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Slashback: Towel, Linkage, Drafthouse 313

Posted by timothy from the spammer-of-the-day-888-977-1577 dept.
Slashback tonight with more on deep linking, wireless access during Spider-Man, abusing terrycloth, Linux on the mainframe and more. Read on below to find the details. Update: 05/15 15:00 GMT by T : (Note the two updates below re: Towel Day, Observed.)

They're also good for drying off after bathing. Snitty writes "Douglas Adams passed away a little over a year ago now, and as tradition will soon dictate the first Thursday after May 11th every year is International Towel Day. This happens to be this Thursday, so make sure you all show up to the 12:01 am showing of Attack of the Clones with your favorite lightsaber and a towel. Always know where your towel is."

Update: 05/15 00:11 GMT by T : Hmmm -- this seems to clash with a link another reader submitted, which suggests "the last Friday of every May," which this year would be the 31st.

Update: 05/15 15:00 GMT by T : D Clyde Williamson writes: "Towel Day (since I'm the guy who started it) is on May 25th every year." So ... it's not a portable feast?

Three guesses where they each get that money from. mblase writes "CNet, among others, informed its readers that Macromedia successfully countersued Adobe for patent infringement to the tune of $4.9 million, almost double the $2.8 million Adobe recently won from Macromedia. The article notes Macromedia has another patent suit against Adobe going to court in June 2003."

Listening material when Prairie Home Companion is over. Ender, Duke_of_URL writes "The second portion of Rep. Boucher's interview is up (MP3). This has been discussed previously on Slashdot."

They're also opposed to front doors. dringess writes "Wired has yet another article about deep linking. This one has some fun lawyer rebuttals. I guess I am deep linking right now!"

I especially like this quote: "... but this would set a terrible precedent implying that links have to have a certain amount of ads."

Keeps popcorn out of your keyboard, at least. smashed writes: "After being slashdotted and geekaustin'd and touted for being the first theater with wireless access .... I went to see Spider-Man tonight at the Alamo Drafthouse North in Austin. Apparently you can't have 'electronic devices on' during the feature. I was warned if I didn't shut down my laptop I had to leave by some girl that worked for the theater. The world's first Cyber-Theater my ass. Nice try, but apparently wireless users are absolutely not welcomed there when a movie is playing. I'm very disappointed. I couldn't even have my PocketPC with wireless NIC on while the movie was on. Was I taking off down the runway on an airplane? What's the point?"

Wouldn't you like a mainframe in the closet? Writing in regards to this posting on Linux on mainframes, rudy writes: "Your reference was to the first one in the series, the second one has been up for about a week and the third, and last, one in the series will go on late this week or early next."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Slashback: Towel, Linkage, Drafthouse More

Slashback: Towel, Linkage, Drafthouse

Comments Filter:

  • Wireless devices during a movie (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jimmcq ( 88033 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2002 @07:04PM (#3521076) Journal
    apparently wireless users are absolutely not welcomed there when a movie is playing. I'm very disappointed. I couldn't even have my PocketPC with wireless NIC on while the movie was on.

    Personally I'd be pretty pissed if the person next to me had their laptop/PDA on during the movie. The bright screen would be very annoying in a dark theatre, and the tapping of stylus or keys would drive me mad.

    • Re:Wireless devices during a movie (Score:5, Informative)

      by wik ( 10258 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2002 @07:37PM (#3521267) Homepage Journal
      Here at CMU, we have dollar movies 4 times a week in a theater with good sound. We also have a wireless network throughout campus. In the past, I have been guilty of bringing my laptop to movies so I can code while waiting in line (shouldn't I be talking with friends? Maybe). I haven't done this in a long time, however.

      I saw a number of other people with laptops and I found it incredibly distracting -- even before the movie, when the lights are on. When the lights are out, it's even worse. It's not like a cell phone that runs four times before someone finally shuts it off. If you sit behind it, you can't help but glance at the glowing screen. It doesn't matter whether you're in the row just behind the person, or twenty rows back, it's still annoying.

      I'd also say similar things about people who bring their laptops to class and browse the web without listening, while in the front row, but I'm rambling now. :) In short, be polite. If you don't want to watch the movie or participate in class, go to sleep or go away. Don't distract the rest of us who care.

