Written by Sunsu This article is from vgpro

This is a short list of 5 PC games that you can play on the upcoming Ubuntu release: Hardy Heron. Although these games may have some features disabled, they definitely are evidence of how far Linux gaming really has come. Some of the listed games run using Wine, whereas with others Wine is not needed. Links to some valuable Ubuntu gaming resources are given at the end.

1) World of Warcraft v2.4.X

World of Warcraft requires Wine to run and has a PLATINUM rating. Voice Chat, Anti-Aliasing, Texture Filtering, Fullscreen switch, and gxrestart/reloadui all work perfectly. Some users report that a registry tweak is necessary , but with the latest Wine release (v0.9.60) its pretty much plug-n-play.



2) Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare v1.4

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare v1.4 requires Wine to run and has an overall silver rating at WineHQ. One user even rated it at Gold. Wine does require a patch for the game to run correctly. EDIT* Some Wine veterans tell me that this can get slightly complicated. However, I decided to include this game because it is basically the bleeding edge of new games with high quality graphics. This game just shows how far Wine and Ubuntu have come! *EDIT One minor flaw is that multiplayer support does not work on punkbuster enabled servers. Attempts to get punkbuster to work in Wine in the past have been all but hopeless.



3) Unreal Tournament 2004

Unreal Tournament 2004 works right out of the box. Wine is not needed. Installing is as simple as making sure your graphics drivers are up to date and typing: sudo sh /media/cdrom0/linux-installer.sh. With UT2004 comes a host of full modifications also available for play. One example is Alien Swarm. Alien Swarm is a total conversion mod for Unreal Tournament 2004 created by Black Cat Games and initially released on May 28, 2004. If you’ve played UT2004 in the past, but never played Alien Swarm, its definitely worth a try!



4) Day of Defeat: Source

Day of Defeat was originally a modification for Half-Life, but Valve released a new version based on the Source engine. This game requires Wine to play, but has a Platinum rating, so it involves little or no hassle. Another thing to note here is that Most of the other games based on the Source engine (Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source) are also playable with Platinum ratings using Wine.



5) Guild Wars All Versions

The best thing about Guild Wars is that it is a high quality MMORPG that has no subscription costs! Guild Wars takes the best elements of today’s massively multiplayer online games and combines them with a new mission-based design that eliminates some of the more tedious aspects of those games. This game requires Wine to play, but once again has a platinum rating, so no headaches involved!



Valuable Resources for Ubuntu Gamers

• Wine Application Database
  
  
• Ubuntu Gaming and Leisure Forums
  
  
• Ubuntu 64-bit Gamers Installation Guide
  

Notes
Hope this was useful for everyone, and please feel free to post links to things I missed!

*ADDITION* Eve Online
One Digg user (agisten) has noted that I have failed in an Epic fashion for forgetting Eve Online! I must admit that it was a big oversight. Eve Online is an MMORPG that can be played natively on Linux (no wine required).




*ADDITION* Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Digg user (35263526) has noted that I have failed to include Enemy Territory: Quake Wars! ETQW is a first-person shooter video game that can run natively on Linux, and is the follow-up to Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (no wine required on this one either).

Written by Environmental Graffiti

As we all put our thinking caps on for this “save the environment” thing, and Americans begin to scream under the weight of rising fuel costs, one of the best ways around leaving a giant carbon footprint, or paying an arm and a leg, is to take the bus. Or the train. Or a subway.

Image from Wolmot

After all, why take a car? CNN filmed people paying for gas yesterday like it was news!

So, without further ado here are the five best places for you to be shacked up on this planet if you want to have somebody else take you from place to place.

5. Chicago

The huge Chicago Transit Authority covers the Windy City as well as 40 suburbs and operates 24 hours a day, moving 1.6 Million people daily. With over 144 stations for the elevated train, not much of the city is out of range for the famed “el.” There are even commuter rail spurs that go as far away as South Bend, Indiana. Nice.

Image from swanksalot

4. Paris

The Paris Metro boasts being both the second-most heavily trafficked subway system in the world, carrying 4.5 Million people every day, and having more stations closer to one another than any other system- 245 stations in 41 square kilometers. You might want to bring a book to escape from the sardine can.

Image from ancama_99

3. London

London, which features the oldest subway system in the world, moves 3.4 million people every day on the tube alone, but that’s only part of the story. Transport for London, the comprehensive system administered from the mayor’s office, operates light and commuter rail and buses, and offers comprehensive trip and traffic information in real-time on their website.Traveling on the tube is not a particularly pleasant experience, but is by far the most efficient way to get round.

Image from Kayodeak

2. New York

One in every three mass transit users in the entire United States, uses the New York system or if you like, 4.5 Million people a day. They’re so effective as a matter of fact, that New York is the only city in the U.S. where more than half of the households don’t own a car. Up to 75% of the population of Manhattan is without four-wheeled transport. Now that’s a statistic to beat.

Image from smoothdude

1. Hong Kong

For sheer volume, Hong Kong is the most effective system in the world: 90% of all traveling is done by mass transit. The 7 million daily riders have access to something known as an “octopus card” which is accepted as currency not just to move them around the city, but also at parking meters, convenience stores, and fast-food restaurants. Looking towards the future, shouldn’t all cities be copying this system?

Image from medwin

Written by Kyle Roderick This article is come from Popular Mechanics

Before long, RFID tags in the kitchen will be reminding you when it’s time to buy more milk and eggs. Hitting the market now, however, are brilliant everyday home appliances that can perform next-gen tasks with everything from anti-snoring tech to remote-control flushing.

The Brainiac Dishwasher (pictured above) /// $799-$899

Using its SmartDispense technology, GE’s Profile suds machine spits out detergent on the fly, crunching the numbers so you don’t have to squeeze a blob yourself-or waste any Cascade for a smaller load. With a 45-fluid-ounce bottle of liquid or gel in tow, the dishwasher calibrates for soil level, size of load, water temperature and water hardness (which you can also test against your home pressure thanks to an included test kit).

The Robo Toilet /// $2000

Toto’s Neorest 600 is a toilet/bidet combo that makes the Jetsons look like the Flintstones. After you’re done with the heated seat, activate the quiet Cyclone Flushing engine, then let the Washlet air deodorizer and SanaGloss bowl cleaner finish the job for you. And since it’s rigged with sensors, you can regulate pressure and temperature with front-and-back aerated water spray, step back for an auto flush on your way out the door and close the lid-all by wireless remote. Just make sure you wash your hands first.

The Modded Mattress /// $20,000-$50,000

While you may need to be making seven figures to justify owning a bed with an integrated 1080p LCD projector, four pop-up subwoofers and 1.5-terabyte solid-state hard drive, there is a breakthrough amidst all the technophile gluttony: Leggett & Platt’s Starry Night Sleep Technology bed will come loaded with military-grade anti-snoring capabilities when it goes on sale next year. Using a vibration-detection system, Starry Night adjusts the angle of your position in bed to open nasal passages-then leaves you where your sinuses are as comfy as you are on a coil-rigged, preheated mattress.

The Zen Clock /// $49.95

Sure, you’ve been reading about luxury alarm clocks in seat-back SkyMall catalogs for more than a decade. But how many clocks offer a slow buildup of ambient light, four different scents and six packets of nature sounds instead of a snooze button? Thirty minutes before your set time, Hammacher Schlemmer’s Peaceful Progression Wake-up Clock’s lights start glowing, with its warmth triggering the preloaded aroma beads. Just when you get used to that Ocean Surf soundtrack, the buzzer finally sounds.

The Intelligent Toothbrush /// $21.47 (Three-Pack)

The dop-kit-on-a-brush hasn’t quite arrived, but Radius’s Intelligent toothbrush at least annoys you enough to make sure you give a good scrub before bed. Two architects developed a new ergonomic design for the 3080 onboard bristles, but it’s the 2-minute timer that ensures thorough cleaning, beeping once before flashing every 30 seconds, up to two minutes. And so much for your old dentist’s three-month rule: After 180 uses, the Intelligent’s light changes to red-time to swap in a new brush head.

Written by MothersDayCentral.com

1. “Stop cracking your knuckles…it will give you arthritis!”

