... until the robot accidentally drowns some geezer in the tub! Or maybe not accidentally - some evil person hacks it to drown their old man to hurry up the inheritance...
...I used to love to go to record stores back in the vinyl days just to peruse the cover art. It was like going to a museum. Say what you will about technological progress, but the LP format was a great venue for graphic art as well as music!
"1) because its there. 2) because we need more land/resources for the growing number of people on earth."
Are you serious? Are you imagining that there is any way that significant numbers of people are going to be able to be transported to Mars? That's insanity.
"Thus the government is going to have to develop the initial technology, prove it, then give it away to companies who wish to make a profit on it."
Oh, and those same companies will profit heartily all along the development path, with our tax dollars. Then, after we've paid them to develop the technology, and assumed all the risk, we'll hand it over to them to make more profit.
"Of course we're somehow going to profit off of the invasion of Iraq right? Nevermind the billions we spent to accomplish this"
Of course we (the average citizen of the US) will not profit from the invasion of Iraq. In fact, the fiscal nightmare cooked up by Bush & Co. is going to make life very hard for the average citizen in years to come.
But you'd better believe that Halliburton is going to make a profit! And all the other corporations that own the White House. They made an investment, and now they'll realize the profit.
This is crazy. How long has there been packet-writing software? The a**holes who think they have a patent on it should have pounced at the beginning. It's too late now - they can go to hell. IANAL by any means, but don't you have to assert your patent in a timely fashion for this sort of thing to stick?
This patent business is beginning to make me sick.
Gore was actually quite a ruthless polititician in his day. As most/all politicians do, he wildly exaggerated his accomplishments, if not outright lied about them.
But while we're talking about lies and politicians, the current resident of the White House reigns unchallenged. He didn't lie about his days on the farm, or about getting blowjobs in the Oval Office. No, his lies have gotten us into a unecessary war and bankrupted the country.
His lies are killing hundreds of people (thousands if you consider Iraqui and Afghan civilians to be people, ha ha:-(
His administration has been one long lie from the "election" on. Lies with very real consequences to our (US) national security as well as global stability.
Gore's (and even Clinton's) lies were utterly inconsequential by comparison. Bush goes straight for the Big Lie.
The food that you eat is just as much a manufactured product as the computer you are typing on, and it's all based on petroleum. The whole "Green Revolution" is based on petroleum. Or what the "agriculture" industry likes to call "inputs".
The no-nothing techno-pollyannas (which/. is just crawling with) like to prate on and on about the wonderful productivity of our agriculture, and how it has become more and more efficient.
What a crock of shit. What people call "agriculture" in this country is totally subsidized by petroleum. Petroleum for tractors, petroleum for fertilizers, petroleum for herbicides, petroleum for pesticides, and petroleum to get the stuff to market. 1.2 liters of petroleum per bushel of corn - and you can buy that bushel of corn for less than it cost the "farmer" to "produce" it, because of government subsidies. There is absolutely zero real world feedback - nothing like a "market".
And that's not even figuring in the fact that the price of that petroleum is whacked, and doesn't include all the subsidies given to the petroleum industry, and all the externalities (can you say "war in Iraq"?)
As petroleum becomes scarce (maybe sooner, maybe later) and way more expensive, look for food prices to go out the window, and scarcities to occur. Forget about getting a Prius, or taking fewer car trips. Personal transportation is not going to the problem when the crunch comes.
And it will. The bursting of the Tech Bubble of the 90's is going to look like child's play compared with the bursting of the petro-bubble.
Here's my take on the Linux v. Windows thing (I'm writing this from Windows 2000, but using Mozilla). I am not a zealot of any kind, though I am sympathetic to OSS, and think MS is a fairly bad actor (as most huge corps end up being). My computer is a communication and information tool, not a religious icon.
I used Linux as much as I could for several years - RH 4.something until 8.0. I was mainly after stability, and I found it. I could do any email, browsing, officy stuff that I needed to do, and do it well. Got my scanner working great, printer too. Sound was great, had all the CD ripping and burning stuff anyone could want.