      • How is someone browsing the web with their laptop in the front row more distracting than someone taking notes on their laptop in the front row? Either way the screen is as bright. The taking notes even involves more typing, although I admit that the web surfing will probably involve more changing images on the screen.

        • How is someone browsing the web with their laptop in the front row more distracting than someone taking notes on their laptop in the front row?

          I guess it would depend on what web sites they are browsing. Especially if the screen is full of lots of flesh-tone...
    • I agree 100%. If you're so friggen busy that you can't shut off your laptop, PDA, cell-phon etc for the 2 hours it would take to watch a friggen movie, then you shouldn't be at the theater. Some of us actualy like to enjoy our lesure time as such.
    • Uuuuhh, I'm not sure on how certain you are of the concept, but having a laptop at a geek affair marks you as "one of the chosen". If you don't have a laptop and are not ostentatiously using it within plain sight of everyone, how is anyone to know that you are a dangerous hacker coder? One might as well just show up to an art opening wearing jeans and an A-shirt for all the distinction it gets you.
    • The irritation of that is pretty minimal compared to some asshole with "Windows sounds" turned on. If you think a phone going off during a film is annoying, imagine hearing "You got mail" all the damn film.

      Grab.

  • Towelie (Score:3, Funny)

    by lugonn ( 555020 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2002 @07:04PM (#3521080)
    "Whenever you go someplace new...you should always bring a towel." - Towelie


    Wanna get high?

  • wireless theater (Score:2, Funny)

    by DHR ( 68430 )
    is a bit of an odd concept, but even more strange is that they only have it allowed when a movie *isn't* playing... who hangs out in a theater when there's no movie on?
    • This is the Alamo Drafthouse. It's the home of several talks, movie marathons, and things that could almost be called movie fan conventions. From what I've heard, there are LOTS of people there when movies aren't on.

  • What's the point? (Score:2, Flamebait)

    by ciole ( 211179 )
    Exactly my question. Why do you need to use a laptop during a show again?

    Even film critics typically just use a 'light pen.'
    • unless their watching star wars - in which case its a "light sab.... oh forget it.

    • Re:What's the point? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Wanker ( 17907 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2002 @07:40PM (#3521277)
      Well, to quote the austinwireless.net site [austinwireless.net]:

      Some may ask, why would I want internet access while in a movie theater?

      Well you could:

      • See Theater Schedules & Order Movie Tickets to coming shows.
      • Messaging to Fellow Movie goers adjacent in the crowd without talking.
      • Messaging to Fellow Movie goers in adjacent screens in multi-screen venues without talking.
      • Surfing to related or official websites for the current movie showing.
      • Surfing to the InternetMovieDataBase [imdb.com] for related data to movie, actors and screen writers.
      • Connecting to promotions related to movie sponsor.
      • Driving the movie content in real-time via audience response in Digital Theaters.
      • Ordering Food and drinks from the kitchen and bar without talking.
      • Ordering the movie soundtrack online or video releases in advance.
      • Watching an alternate streaming movie if the one on the big screen doesn't make it for you.

      It would seem that they were trying to set things up exactly to do the sorts of things they prevented "smashed" from doing.

      • Re:What's the point? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by MoneyT ( 548795 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2002 @08:26PM (#3521479) Journal
        See Theater Schedules & Order Movie Tickets to coming shows

        Do this when you're out of the theater. 5 minutes at home can get you a months worth of tickets. If you can't remember the preview you saw, then it didn't make that big of an impression on you, and you don't want to see it that bad anyway.

        Messaging to Fellow Movie goers adjacent in the crowd without talking.

        What makes you think they want to listen to you in the first place? And even if you're not talking, any noise or flashing indication that you have a message will be just as (or more annoying) to movie goers.

        Messaging to Fellow Movie goers in adjacent screens in multi-screen venues without talking.

        When the hell would you ever want to do that?

        Surfing to related or official websites for the current movie showing.

        What could be on those sites that is more interesting than the movie at hand? Character bios? OH JOY!

        Surfing to the InternetMovieDataBase [imdb.com] for related data to movie, actors and screen writers.

        Wait till you get home. The last thing we need is someone wanking off to the latest modeling pictures of Angelina Joli (sorry for the name butcher)

        Connecting to promotions related to movie sponsor.

