I don't watch movies but I need to watch this one again re current events.
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This powerful "spy camera"(lidar-based) can capture facial details from over 60 miles away
https://www.techspot.com/news/106856-china-powerful-spy-camera-can-capture-facial-details.html
" In 2011, a US defense contractor achieved a 2cm resolution from just 1.6 km away. The best Chinese institutes had previously reached a 5cm resolution at 6.9 km"
Just popped up in my suggested feed. I suspect it's getting more views.
First term, sales of 1984 spiked. I reread it for the first time since 1984. Along with Fahrenheit 451, and Brave New World.
1984 and 451 were better than I remembered. BNW was worse, it it was a super important book to me when I was 15-17, so no surprise.
Regarding 1984...
QuoteIt most recently returned to the top of the American best-seller list in January 2017, after a Trump administration adviser coined the doublespeak term "alternative facts."
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-does-george-orwells-1984-mean-in-2024-180984468
Planatir is the non-fiction mega corp to watch. They are heavily involved in applying AI to government data, particularly in defense and intelligence sectors.
The reason I want to re-watch: I can't think of a surveillance scene that requires the least bit of a stretch of the imagination to believe that it can be routinely done. Back then, cynical Debbie *thought* it was do-able. Now she knows it.
>> Planatir is the non-fiction mega corp to watch
Nephew used to work there. I think he still has his shares. They took a big drop recently, but still up over 10X in 2 years. Scary company though IMO.
>> I can't think of a surveillance scene that requires the least bit of a stretch
QuoteThe modern dream of the totalitarian police, with its modern techniques, is incomparably more terrible. Now the police dreams that one look at the gigantic map on the office wall should suffice at any given moment to establish who is related to whom and in what degree of intimacy; and, theoretically, this dream is not unrealizable although its technical execution is bound to be somewhat difficult.
Hannah Arendt, Origins of Totalitarianism, 1951
That was the first DVD I got when I bought my first DVD player. I am pretty sure it was my first major online purchase. Was it 800.com? Some electronics store with a name like that. Loved that movie at the time and it could definitely be worth a re-watch.
>first DVD player
We migrated through a few over the years but the old one I chose to re-install is a generic, clunky-looking APEX brand (definitely chinese) and most likely acquired via Amz. Why this one? Is it because it plays dvds, cds, or photo disks using the same tray? No. Because it still had a sticker on it with a note to my future self.
"Do not get rid of this player. They banned it because it does not recognize region codes."
I wonder what an unlocked player goes for on EBay now.
Watched the movie over the last two nights. It holds up well even after 27 years