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Which won't young people believe when you tell them?
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In the Halls of Justice the only justice is in the halls.
-- Lenny Bruce
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 28 2023, @01:12AM (5 children)
...and then The Best of Both Worlds happened.
Yes, I'm aware that Dallas did a cliffhanger much earlier. Who shot JR? It didn't have the same effect of making season-ending cliffhangers common like TNG did.
(Score: 3, Informative) by istartedi on Saturday October 28 2023, @02:19AM (4 children)
The Wikipedia article disagrees [wikipedia.org], attributing the first prime time season-ending cliff hanger to Soap, and of course Dallas, associating it with prime time soaps. The article doesn't even mention TNG, but it mentions The Empire Strikes Back being one wrt to Luke's heritage. LOL, hopefully we don't start a Trek/Wars cliffhanger significance war on Wikipedia. How will it be resolved? Return here next week to find out...
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 28 2023, @03:16AM (3 children)
Some of the cliffhangers discussed weren't at the end of seasons. For example, Doctor Who routinely used cliffhangers all the way back to An Unearthly Child. However, these were used within a single serial, generally not at the end of a season or otherwise between serials. There are examples of continuity such as the Macra appearing on the TARDIS viewscreen at the end of the previous serial, but I'm not sure that constitutes a true cliffhanger. In some respects, the forced regeneration at the end of The War Games might be a bit closer, but the primary questions were what the Doctor's new appearance would be, and the circumstances he would find himself in on Earth. Still, Spearhead From Space is a new story in its own right, not really a resolution of The War Games.
Now, season-ending cliffhangers might have been more common in primetime soaps than I realized, but I'm not aware of them being commonplace in other shows until after season 3 of TNG. For example, starting with the end of season 2 of the X-Files, cliffhangers were quite common. Mulder appears to be killed at the end of Anasazi, and this cliffhanger is repeated under different circumstances two seasons later in Gethsemane. However, I suspect that if this show had aired a decade earlier, these stories would have included cliffhangers at the end of seasons. By the way, the cliffhanger at the end of Anasazi was quite good. Although the Gethsemane-Redux-Redux II three-part story was quite good, I don't think the audience found Mulder's apparent death as compelling. But if the X-Files had primarily aired in the 80s, I suspect that these season-ending cliffhangers wouldn't have happened.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 28 2023, @04:49AM (1 child)
The 80s had season ending cliffhangers all over. Even worse, given the trend of canceling shows with little to no warning, many of them were also the series finales. While it is easier to remember the ones that happened recently, they absolutely happened in the past. Cliffhanger season finales, false endings, "to be continued..." and stingers happened back then because it garnered higher ratings for the finales, which increased the chances of a show getting renewed. Cliffhangers in general were abound with shows that aired outside the prime viewing hours because it increased your chances of tuning in next time. Today, cliffhangers and false ending are all over the place for a similar reason with everything competing for your attention. Another thing that often happened is that if the show was canceled early enough, they would air episodes out of order in an attempt to provide that closure. Often time today, they don't really care because ending on a cliffhanger doesn't really matter when TV time is more expensive and you don't get as many angry letters thanks to all the other distractions you can consume.
(Score: 2) by istartedi on Sunday October 29 2023, @11:42PM
The 80s had season ending cliffhangers all over. Even worse, given the trend of canceling shows with little to no warning, many of them were also the series finales
Fond memories of being urged to watch a show with other people in our dorm. Word was, the writers had been tipped off to the show being cancelled after just one season, and they were going to do something drastic with the script. It did not disappoint. They did the classic disarming a nuclear bomb scene, except that they failed to disarm it. Then somehow they got renewed anyway, and for their first episode of the 2nd season they had the narrator say, "this all happened years ago", so we were supposed to be watching a prequel from then on out. IIRC, either the 2nd season didn't complete or that was it; but my memory could be way off so let's test it. I haven't googled yet.
The show? Sledgehammer.
