True, snowflakes and fire are not necessary. However, I have to say there is something about using a slick UI that makes me actually wanna work. I sometimes, depending on mood, have various desktop images or even none at all. At Apple - yes, I use OS X - they developed the whole Graphite 'theme' for people who work in the color industry as less color on the desktop distracts artists/image people less. So I completely believe UI has a big affect on a persons productivity.
The clock on the video reminds me of the new OS X Tiger Dashboard . They are pretty much a ripoff of Konfabulator which is something I've been using for a while now. But the way the Dashboard widgets work - flipping, spinning, etc - have some appeal for me. There's just something to be said for stuff that really looks cool and works just as well.
So when I see some kick ass eyecandy, that object get's my attention. And as long as I can turn it on or off at various levels or have enough control of it, then it starts to get my admiration for a sweet environment. And once it get's that, then it's a pleasure to work in. Once that happens, work is, er sometimes, fun and the actual process of being productive becomes less of a chore itself. This is why OS X excels - because it provides all kinds of eyecandy but also stays the hell outta the way.
I specifically stay away from Gnome/Metacity or XP desktops because I think those guis leave much to be desired (however, hats off to Gnome guys for at least making something with some kind of community behind it). Gnome does remedy this a little by having better placement of buttons and things - human interface guidelines? - (more Mac like and opposite of XP, of course), but overall, they're just clones of the Windows95 space and frankly, quite uninspiring to use. Couple that with the more frequent use of Gtk# via C# via M$, and I don't see much of the Linux desktop innovating over the stuff that E already has.
Yes, maybe no one is writing anything based on much of the E libs, but there's something to be said about following or working with a project that inspires people to use it instead of the same old same old. But then again, if Gnome is positioning itself to be more friendly to those that will jump the Windows ship in the future, then I'm sure they don't lose much sleep at night over their decisions.
Empire is the key here. And like every empire, ours will pull back. As I've mentioned before, the current path of the US empire is not sustainable. We generate the majority of the world's green house gasses, consume the majority of it's oil, wage war with the most powerful military, and try to dictate one set of values while engaging with another. At some point, we're just gonna get tired of it. And honsetly, I think we're getting close to that.
Hey, I love the US. But I'm also a globalist because it's unstoppable and frankly, I'm not afraid of the world economy or infusion of cultures. You can even look back, from an anthropological point of view, and see societies and groups around the world, that either isolated themselves directly or indirectly, pretty much always died off if they couldn't assimilate.
The EU is on the right path, but only because of their proximity to each other and thousands of years of war. In the end, they've finally figured it out - they're sick of killing each other and realize that working together is a better way. Our empire at some point will realize this too. And not just from an economical standpoint, but a social one as well.
It's an unstoppable law of nature that those that can't adapt get plowed under. We'll see what happens to our rigid robber barons of the present...
First off, yes, people make up corporations. However, it was also people that worked for Bechtel that decided it was ok to own all the rain water in Bolivia. Of course, so did their government, but those people went home and slept well at night knowing that they ok'd owning the rain water of another country.
While corps are a way to pool resources, they also grant legal rights combined with (usually) vast cash resources. Combine those two and you have an entity that pretty much does what it wants (see Microsoft:MSFT).
I've been to the EU many times and can definitely feel the 'work to live and not live to work' vibe. In fact, I'm ok with some of the US capitalist ideals and values. I definitely believe in hard work and have no prob putting as much as I can into projects I see worthy.
However, the way the US capitalist system is now, is unbalanced and not sustainable. While EU does have corporations, you don't see any CEO's of energy companies here talking about green energy like the CEO of BP does. After two world wars, the EU and its people finally understands that they are here for the long haul.
Their rejection of patents isn't a us vs. them thing, it's more like, they understand the importance of software in the coming future and instead of allowing the priviledged, wealthy few (corporations), to control it all, they'd rather let everyone compete on a more equal level.