For some odd reason, young boys love cracking their knuckles. Whether it’s the sound of the crack or the feeling it makes, we feel relieved when one cracks a knuckle. After getting all that finger stress out, Mom smacked you upside the head, reminding you of the extreme arthritis you’d get because of all that cracking.

A study of 300 people who had bad habits of cracking their knuckles did not find any evidence that doing so leads to arthritis. Some of these individuals did lose strength in their hands and also had soft tissue damage. The “cracking” noise you hear when you crack a knuckle is merely a release of nitrogen gas that is constantly building up in your fingers. Arthritis is usually a symptom that you feel later in life and is usually inherited from your parents.

2. “If you shave your facial hair, it will come back thicker.”

One of the most important times in a young man’s life is the first sight of facial hair growth. A teen can sometimes grow a beard in their early years while others try to catch up to their more-manly brethren. Mommy doesn’t want her little boy to grow up to quickly, and devised the reverse psychology technique of telling you that shaving would make your beard come back fuller. So you shaved constantly and mom had a boy for a little while longer.

Shaving your hair has nothing to do with the growth of new hair. If it did, wouldn’t your balding father would be spending extra time shaving his head? The reasons for thinking this way relates to the thickness of new hair as opposed to the older, thinner hair that you most recently shaved off. In addition, hair is only alive in the scalp, so cutting it off does nothing to affect its growth.

3. “Watching TV too close will hurt your eyes and make you go blind!”

The first things you did after school involved plopping your little butt down in front of the TV and catching some cartoons. G.I.Joe, Transformers, & My Little Pony- all of these wonderful programs kept us at bay for hours. We kept our eyes glued to the action – all at the risk of going blind, something mom loved to point out.

If you were watching the television your Grandmom had as a child, then maybe it could happen. Very early television sets did emit a form of radiation, which causes all kinds of problems.Other than that extreme case, there’s really nothing wrong with sitting closer to the TV then if you were farther away. It can put a strain on your eyes, but the notion of going blind is simply untrue.

4. “It’s cold outside – if you don’t bundle up you’re going to get sick!”

When was the last time you saw an adult who was happy that it was cold and snowing outside? The upside of cold weather included snowball fights, Christmas, and missing days from school. The downside? Catching a cold, supposedly. Mom always had us put on multiple layers of clothing. Was mom just being too over protective of her freezing young ones or just a little crazy?

This old wives tale is a rather obvious one to debunk once some simple understanding of how common colds work in the first place. Colds are the result of a simple virus that we get from breathing in from the air. People stay inside more during winter, with all the doors and windows shut. This makes for a drop in fresh air circulation, creating more opportunities for you to breathe in those pesky cold viruses.

5. “Make sure to clean behind your ears – if not, potatoes will start growing there!”

Taking a bath was on the most hated list of things to do, right up there with cleaning your room and going to bed early. Mom knew this, as she spent years dragging you into the water and forcing that Johnson’s & Johnson’s baby shampoo all over your noggin. When it was time to wash ourselves, the “potato ears” were just frightening enough to keep them squeaky clean.

Mom grew up with the potato threat to get her bum in the bath, and she passed it onto you to do the same. And if we didn’t wash behind our ears? Then you probably smelled funny and were made fun of a lot, but there were never any potatoes.

6. “If you swallow a watermelon seed, if will grow inside your stomach!”

Kids love watermelon, meticulously picking out the seeds as they ate the favorite summertime treat. Everyone remembers the time that one got through – what did we do? We ran to mom to tell her what happened and that we were scared of the watermelon that would eventually grow inside of us.

Luckily, mother’s warning was merely a way for us to make sure we didn’t choke on any of the seeds, as little ones tend to do from time to time. Other small complications could arise from swallowing seeds, such as one being lodged in the appendix or damaging an intestine, but these would just be rare occasions.

7. “Don’t swallow that gum – it will stay in your stomach for seven years!”

When it came time for us to be allowed to chew gum, mother only did so with the strict knowledge that swallowing that gum would hurt our little tummies for years to come. Then came the day when you simply forgot about the Juicy Juice that you were chomping down on one minute and before you know it, down the hatch it went.

Wrong again mom! Accidentally swallowing gum every once and awhile is not going to turn your stomach into Bubble-Yum. Gum is made up of two major components, sugar and a type of plastic. Your body breaks down the sugars and the plastic gum ends up in your stool. There’s really no way gum can “get stuck” inside your belly.

8. “You’re too young to start drinking coffee – it will stunt your growth.”

When you are a kid, the notion of being grown up seems so cool, which just proves how innocence and stupidity go hand and hand. Every parent started their day off with a nice fresh cup of joe. As you wanted something that made you feel more grown up, mom was there to mention coffee would stunt your growth. Back to coco we went, because being short was like being a kid forever!

Coffee has never been responsible for stunting anyone’s growth. The reason behind the lie used by parents is to deter their teenagers from drinking coffee because of it’s other side effects. Caffeine is the most addictive drug in the world, and mom knows that. Having a lot can create anxious teens with too much energy.

9. “Eating your carrots will improve your eyesight enough to see in the dark.”

The white lies that mom threw at us were to make sure we stayed safe. Now carrots, on the other hand, were something that she encouraged us to eat – because, eating them would make our eyesight better. Already we had come to terms with going blind from sitting too close to the TV, so if there was a way to reverse its affects by eating carrots, then we were all over it.

The reality of carrot intake actually improving our eyesight to the levels of being able to see in the dark are ridiculous. The myth probably started when one mother found out that Vitamin A is one needed to maintain healthy eyesight, with carrots of course being rich in the vitamin. Of course, no amount of carrots could be eaten to actually improve our vision.

10. “Stop playing with that toad – you’ll just get warts on your hand!”

While we had a dog or cat growing up, what was even cooler was getting to play with animals that you didn’t see on a regular basis. And when it came to animals in the backyard, finding a frog or toad jumping around was a rare occasion, resulting in chasing it down and giving it the mason jar treatment. Until we learned about the warts.

No, mom, you can’t get warts from playing with a toad. Warts, in fact, are very similar to colds – they are caused from a virus that infects the underlying layers of skin and are passed from one person to another via direct contact. The myth that the toad is responsible probably arises from the wart-like growths that toads have to camouflage them in their environment. Another reason has to do with people who are allergic to certain types of toads, and have developed wart-like rashes.

11. “Wait an hour after eating to get in the swimming pool, or you’ll get a cramp and die!”

Splashing around in the pool was all day affair. Once the hot dogs and hamburgers were gone, it was back to the pool for any unfinished water business. Then mom warned that if we jumped in the water too soon, it might be our last time. All of a sudden that pool of refreshing water turned into a pool of fire.

During digestion of food, more blood is sent to help in the process, with less left around to tend to our muscles. It is possible to get a cramp if you’re using those muscles more than your body can handle. Drowning because of cramp is just another of mother’s exaggerations.

12. “If you keep making that face, it might freeze and stay that way forever!”

One if the earliest forms of making fun of your classmates was using your facial expressions. Flashing a tongue, crossing our eyes, pushing our nose up – all of these things either made some unsuspecting friend cry to mommy. That is, until mom caught on and let us know that those crazy faces could end up becoming permanent.

Mom completely lied when she told you that your face could freeze just because you were sticking your tongue out at others. Usually a child with complications or loss of control of facial muscles has these symptoms from conditions they are born with, sadly. Other diseases, such as Parkinson and Huntington’s disease can affect these muscles, but are not developed until later in life.

13. “You’re going to poke someone’s eye out with that!”

Growing up, whatever resembled a lightsaber from Star Wars probably at some point got used as a weapon. Whether it was a toy, a broom handle, or even the cardboard from a roll of wrapping paper, Mom would always warn us about “poking someone’s eye out” which either scared us enough to stop or made us swing even harder.

Playing with toy swords and brooms could result in a number of injuries, but probably wouldn’t result in the “poking” of one’s eye out. It is possible that the eye could be severely damaged in the process, but an eyeball flying out of the socket is not going to happen without pulling it out with your fingers.

14. “Eating too many spicy foods will give you ulcers.”

Teenage boys tend to enjoy spicier foods. You have young men everywhere seeking out the spiciest things around in the hopes that they can brave the heat to sit at the table with the “big boys” like Dad and Uncle Ron. “Bring on the wings, the salsa, the jalapeno”, you say. And mom chimes back with, ” and “don’t forget the ulcers!”