But I was a "dual-booter", and here's the reason: Software. I have a handful of Windows apps that I use regularly, and there simply aren't Linux equivalents. I know - I've looked, and I've tried many alleged equivalents. And I simply had to run FrontPage for a few clients, without question:-/
Let me be specific: I'm talking about astronomy software, birding software, topographic mapping software, genealogy software and a Quicken workalike (no, Gnucash and CBB are not Quicken workalikes:-).
I tried dual-booting... I HATE dual-booting. I like to just leave my computer running, and have it ready when I need it for whatever purpose. I tried Win4Lin, but that's just running Windows anyway.
So I booted into Windows 2000 pretty much daily, and found it to be adequately stable. I run anti-virus software, and I'm very careful anyway. No problems there. I have Mozilla on win2k, which is vastly superior to IE in my opinion. I have OOo on win2k, which easily satisfies my fairly basic office suite needs, and seems.
Well, I deleted my Linux partition, because I needed the disk space. To me, Win2k is just an OS. I am not a MS fanboy. I just don't have the time or inclination to keep up with two installations anyway.
Here's the bottom line: I will not dual-boot. Therefore, I can have only one OS. Therefore, I can not use an OS that doesn't have the apps that do the things that I want to use my computer for. If I were running a server, it would be different, but I'm not. So I run Windows 2000. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
First of all, private industry has been building the space program hardware all along. And they profit from it. Their customer is NASA.
Developing man-rated space hardware is hideously expensive, which is why governments foot the bill. Just like governments foot the bill for building bridges and roads and such. A space program is not like making cars or some other consumer item. It's more like public works.
Space travel is difficult, and the profit from going there is hard to see. If there is any, it will be long-term and after a huge investment. That's why you don't see private corporations avidly going after space programs on their own. As far as I know, nothing is stopping them, other than the fact that there's no good business reason to go there.
Other than commercial satellite launches, wherein private corporation make profits from employing technology derived from years of research and development funded largely by public money.
The idea that all we need to do is "get some profit motive in there" sort of ignores the fact that there is no profit to put there! At least not the kind of profit that shows up within the planning horizons of most any corporation on Earth. How do you propose to get some profit motive in there?
I'm not defending NASA - there are real flaws in the culture there. But invoking the idea that "private enterprise" as some sort of magic incantation that is going to solve every problem is a bit over the top.
I just had an idea (and it didn't even hurt)! Use less energy! Yes, I'm talking about efficiency and conservation. If we can nibble at this thing from both ends (production and consumption), perhaps we can come to some sensible arrangement.
Somehow or other, many people seem to get by on home PV - I know my neighbors do. They're totally off the grid.
" No. The idea of gaing superpowers from a meteorite is so ubsurd, it barley warrants a reply."
Captain, it seems to be some form of ancient English. Say whuh huh? Barley is good, beer comes from barley. The idea of gaing superpowers from a meteorite is way over my head. Utterly ubsurd.
What makes people yearn so for the future? What makes them think it will be any different than the present, really, or make them happy? What is everybody trying to escape from? Why can't people see that all the "new" "cutting edge" shit is just the same old shit, only moreso?
I appreciate technology. I am NOT a luddite. But technology is not what is going to "save us", as one post has it. What will "save us" is taking a breather, thinking some things through, asking questions like "what's the point?".
Slashdot Mirror
"So, when is the last time somebody pulled a home invasion and killed a family to get money to buy coffee?"
Never. Because, and only because, cocaine has been made illegal.
... until the robot accidentally drowns some geezer in the tub! Or maybe not accidentally - some evil person hacks it to drown their old man to hurry up the inheritance...
...I used to love to go to record stores back in the vinyl days just to peruse the cover art. It was like going to a museum. Say what you will about technological progress, but the LP format was a great venue for graphic art as well as music!
This portrays in a nutshell what is wrong with the Corporate States of America. The foxes are always put in charge of guarding the henhouses.
The Founding Fathers would be appalled at the state of the Union today.
"KDE features are thrown into the mix with little or no regard for usability, or even good taste."
:-)
That's it, in a nutshell!
At least he didn't start his post with "erm".
"1) because its there. 2) because we need more land/resources for the growing number of people on earth."
