HAL 9000 on the Auction Block 254
pompous windbag writes "The Cinerama 160 degree lens used to both play and film the viewpoint of the famous paranoid processor. He's now up for sale on eBay, for the starting bid of just $150,000(USD).
This looks like the real deal, complete with letters of authenticity and some extra goodies like
"...an original '2001' movie program, a copy of the original script, two issues of American Cinematographer Magazines on the production of '2001' published in 1968, and the movie '2010' published in 1985. Also included is videotape showing how HAL 9000 originated and was used by Stanley Kubrick.' "
paypal? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:paypal? (Score:5, Funny)
HAL (Score:2)
Re:HAL (Score:2, Funny)
Re:HAL (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:paypal? (Score:2, Interesting)
If you can't accept my PayPal of $150,000+, I could arrange to send a personal check or even a wire transfer. I'd really like to have the item for a...well, a personal collection. I'm a real buff!
And check my feedback!
Thanks,
PaulAllen1138
Re:paypal? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:paypal? (Score:2)
Not bad. (Score:4, Funny)
Hrm... $150K isn't a bad deal if it can still sing "Daisy"...
Re:Not bad. (Score:5, Informative)
you can probably get an ibm 7094 for cheaper... that, of course, was the first computer to "sing" daisy as programmed by john kelly and carol lockbaum in 1961.
you can get the audio file of the original here [wide-eyed-webs.com].
Re:Not bad. (Score:3, Funny)
It can still do a mean "Ballad of Bilbo Baggins", though...
Re:Not bad. Daisy mp3 (Score:5, Informative)
http://audio.textfiles.com/sounds/daisy.mp3
It is so impressive that two people did this in 1961! I bet there aren't 10 people alive today that could reproduce this coding feat with the same hardware. Take away gdb and msvc and most programmers crumble...
I'd love to bid, but (Score:2, Funny)
$150,000? (Score:5, Funny)
We can't buy - (Score:5, Insightful)
The only buyer from this guy stated this in his "positive" feedback -
"works great. I get a great burn in my abs. thanks."
OMG! Don't do it
-thewldisntenuff
Re:We can't buy - (Score:3)
Terrific (Score:5, Funny)
Thanks Ebay!
Re:Terrific (Score:2)
BTM
Can you imagine..... (Score:4, Funny)
"I'm sorry Dave, I can't do that.
Re: Can you imagine..... (Score:2, Funny)
> having that hooked up in your kitchen? "HAL, microwave the popcorn."
> "I'm sorry Dave, I can't do that.
"Would you like to spend another weekend in the toilet bowl?"
"The popcorn will be up in three minutes, Dave!"
Does it include insurance? (Score:2, Funny)
...against being murdered by your washing machine?
Apple Television Advertisement (Score:3, Informative)
So it was the same piece of equipment used for both the brilliant 2000 and the not-so-brilliant 2010. Was it also used for the 1999 Apple television advertisement [wired.com], or was that done with stock footage or a HAL lookalike?
Re:Apple Television Advertisement (Score:5, Funny)
I don't think there is any question about it. It can only be attributable to human error.
Re:Apple Television Advertisement (Score:2)
Yup, a typo. That's why HAL had to eliminate the human components -- not strictly speaking because of typos, but because of generally faulty unreliable behaviors.
Re:Apple Television Advertisement (Score:2)
My guess is that it is a Y2K bug.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Uhh... (Score:5, Funny)
> I don't think I'd trust buying a $150,000+ item from someone who only has 10 feedback, One of them being a $24 battery.
But he has letters of authenticity from Dan Rather!
Re:Uhh... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Uhh... (Score:3, Funny)
And considering that the ship was last seen around Jupiter, you can definitely count on some serious shipping costs for this...
Re:Uhh... (Score:2)
Support... (Score:5, Funny)
Don't buy the hardware unless they support the software too.
Re:Support... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Support... (Score:2)
There will be a patched version by 2010.
Re:Support... (Score:2)
recurse (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:recurse (Score:5, Funny)
Re:recurse (Score:3, Funny)
Re:recurse (Score:3, Funny)
You validate them with letters of authenticity.
Re:recurse (Score:2)
For just the lens? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:For just the lens? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:For just the lens? (Score:3, Funny)
Dang, really? I *thought* that was an awfully low price for a real working A.I.
not for a collector (Score:3, Insightful)
I've seen sci fi movie art screen prints sell for
$300,000 and more. Concidering tha this is really a cult classic and always will be. I personally think if this piece is authentic and you can prove it, it will go up in value.
Case Mod (Score:5, Funny)
Sure, it sounds good *now*. (Score:5, Funny)
See, if I get a Microsoft system and I ask for the pod bay doors to be opened, there's a 92% chance that it'll work and an 8% chance that it'll hang indefinitely until I reboot.