Let's see how I did...OK looks like I at least got the number of seasons correct [wikipedia.org]
OH, interesting. You can watch that entire episode [youtube.com] on YouTube. I wonder if it would hold up. I skipped to the end and confirmed the nuke. But now that I think about all this, it's not really a cliff-hanger is it? It's more like a cliff annihilator. It seemed really unique and special at the time.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Gaaark on Sunday October 29 2023, @12:21AM
I still get chills watching the very first episode of Doctor Who: the fog, the dark, the bobby checking doors....you see Foreman Scrap Merchant, the door opens and--
There's the TARDIS!
And then it all cliff-hangs with the Doctor being his selfish self. The TARDIS lands with Ian and Barbara unconscious, and outside; a shadow....
I enjoy the original series more than the reboot.
I grew up with Tom Baker, but the first Doctor is just so grumpy, cantankerous, selfish, joyful...and original.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 28 2023, @02:15AM (5 children)
They never fucking listen when I tell them to get off my fucking lawn!
(Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Sunday November 05 2023, @11:56AM (2 children)
But, but,... the grass is always greener at the neighbors'. Therefore:
(I'll get my coat)
(Score: 1) by Techlectica on Wednesday November 08 2023, @07:40AM (1 child)
Well, of course the neighbor's grass is greener! He doesn't have all these darn kids running around on it! Now git!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 11 2023, @02:00AM
Fertilize your lawn with fresh steer manure.
The neighborhood moms will hate you.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Friday November 10 2023, @07:37PM (1 child)
The original quotes from Gran Torino were better. That movie is now a hopelessly cancelled classic.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 14 2023, @10:59PM
Racists love that movie! How do they like the minimal personal growth bits?
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Saturday October 28 2023, @02:31AM (8 children)
OK, it's not high tech. But 30 some years ago, I took the two older boys out in the woods, to get a load of firewood. "Daddy, did they have chain saws when you were our age?"
Alright, if I were to choose one of the options given, it would probably the the phones screwed to the wall. I mean, even land lines today are pretty portable - I can carry the hand set almost anywhere on this one acre, and it still works. I think the range is right at 175 to 200 ft, which gives a guy a lot of pacing room.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 28 2023, @05:03AM (6 children)
Speaking of phones, I'd go with party lines. I still have relatives living in the middle of nowhere that are on party lines today. The oldest uses one those old coiled headset cords with that distinct aged yellow color that is easily 75 feet long when stretched out. It reaches from one side of the house to the other up the stars and then back to the starting side with cord to spare. We tried years ago to switch her to a cordless, but it was too "high maintenance."
(Score: 5, Insightful) by pTamok on Saturday October 28 2023, @09:18AM (2 children)
Well of course it is.
You can't lose a handset on the end of a cord (This is important when, as you age, you more frequently forget where you put something down.), and it doesn't run out of charge in the middle of a call.
Young people, who have not yet experienced the vicissitudes of ageing, tend to say "Oh, you can just press the button on the base-station to make the phone beep so you can find it.", which is one more damn thing to remember, and doesn't work when the handset battery is flat, because who remembers to put it back on the base-station to recharge: and the batteries wear out anyway.
Designing stuff to allow people to maintain their independence is hard, and requires both experience and sensitivity. It's also worthwhile, because the longer people can remain independent, the less expensive it is for them to live, and they are happier. I wish website and app designers would get their stuff tested by people experiencing the typical cognitive difficulties that arise as you age. It's obvious they don't.
Look after your old people well, to set a good example to you children, so they will look after you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 28 2023, @11:27PM (1 child)
That sounded more dismissive than it should have because it is an old argument. But watching that poor woman struggle with that cord on the off chance she wants to go upstairs shows the alternative isn't exactly maintenance free either. That and she has to shuffle over to the phone to pick up the phone or check the large-print caller ID box (usually missing the call in the process anyway) and then shuffle back to return it when done lest the off-hook tone start screeching (because she always sits in her favorite chair by the window in a different room to talk) is also pretty high maintenance. And that long cord stretched into the wrong spot is a horrible tripping hazard for an older woman with poor eyesight and replacement parts. And that doesn't even get into the fact that the time between her calling for help and arriving at the hospital is an hour doesn't help, and even longer if they need to fly her to a better equipped one.