Granted, Europe is not the holy grail of life. And they have bad guys there too. But at some point you have to go in another direction. You can't keep going in a straight line and hope u don't run into a wall. The capitalist system has served the US pretty well (some would argue not) up to this point. But Bush's ownership society and collapsing of social programs will hurt only the poor and elderly even more. And what good is a society that doesn't help the poor and elderly? It's in the best interest of everyone that we are all taken care of to some point. Of course how much is always the debate.
While I don't see the law governing corps being substantially changed by government - ever - it will be up to those not just on the inside (cuz, hey, why should they change when they got it good?) but by those outside as well. They'll demand more responsibility, integrity, and ethical behavior from the corps. And it'll happen because not only is it happening elsewhere - like the EU - but because it's just plain not sustainable.
So, sure, give credit to the fact that people do make up a corporation. But hold them accountable for what they're involved with. And bring down some of the barriers that protect them so easily and thusly encourage them to step over the line.
How much does that VP soccer mom, whose 'group of people' (did) own all the water rights to Bolivia's water, feel for those other children? No much because she has no one to answer to. She is shielded behind laws designed to protect that behavior and the bottom line.
What I don't like is this negative FUD campaign against Mono.
Dude, it's not so much against Mono & co. - they're our peoples. I think they've done a great job. However, it is against M$ and their history and mindset. Until they start acting like there's a world where many types of languages and platforms can exist on their own merit, instead of wanting to own everything, then I won't trust them and I'll have to cast a skeptical eye towards anything berthed from Redmond. When was the last time Guido pronounced <insert Ballmer or Gates soundbite of the week here>?
Besides, I speak not from the typical/. zealot perspective, but someone who left the M$ camp years ago after being continually burned by the platform and development environment. They haven't changed and if anything, have only extended their reach increased their lock-in. I'll never go back.
It is 100% true that GNOME was founded that way. And I believe, more than anything, that the plunge into.NET by the Mono team steers straight into a darker and deeper pit than anything that would have been experienced in Qt.
I've said it over and over that Miguel and crew have done a remarkable job. Really. But the biggest flaw in their tower is the fact that it's a spawn of Microsoft. I can completely understand their target of a langauage/platform that they know will succeed. But we all know Linux/FOSS to M$ is all about FUD, embrace and extend, etc... How many times has anyone from M$ talked about working with the GNOME/Linux community vs. destroying or crushing it? Plus, now that Miguel is part of Novell who do you think is going to prevail in court? On that one, I'm gonna put my bet on the company with $40bln in the bank (and that ain't Novell). Anyone up for the 'M$ pummels Novell again' show?
Until M$ comes out with an open source license for.NET, Miguel and the Mono guys are walking on really thin ice.
For myselft, years back I started dabbling in C# thinking I'd broaden my programming knowledge. But I have to say that I prefer Java over C# as C# is just too Microsoft and there's something about the feel of it that gives me goosebumps. Like my old, really old, yukky VB days.
Plus, while most people don't care, I can't separate the poilitics from the code on this one.
You're telling me an Indian, EU or is going to model where they're not from first? Sure, I'm all for the world community just as much as any EU or other worldly person might be, but the service just came out a few days ago! Expecting them to already have mapped the world is a little too much at this point.
Remember, BETA usually means pre-release and time to work out all the bugs, etc. I'd much rather (and have in the past) work with a smaller data set and then add more after launch. I don't think this is a U.S. issue at all. What's the point of knowing where a Swedish pizza place is to the development/qa team? Or a French cafe? Or Belo Horizonte night club? You test where and what you know and move out from there...
I'm not completely skeptical of this statement and will actually be interested in seeing how Firefox will hold up. After all, it's not perfect, flaws exist. But, I have to believe that the approach behind the development of the Mozilla/Geko/etc has differed substantially from IE. After all, it's well known how tied to the os IE is and the fact that Moz/FF have (obviously for more than one reason) steered clear of this, I tend to think that user error/judgement will be a more likely cause of any kind of malware installation.
But regardless if there are any kind of infections for now, the OS community will respond with much quicker zeal than MS. However, how long will it take for the vendors to offer patched versions? What good is secure Firefox when Redhat or Novell (or any others) don't offer patched version? Remember, there are more and more comapnies who expect this - expect not to have to go out and fish for a download from some ftp server themselves. So it'll be interesting to see how that plays out.