        Right, cause not only do I like watching preview, I love reading advertisements while I watch my movie.

        Driving the movie content in real-time via audience response in Digital Theaters.

        I can see this now, some 20 year old college student pushing the button for more blood and sex while some 40 year old mom is sitting there pushing the "Cuddly Soft" button.

        Ordering Food and drinks from the kitchen and bar without talking.

        It would be less distracting for you to get up and get the food yourself than to have an attendent walk in and yell out "Which person ordered the double buttered grease tub bucket -o-popcorn?"

        Ordering the movie soundtrack online or video releases in advance.

        Once again, wait till you get home. It won't get there any faster if you order it at 12 or at 3

        Watching an alternate streaming movie if the one on the big screen doesn't make it for you.

        I'm sure this violates the DMCA somewhere. And not only that, but if the movie doesn't interest you, you're supposed to walk out and demand your money back, that's how theaters know which movies are doing good, which are doing ok and which just plain suck.
        • This response fits into an annoying category that we see quite a bit on Slashdot: 'I don't have the same interests and ideas as you, so I'm going to go through your post point by point and explain that your ideas have alternatives and detractors and are therefore invalid.'

          For Christ's sake, the poster listed a dozen possible uses for a new technology, some of which are personally interesting to me and some of which are not. Pointing out alternatives does not negate the creativity of the poster.

          Perhaps you had this exchange in the early 90's:

          Internet? Who needs it?

          I can send email to my relatives!
          Why email when you can call or fax?

          I can do my banking online!
          Why not just do it on the phone or in person?

          I can check movie times online!
          Why not just call the theater or look in the paper?

          I know you're tempted to go through my examples and rebutt each one by pointing out why the sample online activities are actually better than the alternatives provided. Go on, you know you want to.

          The only thing more exciting about technology than emerging capabilities is the creativity and imagination that leads to more USES for those capabilities. When someone proposes new uses, you are free to embrace them or not. Taking the time to point out that you personally would not do each and every one is a waste of time and makes you sound like a close-minded philistine.
      • Don't forget the upstream bandwidth! It's probably mostly unused. Bring your webcam and stream the movie to all your friends so they can watch the movie simultaneously. You can really make the FIRST DivX of that new release!
      • Sounds like they just want to bring e-commerce into a theater, so you can buy more stuff during a movie.

        Watching an alternate streaming movie if th ebig screen doesn't make it for you? Uh, why not just leave the theater? I'm sure that the main screen's going to be loud enough for you to distract you from watching an alternate streamed movie.

        I predict this "cyber theater" will be a thing of the past in less than a year.
      • You forgot:

        Stream the movie to all your friends at home with your built-in webcam.

    • Well, I use my laptop by putting my wife on it... Oh wait, that's my LAP...

  • During the movie... (Score:2, Flamebait)

    by iMMo ( 61469 )
    ...wouldn't you rather _watch_ the movie?
    • No they'd rather record the movie so that they can post it on Kazaa after the show. I'm surprised they even let anyone bring a laptop into the theatre. It seems like just making you turn it off is pretty considerate.
      • exactly how are you supposed to record a movie with a laptop? oh maybe it has a camera. with that logic you should not be allowed to wear clothes to the theatre because you can conceal a camera inside them. actually that is not a bad policy. i think i am going to head down to the local theatre now and convince them to institute this rule for those rampantly pirated teen/college films. :P

  • RIP (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    RIP Douglas Adams
    i wonder if dying is like entering a total perspective vortex...

    42, amen, and we'll miss you. looking forward to salmon of doubt and the moive.

  • Party time... (Score:4, Funny)

    by MADCOWbeserk ( 515545 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2002 @07:09PM (#3521117)
    Back in college, my house threw a "come as you come out of the shower party." Had nothing to do with Douglas Adams., and eveything to do with getting girls to show up wrapped in a towel.

    We didn't have a network, or hi-speed connection, but we had a full bar, a nice bong, and a house band which are far more attractive to girls.

  • Wireless theater access... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by stienman ( 51024 ) <adavis&ubasics,com> on Tuesday May 14, 2002 @07:15PM (#3521153) Homepage Journal
    The restrictions for the wireless theatre access is more for copy protection than anything else. No reasonable person would want to watch the movie through a slow internet connection with a web cam, but the movie studios certianly don't want it to even be considered.