Compared to a cordless phone that can go in a charger on the table next to the chair, it definitely strikes me as much higher maintenance. I think the real truth, which I sort of implied with my half-sincere quotes, is that she doesn't want to change. And that is fair too, especially when you have a system that is (or maybe just seems to be?) working for you. But like you said, that could just be my perspective since I'm used to the alternative already. There are pros and cons to both but as long as it isn't an active threat and she remembers to use whatever phone she has on my birthday, it is good enough for now I suppose. But it still feels like a sword of Damocles hanging above her head.
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Sunday October 29 2023, @11:38AM
Maybe put extension phones in: one on a table next to the chair she likes to converse in, and one upstairs, possibly next to her bed?
She might be willing to learn how to use a cordless phone, or even a mobile phone, but she might not be able to learn either easily. Unfortunately I have experience of this - in my case supporting an aged relative's use of an iPad. Things that are trivial for young people become insuperable problems for some people advanced in years. Obviously not everyone, but enough to make it a societal problem.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Bean Dip on Monday October 30 2023, @06:42PM (2 children)
For phones, there is also the insane price for long distance service in the 1970s. And of course you couldn't own your own phone, you had to rent it from Ma Bell.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 30 2023, @10:18PM (1 child)
And the pulse dialing. You dialed a number by repeatedly and quickly taking the phone off the hook multiple times a second.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Monday November 06 2023, @11:20PM
And it was fun learning to do that by hitting the hang-up button repeatedly so you could still make phone calls if the rotary dial was broken.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 28 2023, @06:05AM
The nut does not fall far from the tree, chainsaws or not.
(Score: 5, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 28 2023, @06:03AM (9 children)
Did they used to let bat-shit crazy people get elected president when you were young?
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 28 2023, @08:28AM
Does Nixon count? Or Ronnie? Republicans in general, after Ike?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 28 2023, @01:58PM
Remember kids, only right wing critics are allowed, making a pointed joke about the current insanity of the self-described domestic terrorists of the GOP is forboten! Spam spam spam, even if on topic!
(Score: 2) by Tork on Tuesday October 31 2023, @07:16PM (1 child)
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2023, @01:14PM
Which administration: Clinton or Trump?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 07 2023, @04:11AM (3 children)
Going for the magic +5 Troll, with an underlying Spam mod! Soylentils! Assemble!
(Score: 2) by turgid on Wednesday November 08 2023, @11:18PM
Assemble? Can I use a compiler? It's much less work. And portable.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 0, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 09 2023, @10:58AM (1 child)
He's just one mod short! Help out an AC! You know,moderations are the most important and significant thing about the SlashCode, and the down-mods produce prodigious amounts of conservative tears, but not nearly as much as if this post hit the coveted +5 Troll! Just do it! Make your Mama proud.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 10 2023, @07:56PM
Yeah! He made it! An AC with a +5 Troll rating! We all should be so proud. And just think of all the positive karma this means for the AC! (None, actually, and +5 only half compensates the -10 spam mod.)
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Saturday November 11 2023, @03:14AM
Nutcases in high office is nothing new. Read more about, say, Andrew Jackson, if you don't believe me.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 28 2023, @06:43AM (25 children)
Runaway has learned the janrinok lesson. Censorship works! Just ban everyone who might say bad things about your murder-advocating post, and it will be fine!
But I am here to say, it is not fine! Such posts, anywhere on SN are a detriment and a pox! We need to no longer allow snuff posts here on SoylentNews! I know that janrinok gets off on them, having been in the "chair force", and Runaway as well, having been a swabie on a ship, but we need to keep these pervert veterans from polluting out forum. No more ammosexual ground-standing posts. We should spam mod them, mercilessly. Until they bleed out of their eyes, and the true nature of their souls is apparent. That is all I want.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 28 2023, @07:23AM (5 children)
I wish that moderations were public. I suspect that it is the enraged janrinok that is spam modding all the posts that his "hashes" tell him are aristarchusish, but I have no way of telling where the mods come from. They could equally come from the Runaway right-wing nutjob caucus, due to content, but janrinok says we cannot do the "I disagree" spam mods, so it would seem that the straight from the janrinok himself theory is more apt. Can we get some confirmation on this, one way or the other? Seems to be an awful lot so spam mods around lately, and none of them are rescinded, which is compatible with the lone janrinok theory. Evidence? Please. For the survival of SN.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Tork on Tuesday October 31 2023, @07:18PM (1 child)
For the record- I've felt this way since I was messing around on the green-site on dial-up. I thought about proposing that when talk of an ownership change of this site started, but figured it might be impractical to implement.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 05 2023, @09:36AM
The situation is a bit different on /. because editors have unlimited mod points. It makes sense to want to know if you've been modded down by your fellow users or if an editor is using some of their infinite mod points. That's not the case here. The community is also smaller here, so disclosing who moderated a post is more likely to result in petty retaliation.
