In trying to satisfactorily explain Hamlet to my girlfriend (English isn't her first language), I think I've learned more about Catholicism, the Protestant Reformation, and Shakespeare's time in general, than I've ever known before.
It's sad that John Lennon died and all, but can we stop pretending he was a good guy? Lennon was one of the biggest pricks of the 60s and 70s music scene, on a level with Ike Turner. He beat his first wife, treated his band mates like shit, and was not a great father for Sean. I know someone who spent a fair amount of time with Lennon. She reported him as being "an asshole junkie". There's this whole myth that once he started dating Yoko he became a great guy, but that was really only the case if you were Yoko, and even she got sick of him after a while. She arranged an affair for him to have in LA with a friend of hers so that she could have some peace and quiet in New York. One of the greatest songwriters of the last century? Sure, but Phil Specter could be called one of the greatest producers of pop music and nobody pretends he was a good guy.
Check out this poll on age brackets and favorite Beatles:
Notice how the only demographic that prefers John is the one that was born after he had died. Everyone old enough to remember him prefers Paul.
I will admit to a debilitating fit of the giggles from the Matchmaking show when Rym said "If you've got two really good stick handlers, they just walk around scoring like boop, boop."
I have never been on such a quick trip to a government office. There was no wait, I just told the guy what I needed, handed him my ID, and by the time I'd finished filling out the forms, they already had my stuff. In and out in less than five minutes.
I'm afraid of drunk drivers, I'm afraid of police I'm afraid of these suicide machines I'm afraid of a wreck on the highway like that song by Bruce Springsteen
I'm afraid of texting and my ADD I'm afraid this will trigger my anxiety I'm afraid of becoming the next road casualty.
I'm afraid of drunk drivers, I'm afraid of police I'm afraid of these suicide machines I'm afraid of a wreck on the highway like that song by Bruce Springsteen
I'm afraid of texting and my ADD I'm afraid this will trigger my anxiety I'm afraid of becoming the next road casualty.
I think that rises to the level of a phobia, so you might wanna see a shrink about that. Or take the bus. Or do both.
I find driving to be one of the most relaxing experiences there is, especially in heavy traffic where all concious thought ceases and you're 100% focused.
So I bought a Surface Pro 4 thinking that I might prefer something like that over my current iPad. Not really sure what to think. I have 30 days to return it for money back so I'll give it a bit more time.
Cultural anthropologists 100 years from now will have an unprecedented amount of information to draw from. There's so many detailed (almost intimate) accounts of normal peoples' daily lives, plus archived conversations on message boards like this one.
Now is definitely a time to be alive, but imagine how much fun researchers will have in the future.
Except that those accounts are overwhelmingly digital, which is highly unlikely to survive the changes in technology that will happen in this century.
A very large amount of effort is being put into preserving digital history, see archive.org.
The problem is preserving ephemeral or time-constricted digital things. Specifically it is very hard to preserve multiplayer games that no longer exist. How much of what has happened in various MUDs and MMORPGs is lost forever? Not even video for so many things. And even though you can play Tribes 2 with some effort, there's no way to feasibly play it like it was in those early days.
The problem is preserving ephemeral or time-constricted digital things. Specifically it is very hard to preserve multiplayer games that no longer exist. How much of what has happened in various MUDs and MMORPGs is lost forever? Not even video for so many things. And even though you can play Tribes 2 with some effort, there's no way to feasibly play it like it was in those early days.
Case in point: The Realm. It was the first graphical MMO in the world (it predated Meridian 59 by scant weeks). It was a large, thriving community. It later had a 2.0.
I defy you to find much any information, screenshots, or really anything about that first iteration. It was online for a long time.
It'd be hard to imagine the average person having a device to read things from today in 100 years. But those with a need to will absolutely have access to either preserved tech, or emulators.
The MP aspect Scott mentions is true, but I think we're mostly past that too in terms of having samples to look at for history keeping. I can go pull up video of people playing halo 1 and get a sense of what that was like, just as there's some footage from WWI or people building the Titanic I can view. Not the same as being there but it's the records kept, and we still can find methods to watch it.
Comments
So weird.
Check out this poll on age brackets and favorite Beatles:
Notice how the only demographic that prefers John is the one that was born after he had died. Everyone old enough to remember him prefers Paul.
I'm afraid of drunk drivers, I'm afraid of police
I'm afraid of these suicide machines
I'm afraid of a wreck on the highway like that song by Bruce Springsteen
I'm afraid of texting and my ADD
I'm afraid this will trigger my anxiety
I'm afraid of becoming the next road casualty.
Same can be said for flying. I'd much rather be in a plane droning along at 5,000ft than be driving thru heavy traffic.
Now is definitely a time to be alive, but imagine how much fun researchers will have in the future.
The problem is preserving ephemeral or time-constricted digital things. Specifically it is very hard to preserve multiplayer games that no longer exist. How much of what has happened in various MUDs and MMORPGs is lost forever? Not even video for so many things. And even though you can play Tribes 2 with some effort, there's no way to feasibly play it like it was in those early days.
Also there are things like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD-Rosetta
I defy you to find much any information, screenshots, or really anything about that first iteration. It was online for a long time.
The few screenshots and videos available are mostly from the current fan-run modded nonsense that somehow still continues to exist.
The MP aspect Scott mentions is true, but I think we're mostly past that too in terms of having samples to look at for history keeping. I can go pull up video of people playing halo 1 and get a sense of what that was like, just as there's some footage from WWI or people building the Titanic I can view. Not the same as being there but it's the records kept, and we still can find methods to watch it.