    -Adam

  • Shut your laptop off? Good! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by greenfly ( 40953 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2002 @07:15PM (#3521155)

    "I was warned if I didn't shut down my laptop I had to leave by some girl that worked for the theater. The world's first Cyber-Theater my ass. Nice try, but apparently wireless users are absolutely not welcomed there when a movie is playing. I'm very disappointed. I couldn't even have my PocketPC with wireless NIC on while the movie was on. Was I taking off down the runway on an airplane? What's the point?"

    Good. If I'm watching a movie, I don't want the backlight from your laptop or PocketPC glaring at me, the clunking of your keyboard or beeping (or worse) from your laptop.

    Cellphones have shown that there are plenty of people who have no concept of others in public places, and who can't be bothered to turn it off.

    If you arrive early at a movie, and want to browse the web to pass the time, fine. Once the movie starts though, I want everything (including your mouth) shut off.

    Just watch the movie. That's what you paid $10 for anyway.

    • Hey, speak for yourself! I pay $10 to eat popcorn, not watch a movie.

    • Re:Shut your laptop off? Good! (Score:5, Interesting)

      by supabeast! ( 84658 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2002 @08:25PM (#3521469)
      Agreed!

      Cellular phone jammers are illegal in the USA... is anyone else up for joining me on a bill that allows (If not mandates.) jamming devices to be installed in every theatre in the country?
      • You don't need a jammer. A jammer would broadcast losts of noise in radio frequencies. There is, however, another method that could be used to block cell phones.

        Build each screen inside a Faraday cage. Essentially, the idea is to encase the whole room in a sheet of metal. The will block the radio frequency waves, and thus the phones won't work. The Faraday cage operates on the principle that the metal screen need not be complete, but that there can be gaps, provided that these gaps are small (and you can calculate how small they need to be.

        To be quite honest, the simplest retro fit solution is to put a layer of tin foil on the walls, under wall papere (or paint it). Stick a sheet in the door, and you've got most of the place, and you'll probably be attenuating the signal by a good proportion. It might not prevent them from working, but it'd be

        a) damn cheap

        b) somewhere near 70% efficent.

        Of course, the best solution is to educate the audience. Preferable with a good sized LART.

      • Re:Shut your laptop off? Good! (Score:4, Insightful)

        by G-funk ( 22712 ) <josh@gfunk007.com> on Tuesday May 14, 2002 @09:40PM (#3521759) Homepage Journal
        No, because some people's need for communication devices (doctors, for example) far, far outweighs our right to a quiet theatre. I hate phones in theatres as much as you, but sometimes there are exceptions... Plus people like me like to have their phone on silent and vibrate so I at least have the option of leaving the cinema if I feel the call is important enough to me.
        • Doesn't it suck to be persecuted when you haven't done anything wrong? I wear a mobile phone so that I am available to people I choose to make myself available to. Since I am the only one interested in the calls I receive, I have my phone perpetually set to vibrate, thus avoiding any situation where it might be inappropiate for it to ring. I can personally come up with several reasons where I might not be expecting a call, but still want to be available in an emergency. A movie theatre is one of them. To take away my ability to receive calls in a public place because others have abused that privilege is just wrong in my book.
        • What is wrong with me setting my phone to 'Silent' so that when I receive a call only I know about it. Reaching for my phone is no different to reaching for some more popcorn and getting up and leaving to take the call is no different to getting up to take a piss.
        • So don't go to this theater when on-call, or just go to a different theater. Duh! Maybe I should bring my performing monkey troupe to the theater...I mean I have to make a living somehow...why is The Man putting me down!?

          • Some people are on-call 24x7x52. And others (like me) would prefer that the babysitter can get ahold of us if something dire should happen. Of course, my phone is left on vibrate and I'd leave the theater before answering. Anyone not considerate to do likewise deserves exile to the Saturday Matinee.

            I agree that laptops, PDAs, and the like should be turned off during the movie. They may not be loud, but the light is surely going to bother everyone behind you.

      • Cellular phone jammers are illegal in the USA... is anyone else up for joining me on a bill that allows (If not mandates.) jamming devices to be installed in every theatre in the country?