Are you serious? Are you imagining that there is any way that significant numbers of people are going to be able to be transported to Mars? That's insanity.
"Thus the government is going to have to develop the initial technology, prove it, then give it away to companies who wish to make a profit on it."
Oh, and those same companies will profit heartily all along the development path, with our tax dollars. Then, after we've paid them to develop the technology, and assumed all the risk, we'll hand it over to them to make more profit.
This is known as corporate welfare.
"Hillary's, "Because it's there."
But Hillary did not ask for (at least) tens of billions of tax dollars to accomplish his explorations.
- Steve
"Of course we're somehow going to profit off of the invasion of Iraq right? Nevermind the billions we spent to accomplish this"
Of course we (the average citizen of the US) will not profit from the invasion of Iraq. In fact, the fiscal nightmare cooked up by Bush & Co. is going to make life very hard for the average citizen in years to come.
But you'd better believe that Halliburton is going to make a profit! And all the other corporations that own the White House. They made an investment, and now they'll realize the profit.
... for fuck's sake, lay off the conspiracy theories.
"that's like calling Budweiser or Miller beer."
Funnily enough, Miller refers to their "High Life" beer as "the Champagne of beers".
This is crazy. How long has there been packet-writing software? The a**holes who think they have a patent on it should have pounced at the beginning. It's too late now - they can go to hell. IANAL by any means, but don't you have to assert your patent in a timely fashion for this sort of thing to stick?
This patent business is beginning to make me sick.
Gore was actually quite a ruthless polititician in his day. As most/all politicians do, he wildly exaggerated his accomplishments, if not outright lied about them.
:-(
But while we're talking about lies and politicians, the current resident of the White House reigns unchallenged. He didn't lie about his days on the farm, or about getting blowjobs in the Oval Office. No, his lies have gotten us into a unecessary war and bankrupted the country.
His lies are killing hundreds of people (thousands if you consider Iraqui and Afghan civilians to be people, ha ha
His administration has been one long lie from the "election" on. Lies with very real consequences to our (US) national security as well as global stability.
Gore's (and even Clinton's) lies were utterly inconsequential by comparison. Bush goes straight for the Big Lie.
The food that you eat is just as much a manufactured product as the computer you are typing on, and it's all based on petroleum. The whole "Green Revolution" is based on petroleum. Or what the "agriculture" industry likes to call "inputs".
/. is just crawling with) like to prate on and on about the wonderful productivity of our agriculture, and how it has become more and more efficient.
The no-nothing techno-pollyannas (which
What a crock of shit. What people call "agriculture" in this country is totally subsidized by petroleum. Petroleum for tractors, petroleum for fertilizers, petroleum for herbicides, petroleum for pesticides, and petroleum to get the stuff to market. 1.2 liters of petroleum per bushel of corn - and you can buy that bushel of corn for less than it cost the "farmer" to "produce" it, because of government subsidies. There is absolutely zero real world feedback - nothing like a "market".
And that's not even figuring in the fact that the price of that petroleum is whacked, and doesn't include all the subsidies given to the petroleum industry, and all the externalities (can you say "war in Iraq"?)
As petroleum becomes scarce (maybe sooner, maybe later) and way more expensive, look for food prices to go out the window, and scarcities to occur. Forget about getting a Prius, or taking fewer car trips. Personal transportation is not going to the problem when the crunch comes.
And it will. The bursting of the Tech Bubble of the 90's is going to look like child's play compared with the bursting of the petro-bubble.
""And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make" -- The Beatles"
... ... yep, Abbey Road
Synchronicity alert! I was just finishing up ripping/playing my first CD with iTunes. Guess what album it was?
No, no, guard the Apples using girls with swords!
Here's my take on the Linux v. Windows thing (I'm writing this from Windows 2000, but using Mozilla). I am not a zealot of any kind, though I am sympathetic to OSS, and think MS is a fairly bad actor (as most huge corps end up being). My computer is a communication and information tool, not a religious icon.
:-/
:-).