Eating spicy food does not have anything to do with causing ulcers. The work conducted by Australians Robert Warren and Barry Marshall ended up in the awarding of the Nobel Prize, who concluded that stomach ulcers are actually developed by a strand of bacteria known as helicobacter pylori.

15. “Get down from there – you’re going to fall and crack your head open!”

Thanks to all the comic books that were read as a child, it’s no shocker that many a young gal or lad were caught climbing trees like Spiderman. Mom of course shouted for you to come down before you “cracked your head open”. The mere thought of your head spilling out its insides like Humpty Dumpty sealed the deal.

It’s probable you could obtain hundred other possible head injuries; everything from a minor concussion to traumatic brain damage could have occurred. However, other than landing on a well placed axe, your chances of breaking your skull open were small.

16. “If you keep playing with it, it will fall off someday.”

Out of all the lies that mom mentioned to us over the years, perhaps none was taken more seriously by adolescent boys then the possibility of it it “falling off”. How dare mother get involved in the first place – she didn’t have one, so how could she know for sure? Then the epiphany kicked in – of course, that’s why she didn’t have one! She knows because it happened to her!

The most frightening mom myth turned out to be the biggest lie of them all! Of course mom had to do something about the situation – her little boy was finally growing up to be man, something every mother has to deal with at some point. However, health professionals will tell you that, no mater how much you “play” with it, it’s never going to fall off!

This article is come from Neatorama. The following is from Uncle John’s All-Purpose Extra Strength Bathroom Reader.

We’ve all made mistakes … but probably not big mistakes like making snot beer, saying no to The Beatles, or turning down the patent for the telephone. In fact, here are some of the biggest business blunders in history:

Turning Down The Beatles

SHOULD WE SIGN THEM UP?

The Beatles on Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 (Source: Wikipedia)

Executives: Mike Smith and Dick Rowe, executives in charge of evaluating new talent for the London office of Decca Records.

Background: On December 13, 1961, Mike Smith traveled to Liverpool to watch a local rock ‘n’ roll band perform. He decided they had talent, and invited them to audition on New Year’s Day 1962. The group made the trip to London and spent two hours playing 15 different songs at the Decca studios. Then they went home and waited for an answer.

They waited for weeks.

Decision: Finally, Rowe told the band’s manager that the label wasn’t interested, because they sounded too much like a popular group called The Shadows. In one of the most famous of all rejection lines, he said: “Not to mince words, Mr. Epstein, but we don’t like your boys’ sound. Groups are out; four-piece groups with guitars particularly are finished.”

Impact: The group was The Beatles, of course. They eventually signed with EMI Records, started a trend back to guitar bands, and ultimately became the most popular band of all time. Ironically, “within two years, EMI’s production facilities became so stretched that Decca helped them out in a reciprocal arrangement, to cope with the unprecedented demand for Beatles records.”

Turning Down E.T.

SHOULD WE LET THAT DIRECTOR USE OUR CANDY IN HIS FILM?

Executives: John and Forrest Mars, the owners of Mars Inc., makers of M&M’s

Background: In 1981, Universal Studios called Mars and asked for permission to use M&M’s in a new film they were making. This was (and is) a fairly common practice. Product placement deals provide filmmakers with some extra cash or promotion opportunities. In this case, the director was looking for a cross-promotion. He’d use the M&M’s, and Mars could help promote the movie.

Decision: The Mars brothers said “No.”

Impact: The film was E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, directed by Stephen Spielberg. The M&M’s were needed for a crucial scene: Eliott, the little boy who befriended the alien, uses candies to lure E.T. into his house.

Instead, Universal Studios went to Hershey’s and cut a deal to use a new product called Reese’s Pieces. Initial sales of Reese’s Pieces had been light. But when E.T. became a top-grossing film – generating tremendous publicity for “E.T.’s favorite candy” – sales exploded. They tripled within two weeks and continued climbing for months afterward. “It was the biggest marketing coup in history,” says Jack Dowd, the Hershey’s executive who approved the movie tie-in. “We got immediate recognition for our product. We would normally have to pay 15 or 20 million bucks for it.”

Selling M*A*S*H For Peanuts

HOW DO WE COME UP WITH SOME QUICK CASH?

Executives: Executives of 20th Century Fox’s TV division (pre-Murdoch)

Background: No one at Fox expected much from M*A*S*H when it debuted on TV in 1972. Execs simply wanted to make a cheap series by using the M*A*S*H movie set again – so it was a surprise when it became Fox’s only hit show. Three years later, the company was hard up for cash. When the M*A*S*H ratings started to slip after two of its stars left, Fox execs panicked.

Decision: They decided to raise cash by selling the syndication rights to the first seven seasons of M*A*S*H on a futures basis: local TV stations could pay in 1975 for shows they couldn’t broadcast until October 1979 – four years away. Fox made no guarantees that the should would still be popular; $13,000 per episodes was non-refundable. But enough local stations took the deal so that Fox made $25 million. They celebrated …

Impact: … but prematurely. When M*A*S*H finally aired in syndication in 1979, it was still popular (in fact, it ranked #3 that year). It became one of the most successful syndicated shows ever, second only to “I Love Lucy.” Each of the original 168 episodes grossed over $1 million for local TV stations; Fox got nothing.

What Use is the Telephone, the Electrical Toy?

SHOULD WE BUY THIS INVENTION?

Executive: William Orton, president of the Western Union Telegraph Company in 1876.

Background: In 1876, Western Union had a monopoly on the telegraph, the world’s most advanced communications technology. This made it one of America’s richest and most powerful companies, “with $41 million in capital and the pocketbooks of the financial world behind it.” So when Gardiner Greene Hubbard, a wealthy Bostonian, approached Orton with an offer to sell the patent for a new invention Hubbard had helped to fund, Orton treated it as a joke. Hubbard was asking for $100,000!

Decision: Orton bypassed Hubbard and drafted a response directly to the inventor. “Mr. Bell,” he wrote, “after careful consideration of your invention, while it is a very interesting novelty, we have come to the conclusion that it has no commercial possibilities… What use could this company make of an electrical toy?”

Impact: The invention, the telephone, would have been perfect for Western Union. The company had a nationwide network of telegraph wires in place, and the inventor, 29-year-old Alexander Graham Bell, had shown that his telephone worked quite well on telegraph lines. All the company had to do was hook telephones up to its existing lines and it would have had the world’s first nationwide telephone network in a matter of months.

Instead, Bell kept the patent and in a few decades his telephone company, “renamed American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T), had become the largest corporation in America … The Bell patent – offered to Orton for a measly $100,000 – became the single most valuable patent in history.”

Ironically, less than two years of turning Bell down, Orton realized the magnitude of his mistake and spent millions of dollars challenging Bell’s patents while attempting to build his own telephone network (which he was ultimate forced to hand over to Bell.) Instead of going down in history as one of the architects of the telephone age, he is instead remember for having made one of the worst decisions in American business history.

Let’s Make Snot Beer!

HOW DO WE COMPETE WITH BUDWEISER?

Executive: Robert Uihlein, Jr., head of the Schlitz Brewing Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Background: in the 1970s, Schlitz was America’s #2 beer, behind Budweiser. It had been #1 until 1957 and has pursued Bud ever since. In the 1970s, Uihlein came up with a strategy to compete against Anheuser-Busch. He figured that if he could cut the cost of ingredients used in his beer and speed up the brewing process at the same time, he could brew more beer in the same amount of time for less money … and earn higher profits.

Decision: Uihlein cut the amount of time it took to brew Schlitz from 40 days to 15, and replaced much of the barley malt in the beer with corn syrup – which was cheaper. He also switched from one type of foam stabilizer to another to get around new labeling laws that would have required the original stabilizer to be disclosed on the label.

Impact: Uihlein got what he wanted: a cheaper, more profitable beer that made a lot of money … at first. But it tasted terrible, and tended to break down so quickly as the cheap ingredients bonded together and sank to the bottom of the can – forming a substance that “looked disconcertingly like mucus.” Philip Van Munchings writes in Beer Blast:

Suddenly Schlitz found itself shipping out a great deal of apparently snot-ridden beer. The brewery knew about it pretty quickly and made a command decision – to do nothing … Uihlein declined a costly recall for months, wagering that not much of the beer would be subjected to the kinds of temperatures at which most haze forms. He lost the bet, sales plummeted … and Schlitz began a long steady slide from the top three.