Tho they have slowed, the themes over at wm.themes.org are fine. What's the use in some title bar that looks like an alien (besides the k00ln3$$ factor - which lasts about 5 mins)? I don't think a desktop needs all that extra crap and font sizes and the like can all be adjusted if things look like they take up too much space.
I dunno, KDE makes me wanna barf, so I guess I'll choose the one w/out the sheen.
I've always like NeXT and Windowmaker much better than Gnome and definitely better than KDE (sorry K-guys, it's waaaaay too much like Windows).
In fact, even Gnome is too much like Windows; even tho it does incorporate some OS X like features as well. But it also seems too fragile and it seems to be going more along the lines of C# dev, which I'm definitely not partial to (it's a mistake guys!).
Obviously, I feel that NeXT/OpenStep got a lot of things goin in the right direction. Turning away from the copy-all-Windows-features mindset seems to be the more logical choice. Will Gnome and KDE still exist? Absolutely. But Windowmaker - regardless of its sometimes slow development pace - is much more of a joy to use than whatever the current default Gnome window mananger is.
I spent many years developing in a Windowmaker environment and they were quite productive. That time changed the way I looked at using my desktop and even though I've switched to OS X, I can still tweak it to work like Windowmaker. So I'll have to second it as the official desktop env for Linux, hands down.
It's worth noting that an aircraft with multiple engines is more likely to have some sort of engine failure than an aircraft with one engine of similar design.
This is completely true from a hardware/mechanical point of view. However, software is much more organic than that. And not only that but Gates' responses are so telling of a flawed approach to what makes secure and therefore cost-effective software. Everyone at Microsoft will tell you their way is best. And even Gates' says there are thousands of security guys waiting to pounce on issues. But I have to ask the question then: what good are those thousands in regards to the track record MS has?
Frankly, I see a place for MS in the computing world, but not to the degree and prevalence it enjoys now. Amonng some of their mantras are 'Windows Everywhere' and 'Bundle it for the benefit of the customer'. But any ecology cannot support just one organism and it is not to the benefit of the customers if their machines are continually at risk for the virii/trojan/malwayre/etc du jour.
I thought the interview was good, but the truth rings clear as a bell, regardless of Gates' utopian dream world. His company creates the platform - knowingly - that enables all the questionables to breed on and infect. If they worked more with the world community as a whole, then this could be greatly reduced - instead we see lawsuit after lawsuit (such is the capitalist way I suppose). And just now he's [Gates] coming around to announcing that MS products should be more interoperable. This coming from a company notorious for embrace/extend and non-human readable binary formats (i.e., does not play at all with others); they're the kings of non-interoperability.
One one hand, Gates is seen as a visionary. On the other, a devil. At some point the dam will break (maybe it's already breaking now). People will realize there still are choices out there. Evil, socialistic leaning governments and bodies will require MS to stop some of their questionable tactics and people will really come to see how beneficial an OS not stacked to the rim with crap really is. Will it be Linux? OS X? Who knows. But I have a dream too, and in 10 years it entails more diversity in the software ecology and not just one company dictating all standards so as to facilitate their monopolistic position.
Nothing and no one is perfect. But MS has only down to go and nothing Gates nor, especially, Ballmer can do will stop it because they've built their ivory tower on unstable ground from the get go and shun outside cooperation. Such is the nature of their model and they are their own worst enemy.
So I have a friend who worked for Big App Server company a few years back, when J2EE was just startin to break big.
He went in for his first day - he was doing tech support - a guy comes up to him and says "dude, here's your first case, I sent it to your email". So my friend opens the email, downloads the file to the drive root and then proceeds to drive the mouse 'till he finds Visual Cafe. Needless to say he can't find it and the guy is looking at hime thinkin 'what the hell?!' and tells my friend "dude, what are you doin? Move over." He kicks my friend out of the chair, opens up a cmd (yes, it's Windows) window and types:
emacs filename.java
he gives it back to my friend and my friend kinda stares for a sec and says "what's that?"