I would be interested in having the ability to moderate journals. I don't mean to moderate comments in journals, but the actual journals. For users with a karma of +10 or greater, start the journal's score at 10. Otherwise, start it at 0. Have a minimum score of -10 and a maximum score of 20. If the journal's score is +5 or greater, it can be displayed in the recent journals slashbox. If the score is less, it's hidden. For every five times a journal is modded up, increment the author's karma by 1. Likewise, every five times a journal is modded down, decrement the author's karma by 1. Hopefully this would favor displaying interesting journals on the front page while decreasing the visibility of journals that mostly just incite arguments. Users can still post political flamebait in their journals, but they might burn some karma in the process.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 15 2023, @07:49AM (2 children)
It is more the ENGORGED janrinok that one must worry about. Very angry, very hard, out for revenge and making soylentils toe the fucking line!! Is he the only one who respects the rules? (For fans of "The Big Lebowski", janrinok is a Continental version of Walter Sobchack, and it is fucking Shomer Shabbot, everyday on SoylentNews.)
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Wednesday November 15 2023, @09:19AM (1 child)
Your biggest mistake is to assume that I am the only person moderating your comments.
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 15 2023, @08:30PM
Mistake? How could it be a mistake? New information has fucking come to light, man!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 28 2023, @08:52AM (13 children)
If history is any indication, this poll will have several off-topic threads just like this one within a few days. They contain nothing of substance that hasn't already been posted ad nauseum. Repetitive off-topic posting for the purpose of disrupting the site is spam. It's always been spam, regardless of who is posting it. The one or two users posting this have made it clear they have no intention of abiding by community moderation, using Tor and VPNs to circumvent any posting restrictions.
When you reply to these threads at +2 to dispute some of what has been posted, your posts are expanded in the default view for users who aren't logged in. This increases the visibility of the spam threads and helps them disrupt on-topic discussion.
Regardless of who posts these threads, they qualify as spam. I don't believe the site's code allows for you to block AC posting in polls, otherwise you'd have done so. Community moderation is ineffective because any IP bans are just circumvented with Tor or VPNs. However, you have another tool available to you that can prevent these polls from being filled with spam threads. As you've stated many, site policy allows for spam to be deleted. This would not censor the ideas from being expressed because they have already been posted hundreds of times before in journals and other polls. We don't need to see them yet again.
I am asking you to please enforce existing site policy and just delete these spam threads. Don't respond to them and increase their visibility. Just delete them and move on.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 28 2023, @09:02AM
No, it is not. It is the heart and sole of SoylentNews, and if you think otherwise, you are welcome to leave! Hoser!
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 28 2023, @09:07AM (1 child)
Oh, but yes you do, since you have not understood the essence of right-wing dominance of SoylentNews, and the purpose of the censorship. You need to wake up, so you can be "woke". Or, go back to the stupified state of the somnulent public who thinks racism is just fine.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 28 2023, @10:01AM
I am only posting this comment so that janrinok has something to spam mod. I can only imagine it makes him happy, like he has accomplished something. Well done, old chap!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 28 2023, @02:02PM (4 children)
Someone needs to give this +insightfu!
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 03 2023, @10:09AM (3 children)
No one can. Only downmods allowed on SoylentNews, anymore. Sad husk of a discussion site that was. Your comment is off topic, and disruptive. Prepare to be spam modded.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 05 2023, @06:37AM (2 children)
I would down mod, with double secret special probation, that no one could know about [soylentnews.org], and only janrinok could offer a super secret remission deal, to, someone, whose name is not to be mentioned, or invoked, lest the whole house of pfards come combubulating down..