Schlitz finally caved in and recalled 10 million cans of the snot beer. But their reputation was ruined and sales never recovered. In 1981, they shut down their Milwaukee brewing plant; the following year the company was purchased by rival Stroh’s. One former mayor of Milwaukee compared the brewery’s fortunes to the sinking of the Titanic, asking “How could that big of a business go under so fast?”

Model T is Forever!

SHOULD WE INTRODUCE A NEW CAR?

Ford Model T (Photo: State Library of Victoria)

Executive: Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company

Background: When Henry Ford first marketed the Model
T in 1908, it was a state-of-the-art automobile. “There were cheaper cars on the market,” writes Robert Lacey in Ford: The Men and Their Machine, “but no one could offer the same combination of innovation and reliability.” Over the years, the price went down dramatically … and as the first truly affordable quality automobile, the Model T revolutionized American culture.

Decision: The Model T was the only car that the Ford Motor Co. made. As the auto industry grew and competition got stiffer, everyone in the company – from Ford’s employees to his family – pushed him to update the design. Lacey writes:

The first serious suggestions that the Model T might benefit from some major updating had been made when the car was only four years old. In 1912 Henry Ford had taken [his family] on their first visit to Europe, and on his return he discovered that his [chief aides] had prepared a surprise for him. [They] had labored to produce a new, low-slung version of the Model T, and the prototype stood in the middle of the factory floor, its gleaming red lacquer-work polished to a high sheen.

“He had his hands in his pockets,” remembered one eyewitness, “and he walked around the car three or four times, looking at it very closely … Finally, he got to the left-hand side of the car that was facing me, and he takes his hands out, gets hold of the door, and bang! He ripped the door right off! God! How the man done it, I don’t know!”

Ford proceeded to destroy the whole car with his bare hands. It was a message to everyone around him not to mess with his prize creation. Lacey concludes: “The Model T had been the making of Henry Ford, lifting him from being any other Detroit automobile maker to becoming car maker to the world. It had yielded him untold riches and power and pleasure, and it was scarcely surprising that he should feel attached to it. But as the years went by, it became clear that Henry Ford had developed a fixation with his masterpiece which was almost unhealthy.”

Ford had made his choice clear. In 1925, after more than 15 years on the market, the Model T was pretty much the same car it had been when it debuted. It still had the same noisy, underpowered four-cylinder engine, obsolete “planetary” transmission, and horse-buggy suspension that it had in the very beginning. Sure, Ford made a few concessions to the changing times, such as balloon tires, an electric starter, and a gas pedal on the floor. And by the early 1920s, the Model T was available in a variety of colors beyond Ford black. But the Model T was still … a Model T. “You can paint up a barn,” one hurting New York Ford dealer complained, “but it will still be a barn and not a parlor.”

Impact: While Ford rested on his laurels for a decade and a half, his competitors continued to innovate. Four-cylinder engines gave way to more powerful six-cylinder engines with manual clutch-and-gearshift transmissions. These new cars were powerful enough to travel at high speeds made possible by the country’s new paved highways. Ford’s “Tin Lizzie,” designed in an era of dirt roads, was not.

Automobile buyers took notice and began trading up; Ford’s market share slid to 57% of U.S. automobile sales in 1923 down to 45% in 1925, and to 34% in 1926, as companies like Dodge and General Motors steadily gained ground. By the time Ford finally announced, that a replacement for the Model T was in the works in May 1927, the company had already lost the battle. That year, Chevrolet sold more cars than Ford for the first time. Ford regained first place in 1929 thanks to strong sales of its new Model A, but Chevrolet passed it again the following year and never looked back. “From 1930 onwards,” Robert Lacey writes, “the once-proud Ford Motor Company had to be content with second place.”

MORE BAD BUSINESS DECISIONS

ROSS PEROT

In 1979, Perot employed some of his well-known business acumen and foresaw that Bill Gates was on his way to building Microsoft into a great company. So he offered to buy him out. Gates says Perot offered between $6 million and $15 million; Perot says that Gates wanted $40 million to $60 million. Whatever the numbers were, the two couldn’t come to terms, and Perot walked away empty-handed. Today Microsoft is worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

In 1979, the Washington Post offered the Chronicle the opportunity to syndicate a series of articles that two reporters named Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were writing about a break-in at the Democratic headquarters at Washington, D.C.’s Watergate Hotel. Owner Charles Thieriot said no. “There will be no West Coast interest in the story,” he explained. Thus, his rival, the San Francisco Examiner, was able to purchase the rights to the hottest news story of the decade for $500.

W.T. GRANT CO.

Photo: Historic Columbus Indiana

In the mid-1970s, executives at the W.T. Grant variety store chain, one of the nation’s largest retailers, decided that the best way to increase sales was to increase the number of customers … by offering credit. It put tremendous “negative incentive” pressure on store managers to issue credit. Employees who didn’t meet their credit quotas risked complete humiliation. They had pies thrown in their faces, were forced to push peanuts across the floor with their noses, and were sent through hotel lobbies wearing only diapers. Eager to avoid such total embarrassment, store managers gave credit “to anyone who breathed,” including untold thousands of customers who were bad risks. W.T. Grant racked up $800 million worth of bad debts before it finally collapsed in 1977.

ABC-TV

Cast of The Cosby Show (source: Wikipedia)

In 1984, Bill Cosby gave ABC-TV first shot at buying a sitcom he’d created – and would star in – about an upscale black family. But ABC turned him down, apparently “believing the show lacked bite and that viewers wouldn’t watch an unrealistic portrayal of blacks as wealthy, well-educated professionals.”

So Cosby sold his show to NBC instead. What happened? Nothing much – The Cosby Show remained #1 show for four straight years, was a rating winner throughout its eight-year run, lifted NBC from its 10-year status as a last-place network to first place, resurrected TV comedy, and became the most profitable series ever broadcast.

DIGITAL RESEARCH

IBM once hired Microsoft founder Bill Gates to come up with the operating software for a new computer that IBM was rushing to market … and Gates turned to a company called Digital Research. He set up a meeting between owner Gary Kildall and IBM … but Kildall couldn’t make the meeting and sent his wife, Dorothy McEwen, instead. McEwen, who handled contract negotiations for Digital Research, felt that the contract IBM was offering would allow the company to incorporate features from Digital’s software into its own proprietary software – which would then compete against Digital. So she turned the contract down. Bill Gates went elsewhere, eventually coming up with a program called DOS, the software that put Microsoft on the map.

Written by Marius Oiaga

Forget about the WGA! 20+ Windows Vista Features and Services Harvest User Data for Microsoft – From your machine!

Are you using Windows Vista? Then you might as well know that the licensed operating system installed on your machine is harvesting a healthy volume of information for Microsoft. In this context, a program such as the Windows Genuine Advantage is the last of your concerns. In fact, in excess of 20 Windows Vista features and services are hard at work collecting and transmitting your personal data to the Redmond company.

Microsoft makes no secret about the fact that Windows Vista is gathering information. End users have little to say, and no real choice in the matter. The company does provide both a Windows Vista Privacy Statement and references within the End User License Agreement for the operating system. Combined, the resources paint the big picture over the extent of Microsoft’s end user data harvest via Vista.

Reading Between the EULA Lines

Together with Windows Vista, Microsoft also provides a set of Internet-based services, for which it has reserved full control, including alteration and cancellation at any given time. The Internet-based services in Vista “coincidentally” connect to Microsoft and to “service provider
computer systems.” Depending on the specific service, users may or may not receive a separate notification of the fact that their data is being collected and shared. The only way to prevent this is to know the specific services and features involved and to either switch them off or not use them.

The alternative? Well, it’s written in the Vista license agreement. “By using these features, you consent to the transmission of this information. Microsoft does not use the information to identify or contact you.”

