Call me a prude, if you must, but I thought the attempted rape of Sally Jupiter was one thing that didn't need to be expanded from the book.

It did seem in there for the shock value – I mean, we've seen this guy *shoot* a woman *pregnant with his…

I think. I would have liked the sex and violence to have been toned down about 50%

Call me a prude, if you must, but I thought the attempted rape of Sally Jupiter was one thing that didn't need to be expanded from the book. And was the sex scene…

one my friends once had a great party along the theme of "a hand up not a hand out" where people dressed up as right-wing figures.

We have no verifiable evidence that Craig was going to a dress-up party...

I went to a party dressed as Margaret Thatcher.

I think Craig and I walk in different worlds!

Though one my friends once had a great party along the theme of "a hand up not a hand out" where people dressed up as right-wing figures. Possibly more mocking went on…

But on the spectrum of comics/graphic novels that have been made into movies, I think it's at the worth seeing end.

Gets points, in my opinion, for staying fairly true to the source material (or my memory of…

and more effort put into fidelity to the spirit of the original

Sounds like a big ask.

As in, good CG?

It depends on your tolerance for full-frontal blue demi-God, I suppose — but I do think you've got to acknowledge the production values across the board are wonderful. The cast, for the most part, are better than is strictly necessary... but the whole exercise ultimately felt…

And Mr Taslov, if you thought that was infuriating I can only presume you have not read the in-depth recent Q and A with Mr Rianz or Chris Keall's blatant misrepresentation.

Thanks Sacha, yeah it was Mark's link to the Q&A that boiled my kettle, not sure if now is a…

Technically astounding

As in, good CG? Was nothing else good?

lettuce?

Hardcore dressing up as your favourite anime/manga character.

cosplay

lettuce?

And no doubt it'll give Craig something to bitch about in relation to the people who came in costume (I'm presuming he didn't).

I went to a party dressed as Margaret Thatcher. So, I don't really get to bitch people who want to engage in a bit of midnight cosplay.…

And Mr Taslov, if you thought that was infuriating I can only presume you have not read the in-depth recent Q and A with Mr Rianz or Chris Keall's blatant misrepresentation.

That Bruce Sterling presentation is one of the most fascinating reads I've had in years

Really? I thought it was an incoherent jumble with few concrete statements, no valid conclusions, and quite a few errors of fact. I regret having wasted my time reading it. I bet it was entertaining…

you can't monetise a blog right?

Surely if you can whore a link you can whore a whole blog. That would be a whore house, in fact.

If nothing more of this calibre of genius is parlayed through PAS for the rest of the year, I'll happily pay my sub... oh…

Is the version shown at midnight better and more interesting that the one that will be shown for the following month?

The way that 35mm film deteriorates under use (shining hot lights through it, constant threading, less than clean-room standard projection booths) that may actually be true.

Ben: me too. I actually find it truly depressing that there are so few movies for which I'm not willing to wait until the DVD is available for $1 on Tuesdays.

Pollyanna time. I find it heartening that there are so many movies to watch that I can wait until…

How do you get the araldite out of your ears afterwards?

I dissolve it with a quick squirt of mineral turps up the my left nostril! Obviously, the glue goes between the air bud and and the silicone thingy.

Interesting comments on the latest Big Film. I was talking to…

Fascinating watching Republicans accidentally speak the truth...and then be forced to recant their heresy.

Jonathan Martin seems to think that Limbaugh and Steele are making some people smile and that Carville & Co. want Rush to keep on talking please, as the voice that will lead the Republicans to political oblivion.

Is the version shown at midnight better and more interesting that the one that will be shown for the following month?

People like new things.

And no doubt it'll give Craig something to bitch about in relation to the people who came in costume (I'm presuming he didn't).

Therefore, it'll…

Only works for US UPC…

Is the version shown at midnight better and more interesting that the one that will be shown for the following month?

Or the one that will come out on Sky Movies in 2 years, or Free-to-air in 3? So often recently, I'm finding that I can wait. I'm already drowning…

Let me google that for you ....

Ah, so a film produced by a large American (I'm so not using that wig-like word now) Big Media conglomerate.

Am I the only one who finds it ironic that whilst the "geek" community is so affronted by the actions of Big Media…

Let me google that for you ....

Or This Link can be fun, if want to rub it in...

Can I just mention how deeply disturbing I find the use of the word Merkin to mean American?