        What i'd rather see is a protocol to let cell phones conform to rules for the environment. Theatres and libraries could have transponders which tell the phones to switch to vibrate as long as they are in range of the transponder. Classrooms too. Airplanes could have transponders which turn the phone off and schedule it to turn back on at flight time + 15 minutes. Then there's no high power jamming intereference, doctors or whoever else _need_ to use their phones can (and trust me, if you have a heart attack you don't want your doctor be starting watching LOTR and be out of reach until s/he leaves the theatre), and people who insist on being assholes about it are still going to be assholes, but there wasnt much you could do about that anyways.

        While we're at it, do any of the new plam/phones have ringer control in the scheduling, so i can hit a checkbox on an appointment and the phone switches to vibrate for that hour and then back when it's over? And do any phones have vibrate VIBRATE ring RING modes? and if not, why the fuck not?
        • Since theaters will probably be digital eventually, I propose a system by which the movie can be made to pause if anyone in the audience receives a phone call. This way, important audience members can receive their phone calls, and other viewers will not miss any of the movie.
    • Remember that this isn't a regular movie theater -- this is a fancy one, with tables and dinner being served and stuff. So there's got to be enough light to eat, people will be doing things like passing salt, getting up for fresh drinks, etc. A laptop isn't as grossly out of place as you might normally expect it to be.

      -Waldo Jaquith
      • Ok some adiitional info about the Alamo Drafthouse.

        Orders are taken before the show and during previews.

        Staff are very quiet and make as little noise or visual (crouching once the feature presentation has started) distraction as possible.

        One of the theater created bumpers before the show is a clip from the 80's version of "The Blob" where a noisy movie patron is blabbing in a normal conversation tone about what is happening on the screen and gets consumed by the blob. At which point giant block letters come on the screen to inform the Drafthouse crowd that if you talk during the the presentaion, "We'll kick your ass out."

        The wireless access is very cool for the drafthouse type crowd that typically arrives 30 minutes to an hour before the showing to get their seats and order and wants something to do while waiting for the movie.

        People like the guy that was acting all annoyed about being told to close his notebook are just as bad as the people that feel they have the right to leave their phones on audible ring and talk in loud voices like the theater was their own personal living room. Wireless access does not equate to the right to do whatever you want.

        As a movie-aholic that frequents the Alamo Drafthouse among many of the other theaters in Austin there are times when I totally feel like this Real Life [reallifecomics.com] comicstrip.

        If you can't have basic respect for other people trying to watch the movie stay home, please.

  • Wireless Theatre? (Score:2, Informative)

    by diorio ( 244324 )
    I've been a few times to the Alamo. It's a great place to see a movie and have dinner and a beer. I usually get there 30 min early and use the wireless during that time to check email, etc. I can't imagine anyone who would really be inconsiderate enough to have their laptop on during the movie. I believe the idea is to create convienence with wireless not intrusion.
    .

  • Wireless theater (Score:4, Insightful)

    by colmore ( 56499 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2002 @07:18PM (#3521166) Journal
    If at any time in the future, someone has a laptop, ipaq, or any other glowing, clicking, beeping little device on around me in a movie theater, i reserve the right to confiscate said device and return it to them at the end of the movie... via anus.

    I'm serious, movie theaters had better not allow this sort of thing.

    • Re:Wireless theater (Score:2, Insightful)

      by hank ( 294 )
      I believe the reason why laptops and other PDA-type devices aren't allowed in this theater (or others) are for reasons above just the sheer annoying blips and beeps. What about people with digital cameras stealing the movie to their laptop's HDs? I don't think Lucas or any other producer would be too happy to hear that this theater knowingly let 50 geeks in with laptops (all with the knowledge to steal his movie and distribute it via P2P/FTP/copyright-infringement-method-of-choice), let alone allowing them to be on during the movie.

    • Re:Wireless theater (Score:4, Interesting)

      by steveha ( 103154 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2002 @08:03PM (#3521380) Homepage
      Ummm... read the article, please. I quote:

      Typical theaters may not work well for this concept, but the Alamo Draft House has table seating for movie goers, so they can order drinks and food while watching the movie. So Internet use would not add anything more to the tolerated commotion that already exists with wait staff taking and delivering orders to the crowd.