The Redmond company emphasized numerous times the fact that all information collected is not used to identify or contact users. But could it? Oh yes! All you have to know is that Microsoft could come knocking on your door as soon as you boot Windows Vista for the first time if you consider the system’s computer information harvested. Microsoft will get your “Internet protocol address, the type of operating system, browser and name and version of the software you are using, and the language code of the device where you installed the software.” But all they really need is your IP address.

What’s Covered in the Vista License?

Windows Update, Web Content, Digital Certificates, Auto Root Update, Windows Media Digital Rights Management, Windows Media Player, Malicious Software Removal/Clean On Upgrade, Network Connectivity Status Icon, Windows Time Service, and the IPv6 Network Address Translation (NAT) Traversal service (Teredo) are the features and services that collect and deliver data to Microsoft from Windows Vista. By using any of these items, you agree to share your information with the Redmond Company. Microsoft says that users have the possibility to disable or not use the features and services altogether. But at the same time Windows update is crucial to the security of Windows Vista, so turning it off is not really an option, is it?

Windows Vista will contact Microsoft to get the right hardware drivers, to provide web-based “clip art, templates, training, assistance and Appshelp,” to access digital software certificates designed “confirm
the identity of Internet users sending X.509 standard encrypted information” and to refresh the catalog with trusted certificate authorities. Of course that the Windows Vista Digital Rights Management could not miss from a list of services that contact Microsoft on a regular basis. If you want access to protected content, you will also have to let the Windows Media Digital Rights Management talk home. Windows Media Player in Vista for example, will look for codecs, new versions and local online music services.

The Malicious Software Removal tool will report straight to Microsoft with both the findings of your computer scan, but also any potential errors. Also, in an effort to enable the transition to IPv6 from IPv4, “by default standard Internet Protocol information will be sent to the Teredo service at
Microsoft at regular intervals.”

Had Enough? I Didn’t Think So!

Microsoft has an additional collection of 47 Windows Vista features and services that collect user data. However, not all phone home and report to Microsoft. Although the data collection process is generalized across the list, user information is also processed and kept on the local machine, leaving just approximately 50% of the items to both harvest data and contact Microsoft. Still, Microsoft underlined the fact that the list provided under the Windows Vista Privacy Statement is by no means exhaustive, nor does it apply to all the company’s websites, services and products.

Activation, Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP), Device Manager, Driver Protection, Dynamic Update, Event Viewer, File Association Web Service, Games Folder, Error Reporting for Handwriting Recognition, Input Method Editor (IME), Installation Improvement Program, Internet Printing, Internet Protocol version 6 Network Address Translation Traversal, Network Awareness (somewhat), Parental Controls, Peer Name Resolution Service, Plug and Play, Plug and Play Extensions, Program Compatibility Assistant, Program Properties-Compatibility Tab, Program Compatibility Wizard, Properties, Registration, Rights Management Services (RMS) Client, Update Root Certificates, Windows Control Panel, Windows Help, Windows Mail (only with Windows Live Mail, Hotmail, or MSN Mail) and Windows Problem Reporting are the main features and services in Windows Vista that collect and transmit user data to Microsoft.

This extensive enumeration is not a complete illustration of all the sources in Windows Vista that Microsoft uses to gather end user data. However, it is more than sufficient to raise serious issues regarding user privacy. The Redmond company has adopted a very transparent position when it comes to the information being collected from its users. But privacy, much in the same manner as virtualization, is not mature enough and not sufficiently enforced through legislation. Microsoft itself is one of the principal contributors to the creation of a universal user privacy model.

The activation process will give the company product key information together with a “hardware hash, which is a non-unique number generated from the computer’s hardware configuration” but no personal information. The Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) is optional, and designed to improve software quality. Via the Device Manager, Microsoft has access to all the information related to your system configuration in order to provide the adequate drivers. Similarly, Dynamic Update offers your computer’s hardware info to Microsoft for compatible drivers.

Event Viewer data is collected every time the users access the Event Log Online Help link. By using the File Association Web Service, Microsoft will receive a list with the file name extensions. Metadata related to the games that you have installed in Vista also finds its way to Microsoft. The Error Reporting for Handwriting Recognition will only report to Microsoft if the user expressly desires it to. Through IME Word Registration, Microsoft will receive Word registration reports. Users have to choose to participate in the Installation Improvement Program before any data is sent over at Microsof.

Ever used a print server hosted by Microsoft? Then the company collected your data through Internet Printing. Network Awareness is in a league of its own. It does not premeditatedly store of send directly information to Microsoft, but it makes data available to other services involving network connectivity, and that do access the Redmond company. Via Parental Controls, not only you but also Microsoft will monitor all the visited URLs of your offspring.

Hashes of your Peer Name tied to your IP address are published and periodically refreshed on a Microsoft server, courtesy of the Peer Name Resolution Service. Every time you install a Plug and Play device, you tell Microsoft about it in order to get the necessary device drivers. The same is the case for PnP-X enabled device, only that Windows Update is more actively involved in this case.

The Program Compatibility Assistant is designed to work together with the Microsoft Error Reporting Service, to highlight to Microsoft potential incompatibility errors. For every example of compatibility settings via the Compatibility tab, Microsoft receives an error report. The Program Compatibility Wizard deals with similar issues related to application incompatibility. File properties are sent to Microsoft only with the item that they are associated with.

You can also volunteer your name, email address, country and even address to Microsoft through the registration process. A service such as the Rights Management Services (RMS) Client can only function in conjunction with your email address.

All the queries entered into the Search box included in the Windows Vista Control Panel will be sent to Microsoft with your consent. The Help Experience Improvement Program also collects and sends information to Microsoft. As does Windows Mail when the users access Windows Live Mail, Hotmail, or MSN Mail. And the Windows Problem Reporting is a service with a self explanatory name.

But is this all? Not even by a long shot. Windows Genuine Advantage, Windows Defender, Support Services, Windows Media Center and Internet Explorer 7 all collect and transmit user data to Microsoft. Don’t want them to? Then simply turn them off, or use alternative programs when possible or stop using some services altogether. Otherwise, when your consent is demanded, you can opt for NO.

What Happens to My Data?

Only God and Microsoft know the answer to that. And I have a feeling that God is going right now “Hey, don’t get me involved in this! I have enough trouble as it is trying to find out the release date for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows Seven!”

Generally speaking, Microsoft is indeed transparent – up to a point – about how it will handle the data collected from your Vista machine. “The personal information we collect from you will be used by Microsoft and its controlled subsidiaries and affiliates to provide the service(s) or carry out the transaction(s) you have requested or authorized, and may also be used to request additional information on feedback that you provide about the product or service that you are using; to provide important notifications regarding the software; to improve the product or service, for example bug and survey form inquiries; or to provide you with advance notice of events or to tell you about new product releases,” reads a fragment of the Windows Vista Privacy Statement.

But could Microsoft turn the data it has collected against you? Of course, what did you think? “Microsoft may disclose personal information about you if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (a) comply with the law or legal process served on Microsoft; (b) protect and defend the rights of Microsoft (including enforcement of our agreements); or (c) act in urgent circumstances to protect the personal safety of Microsoft employees, users of Microsoft software or services, or members of the public,” reveals another excerpt.

And you thought that it was just you… and your Windows Vista. Looks like a love triangle to me… with Microsoft in the mix.

Written by Rod Hilton This article is come from cracked.com

On Saturdays, we ask some of our favorite sites on the web to fill in for
us. You get to learn about an awesome site you may not have heard
of, and we get to watch cartoons in our boxers. Today we’re bringing
you an abridged version of the screenplay for Oscar winner Juno, as
provided by Rod Hilton, creator of The-Editing-Room.com.

FADE IN:

EXT. SOME SMALL TOWN

ELLEN PAGE guzzles SUNNY D as some obnoxious INDIE SONG
blares in the background so that everyone knows that this is
an intellectual, independent film.

She enters a convenience store and meets RAINN WILSON.

ELLEN PAGE

I need to use the bathroom, as I’ve been downing delicious, high-quality Sunny Delight for the past hour.

RAINN WILSON

Sunny Delight? You mean the delicious orange-flavored drink containing a full day’s supply of vitamin C in every serving?

ELLEN PAGE

That’s right! I found it in the fridge, behind the purple stuff! Now relinquish the bathroom key geeves, I for shizz need to spout.

