have a legal goal disallowed which ends up sending us down.

John Cage has to be the most flogged American composer ever. Want a good litmus test for divining whether someone is a music snob or not? Mention John Cage and see if their eyes light up.

Think about the target audience for the Sims 3 though- I realize this will be generalizing and stereotyping, but the demo for Sims 3 is a bunch of chicks. Sure, they may get their boyfriend to DL the torrent, mount it via Daemon Tools, find no-cd patches, etc., etc., but for the most part, if that chick wants to play that game, she's just going to go buy it and install it. What's the point of cutting into your own profit margin by paying what's probably a per-disc license of SecurROM or whatever to a third party when you can keep it all for yourself? And to whoever touched on it, yeah, DRM really is fucking up PC gaming. It's hard enough to get some games working with day 0 patches, Steam issues, Games for Windows Live issues, router/ firewall issues, etc. etc. than by complicating things even further by sticking DRM on there. People wonder why console games sell- because people buy the game, come home, put it in their console, and play. That's it. No patching windows, no downloading video card driver updates, directx, etc. If somebody could figure out an easy way to make all that bullshit go away (not likely) or to happen automatically (ding!)- that person would own PC gaming.

You have a reset button on your shower?

You're thinking of Toonraider but it wasnt a bike shop, I think her hubby is a bike (motor) mechanic. Ah shite. My bad Paws.

After watching the finale the other night, I think I'm done with it.

It's sorta going back to that. I'm not totally up on this kind of stuff anymore, but it seems as though I run across articles talking about Chinese wafer fab shops a lot more than I used to.

Great album.

Intel was really fucking AMD over in the mid and late 90's. They had trouble getting their pentium 1 equivalent out (I was working at the Austin fab at the time), but their P2, P3, and early P4 equivalents were class. I still don't really get the EU's problem with Microsoft, but Intel really did engage in hostile practices when it came to PC manufacturers.

So what's she say when someone shits?

It delivers on cue that's the whole problem with it. I hate that shit. That's just lazy writing.

Haven't seen it. Don't really care about it either way. I was sort of interested with the trailers and stuff, but a couple of the reviews I read that actually mentioned the plot as opposed to, "ZOMG! STAR TRACK FOR THE REST OF UZZ!!!!11!" seemed to read like the current season of LOST- time traveling for no real reason other than time-traveling, deux ex machina in the form of once-in-a-lifetime type coincidences, holes big enough you could drive a truck through. I'm sure I'll check it out on DVD or On-Demand at some point, but I'm not going to sit in a theatre with a bunch of nerdsweat. Now, Terminator: Salvation? That I might be willing to sit in nerdsweat for...

WSJ subscribers pay on their expenses anyway. Still think the media industry has to get a return from its output. The issue is that if print media outlets cant, they will go out of business. Which means consolidation and mergers, which returns greater power to the remaining giants. Like Murdoch. I'd say the opposite is true. The ability to publish and disseminate content electronically has removed the barriers that kept the big media operations in power. Papers are printed and distributed through the same channels anyway- I can't see how there would be huge savings- the only difference would be fewer journo staff- and that's already kicking in. Their current online offerings cannibalise their print sales undoubtedly, but it's ambitious to think they can make up the difference by charging to visit their website. The overall quality is too low with many alternatives available. What would stop someone constructing the bit-torrent equivalent for news sites? And with most content being just text, it would be rapid. It may have removed barriers (in supply) but it also creates them too, since there is no revenue to be made from the supply of news. As the industry gets squeezed further, it will consolidate, thats fundamental Matt. It may be ambitious, in much the same way the music industry is attempting to make money from their own content. My view is that people use sites like Guardian online, The Times etc because they value doing so, not just becasue they are free. For media sites to continue operating, they need to stop making losses. There only seems to be one logical conclusion. Really though, it's because the newspapers can't figure out online advertising. In a traditional paper, they make money two ways- advertising and the reader's money. They're just trying to do the same thing now- they have online advertising money, but now they want the reader's money again. Where they screwed up was letting us have it for free this long. The cat's out of the bag, and unless they get all newspapers to stop offering free content, they'll have a hard time charging readers, and since no newspaper seems to be able to figure out how to make substantial money off of online advertising, it's the only option they think they have. ESPN went to this model a few years ago where you could read like major news (that everyone else was reporting on in addition to ESPN), but the exclusive or in-depth type stuff you had to buy an insider subscription to read. Dunno why the papers don't just do that. Give away an insider account with anyone who pays for the print copy, let online-only type people buy an account (for less than the paper obviously), maybe cut down the ads on the exclusive content a bit, increase the ads on the free stories and call it a day.

This. I'm still hoping for a miracle in the finale (which are usually pretty great), but I'm really starting to feel like I did about two hours into Return of the Sith: that kind of sinking feeling that everything is wrapping up and a lot of shit you thought would happen just isn't going to and this really is all there is.

I quit teaching and make about twice as much money now- does that count as a success story? (It probably shouldn't- I hate this job and miss feeling like I'm doing something productive with my life). Then it's not a success story. No point having loadsa dosh if you detest Monday - Friday. Just eats away at you. The pursuit of happiness --- the be all and end all in life. It amazes me how miserable some people are, yet are too frightened to make a change. That's what the drugs and booze are for mate! Nah, in all seriousness, had I not been on a behavior changing anti-depressant at the time, I'm 99% sure I would've never quit teaching and just been happy having a little less.

1971 was when a dollar was no longer "backed" by the gold in Fort Knox. Courtesy of tricky Dick Nixon. Well, that and the ruination of the U.S. Healthcare system, aka the origin of the HMOs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/08/opinion/...ugman.html?_r=1 Krugman agrees with me That's what's great about this whole thing- the government couldn't be making it easier for these corrupt and nepotistic fools to get their collective shit together, but they still aren't expanding credit. We'll piss all over the American auto industry and how terrible it is, but I'll tell you this- the president of my company just quit to go run another company. We're not replacing him. The CEO is taking on his duties apparently. Now, I fully realize that's probably akin to me saying I'll officially take over the duty of watching hockey and football in my household, but at the end of the day, it's one less massive salary my company is paying out. Point is, we've stopped raises, let people go and not replaced people from the bottom to nearly the very top of our organization. We're not an auto manufacturer, but we are a global auto industry supplier and we've done this to stay viable in these tough times. What have the banks done besides layoff a few thousand office drones from their already over-staffed cube farms?

I quit teaching and make about twice as much money now- does that count as a success story? (It probably shouldn't- I hate this job and miss feeling like I'm doing something productive with my life).