      If I had a PDA or laptop in there you probably couldn't hear it over the chewing and slurping noises, and the more beer people drink the more likely they are to chatter noisily.

      In other words, I won't be going to see Episode II anywhere that has the words "Draft House" in the name.

      steveha

      • Re:Wireless theater (Score:5, Funny)

        by dubl-u ( 51156 ) <2523987012 AT pota DOT to> on Tuesday May 14, 2002 @08:36PM (#3521530)
        If I had a PDA or laptop in there you probably couldn't hear it over the chewing and slurping noises[...]

        Having spent many an evening at Chicago's Brew & View [brewview.com] I can say that this is just untrue; it's certainly no worse than in a normal movie theater. Moreover, many of the noises that electronic devices make are designed to catch your attention. Plus, very few foods, even in Chicago, glow; most handheld computing devices do.

        In other words, I won't be going to see Episode II anywhere that has the words "Draft House" in the name.

        Seeing a good, serious movie at Brew & View isn't great. But it's a great place to see something funny; the South Park movie was a blast there. And there is nowhere better see a really bad movie; between the beer and the sassy heckling from the audience, even Jar Jar Binks is tolerable.

        • When I go to see a film I try to sit as far away from noisy people as possible - so it obviously varies from cinema to cinema. Also it is possible to mute the speakers on a laptop.
        • Navy ships. We panned movies mercilessly. Trash got talked back to. One particularly bad movie (73-76, couldn't tell you any closer) was some sorry-ass French Foreign Legion pot boiler, where the commandant's wife was in love with the rebel leader, and distracted the patrol on top of the wall with a striptease, while her hero snuck over said wall and opened the gate. The projectionist ran that strip scene back and forth until the film started to overheat, and he apologized for having to stop.

          This was on the messdecks of USS Midway, CV-41, somewhere in the Pacific. Sometimes we had movies on the hangar deck, but not often. Messdecks were big enough.

          Military crowds do not coddle movies. Turkeys get hoots and hollers, plenty of talking back, etc. Best damn way to see a movie there is.
        • I concur to the last statement, especially at the Drafthouse. As theaters go, it's a pretty shitty place to go watch a movie. The food is pretty good, plus they serve beer, but the main reasons people go there are to watch indie films or really, really bad movies. Hell, they devote two nights of the week to the really bad movies, with Mister Sinus Theater (sort of a live MST3K, very, very funny) and Something Weird Wednesdays (where they show the most god-awful and obscure flick they can find, a few weeks back I saw "Bruce Lee Fights Back from Beyond the Grave," an absolute classic Drafthouse flick.. It was horrible, but hilarious.)

          I'd also be pissed if someone opened a laptop during a movie. You went to the movie to see the damn movie, not surf the web. You can do that on your own time. If you absolutely insist on watching a movie while surfing the web, go to Blockbuster, plop in front of the TV, and have at it. By abusing public service, you're just going to ensure that nobody else offers it. From what I've heard, the Drafthouse is having more trouble than they bargained for with the 802.11, and are considering disabling it when the place is not rented out to a conference (they also do large theater-style corporate presentations during the weekdays.) Too many geeks going in and thinking along the lines of this guy.
      • As a sometime patron of the Alamo Drafthouse, I can assure you that cellphones and the like are noticed over the commotion of the eating, drinking, and laughing. The impulse to murder moveigoers with ringing cellphones does not vanish just because the theater has waiters. If anything, the impulse only becomes stronger, because small, independent theaters like the Drafthouse create the expectation that the moviegoers are there to have fun and watch the film in a pleasant social atmosphere, and won't have to put up with the same rude shit they face at the anonymous suburban 5-screen megaplexes.

        God, for the life of me, I don't know why anyone would want to diddle around with a PC or a PDA while watching a movie.
      • They going to ban crunchy popcorn eating, groups of girls whispering and giggling, coughing and everything else too? I mean what harm is a laptop - although if you were clicking the keys throughout the quiet parts of the films I can see how it would get annoying.
      • If I had a PDA or laptop in there you probably couldn't hear it over the chewing and slurping noises, and the more beer people drink the more likely they are to chatter noisily.

        In other words, I won't be going to see Episode II anywhere that has the words "Draft House" in the name.

        As someone who has actually been to the drafthouse, I feel I'm entitled to actually comment on it.