"Emacs. And it's what we use here."
Then the guy walks away. My friend called me up that night and said that was the hardest working day of his life.
I think there's a certain art in editors that don't have a lot of icons and menus. So for me, it's always been about emacs. I also know just enough vi to get me by on whatever *nix machine I run across.
Never use IDEs but a lot of people love them. Sorta like favorite ice cream flavor. Would I use Eclipse/NetBeans if I had to on a job - sure, but I wouldn't necessairly enjoy it (that's happened a few times).
I think it's easier for developers to go from text -> gui development vs. the other way around. My friend was the perfect example and I've found that while on client sites, when I got to use Emacs, people would fumble quite a bit at my desk. But when I went to theirs, there usually weren't any issues.
Plus, while I'm all for machine intelligence, there's just something about knowing all the pieces of your code and putting them there yourself. Yah, it takes longer, but when in a bind, I've seen a lot more IDE/code-completers fumbling around with errors or whatnot vs. their emacs/vi/shell countrerparts.
Yo, dude, Windows is the worst non-OSS friendly OS out there! Are you gonna say now that people should quit making free software for Windows?!
Didn't think so and fyi, OS X has a hell of a lot more OSS under the hood arriving at your doorstep than M$ ever will. So I'd say this is, if anything, not good!
Apparently this says it all about an Aqua port. NeoOffice/J works pretty well and I'm sure it'll just get better. So looks like that's the only version of OOo for Mac for the forseeable future.
As far as OOo being the future of office apps, I dunno. There's something to be said about simplicity and OOo inherits all of M$'s bad habits, specifically more is more. I do agree witht he open file format approach tho.
Frankly, I'd like some office apps with core functionality and that's it. That's why I like Keynote so much over PP - besides the fact that it looks a million times better.
I would seriously consider this w/a gig of ram. I currently devlop on a 17"PB 1.5GHZ, 1.5GB ram. This is running Postgres, Dbvisualizer, Tomcat, Emacs;), Camino, various iTerm windows (each w/tabs), Konfabulator, iTunes, multiple desktops - and the list goes on.
Point is, I have a fair amount of stuff going on and my machine is solid and holds up well throughout the day. With only the top model sporting a cpu that is 100mhz slower than mine, but allowing the same DDR speed, I would seriously consider this for a development shop. Provided it's a web shop anyway.
Plus, who knows what this is gonna do in the home now that it's affordable.
While Windows people might not see it this way, I think being limited to just one platform is not a very long term development solution. While.NET is here to stay, who knows what it will cost to continually develop with it (past experience tells me much more than on Linux or a Mac). Plus.NET is somewhat new compared to J2SE/J2EE. And, while Java isn't 100% secure, I'd feel a little nervous building on something with the security record that Windows has. While Java's sandbox isn't perfect, it's prob a safer bet than.NET.
Also, I don't see single language an issue. C# people will stay there, Java devs will stay with Java. However, Mono being the only compatible solution to.NET probably isn't the best thing either. With Java at least you have many choices for app servers and even hardware/os environments whether it be Linux, Mac, Solaris, or Windows.
I've gone thru these things in the past and I feel much freer dealing with Java than I ever have with Microsoft. I don't feel Java is necessairly slower than.NET and with SWT, you can even have the look and feel of Windows on Windows instead of the fugly Swing look.
I agree with you regarding Sony's industrial design. It is the only company that can stand on the same platform as Apple.
However, XP is junk. And I know that Sony has little choice until they get their own version of Linux out. But using a high-end Mac and a high-end Sony (in this case, the Type-X) with XP - there's no contest. I think Sony realizes this and only when they come out with their own branded OS will they really get a leg up on Apple.
Of course by then, Apple will have entered the home entertainment market as well. And that will be some interesting times.
You're startin to sound like those commie-lovin old Europeean types. Whatch yer step boyah..
All jokes aside, some people here really think like this. What's a super power to do...?