RAINN WILSON

I can barely understand you. Is there a reason you’re talking like what seems like a teenager designed by a committee of adults that have researched youth by watching MTV around the clock?

ELLEN PAGE

Yes, and you better start talking like that too or you’ll have no place in the movie, Dwight.

RAINN WILSON

Oh, er, uh, I mean that’s one doodle that can’t be undid homeskillet oh my god I need a new agent.

ELLEN PAGE

You’re so quirky! And so am I!

ELLEN pisses on a pregnancy test and it tells her that she’s PREGNANT as well as PRECOCIOUS.

ELLEN PAGE

This sucks. The only thing left to do is walk home morosely while yet another obnoxious indie song blares.

ELLEN walks home, then calls her friend OLIVIA THIRLBY.

ELLEN PAGE

Hey Olivia. So I’m pregs for real.

OLIVIA THIRLBY

OhMyGodLikeForRealForRealPregs?

ELLEN PAGE

Holy crap, what the hell are you saying? Did someone encrypt your copy of the script or something?

OLIVIA THIRLBY

YouShouldTotallyGetAnAToTheBortion.

ELLEN PAGE

Yeah. First I need you to help me salvage the chair I lost my virginity in, which is on a lawn for some reason that is almost definitely quirky.

They take the chair, then ELLEN sets up an entire living room
set in front of MICHAEL CERA’S HOME.

MICHAEL CERA

Ellen, hey. I like the couch on my front sidewalk, it’s incredibly quirky of you.

ELLEN PAGE

Yeah, well I’m pretty quirky.

MICHAEL CERA

So what are you doing here? Do you need someth-

ELLEN PAGE

Wait, hold on. Your track team is about to come running by and I need to do a voiceover narration for no particularly reason, even though I only do it like three more times in the entire movie.

ELLEN PAGE (V.O.)

Whenever I see the track team, I can’t help but picture their penises, because doing so allows me to explain that fact in a voiceover narration that I can end with the very hip term “pork swords.”

ELLEN PAGE

Alright, sorry about that. What were we talking about? Oh right, I’m pregnant and it’s yours.

MICHAEL CERA

Rather than freak the hell out like a typical high school student, I’m going to sputter around for words awkwardly and barely finish complete sentences. It’s kind of my thing.

ELLEN calls an ABORTION CLINIC to make an appointment.

CLINIC RECEPTIONIST (O.S.)

Crimson River Abortion Clinic, how may I help you?

ELLEN PAGE

Hi. I’d like to make an appointment for an abortion. Oh wait hang on my Hamburger Phone is acting up.

(shakes phone)

Alright, there we go.

CLINIC RECEPTIONIST (O.S.)

Alright, well just come in any time and we can tak-

ELLEN PAGE

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I don’t think you heard me. I’m talking on a HAMBURGER PHONE. How zany is that? That’s for shizz quirky.

ELLEN goes to the CLINIC and signs in. Another INDIE SONG
blares over the scene to make sure you remember that you are
supporting INDEPENDENT CINEMA by watching this movie.

CLINIC RECEPTIONIST

Please sign in here. Do you want a free condom? They make my boyfriend’s penis taste like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

ELLEN PAGE

Wow, what a completely quirky and inappropriate thing to say to a complete stranger!

CLINIC RECEPTIONIST

I know, right!?

ELLEN suddenly runs out of the CLINIC and visits her friend
OLIVIA.

OLIVIA THIRLBY

WhatAreYouDoingOhMiGod?

ELLEN PAGE

I decided I want to keep the baby so that I can star in a wholly overrated independent film about a teenager giving her baby to a childless couple.

ELLEN sits down to talk to her father and stepmother.

ELLEN PAGE

So, I’m pregnant.

J.K. SIMMONS

WHAT YOU’RE FUCKING 16 WHAT THE FU-

ELLEN PAGE

Dad, you’re in an indie flick, remember?

J.K. SIMMONS

Oh right. Sorry, I didn’t mean to blow up, I meant to make a dry, sarcastic remark.

ALLISON JANNEY

And I’d like to follow that up with a second barb.

ELLEN PAGE

It’s Michael Cera’s. The kid from Arrested Development.

J.K. SIMMONS

Huh. I didn’t think he had it in him.

ELLEN PAGE

What, sperm?

ELLEN goes ahead with her pregnancy and the movie SAVED plays
out with fewer jokes and more pretentiousness.

ELLEN finds a couple to adopt her kid: JASON BATEMAN and
JENNIFER GARNER. ELLEN goes to meet them.

JENNIFER GARNER

We’re so happy you’d consider us despite the fact that I starred in Elektra.

JASON BATEMAN

So who is the father of the little bastard?

ELLEN PAGE

Oh, just this awkward, typecast kid at school named Michael Cera.

JASON BATEMAN

No shit? He played my son on Arrested Development. I look forward to the scene in this movie that reunites us for the first time since the show was canceled, which is sure to be a real pleasure for fans.

That scene NEVER HAPPENS. ELLEN agrees to give her kid to
JENNIFER and JASON.

TIME PASSES and MORE INDIE ROCK MUSIC PLAYS. ELLEN
goes through the various scenes that movies about pregnant
people are obligated to include.

She visits JASON BATEMAN.

JASON BATEMAN

Hey Ellen. Want to watch some indie horror films and listen to some indie music together?

ELLEN PAGE

That sounds great! I sure hope that watching the movie isn’t interrupted by me having to go puke my guts out, sweaty and hunched over the toilet.

(pause)

Just kidding, none of that crap happens in the movie. Pregnancy is easy-peasy.

JASON BATEMAN

Well, I have good news. I’m leaving Jennifer Garner.

ELLEN PAGE

Why, because your marriage to her has robbed you of your youth, which you have been reminded of since you started hanging around with me?

JASON BATEMAN

No, I just rented 13 Going On 30. I can’t even look at her now. Has she been in anything good?

ELLEN PAGE

Oh. Because if it was the other thing, then you could take notice of the fact that I remind you of your younger days despite the fact that my current predicament requires a level of maturity far beyond my years, and you could enjoy the contrast between our situations that is ironically illustrated by having us both get along so well.

JASON BATEMAN

How artistic!

ELLEN PAGE

You’re goddamn right it is! Bring on the Oscars!

LIVEJOURNAL: THE MOVIE continues. JASON abandons JENNIFER
GARNER. ELLEN page gives birth while some more INDIE
MUSIC plays.

JENNIFER GARNER

Yay, now I get to raise an adopted kid in a broken home so that I can be overly protective and insane.

ELLEN PAGE

And I passed all of my classes and everything! Pregnancy is as unobtrusive as it is without consequence!

MICHAEL CERA

So now that you popped the kid out, I think we’re in love with each other. What should we do to express our love? Make out? Have sex again? Go buy seasons one through three of Arrested Development?

ELLEN PAGE

Have you been watching a different movie? We should play yet more indie music together.

They DO. EVERYONE convinces themselves they loved the movie
so that they don’t feel STUPID.

END

For more scripts that are funnier and less-time consuming than watching a movie,
head to The-Editing-Room.com.

Written by Aaron_Koehn

Hollywood is an incredible place where modern day storytellers go to weave tales of fantasy and wonderment. This enchanting destination allows noted and gifted filmmakers to work for years perfecting very personal sagas, only to then rashly conform to the opinions of a small group of nitwits (i.e. test audiences), and force unwanted artistic compromises. However, on occasion the nitwits can be right, and below we’ve listed 7 occasions where, at the request of test audiences, alternate endings were created. Was the decision to alter these films correct? You decide, as we present 7 endings that completely flipped (off) the script.

7-1408

The theatrical ending in 1408 involved John Cusak’s ghost-debunking-writer character eventually escaping from his self-induced fiery hotel room, and returning to more respected writing while reconciling with his estranged wife. Overall, it’s a fairly happy ending and it leaves us, the viewers with the thought: man 1, ghosts 0. But in the original and now alternate ending, we find that the director initially had other plans. Darker plans. Cliché plans. Remember in The Shinning when Jack Nicholson’s character eventually dies at the haunted hotel, and we later find out that his ghost is now a permanent fixture at the hotel? Well, that was how this movie was originally going to end as well. In this version, after setting his room ablaze, Mr. Cusak is unable to escape and he perishes in his hot, haunted room. This results in his addition to the place’s ever-growing ghost collection. I’d yell plagiarism if Stephen King wasn’t responsible for writing both.

