If you rewatch some of the Monkees episodes, especially ones from after the first season you'll find that a lot of them are pretty intelligently written. They were fully aware of their own image as being manufactured, and poked fun at themselves mercilessly. "Head" is one of the greatest psychedelic movies ever made.

But... but... but he had me going for a minute there! He had me convinced ATI had better Linux support than Nvidia! Now you go and ruins it. Thanks a lot.

I agree in that I wish Nvidia would go faster, but what will you do? Run Noveau? The fact remains they DO support Linux, and they do it a helluva lot better than AMD/ATI do.. Now, if you don't run 3-D games that tax the hardware you'll probably be fine. I'm not picking on you so much as expressing frustration at the people who complain about Nvidia. No, their support isn't perfect. Yes, they've stumbled. Yes, they pour most of their resources into the Windows driver because Windows, crappy as it is, has 90% of the market. Mod me down, bitch about what I'm saying, whatever. I run Linux myself with an aging GT240 card. I boot into Windows once a month on my main machine for Patch Tuesday. ATI is not a real viable option, and while Intel graphics is fairly well supported, their 'cards' are not really as powerful. Be patient. There'll be a new driver out soon.

And me without mod points

It's been ~fifty years since the Beatles burst onto the world stage. Setting aside the fact that they've sold a billion+ records, they've also been written about in countless books and their music continues to attract scholarly attention. They're the greatest example of something that will last. Whether someone likes their music or not, it's hard to argue they won't become part of "classical" canon in 50 more years. Now let's pick a lightweight act that gets no respect. I personally love ABBA and the Carpenters, but I know that in 2113 their music will probably not be considered as some of the 20th Century's greatest. But you're correct, it'll all still be available to be heard in whatever form exists then; molecular data crystals or what have you.

Some men.... you just can't reach. Your assertion that "Strauss Shultz-Evler Blue Danube Lhevinne Ampico" is the best piano intro ever has a lot more going for it than trying to defend GagMe. Classical music is called exactly that partially because it has survived for hundreds of years and is still played today. Not all of it though, just the stuff that was considered good enough to hand down to subsequent generations. I seriously doubt that lady HaHa will be spoken of in the same reverent tones in 300 years. Just because something's popular doesn't make it good. Jersey Shore was popular. The Jerry Springer show is popular.

Let me add that I come by my music snobbery honestly. I worked in radio for 17 years and observed pop music rotting away a little more each year. Before you say I'm just an old fart who hates anything new, there *is* good stuff being made today but the record companies aren't signing them. They toil away in small venues night after night busting their asses for next to nothing. They write their owns songs & play their own instruments, and don't need or want Autotune.

No, I despise Madonna too. Competitive with Let It Be? Competitive with Dark Side Of The Moon? Competitive with Born In The USA? Goodbye Yellow Brick Road? Elton John had the same gimmick-- dress outrageously, but he makes good music. Lady HaHa is nothing BUT an image. The music is only incidental, and it's all Autotuned.

Vast hordes of young people who believe, like we did at that age, that history didn't begin until they were born.

Sturgeon's Law: 90% of everything is crap

Vejur will be back

I'd argue that today the execs pick the gimmick first before anything else. The quality of the music's far down the list. Pop music's always been a little bit about style over substance but acts like Lady GagMe epitomize it. Back to Sid Meier.... I haven't played the original Civ for more than a decade but I sure did when it first came out. Folks who weren't around yet or are too young to remember don't realize what an impact it had.

FWIW just a few seconds after posted it, I flagged my own comment here as being in poor taste.

Obligatory, really.