Frankly, I've thought about this - being in the tech industry - quite a bit and the only conclusion I've come up with is:
Innovate
The biz guys do have one thing right, labor - equal or better than we can provide here - is cheap overseas. Business is all about making money and part of making money is keeping costs in check.
However, the real problem we have nowadays is that management and execs make wayyyy too much money. It's completely out of balance. Sure, a CEO is great and smart, but I'm sorry, I don't see any need for that guy to make 10x the amount of a programmer with a CS degree. Or, in fact, any programmer who brings some serious contribution to the organization.
A good documentary to see is The Corporation. Has some good history as to what corps are and why things are they way they are.
Fuck it, let 'em. Remember, the management and execs are the problems in this equation, not the workers. They (mgmt) will still keep their high salaries, regardless, so it's not even a issue about moving work overseas. It's an issue about how greedy American comapnies have become and how the society just accepts it.
We don't have to accept this shit and something can and should be done about it.
Gee, how many times have we (the trench workers) seen stuff like this before. After reading the memo and the ea_spouse posting, there was an all too fimilar 'ping' in my gut.
The EA management team should be paraded around the town square a whipped with wet noodles (or harsher) , pelted with whatever gum can be pried off the sidewalk, and humiliated in what ever manner seen fit. It is completely true that the ones that make the big salaries don't give much of a care about those minions below pumped for the bulk of the grunt work.
True, we (the worker geeks) used to be the cool ones a few years back. But that was then and now, it's back to the same 'ol same 'ol where the execs once again have the spotlight, the workers know their place, and the economy favors mostly those on top.
Frankly, I'm not much of an game player and will make it a point to specifically not buy EA games anymore - for myself or anyone else. The leaked memo needs to go much further and pretty much include everyone in overtime rules. The fact that some will be looked at leads to a bunch of magic hand waving while the practices continue. EA's made a boat load of cash and should share the wealth with those who are probably most responsible for it.
But alas, the top execs and management need to maintain their pecking order and paychecks so their lifestyles can continue. Such is the way of things.
My advice to EA employees: stage a mass demonstration or walk out - organize! It's no fair that you get crap from all the hard work while others reap the real benefits.
I really hope the class action yields some cash for those who deserve and more bad press for EA and in fact, the rest of the software industry where this happens more than not. This type of work is not sustainable and we Americans need to stand up for better jobs and better working conditions (gee, that sounds historically fimiliar). Otherwise, companies will take everything they can, including your life.
As much as u may deny the Jobs mind-warp marketing slogans, he is dead on the money when he says (compared to the rest of the market) they make "insanely great" products. And what makes them great is not just the hardware design, but software design.
For years and years, years back, I enjoyed the x86 cuz of the way the Mac hid everything. If you wanted to upgrade, well, good luck with the OS and the parts were an arm and a leg. But that was then. Now, it's all about portability for me and that only means one thing: a laptop. For the past 4 years the laptop has been king with me and thusly, since I usually get them maxed out, there is no upgrades. Coupled with an OS that, while not perfect and sometimes a bit more sluggish than Linux, I have a machine that just runs. I do my development exclusively on that and it goes with me everywhere. My 1st gen iPod still works great too (when does 1st gen anything work anymore???). True, many people have had probs with the battery, but I still have the stock everything on it and it's still very useful. Much more so than my previous MD players. As for Apple'ss DRM, it's easily circumvented and Apple's service of 'get out of my face and gimmie my song' does just that. Period.
In a world where it seems the only way for corps to go is to try to own everything (which is not sustainable in the long run, but of course, corps are never really concerned with the long run), Apple was marginalized (somewhat) and forced to do things differently than the Dells and M$s of the world - of which there are only a few now.
Look back at the last 5 or so years and you'll see the PC industry's knee-jerk reaction to quite a bit of Apple 'innovations' (I think that term is pretty silly and over used, but whatever):
- 17" laptops - Wi-fi for the home/soho (and recently, AirTunes) - Lcd desktop displays - dvd-burners on desktop as well as laptop - iMac colored cases (yes, pc manufacturers tried to jump on this) - iPod - iTunes - Encrypted home dir on the fly (heh!) - Rendezvous - Firewire - Gigabit ethernet in laptops - backlit laptop kbds & screens that adjust to room brightness automatically
Now when has any of the above come out of M$ or Dell or Hp/Compaq?