6-Army of Darkness

When director Sam Raimi first shot Army of Darkness, it included a vastly different ending which to his (and star, Bruce Campell’s) dismay, was panned by test screen audiences. As a result, Universal (the production company) decided that since test audiences are generally made up of brilliant film experts, their word should probably be taken over the wishes of the filmmakers. Consequently, a new ending was ordered, shot, and then attached to this cult classic, and for years we were none the wiser. Until word broke that a new director’s cut was to be released on DVD, which included the original, uncut ending that had been removed at the request of those test screeners. This caused Evil Dead fanatics worldwide to clamor for the head’s of those audience members. And it wasn’t until the DVD was released, the new ending was viewed, and the fanatics shrugged their shoulders apathetically, that the test screeners breathed a sigh of relief.

5-I Am Legend

While the film largely doesn’t come even close to the quality of the book, there is one ending that remained more true to the spirit of the novel. And of course, that ending was the one that wasn’t attached to the theatrical release. The pro of the theatrical ending is that the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air blows himself up in an attempt to destroy an irate, agile vampire. The con of the theatrical ending is that the title, I am Legend, now stands for something that is in no way reminiscent of what it meant in the book. In fact, to even call this movie I am Legend, or claim that it’s based on the book seems pretty farfetched. Ultimately though, the alternate ending comes closer to encompassing what the story originally intended, and for that we should give it a thumbs up. Unfortunately, in this original ending, the man who was born and raised in west Philadelphia, and who spent most of his days chillin’ out, maxin’ and relaxin’ on the playground, escapes without a scratch. And that’s less entertaining.

4-The Butterfly Effect

Categorized as a thriller, the only thing that might thrill you regarding this movie is the prospect of Ashton Kutcher trying to act serious. The alternate ending, which differs greatly from the original in the fact that Mr. Kutcher commits suicide, is remarkable for one reason: the hilarious shot of an embryonic Ashton raising his umbilical cord to his throat and then strangling himself with it. After that, we are treated to the cliché Hollywood happy ending, where everyone involved in Kutcher’s life is now better off, thanks in no small part to this infant hari-kari. I certainly hope there aren’t any depressed embryos out there, who after seeing (or maybe hearing is more realistic) this alternate conclusion, think about ending their lives before they’ve really begun. Is there such a thing as prenatal Prozac?

3-The Astronaut’s Wife

The climactic final confrontation between a pregnant Charlize Theron and an alien-possessed Johnny Depp is the subject of this alternate ending. In the new conclusion (seen below), it appears that Charlize escapes from the battle with her one-time human husband unscathed — excluding the mental trauma one suffers from alien impregnation. However, that’s not the case in the theatrical release, where, after Johnny Depp cooks from Theron’s ingenious electrocution ploy, he briefly returns to alien form, a form which includes transparent tentacles. After this brief alien emergence, we then see said transparent tentacles shoot into Charlize’s eyes, leading the viewer to believe she is now the new host for this see-through Martian. And if you can tell me what’s more terrifying than an alien-possessed single mother who is pregnant with twins, then you’re probably a genius who has a very bright future ahead of you, because that is, by definition, horrifying.

2-Clerks

The directorial debut from cult filmmaker Kevin Smith at one time had an extremely different and discordant ending. Instead of the reconciliation of the protagonist Dante with his friend Randal, Dante is murdered, the store is robbed, and then the credits roll. The humorous tone that had been so prominent throughout the movie was quickly discarded for a final shot which included a close-up of Dante’s bloody hands and his lifeless face. It’s easy to see why so many people thought this ending seemed out of character and unnecessary. And certainly, in reflection, Kevin Smith has to be glad he re-shot it, since Clerks 2, Mallrats, and Clerks the series would not have been possible with that conclusion. If there is one thing we can learn from all of these forced ending re-shoots, it’s that the public doesn’t like to walk out of movies depressed. Especially not when they thought they were seeing a comedy.

1-Terminator 2: Judgment Day

As originally envisioned, this epilogue would have followed the scene where evil terminator T-1000 gets blasted into a vat of molten lava, and a sad Arnold Schwarzenegger gives a thumbs up while being lowered into a similar vat, with the intent of adding closure to the story. Wisely, this ending was dropped since its tone felt oddly out of place compared to the prior 137 minutes of robot-on-human violence. This epilogue–which seems somewhat reminiscent of a commercial for elderly medication, a la Boniva–details Sarah Connor’s now happy future, complete with grandchildren and Michael Jackson references. In it, Ms. Connor–doing her best old-age voice impersonation–describes how humanity dodged a big bullet thanks to her and no one even knows it. To be honest, what I think this ending is really saying is that this crazy 2-hour robot war we all just watched was actually just an absurd concoction of a senile senior citizen.

Written by lifehacker

Whether you want to watch a movie on your iPod or back up your too-easily-scratched DVDs, DVD ripping is a mysterious realm for many. Even those in-the-know find it difficult to keep up with the best tools for the job, especially in the face of increased copy protection. On Tuesday we asked you to share your favorite DVD ripping tools; today we’ve sifted through hundreds of comments to bring you the five most popular answers. Hit the jump for a closer look at five of the best and most popular DVD ripping tools, then cast your vote to determine the best ripper of the bunch.

DVD Shrink (Windows)

Despite the fact that the freeware DVD Shrink (download) hasn’t been in active development for years, this freeware decrypter, ripper, and compressor is still a favorite all-in-one stop for ripping and backing up DVDs. Its compression feature is what sets DVD Shrink apart, compressing 8GB dual-layer DVDs down to 4GB sizes that will fit on standard, single-layer DVD-Rs (i.e., the type of DVDs most consumers can burn to). It’s even inspired us to write our very own DVD Shrink helper application, DVD Rip, which turns the already simple DVD Shrink process into a one-click ripping affair.

HandBrake (All Platforms)

The free, cross-platform HandBrake makes ripping DVDs to a bevy of useful, playable file formats a cinch, with support for iPods, PSPs, Apple TVs, PS3s, and pretty much any other format your device requires. It’s fast, free, and takes the difficulty out of both ripping and transcoding. (original post)

DVDFab HD Decrypter

Much like DVD Shrink, DVDFab HD Decrypter cuts through copy protection and rips DVDs to your hard drive. Unlike DVD Shrink, DVDFab does not offer compression tools. DVDFab is shareware, but its trial version lets you do nearly as much as you’d ever need. That said, users who pony up for the platinum edition don’t seem to have any regrets. (original post)

MacTheRipper (Mac OS X)

Freeware application MacTheRipper breaks copy protection from DVDs and rips the contents to your hard drive-which makes it the go-to Mac version of apps like DVD Shrink or DVDFab. Like the other two, MacTheRipper doesn’t encode its rips to other formats (instead it just rips the DVD menu and all to your hard drive), but that’s what Handbrake is there for.

DVD Decrypter

The freeware DVD Decrypter works much like DVD Shrink and DVDFab, ripping DVDs to your hard drive by tearing through pesky copy protection. Like DVD Shrink, DVD Decrypter hasn’t been actively developed for a while, but it’s still doing the job for most folks without complaint.

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Now that we’ve seen the five most popular, it’s time to narrow it down to choose your ultimate favorite:

Best DVD Ripping Tool?

DVDFab HD Decrypter

HandBrake

DVD Shrink

MacTheRipper

DVD Decrypter

skip to current results >

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you’re viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

Honorable Mentions

This week’s honorable mentions go out to AnyDVD (Windows, shareware) and DVD43 (freeware, Windows, original post). I want to put a special word in for both of these, particularly DVD43 since it’s freeware. Whenever popular ripping tools like DVD Shrink, HandBrake, DVDFab, or DVD Decrypter fail to break the copy protection, these lightweight tools are a must-have. They run in the background and disable copy protection as soon as the DVD is inserted, leaving any ripping tool free to grab the contents without having to deal with decryption at all.

My third honorable mention is a shameless plug for the free, Windows-only DVD Rip, Lifehacker’s very own helper application that works in conjunction with DVD Shrink to set up automated one-click rips. DVD Shrink does all the heavy lifting, but DVD Shrink makes it simple enough that the entirely tech unsavvy should have no problems ripping a DVD.