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 15 2023, @08:34PM (1 child)
Super double secret amnesty, so that the one forgiven could never reveal it, no one could ever know that it was granted. Kind of like the deal Satan got.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 18 2023, @11:29AM
If janrinok offers enough deals, just maybe SoylentNews can continue on! As a crippled, compromised, censored, and stifled news site, but at least as a site. For a while.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 29 2023, @06:49AM
Do you think janrinok capable of such? I have my doubts. And, the questions about admin abuse have not been addressed. Like, WTF is up with all the Spam Mods? Seriously.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 30 2023, @01:39AM (2 children)
That's how us old fogies roll! Hey, did I ever tell you about the days when phones actually had dials?
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday October 31 2023, @09:50PM (1 child)
That fisher price toy and Toy Story may be the only reason why kids nowadays even know what a rotary dial is.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Touché) by chromas on Wednesday November 08 2023, @06:15AM
Assuming they're old enough to remember Toy Story :D
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 12 2023, @07:32PM
What do you expect when you have a poll like this one, presented to a community of geezer nerds? They are not repeating, they seriously do not remember. And calling age-related dementia "disruptive" is cruel, and adds nothing to the discussion. Young whippersnappers down modding their elders is no way to run a website. Now, get off my lawn!
[Take a look at the anonymous data story on the front page. It is telling. ]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 28 2023, @08:59AM (4 children)
So, no mention that the perp was a Mormon? Coulda been worse, coulda been a Scientologist, or a Catholic.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 28 2023, @12:06PM (3 children)
Citation? No, I've seen no mention of the guy's religion. Are you just making stuff up?
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 29 2023, @03:54AM (2 children)
Are you saying you have evidence he was NOT a Mormon?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 31 2023, @04:24PM (1 child)
The Maine shooter's religion has not been publicly disclosed: [vizaca.com]
Show a better reference or stop making unfounded allegations.
Oh, wait, I forgot who I was talking to.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 31 2023, @08:09PM
Was he a Shooter of the House? Young-earth Creationist? Super stupid crazy evangelican American Christian? May the FSM have marinara upon his sole fillet.
(Score: 5, Informative) by pTamok on Saturday October 28 2023, @09:23AM (3 children)
I remember when 1984 was a book that predicted a horrific future.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Saturday October 28 2023, @11:29PM (2 children)
And when it was still under copyright [youtu.be].
(Score: 2, Informative) by pTamok on Sunday October 29 2023, @12:08PM (1 child)
It still is copyright in the USA until 2044.
For various reasons, some works are copyrighted for 95 years after publication in the USA. The novel 1984 was published in 1949, so the 95-year rule means it enters the public domain in the USA on 1st January 2044.
It has already entered the public domain in some other countries.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by krishnoid on Sunday October 29 2023, @03:21PM
I think the guy who recorded it is Australian, and this version has his reading and sound effects. I really liked it, and some of the YouTube comments are from kids who were assigned the book in school, listened to his audio adaptation, and got a lot out of it.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Thexalon on Saturday October 28 2023, @10:45AM (2 children)
As it is, I can truthfully say that I had to walk over a mile to school uphill through foot-deep snow. The way things are going, I think the youths will start answering "What's snow?"
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 28 2023, @12:10PM
Well, I had to trudge down into the valley, before I could fight my way uphill through the snow. Which meant that when school let out, I had to go down into the valley, again, to barge through the snow to get home! The "city of seven hills" sounds cool, until you add snow to that picture.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Tuesday November 07 2023, @08:01AM
When I was in primary school (early 80s) we had a teacher who seemed really ancient (she was probably in her fifties) who told us that when she was a child she used to have to walk, in bare feet, four miles from the next village to this very school where she now taught.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by mrpg on Saturday October 28 2023, @09:04PM (7 children)
Maybe the 5 1/4 floppies.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 29 2023, @09:37AM (4 children)
I've already had people who used 3.5 inch floppies not believe me when I mention how we used to use 8 inch floppies.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Sunday October 29 2023, @09:56AM (3 children)
Probably best that I don't show them my 5Mb (!) hard drive that is bigger than many computers and weighs over 2Kg.
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday October 30 2023, @04:28PM
I had (still have) one of those. An Apple Profile drive. 5 MB. Huge. Heavy. It sounded like a jet engine. And it was slow, even then. But faster than floppies.