I'm very aware of the other meaning – "'merkin" has been used online as a sneaky way to poke fun at those it describes but who probably don't know the other meaning…

What is, or are, "Watchmen"?

Let me google that for you ....

How do you get the araldite out of your ears afterwards?

What?? Sorry?? Speak up! Can't hear ya!

I have resorted to a dab of Araldite on the fitting.

You might want to change to superglue. Sticks to the skin easier, and you don't have to wait 4 hours for it to dry before you go to the gym.

How do you get the araldite out of your…

2) tuck the excess cable under your sports bra strap so it doesn't fly around catching on things.

Can I vote against Jake taking more photos of this? Ta

One vote in favour, here! Tucking the cord between skin and shirt is a good idea--especially when gardening. Nothing quite stops…

What is, or are, "Watchmen"?

Ask Uncle Wiki

How pathetically geeky is someone going to see 'Watchmen' at 12.01am?

Geeky, but awesome geeky not pathetic geeky.

First film in ages I've been genuinely excited about. let us know how it is – one word will do ('good', or 'rubbish').

I suspect the issue is more "elections can't be counted before everyone goes to bed and loses interest in the TV"

The pile of rank bad practices that has accumulated around this is simply staggering.

We need some sort of international foundation for the preservation of democracy that will send them bits of paper and pens so that they can vote in a way that actually works.

Sorry for the threadjack, but I need some advice: How pathetically geeky is someone going to see 'Watchmen' at 12.01am?

I see absolutely nothing pathetic or geeky about this, sounds like a great idea! Though clearly the correct time to schedule the first showing is five minutes to midnight.

Completely off topic, because I can't be bothered going back and finding the US voting system thread we had last year some time.

Report: Diebold Voting System Has 'Delete' Button for Erasing Audit Logs

The pile of rank bad practices that has accumulated around this is simply staggering.

Sorry for the threadjack, but I need some advice: How pathetically geeky is someone going to see 'Watchmen' at 12.01am?

Shows you care.

Apple also introduced a new Mac Pro desktop PC aimed at business users. The new Mac Pro starts at $2,499, $300 less than the previous Mac Pro.

In addition, the company unveiled two new…

Report: Diebold Voting System Has 'Delete' Button for Erasing Audit Logs

But the most startling information in the state's 13-page report (.pdf) is not why the system…

2) tuck the excess cable under your sports bra strap so it doesn't fly around catching on things.

Can I vote against Jake taking more photos of this? Ta.

Thanks, although we don't claim any credit for the design (which I happen to like BTW). I probably need to say here I don't speak for Fairfax at all, just trying to make sure the tech side is as solid as we can get it and of course there…

Now just sign here, here, just-under-this-bit-about-first-born-something-or-other, here annnnnnd here.

I do love contract negotiations, especially the bit where people say "oh, don't worry about that clause, we'll never use it". To which the answer is, "In that case, remove it".

It has mostly changed my feelings about trying to read, listen to an iPod and use a stairmaster at the same time.

I have two key pieces of advice:

1) use an arm strap rather than trying to balance the iPod on the console.

2) tuck the excess cable under…

Also, why are people making menu bars so fat these days? What looks like…

A headless pyramid! No one wins. What could be fairer?

What could be fairer indeed Mr Wilson? Now just sign here, here, just-under-this-bit-about-first-born-something-or-other, here annnnnnd here.
Welcome to the team.

Get a publisher!

I'd rather perish.

if it weren't for this Chicago-boys inspired piece of Thatcherite Rogernomics

You mean this neoliberal Chicago-boys inspired piece of Thatcherite Rogernomics? Cause otherwise I'm not sure enough that I'm supposed to think it's a bad thing.

This isn't one of those shady pyramid schemes you've been hearing about. No sir. Our model is the trapezoid...

A headless pyramid! No one wins. What could be fairer?

Get a publisher!

It's now US$1049/€1029/GBP849 and NZ$2428

+14%, +28%, +49%, +64%.

So it's off to New Hampshire in April – works out at…

Can I second that with a small warning? I don't want to know about everything you can do with rosary beads.

Never did stick at them long enough to find out. As for their functionality, there were basic beads, made by the Little Yellow Sisters of the Sick or whoever,…

This isn't one of those shady pyramid schemes you've been hearing about. No sir. Our model is the trapezoid...

A headless pyramid! No one wins. What could be fairer?

There are no surviving recordings of Mark Twain, but the impersonations here and here (actually voiced by a contemporary of Clemens') seem to be within the ballpark.