I used Linux as much as I could for several years - RH 4.something until 8.0. I was mainly after stability, and I found it. I could do any email, browsing, officy stuff that I needed to do, and do it well. Got my scanner working great, printer too. Sound was great, had all the CD ripping and burning stuff anyone could want.
But I was a "dual-booter", and here's the reason: Software. I have a handful of Windows apps that I use regularly, and there simply aren't Linux equivalents. I know - I've looked, and I've tried many alleged equivalents. And I simply had to run FrontPage for a few clients, without question
Let me be specific: I'm talking about astronomy software, birding software, topographic mapping software, genealogy software and a Quicken workalike (no, Gnucash and CBB are not Quicken workalikes
I tried dual-booting... I HATE dual-booting. I like to just leave my computer running, and have it ready when I need it for whatever purpose. I tried Win4Lin, but that's just running Windows anyway.
So I booted into Windows 2000 pretty much daily, and found it to be adequately stable. I run anti-virus software, and I'm very careful anyway. No problems there. I have Mozilla on win2k, which is vastly superior to IE in my opinion. I have OOo on win2k, which easily satisfies my fairly basic office suite needs, and seems.
Well, I deleted my Linux partition, because I needed the disk space. To me, Win2k is just an OS. I am not a MS fanboy. I just don't have the time or inclination to keep up with two installations anyway.
Here's the bottom line: I will not dual-boot. Therefore, I can have only one OS. Therefore, I can not use an OS that doesn't have the apps that do the things that I want to use my computer for. If I were running a server, it would be different, but I'm not. So I run Windows 2000. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Regarding private industry and space:
First of all, private industry has been building the space program hardware all along. And they profit from it. Their customer is NASA.
Developing man-rated space hardware is hideously expensive, which is why governments foot the bill. Just like governments foot the bill for building bridges and roads and such. A space program is not like making cars or some other consumer item. It's more like public works.
Space travel is difficult, and the profit from going there is hard to see. If there is any, it will be long-term and after a huge investment. That's why you don't see private corporations avidly going after space programs on their own. As far as I know, nothing is stopping them, other than the fact that there's no good business reason to go there.
Other than commercial satellite launches, wherein private corporation make profits from employing technology derived from years of research and development funded largely by public money.
The idea that all we need to do is "get some profit motive in there" sort of ignores the fact that there is no profit to put there! At least not the kind of profit that shows up within the planning horizons of most any corporation on Earth. How do you propose to get some profit motive in there?
I'm not defending NASA - there are real flaws in the culture there. But invoking the idea that "private enterprise" as some sort of magic incantation that is going to solve every problem is a bit over the top.
"After all, the average home uses about 5kW"
I just had an idea (and it didn't even hurt)! Use less energy! Yes, I'm talking about efficiency and conservation. If we can nibble at this thing from both ends (production and consumption), perhaps we can come to some sensible arrangement.
Somehow or other, many people seem to get by on home PV - I know my neighbors do. They're totally off the grid.
I think it's fairly well accepted that there will be no "Scouring of the Shire". Oh well.
Yes, cutting Bombadil was unfortunate. Not sure about the treatment of Treebeard, but Faramir's portrayal bothered me some.
Oh well, it's just a movie. The book is still there...
" No. The idea of gaing superpowers from a meteorite is so ubsurd, it barley warrants a reply."
Captain, it seems to be some form of ancient English. Say whuh huh? Barley is good, beer comes from barley. The idea of gaing superpowers from a meteorite is way over my head. Utterly ubsurd.
WTF?
Space is Big
Space is Dark
It's hard to find
A place to park.
KFG,
You sound like somebody who knows what they're talking about. I agree with most everything you've said here.
How would you uprate a capsule system for the 00's? Would you recommend pushing X-15-like projects forward? What do you think of Rutan's SpaceShipOne?
- Steve
What makes people yearn so for the future? What makes them think it will be any different than the present, really, or make them happy? What is everybody trying to escape from? Why can't people see that all the "new" "cutting edge" shit is just the same old shit, only moreso?
I appreciate technology. I am NOT a luddite. But technology is not what is going to "save us", as one post has it. What will "save us" is taking a breather, thinking some things through, asking questions like "what's the point?".
Be here now.