All I have left is the actual drive mechanism. That took up half the case. Huge. The other half the case was the power supply. I keep that drive on my bookshelf as a bookend and reminder of how bad things once were.
Don't put a mindless tool of corporations in the white house; vote ChatGPT for 2024!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 01 2023, @08:16PM
Last one of those I saw was propping open a lab door!
(Score: 2) by turgid on Wednesday November 08 2023, @11:20PM
When I was a very small boy, and it might have been round about 1979, my dad took me to his work and into the computer room where he proudly showed me his SCADA system. It had 5MB disk drives. They were the size of washing machines and the disks looked like giant frisbees.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Tuesday November 14 2023, @12:59PM (1 child)
3 1/2 inch... neither a disk nor floppy (well, until you take it out of the case).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 17 2023, @08:11PM
Put that thing back in your pants! You could get arrested doing that in public!
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 29 2023, @04:01AM
What we have here if proof positive that SN is a geriatric home for the mentally enfeebled, and just to specifically insult and attack some of the old farts that hang around here, no-longer-early-onset Runaway1956, and the Cold War Cretin janrinok. Oh, they are so old, as McGrew put it, that they were beta testers for dirt. But, as with the Biden/Trump comparison, it is not so much the age, as it is the mental decline. Runaway no longer recognizes half his grandkids, and janrinok doesn't realize he is in the wrong country, and Joan D'Arc is quite pissed at him for hanging about.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Cyrix6x86 on Sunday October 29 2023, @06:11AM (2 children)
In the winter in north Carolina, the lake behind our house used to freeze over with ice thick enough to walk on. This was the 80's.
As recently as the 90's, we would hope for and sometimes get a Christmas snow.
One time we got 24 inches of snow in a single night, January 2000.
We haven't had accumulated snow since 2018. Also, the lake itself has been gone since 2008.
(Score: 2) by istartedi on Wednesday November 01 2023, @06:13AM (1 child)
Northern Virginia was always "iffy" for Winter weather. Not only could the season vary widely, but it was and still is notoriously difficult to predict in terms of whether it will rain or snow during any particular storm. It's always close to the rain/snow line. I don't doubt what you're saying but our Winter was always fickle.
Forget the weather there. For me, it's the birds.
The great migrating flocks. Gone. There used to be what I thought of as a "river of birds", that's just what it looked like, a great pointillist vein high in the sky, or if they happened to settle in your area for the night it was like something out of the Hitchcock movie. I'd say this was pretty much history by the mid-80s for us. I don't know if the migration shifted due to the rapidly expanding development of the suburbs, or if it disappeared. I think it must have disappeared because suburban neighborhoods never seemed to bother them. We still had plenty of trees, and a park nearby that was several square miles of woods and a lake.
For this generation, it's insects. I hear tales of fireflies going. That would be a terrible shame. They were still around when I left Virginia in the early 2000s. I just can't imagine the east coast without them. When you move across country, it's hard to say what's what in those regards.
Anyway, for my location is was less about the weather and more about the wildlife. We are apparently in an epic extinction event.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 3, Informative) by istartedi on Wednesday November 01 2023, @06:33AM
You sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole trying to confirm the decline in birds specific to my area. Alas, I couldn't find it in a reasonable time but the general decline in North American birds [science.org] is well documented.
You also reminded me of something else. It used to be common for trees and even the sides of houses to be menaced by hornets that built the classic egg-shaped nest. I think the last time I saw one was in the woods, in the 1990s.
Kids are going to see those in cartoons and think they're made-up.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 29 2023, @06:53AM (24 children)
I, for one, would like to see the full text of the back-door offer janrinok made to aristarchus. I am interested in what danger lurks in the minds of lesser men.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 01 2023, @08:55PM (22 children)
Your wish is a command!
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 01 2023, @09:42PM (1 child)
Spam mod? Unsolicited amnesty offers? Better than a rock-crusher!!
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 10 2023, @06:58AM
Could we see who spam modded this, just to be sure it was not a vindictive janrinok? No? Why not?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 02 2023, @02:36AM (10 children)
Only 2 persons would ever know who the real aristarchus is? Is this out of a John LeCarre plotline?