Last, if you’d like a more detailed look at how you might put these programs to use, check out our previous guide to turning your PC into a DVD ripping monster.

If your favorite didn’t make the list or you want to lavish more praise on your app of choice, let’s hear your thoughts in the comments.

Written by Rami Taibah

Switching to Linux can be very daunting, most seasoned Linux users experienced that first hand. After all, at some point they were also “noobs”. However, the Linux community has excelled in making the switch for beginners as easy as possible by providing guides, howtos, tweaks, and general advocacy articles. When I first made the switch 3 years ago, I found the community welcoming me with open hands on forums, IRC channels, and E-mail, I was surprised how helpful these penguins were!

For this, I feel obliged to give back to the community that has always been there for me. To pass down the torch to newer Linux generations. Over here I compiled a list of 7 habits that I wish someone told me when I started out. I believe that getting into these habits will make the Linux experience more secure, convenient, educational, and ultimately more enjoyable.

1-Never Login Using ‘root’

If there was one habit that one should strictly abide by, it’s probably this one. Most of us come from a Windows background, and we have the notion that more power is better, so we login using our administrator accounts. Well let me tell you my friend, that this is a major reason that Windows is plagued with viruses and insecurities, half the world is currently running ‘root’ accounts!With great power comes great responsibility, and with ‘root’ powers you should be aware of the consequences of EVERYTHING you’re doing, and even then, mistakes happen. I remember my beginnings with SUSE Linux, there were lot of administrative tasks I needed to do but had no idea how to go about them without the GUI, so I so innocently log out and login onto the ‘root‘ GUI. The default wallpaper of the ‘root‘ GUI on SUSE were lit fuse bombs tiled beside each other. Back then, the symbolism totally flew over my head, coming from a Windows background, I wasn’t really doing anything wrong.

But what are the dangers of logging in as root?

1. Well imagine you’re on the trapeze without a safety net, frightening isn’t it? Well that’s effectively what you are doing when you login as root, you can inadvertently hose your whole system
2. You are at the risk of running malware. Any program that is started under root mode will automatically be given root privileges
3. If there is a common security hole that hasn’t been patched yet, you could be totally “pwned”
4. It’s common Unix convention, never run anything in root mode unless absolutely necessary. If a non-admin program asks for root access, you should be suspicious

Generally, instead of logging onto your root GUI, use any of the following techniques:

• Use “sudo” or “su” , and kill the session when your done
• If you don’t know how to do it in the command line, use “gksu” or “kdesu”. For example, press alt+f2 and type “gksu nautilus“. Close the app as soon as you finish

2-Properly Name Your Files

In a Linux environment, you can name your files whatever you want except for, 1) the forward slash “/” which is reserved for the root directory, and 2) a null character. Anything else is technically acceptable, however there are some best practices that you should abide by in order to avoid any future complications:

• As a rule of thumb, only use alphanumeric characters, hyphens, periods, and underscores
• Avoid special symbols like dollar signs, brackets, and percentages. These symbols have special meanings to the shell, and could cause conflicts
• Avoid using spaces, handling files with spaces in the terminal is kind of awkward. Replace spaces with either hyphens or underscores

I personally have grown into this habit, I find myself following these guidelines even in a Windows or Mac environment.

3-Place /home on a Different Partition

Doing this gives you extreme flexibility, a kind that you never imagined before. Having /home in a separate partition enables you to reinstall your system or even change your whole distro without losing your data and personal settings. Just keep the “/home” partition intact and reinstall whatever you want on your “/”. Now you can try out distros as much as you want, without worrying about your data and personal settings, they go with you on the go ;).

If you weren’t lucky enough to know this before installing your system, then do not despair! Carthik from Ubuntu Blog takes you in a step-by-step guide titled “Move /home to it’s own partition”

4-Proper Crash Management

Linux is very robust and stable, however every system can come down to it’s knees every once in a while. Before you head to CTRL-ALT-DEL, the restart button, or the plug, you should know how to properly handle any crash. As opposed to another un-named operating system, you should be able to easily recover your system without actually restarting! I personally go through different levels, if one doesn’t work I elevate it to next step:

 

1. I have the “force quit” applet on my taskbar, if any app starts to act up just click on the “force quit” icon and then kill the app
2. If that doesn’t work, draw up a terminal and type “ps -A” , and take note of the Process ID (PID) of the culprit app, then kill it. “kill PID”
3. Use the “killall” command, for example,
   “killall firefox-bin”
4. If your whole GUI is frozen, and drawing up a terminal is impossible, then press CTRL-ALT-F1, this will take you to another terminal, and virtually a whole new session. From there kill the culprit app using step 2 and 3.
5. If that doesn’t work, you might want to restart your GUI using the CTRL-ALT-Backspace combo. Beware, that this will kill all your GUI apps currently running
6. Invoke CTRL-ALT-F1 and do CTRL+ALT+DEL from here. This will not instantly reset your system, merely perform a standard reboot, it’s safe. (Assuming you want to restart and CTLR-ALT-F1 works)
7. Finally if nothing works, don’t rush to the hard reset button, try to Raise a Skinny Elephant

5-Play The Field

You were probably recruited to your current distro by a friend, it suited you, and stuck with it. That’s great, but there is probably something better for you out there. Why not harness the flexibility and richness of Linux and Open Source? Don’t be afraid to experiment around with different distros, apps, window managers, and desktops. Experiment until you find the best fit. Think of it this way, if you are currently living in the best place on earth for you, traveling around the world wouldn’t really harm right? In fact you might find a better place to live in, but if you didn’t, the time you spent traveling would not have gone to waste, you would have learned a lot about other countries, other people and traditions, different ways of thinking, and ultimately had fun!

Every new thing you try out will contribute to your incremental learning, in a year’s time you will have a good grasp on Linux and the Open Source world. I personally tried out at least 10 distros, 4 desktops, and 5 window managers. My recent article Etymology of A Distro got me interested in a couple more distros such as Zenwalk, Foresight, and Sabayon. Play the field, my friend, it will do you good.

But before you proceed, pay heed to these few hints:

• Set up your perfect system that you feel comfortable with, you need a workable system 24/7 right? Then test around using one of the below points
• Harness the power of virtualization! Install Vmware or Virtualbox. Use them to test out the distros
• Alternatively, if you are not big on virtualization, you can set up a separate partition to test new distros. A partition that you couldn’t care less about
• Ultimately, you can have a main PC and a test one. Wreak havoc on the test one

Anime image is licensed by Creative Commons BY-NC 3.0
Original Artwork by Juzo Kun, Modified by Wayne Richardson.

6-Nurture Your CLI Adoption

Now I am not going to advocate learning the command line, there are numerous articles that emphasise on it’s importance. What I am assuming here is that you already know it’s importance, and have a rudimentary understanding on how to do some simple administrative tasks. You are already hacking away, tweaking and configuring, following the different guides and howtos scattered all over the tubes, but don’t just copy and paste!! Meaning, instead of just headlessly executing commands some random guy half way across the world told you to execute, try to understand what every command does. Why did the guide ask you to do this, as opposed to something else? Understand the rationale of the steps you are asked to do. These commands are highly relevant to you, and will help you gain a better understanding than any 101 guide.

After a while you will notice that you have amassed a good deal of CLI lore.

At the end of the day it’s just a pseudo-language! Every command is probably just an acronym of something, or a cut down version of a real word. You expect your dog to understand “Spike fetch ball” so why don’t you expect to understand “sudo mv /file1 /file2??

7-Always Be Ready to Unleash The Power Within

Personally, I had numerous occasions when a friend asked me to do something on his/her computer, but found myself crippled because of his/her choice of OS. At other times I wanted to do something urgently but the only computer had another crippled OS. Spare yourself the agony, have Linux with you all the time, whether it’s on a USB pendrive, a live CD, or even a live CD business card ! There are dozens of good Linuces out there that are perfect for on-the-go computing. Knoppix, DSL, and Puppy Linux are just a few examples.

I personally don’t apply this habit, which is a shame, I really need to get my act together! :p </publishes and heads to pendrivelinux.com>