        The Drafthouse has a very strict "Shut the hell up" policy and state before the movie starts to tell a waitress if other patrons get out of hand and they will be immediately dealt with.

        Obviously they dealt with the original poster of the story effectively, huh?

        It's also been my experience that the waitress only comes around 2 or maybe 3 times during the whole 2 hour movie, which I would say is significantly less distracting than the 2 hour glow of your Vaio backlighting.

  • Copyright infringement (Score:3, Informative)

    by www.sorehands.com ( 142825 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2002 @07:19PM (#3521169) Homepage
    There has been ruling that the act of loading a webpage into a browser is copyright infringment. This is in a case where the user did not, or was not supposed to have access to that web page.

    Under this theory a deap link into a pasword protected site (like NYT) could be a contributory infringment.

  • Thursday after May 11th? (Score:5, Informative)

    by JMMurphy ( 533825 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2002 @07:19PM (#3521170)

    I was under the impression that Towel Day was May 25th. A quick search reveals (http://www.systemtoolbox.com/towelday/) that at least some people consider May 25th to be Towel Day...

    I, presonally, have been prepping my towels for the 25th, and I don't think I'll change my plans in light of this Slashdot story.

    random

  • Why??? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Restil ( 31903 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2002 @07:27PM (#3521213) Homepage
    Granted, when I'm in a typical movie theatre, I kindof expect that everyone won't have thier cellphones out and their laptops running.

    However, when I go to a wireless, geek based theatre, I DO expect it, and SHOULD expect it and should not be surprised in the slightest when everyone, INCLUDING ME, has this equipment running. The theatre can set the policy. Obviously they saw a market for a theatre that actually ALLOWED those very "distractions" since so many people seemed compelled to distract others. This is actually a perfect idea. Give these people a place they can go that this activity is welcome and they'll leave the rest of us alone.

    Alas, apparently all is not what it seems to be.

    -Restil
    • To be honest, I don't think the Drafthouse has ever billed itself as a "cyber-theater," and if they (rather than local geek groups) have promoted their wireless access point, I haven't noticed. The linked article contains statements by an Austin wireless networking user group, not by the theater. And I really don't understand why people would even want to use a computer in a theater. The reasons listed in the article were far from compelling. Wouldn't it make more sense to simply watch the movie?
    • They don't market themselves as a "Cyber Theater." The 802.11 access point was installed by a local WLAN group. The main users of it, I would believe, would not be the nightly movie patrons, but the businesses they rent the theater out to for presentations during the day. Hell, the Drafthouse doesn't even tell anyone that they have it, said local WLAN group has been doing all the advertising (much to the Drafthouse's chagrin, now they have to deal with laptop-toting geeks)

  • My opinion of Macromedia has just improved a notch (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Lemmy Caution ( 8378 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2002 @07:34PM (#3521255) Homepage
    From the article: "The score is now Adobe-1, Macromedia-1, customers-0," Rob Burgess, Macromedia's chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. The company declined further comment through a representative.

    An excellent and sobering quote. Very good sense of perspective.

  • Deep linking (Score:5, Funny)

    by mikosullivan ( 320993 ) <miko&idocs,com> on Tuesday May 14, 2002 @07:38PM (#3521271)

    Now THAT'S what I call "deep linking".

  • To theatre laptop users... (Score:4, Funny)

    by ByronEllis ( 22531 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2002 @07:53PM (#3521337) Journal
    It's really for your own good, nobody wants to be beaten to death with their own laptop.

  • Just when IS towel day? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Galvatron ( 115029 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2002 @07:55PM (#3521342)
    According to the old h2g2 site, [bbc.co.uk] the first towel day was May 25th, which happened to be the last Friday of the month. The author of that node therefore suggests that it always be the last Friday of the May. This explains why some people think it's May 25th and some think the last Friday of May. Where the first Thursday after May 11th came from, I have no idea. To allow those of us with sufficiently lenient casual Friday policies to participate, the last Friday of May sounds more reasonable.

    • But, isn't it just implicit that any event commemorating Douglas Adams has to be on a Thursday?

      I don't know where the idea of a Friday would come from. A towel on a Thursday just makes sense. Helps you get the hang of Thursdays.