I listened a few times and then reread the text, D Dawg was banished and the words came to life in a new…

Our model is the trapezoid...

LOL

USD

last one to unload a worthless trillion or two is fu..., well let's just say that it would be preferable if they don't have nuclear weapons at their disposal when they see…

it's called a "pyramid scheme" i think, Paul.

This isn't one of those shady pyramid schemes you've been hearing about. No sir. Our model is the trapezoid...

-overpriced property version
-carry trade version
-dairying in unsustainable places version
-ad nauseum

– It would remove liquidity from the market. For instance, if AirNZ buy a 777, that's a huge amount of NZD to convert to USD in one hit – there are unlikely to be enough businesses…

Out of interest, which functions are we talking about.

Can I second that with a small warning? I don't want to know about everything you can do with rosary beads.

fully functional set of rosary beads...

Out of interest, which functions are we talking about? Was it like, before the beads were smashed, God could hear you fine, but after they'd been smashed He kept having to ask you to speak up?

Course not, although I don't know how much longer I'll be able to suppress my smarmy side and refrain from asking "is there anything you can do about the crap articles?" It'll burst out of me any minute now.

It occurs that if the *content* on Stuff were miraculously fixed,…

Was a little unnerved initially by the floaty whiteness, but dig down into the content and the reading area is serenity+.

Customisation is a meh for me, but my measure is how quickly I can burn through a bunch of interesting articles and still like the site I'm…

It has mostly changed my feelings about trying to read, listen to an iPod and use a stairmaster at the same time.

I'm impressed that you had original feelings of such specificity to change.

I found a camera, so here is my smashed iPod.

Kewl.
I couldn't help but be reminded of someone who smashed a fully functional set of rosary beads with a hammer, back in their early adolescence, by way of proving to themselves the non-existence of the vengeful god of Catholicism.…

Sometimes lag is good, sometimes not. In a car, it's often good to have a laggy accelerator, which responds maybe half a second after you push…

(and we don't mind too much being your gamma testing posse, do we PA folk?)

Course not, although I don't know how much longer I'll be able to suppress my smarmy side and refrain from asking "is there anything you can do about the crap articles?" It'll burst out of…

Sigh. I miss buying cheap things from America. Plus we're planning a mega-Christmas-trip around the USA and even a Holiday Inn (!) in DC for three days is starting to look like a major financial investment.

I earn USD these days so the pain was only temporary but my cards…

I found a camera, so here is my smashed iPod.

We broke the RSS feeds. Not deliberately. We will have them up and running asap. Apologies for that.

Thanks for that Don. I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking it, but I think major kudos is due to you for hanging out on this thread and giving us the…

Any ideas?

We broke the RSS feeds. Not deliberately. We will have them up and running asap. Apologies for that.

George, how do you suggest we set the rate for the NZ currency? By government fiat, with the rate determined by whether farmers or Mac buyers currently have the ear of government?

What about a small transaction tax on currency speculation? I don't know if that's practical, but that presumably…

Pics or it didn't happen.

I'd post pics but I also smashed the LCD screen of my camera.

True story.

seriously though there are swings and roundabouts here – those of us who earn the US$ that you've been spending have been hurting – my consulting…

I'm using Firefox 3 on WinXP Sp3. I tried to move the Stuff "Top Stories" RSS feed to my Live Bookmark toolbar (so I can just drop down a list of headlines and go to the ones I want)

Now Firefox just always tells me that the "Live…

(I smashed an iPod into pieces today)

Pics or it didn't happen.

Also, Kindle be damned, Faber's giving books away.

drawly US tone which sounds like Deputy Dawg

Popular culture certainly has a lot to answer for in the "southerner = ridiculous/stupid" area.

Sigh. I miss buying cheap things from America. Plus we're planning a mega-Christmas-trip around the USA and even a Holiday Inn (!) in DC for three days…

Those who do this commercially for companies would have no problems, but those who simply gamble money (as they do quite openly and obviously now) would find themselves shut out.

I figure you'll agree with that to the extent you disagree with market efficiency theory. The dollar moves around whether…

Like with oil, where the speculators seem…

Should have taken the chance and placed my orders a year ago!

George, how do you suggest we set the rate for the NZ currency? By government fiat, with the rate determined by whether farmers or Mac buyers currently have the ear of government?