Like so many other aspects of life, I feel that the diluted, lesser quality - not in terms of design or manufacturing, but in terms also of idea conception - cannot be sustained at critical mass levels. So you get a Dell plastic laptop that is 'good enough' but feels like, well, the cheap plastic it is. Or you get a M$ XP OS riddled with security holes throught the core of the OS, but has the widest appeal and ubiquity.
Big organizations are a slow moving giant. They like to put on a pretty face to attract cutting-edge talent, but in the end, they pound that talent into the ground and the result is sorta like the Apple 1984 commerical. Sure, there are definitely smart and creative people at big companies, but I have to say most of the creative people I've met and worked with don't survive long in the corporate environment. And most of the time the creative folks take a back seat to the suits. I say this cuz when you look at the Queen Latifa & Billy G pic, you can just see that moment where she rattles off somethin, throws in a little slang, and then Billy pops in afterword with some canned Windows-media-can-do-everything-u-want-and-more-in -your-cab-and-home remark (chuckle from the audience). The suit. Jobs, on the other hand, while I don't think he's some perfect guy, has much more 'entertainment finesse' than Bill or Ballmer. When you have these fundamental elements of getting it at the highest levels of an org, then it makes it much easier to those lower creative types on the pole to gel with those above. Why? Cuz like minds think alike.
So, when you take all of Apple's successes over the past we can say they've been possible because some creative and smart people had some wiggle room to take c
Because I am forced to admit that demigod tales resonate deeply in the human heart.
Yah, here we go, there's the answer covered up in a layer of crap.
The plain and simple:
Lucas is a dork. His views and opinions resonate about as much as a rock being dropped into thick mud. People who are so worried about changing the past are just that cuz their trapped in it. Lucas' latest episodes and views like "I better release it now before piracy swallows it up and then I'll never have a chance to add more to my mound of cash" are so idiotic and myopic that it boggles the mind.
Look, special effects are good. But when those overtake the story, then they're a waste. You can clearly watch the first three vs. the last two (talking about when they were made and not episode numbers) and actually see the difference. The story, the acting, the script - huge differences. And it's not just Lucas, it's a lot of 'artists' that get too fat later in the game and still wanna raise their hands saying to people "look, I still matter, I'm still cool and prophetic, love me". Bullshit.
Mr. Brin delves a little too deep into something that doesn't need any or much explaining. And by doing so, jumps headfirst into the Lucas camp of "look at how deep all this is, look at the quintessential battle between good and evil, the timeless struggle in us all..". By doing this, both put too much onus on something that was better left alone and un-interpreted.
True, it's not an OS problem per say, but to the average public (including Joe CTO), there's little distinction between their e-comm app and GNU/Linux itself.
I agree, this fact in the article spoke of shotty programming having, probably, little or nothing to do with the OS. I guess it's just hard to see how something like this coulda even been built. But I guess there's all kinds of levels of mediocrity in the development world, regardless of OS or language.
1. Agree in free markets and religion rule over human rights, separation of church and state; your ideals put you above the law; secrecy over openness; Reagan's blind idiology over reality; and worst of all, the ends justify the means, the the U.S. has a moral responsibility (read: religious, i.e. Christian responsibility) to change the world (see the Project for the New American Century <shudders>).
2. And/Or, you don't delve too much into the issues, which usually debunks point 1.
The RNC espoused how free Iraqi's are now vs. under Hussein. Hmm, 20k+ CIVILIAN casualties in one year doesn't appear any freer to me. Civilians still afraid to leave there homes doesn't seem any freer to me. And the fact that the Iraqi Olympic soccer team is sympathetic to the insurgents says something, especially since some of those guys in the past would be tortured under that worthless Qusay! It also espoused how great our economy is, how well our schools are doing, how much safer we are (even tho we continue to have bogus Orange alerts and are constantly reminded of threats everywhere at every step) - all things that are easily refuted time and time again by the CBO, the press or some non-partisan group. Jesus, I can say I'll live if I jump off a skyscraper all I want. The the reality, however, and matter of factly, is I won't.