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 03 2023, @05:11AM
If I were aristarchus, I would have accepted this offer. Just think, a Soylentil persona, crafted over many years, abandoned. The right to mod right-wing assholes as they should be, rescinded. Ability to call janrinok a right fucking arse, denied. Such a sweet deal. Only reinforces the perception that SN is a right-wing ammosexual website, that censors any disagreement. Time to die, and be lost, like tears in the rain.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 04 2023, @08:54AM (8 children)
Why can't janrinok just admit the original decision was wrong, a false flag operation by Runaway1956, in the first place? Seems to be the easier solution, without all the drama.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Saturday November 04 2023, @11:12AM (7 children)
You were banned for doxxing. Some of that doxxing occured in multiple submissions made via your own account. You had sole control over that account. It cannot have been done by anyone else.
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 05 2023, @05:34AM (1 child)
We all could dox you, mein friende janrinok. But you are not bothered by such? Why is the racist mo-fo asshole who was allegedly "doxxed" worried about his actual identity being revealed, despite it was his own efforts that made that possible? Yes, he is a criminal, a racist, an with my sympathies to his wife, a misogynist. We need to ban such cretins, not defend them in the name of "free speech", or "equal rights for the conservative brain damaged." Really, seriously, and in fact, this is what SN has devolved to be, and I, for one, can no longer be part of it.
Sorry, I am not aristsarchus, so your phantom battle can continue, you delusional blighty pom!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 05 2023, @08:57AM
No, you will probably stay..... unfortunately.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 12 2023, @07:36PM
But, but, I don't even have an account! Shirley you have me confused with someone else?
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 15 2023, @08:04AM
So, you are saying that aristarchus was a sockpuppet account of Runaway1956, that he used to dox himself? Wow, crazy clever internet modulation, that. More than you would expect from an Arkansas dirt farmer who never went beyond high school. Or, really, what are you saying, janrinok? Aristarchus was just too liberal for this website, so you banned him? Come on, just admit it. And then we can shut the whole place down, now that kolie's ammosexual leanings have come out.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 16 2023, @08:46AM (2 children)
Banned for ALLEGED doxxing. Never proven. Never tried before jury of peers. Only the court of the imperium, the "staff", by which we mean janrinok and friends. Time to send the authorities to the Runaway Homestead and Grow Operation. GPS coordinates are not hard to find.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 16 2023, @09:42AM
take them to court in Delaware. Might not work tho, it is a website and can do what it wants.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 16 2023, @06:24PM
Less than 24 hours ago, you said this on IRC:
Now you've resumed the usual personal attacks toward janrinok. I guess you can't even pretend to be a decent human being for 24 hours before you revert back to your true self. That's really quite sad and pathetic.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 09 2023, @11:02AM (8 children)
Did janrinok have authorization from the Board to make such an offer? Is there not legal liability involved in this? Could it be that the whole thing was overblown, and the result of bad, and overpriced, legal advice?
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 10 2023, @07:00AM (7 children)
Spam mod says "no". So much for transparency and community control.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 10 2023, @07:45AM (6 children)
Did janrinok break the law, again? What a criminal!
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 13 2023, @08:04PM (5 children)
Did anyone notify the authorities? I believe the perp lives in Norman, Oklahoma.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 14 2023, @04:40AM (4 children)
Sorry, that should have been Normandy, Oklahoma. Next door to Muskogee.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 14 2023, @09:33AM (3 children)
Are you suggesting that janrinok is an Okie from Muscogee, USA? I thought he was French, not Merle Haggard.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 15 2023, @08:06AM (2 children)
Why do all comments that mention Oklahoma get spam modded, even though The Mighty Buzzard left long ago. I do not understand what is happening here anymore.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Wednesday November 15 2023, @10:44AM (1 child)
TMB was on the site a few weeks ago.
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 15 2023, @08:45PM
Saw that. TMB and aristarchus had a lovely tête-à-tête. They reminisced about back in the day when there was no censorship on SoylentNews. Au bon vieux temps.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 07 2023, @08:40AM
A "back-door" offer, you say? I always thought those two fought enough to be in some kind of close and loving relationship.