I'm suggesting no such thing. It was before my time, but I have a strong impression of the…

I find it very moving, even in drawly US tone which sounds like Deputy Dawg in my head.

Bruce's speech made me think of Mark Twain.

There are no surviving recordings of Mark Twain, but the impersonations here and here (actually voiced by a contemporary of Clemens') seem to be within…

The customisations allowed are very limited. My main bugbears :
– there is no way to get rid of that stupid slide show thingy on the top right.
– there is no screen size setting, so a quarter of the page is off the screen to the…

I've never seen so much panic around me, but panic is the last thing on my mind. My mood is eager impatience. I want to see our best, most creative, best-intentioned people in world society directly attacking our…

That was tried by most developed states for quite a few years. It had numerous problems – the…

Also: The grey H2 headings in…

does repair work too (fixed J's cup-of-watered machine for 1/3 the cost of Renaissance's quote).

Oh ouch. I wish I'd known that when our G4 MacBook blew it's mobo a couple of years ago. Magnum wanted $1800 to fix a machine that only cost us $1300 so we became a…

Can we ban the currency speculators already? I'm actually quite serious about this.

Would seem unreasonable, but we should never forget that it was the much lauded Labour Party who set that beast adrift.

]]> Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:06:48 +1300 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/hard-news-mac-ouch/?p=96580#post96580 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/hard-news-mac-ouch/?p=96580#post96580 Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:00:49 +1300 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/hard-news-mac-ouch/?p=96579#post96579 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/hard-news-mac-ouch/?p=96579#post96579

Tempted to leg it down to Magnummac to get one of the 'old' model iMacs before they run out.

I've been mightily tempted to pick up a new MacBook (even just the white shell one) there as they give you a free Airport Extreme or Wireless Keyboard/Mouse set with any…

Have been waiting for the new model iMacs to replace a 5 year old PowerBook G4, but the price of a 24" iMac just went from approx $2,800 to approx $4,000. And you lose firewire 400 for a gain of a…

Giovanni – you changed your shirt?

Oh golly, no. It's not the first of the month yet, is it?

(thanks for the feedback BTW).

That said, I didn't actually notice the lack of a banner. shows how banner blind I am.

Nice work overall, stuff people…

Above the fold, I (almost) love it. Clean, clear etc. Not sure I like the image thing on the LHS, but we'll give it a go :)

Below the fold: good, but I dont see the point of the customizations. I can't log in, so I have to…

Giovanni – ditto.

Windows XP with Firefox 3.0.1 and TelstraClear. Oh, and I was wearing shorts and a green t-shirt. But it's all working now, even the old DomPost link that earlier today gave me a straight 505 error.

The dollar bounces unpredictably in a USD .40 – .85 range and it hurts the economy in serious ways. Exporters and importers can't plan ahead properly (unless they're able to hedge currency – another expense, and one…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-WcxVCp_jI

I not sure I want to customise a newspaper website. It's a bit too much like … a commitment.

Does Google News count as a newspaper website? I was forced to customize it because of the mountain of news, and the default categories being so far from my own interests.…

Re Sterling.
I didn't go to Webstock this year, so I missed this "controversy" to which you allude. But reading his notes – do people not get the satire in there?

Well, I did. I veritably lapped it up.

But about half the room seemed to be irony-challanged or confused…

And I've been using Firefox and "remove it permanently" to cull other sections i don't want, like Puzzles.

But it annoys me that I only get four headlines plus a picture in the entire first screen, and…

serif in the heading and sans-serif in the body text

People tend to support sans body text for screen use, I think because at that kind of resolution serifs and changes in line wieght are unnecessary noise.

It's also been remarked that the person who decided to make links blue did…

KTHX

I want to be able to customise Stuff so that will render in browser .... I wonder how much QA they did off of windows

Lots. Can you email me with your problems, browser, platform, ISP etc?

Giovanni – ditto.

On his blog at Wired.com, Bruce Sterling has published the verbatim notes of his somewhat controversial speech at Webstock under the heading What Bruce Sterling Actually Said About Web 2.0 at Webstock 09.

I missed the controversy, but bloody hell, what an astonishing read that was. Thanks for the link.

Meanwhile, the new Stuff site debuts today

The following error was encountered:

• Access Denied.

A brilliant debut! Unless they're trying to make a statement about the future of the Internet in New Zealand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CJ2SYZy_AI

Newer Americans United ad ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOjE9yAgZg8

Limbaugh's CPAC speech:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qtvtBGWgBc