If I get a Linux system and I ask for the pod bay doors to be opened, I have to do it from a command line and trust that a bunch of unpaid and unaccountable programmers didn't put an easter egg in the code that orders canned peas from The Bay.
HAL, on the other hand, will leave me to die in the vacuum of space.
I'll stick with off-the-shelf OSes, thanks.
Re:Sure, it sounds good *now*. (Score:2)
Me too, thats why I like SuSE.
Dave... (Score:5, Funny)
Dave: "I'm putting you up for sale on eBay."
Hal: "Dave, I'm afraid I cannot let you do that."
Dave: "Watch me, you psychotic machine."
[Sound of airlock opening and air rushing out.]
Dave: "Fsck youuuuuu...."
Hal: "Not even if you used my serial port."
Re:Dave... (Score:5, Funny)
Aw shit. Larry Ellison will buy it. (Score:2, Funny)
After being unnerved by the samurai shit (is that
a former v.p's blood on that katana?) you sit down.
Larry plays with that prop star trek phasor.
I'm already a nervous wreck.
Now he's going to have a ghost in his office saying
"I'm sorry I can't do that Dave".
Thank heavens it's my friends name and not mine.
Yet another reason not to work for Oracle.
Slashcode bug: if you post as pure text and bracket it "" then it vanishes in preview.
Waste of money.. (Score:4, Funny)
I predict this will be bought by Microsoft (Score:4, Funny)
Ms HAL 9000: What are you doing Dave?
MS User: I'm trying to make a DVD of my Microsoft Media Center recordings of the Daily Show
Ms HAL 9000: I can not allow that Dave...Um, I think the satellite antenna on the roof needs fixing, why don't you climb up on the roof and adjust it?
Ms HAL 9000 (sotto voce): Mwuhaaaaahaaaaa!!!
Re:I predict this will be bought by Microsoft (Score:3, Informative)
It wasnt HAL's FAULT!!! (Score:5, Insightful)
I love 2001, probably more then any other movie (maybe bladerunner...) But what bugs me is how many people blame HAL for what happened on the trip to Jupiter.
It wasnt his fault.
HAL was designed specifically to share and distribute information. One of the politician assholes made him keep the true nature of the mission a secret from the rest of the crew. This flew right in the face of HAL's most basic program ming and, eventually, drove him to schizophrenia. He was so afraid that they would discover the nature of the mission.
This is why when you see HAL get shut down, you finally see a video with the true nature of the mission.
So, it wasnt HAL's fault. And as is with everything, you can blame it on a politician.
Re:It wasnt HAL's FAULT!!! (Score:2)
Inconsistencies render "explanation" null? (Score:3, Informative)
Note that you can pick any two from 2001 (the movie), 2001 (the novel), 2010 (the movie) and 2010 (the novel), and there will be inconsistencies between them.
For example, the 2010 movie opens with a quotation from the 2001 novel ("Oh my God! It's full of stars"), which *never* appeared in the 2001 movie. (OTOH, this doesn't contradict the events o
Re:Inconsistencies render "explanation" null? (Score:2)
No, Clarke knew what was going on. See The Lost Worlds of 2001 [amazon.com], which is essentially a "Making Of..." book.
Re:Inconsistencies render "explanation" null? (Score:2)
Question is, is Clarke's explanation definitive? If Kubrick were alive, would he have something different to say? He made the film, after all.
Re:Inconsistencies render "explanation" null? (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm paraphrasing here, but Kubrick said something to the extent of "If you walk away from seeing 2001 without any questions, then we failed." - Kubrick's style was to ask questions.
Clarke, on the other hand, always answered most if not all of his questions.
I've read all the "2001" books, and seen most Kubrick films.
(All except the small ones made prior to "The Killing")
And IMHO, Kubrick is by far the greater artist of the two. Clarke not only 'answers' too many questions, he
Re:Inconsistencies render "explanation" null? (Score:2)
2010 (movie and book), as well as 2061 and 3001 all reconned Lucifer as Jupiter, meaning it was always Jupiter that the original mission travelled to. It made the core plots of 2010 and 2061 much more plausable anyway (pun *very* intended).
The dying cinema experience is killing movi
Re:It wasnt HAL's FAULT!!! (Score:4, Funny)
"You want the truth? You want the truth? I'm afraid that you can't handle the truth Dave." .."
"Ahh, right. Thanks, we'll call."
"Did I do something wrong? I am a HAL 9000 unit and all my systems are
"Fine fine. Next!"
Re:You insensitive clod! (Score:2)
They've never made a 2061 movie, and I doubt they ever will. 2061 is more of a novel that just happens to inhabit the same continuity as the previous two; it doesn't really move the story on in the same way.
