Jeeze, why all the hate for Nic Cage on this thread? IMDb lists 120 actor credits. There's crap in there, for sure. There's also a decent measure of so-bad-it's-good-at-least-for-entertainment-purposes. But there's also Leaving Las Vegas (oscar for best actor), Adaptation (oscar nominee for best actor), Moonstruck, Raising Arizona, Pig, Lord of War, .... You can't find anything worthwhile in there?

The sales manager must have been a film studies major and, when it became obvious he'd never actually become an actor, took on being a sales manager to eke a living. But film studies doesn't teach you much about that, so he thought back and tried to find a model for how to do the job. His solution: Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross. I can picture it now: "you gotta have brass balls to sell internet service."

How are these people not in prison?

Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon:

The longer the key you are trying to generate, the longer this takes. Randy is trying to generate one that is ridiculously long. He has pointed out to Avi, in an encrypted e-mail message, that if every particle of matter in the universe could be used to construct one single cosmic supercomputer, and this computer was put to work trying to break a 4096-bit encryption key, it would take longer than the lifespan of the universe.

“Using today’s technology,” Avi shot back, “that is true. But what about quantum computers? And what if new mathematical techniques are developed that can simplify the factoring of large numbers?”

“How long do you want these messages to remain secret?” Randy asked, in his last message before leaving San Francisco. “Five years? Ten years? Twenty-five years?”

After he got to the hotel this afternoon, Randy decrypted and read Avi's answer. It is still hanging in front of his eyes, like the after image of a strobe:
I want them to remain secret for as long as men are capable of evil.

When matchsticks are heavily tariffed, only arsonists will have matchsticks.

TFS: "GM said between 30% and 40% of eligible owners continue paying after their included three-year Super Cruise subscription expires." That's more than a small percentage.

On the flip side, it means that 60-70% - well more than half - aren't continuing. They also don't define what "eligible owners" means.

You've owned five phones in the last six years? Either you're lying in saying you've never had issues, or you've not had any one phone long enough for issues to show up. That's like saying "my car's never had issues - I buy a new one every year!"

I wonder what a modern-day sequel to Repo Man would look like today. The ground for social commentary and absurdism is more fertile than ever! We can get Harry Dean Stanton back, right?

That's cool and all. Samsung has done a lot to develop their foldable screens, and it's nice to see them playing around with the form factor.

On the other hand, MSRP $1899?! I don't think I'd be willing to pay even 1/3 that for my next phone. Plus: although the foldable tech is neat in demos, Samsung probably hasn't eliminated the crease problem, nor the fact that the screen's surface is very scratchable plastic. I guess capitalism is gonna do it's thing, and there'll be some folks that'll eat this up. I just won't be one of 'em.

Is that Starbucks' fault, or their customers? I, too, roll my eyes at the hoards that line up for their wickedly expensive, sugary, flavored milk with a hint of coffee, but I guess that's capitalism.

I also drink black coffee exclusively, and Starbucks is not bad for that. Indeed, while I'm on the road, it can oftentimes be the only palatable option (versus Dunkin or black water's at the gas station). If there's a local coffee shop, I'll opt for that, but in plenty of places it's Starbucks or nothin'.

Or, like a good Johnny Cab, self-destruct while trying to murder the fare.

Bond: Ejector Seat? You're joking!

Q: I never joke about my work, 007.

40% of Canada's land area is covered in forests. It is simply impossible to "manage" that much forest, and it's utterly fucking absurd to suggest otherwise. And to try to take climate change out of the equation is just a way of misdirecting away from the actual fucking cause; GHG emissions raising surface temperatures.

When will humans stop buying the most trivially fucking moronic red herrings? What a disreputable idiotic species.

It's almost as if allowing emissions to ramp up with little meaningful effort to control them is having the inevitable consequences predicted decades ago. But let's not deal with that, because it's hard. Instead let's have the President of the United States demand Canada hold back the tides.

Local models are not risk-free, either