    • I say we should do it alternating Thursdays and Fridays every other year with alternate leap years on a Tuesday. Maybe there should be a planning panel together composed of hair dressers and lawyers. Also no day should feel left out or discriminated against, so there should be the capability for a "wild-card" day every third year to celebrate this day. This will be announced long after the event was supposed to happen, so that proper planning can be made for all week day inclusiveness under calenders that haven't been invented yet. You'll have to pick up the time off a tachyon stream on your sub-ether transmitter.

      Oh hell, how about we put a Vogon planning committee in charge of deciding when the holiday is?

    • Re:Just when IS towel day? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Galvatron ( 115029 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2002 @08:26PM (#3521476)
      Alright, with a bit more searching, it seems that more people [happy-adams-day.net] agree with May 25th [happy-adams-day.net] than the last Friday in May. However, there is also "Happy Adams Day" set for Feb. 11th, the 42nd day of the year (also exactly 1 month before his birthday, and 3 months before the anniversary of his death). Therefore, in the spirit of community cohesion, I abandon my stance that it should be May 31st, going instead with May 25th.

      I would like to further propose that this be the LAST towel day, and that starting next year, we all celebrate DNA on February 11th, and that said celebration include carrying towels. Sound good to everyone?

  • Deep Linking is exactly like Magazine #1 writing:

    "There's this interesting article on page 42 in this month's Magazine #2 issue."

    Would Magazine #2 sue Magazine #1 in the real world? Then why do lawyers seem to think it's perfectly normal to sue over exactly the same thing in the digital world?

    • While you have a good point, a better analogy would be one unordered encyclopedia referencing another.

      A magazine you could point to and it would have a table of contents, etc, as well as being compact.

      An encyclopedia of my type would be hard to find something, and your readers would have little luck finding what you were talking about. This is the point of deep-linking.

  • theaters and towels (Score:3, Insightful)

    by RestiffBard ( 110729 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2002 @08:46PM (#3521574) Homepage
    firstly, I always figured geeks had a pretty good sense of what was the right way to act in a theater. You come in sit down and shut up. You don't do anything to annoy the other people. I swear if I see a jackass with a laptop while I'm trying to watch a movie I'm gonna knock your block off. thats just fucking rude as hell. You don't want to watch the movie and pay attention then go home. also, aren't you supposed to have your towel with you at all times anyway?

  • Prarie Home Companion is the best (Score:3, Insightful)

    by On Lawn ( 1073 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2002 @09:45PM (#3521776) Journal

    Since Duke of URL mentioned it in his Slashback, I just wanted to pause and note [mpr.org].

  • I have the perfect solution for cell phones. (Score:4, Funny)

    by Neck_of_the_Woods ( 305788 ) on Tuesday May 14, 2002 @09:57PM (#3521807) Journal

    The last time someone down the isle had to take not one, not two, not three, but four calls all of them answered with "Yo HO whass the happs?!". The last pound of popcorn from my supersized popcorn bucket, 4 ounces of butter, and the bucket also hit him in the back of the head from 6 chairs over. Not only did he shut up but he left in a real big hurry when his anger was squelched by the 60+ people clapping and laughing their collective asses off. Poor sap...I almost felt bad.

    • God, I've always wanted to do that to people who constantly talk during movies.

      I think we have a business plan here for "Remote Slap-Upside-Their-Head" (tm). If someone constantly performs ThoughtlesslyRudeAndAnnoying Act during a movie, you speed-dial and SMS a request for a "Remote Slap-Upside-Their_Head" (RSUTH), plus a destination vector. The nearest authorized employee of "RSUTH" will receive the message, and carry out the request. *SLAP*!

      Vigilante Justice is so underrated.

      Tom
  • Writing in regards to this posting on Linux on mainframes

    What posting? A link, people?
  • I was always under the impression that Spiderman needed the wires to fly.
  • I wear a pager 24/7 roughly 40 weeks per year. I can't wait two hours to respond to a page.

    All of you morons who think I should "stay out of a theatre" as a result, well...

    If you have any of the following:

    1 - Crunchy Food
    2 - Overly Loud Laugh
    3 - A Tendency To Whisper To Your Compatriot
    4 - Body Odor

    ...I guarantee you've annoyed more people than I ever have. YOU should stay the hell out.
  • Practice getting everybody to say "whop" at the same time.

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