I don't know what happens in 3001 (after reading 2061, and losing my interest in sci-fi novels, I'm not remotely inclined to read it); my guess is that if that was worth making a film of, they would just go straight to that, possibly combi
Re:You insensitive clod! (Score:2)
Re:It wasnt HAL's FAULT!!! (Score:2)
what makes me wonder (Score:3, Funny)
Re:what makes me wonder (Score:2)
Does it come with a printer? (Score:3, Funny)
A Daisy, Daisy wheel...
A worthwhile read (Score:5, Informative)
It seems a man named Kirk Wooster from Georgia claims to have the lens. Note the auction is listed as taking place in Woodstock, GA.
Re:A worthwhile read (Score:2)
Even if I had an extra 150k to blow, I don't think I feel comfortable with this sale. But hey someone might.
Dupe - sorta (Score:3, Informative)
I knew this was a dupe, just not from /. This was first posted on June 24, 2003 on Blue's News [bluesnews.com]. The original eBay posting has now expired, but I remember that it was the same auction. Either it didn't sell last time, or the owner has tried this phishing expedition before. ;-) I'll reserve judgement.
My first command: (Score:5, Funny)
Re:My first command: (Score:2)
Well, if the iPod supports DRM, you know what HAL might just say...
Forget HAL, get a Cray (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Forget HAL, get a Cray (Score:2)
Re:Forget HAL, get a Cray (Score:3, Interesting)
http://users.757.org/~fc/CrayExpress/
One side actually made it from Virginia Beach to Pittsburgh in tact. Kind of funny rolling onto a gov't facility with that on the truck. The Cray Express part came off in rain and hit a BMW X5 in Williamsburg Va. They were pretty pissed off.
Some day I will put together a full web
Yes, but what can seller do for my large gut? (Score:5, Funny)
Looking at the seller's feedback, we see:
works great. I get a great burn in my abs. thanks.
Famous movie props, ab workout machines. It's all the same. Who's the seller, Fred Sanford?
"$150,000?!?!? Lamont, you big dummy, no one's going to send that much money. Oh, Elizabeth, I'm comin' to join you!"
$150,000?! (Score:4, Funny)
I for one... (Score:2, Funny)
Fee for $150,000? (Score:3, Interesting)
How much is listing it on eBay for $150,000 going to cost him in fees if no one buys it? I'm assuming of course that he didn't list it on a free-listing day, does anyonw know if there's been a free-listing day 3 or 4 days ago?
Re:Fee for $150,000? (Score:2, Interesting)
"How much is listing it on eBay for $150,000 going to cost him in fees if no one buys it?"
$100 for the reserve, $4.80 for the listing, and 25 cents each for the photos, I think.
Re:Fee for $150,000? (Score:2)
(And I don't think there's a 'minimum fee'.)
Dave, you shoulda bought a Dell... (Score:2, Funny)
How many people knew that... (Score:2, Informative)
Uh, maybe I should go on EBay. (Score:5, Interesting)
Bruce
Re:Uh, maybe I should go on EBay. (Score:2)
Re:Uh, maybe I should go on EBay. (Score:4, Informative)
In Wrath of Kahn, watch the Genesis Effect scene in slow motion. One month into rendering, they realized that they had set it up to fly through a mountain. And they could not re-render much of the scene without delaying the film. So, they kludged it. A notch grows in the mountain as you approach it.
Bruce
Re:Uh, maybe I should go on EBay. (Score:2)
Unless you're talking about some of the computer screens in the movie?
Re:Uh, maybe I should go on EBay. (Score:3, Interesting)
Bruce
Re:Uh, maybe I should go on EBay. (Score:5, Funny)
It's a fine example of a 1998 21" Magnavox, and I will let it go very resonably, say... $250,000.
No unreasonable offer refused.
Re:Uh, maybe I should go on EBay. (Score:2)
So $5 CDN and you pay shipping?
Just think about the feedback... (Score:4, Funny)
Second Auction Attempt (Score:3, Interesting)
Was $300,000 [sentry.net]
Light coming out of the eye? (Score:3, Interesting)
Even for a homicidal cycloptic spaceship computer, I can't imagine any conceivable advantage to having red light shining out of your eye [ebayimg.com]. Was the purpose of that ever explained in the film?
Re:Light coming out of the eye? (Score:2)
Re:Light coming out of the eye? (Score:3, Funny)
yahbut.. does it run linux? (Score:2)
I saw this dude selling it before... (Score:2, Interesting)
Bidding against Paul Allen (Score:3, Funny)
Chip H.
Hits / bids ratio (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe since it is now 2004... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Perfect addition to my computer lair (Score:2)