And since when did record deficits become an good thing???!! We came from a record surplus to a record deficit?! Don't tell me it's all about 9/11 cuz we've had worse wars and lost about the same in the Pearl Harbor attack. And remember, at least 1/3 of those lost in the towers were foreign workers.
As for taxes IT IS A FACT (FACT) that anyone making under $200k isn't going to see any significant relief. If you look into tax law (by all means, plase do!), you'd learn how stacked the Bush tax cut is to the wealthy. But then again, what did u expect? The death tax? A joke. Only applies to estates $1m and over. Hmm, my mom's not gonna leave me a $1m+ estate, but she says that sounds like an unnecessary tax. Yah, if you're rich maybe. But if you're an average Joe, then you just got suckered by some political marketing, which the Republicans excel at.
Grants to faith based (i.e. religious) groups violates the separation of church and state pretty blatantly. Religion is fine, JUST KEEP IT OUT OF GOVT!
Assault on the environment. Yah, that's a pretty easy one.
'Frivilous Trial lawyers'. Hmmm, yah, why don't you read up on Scalia's son Eugene to #3 spot at the labor dept. And guess what he did in Texas - represented big biz in workmans comp claims. Hmm and now he's there to help the labor dept. Yah, it's obvious where this goes. Bush is the master, unfortunately, of acting on opposite of what he says. His trial lawyer stance is basically aimed at wiping out ALL claims, frivilous or not, against big biz.
God told him so. This is so whacked out that it's not even funny. Didn't God also tell Osama to do the things he's done? And also, didn't God tell Boykin that we will win against all enemies? Hmmm, an awful lot of God tellin everyone they're gonna win and usually, um, only one guy wins. Right? So who's gonna win then? I mean, God said all three of those guys are gonna win. A win, win, win situation?
Tom DeLay, Hastert, Frist, Santorum, Lott, Gingrich, Hannity, Coulter, Norquist, Limbaugh etc. These guys are your leaders and idealists ?! Their records speak for themselves and frankly, these guys should ALL be behind bars or at least reduced to actually doing a honest days work. A very hateful bunch.
Cheney. Halliburton. Bush Sr. Carlyle Group. Profiteering on death. Gee, what a great bunch of 'visionaries' and couragous human beings. Changing the world, no doubt. But for the better? Hardly.
Religious fundamentalism. The right wing's insistence on dragging rel
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True, snowflakes and fire are not necessary. However, I have to say there is something about using a slick UI that makes me actually wanna work. I sometimes, depending on mood, have various desktop images or even none at all. At Apple - yes, I use OS X - they developed the whole Graphite 'theme' for people who work in the color industry as less color on the desktop distracts artists/image people less. So I completely believe UI has a big affect on a persons productivity.
The clock on the video reminds me of the new OS X Tiger Dashboard . They are pretty much a ripoff of Konfabulator which is something I've been using for a while now. But the way the Dashboard widgets work - flipping, spinning, etc - have some appeal for me. There's just something to be said for stuff that really looks cool and works just as well.
So when I see some kick ass eyecandy, that object get's my attention. And as long as I can turn it on or off at various levels or have enough control of it, then it starts to get my admiration for a sweet environment. And once it get's that, then it's a pleasure to work in. Once that happens, work is, er sometimes, fun and the actual process of being productive becomes less of a chore itself. This is why OS X excels - because it provides all kinds of eyecandy but also stays the hell outta the way.
I specifically stay away from Gnome/Metacity or XP desktops because I think those guis leave much to be desired (however, hats off to Gnome guys for at least making something with some kind of community behind it).
Gnome does remedy this a little by having better placement of buttons and things - human interface guidelines? - (more Mac like and opposite of XP, of course), but overall, they're just clones of the Windows95 space and frankly, quite uninspiring to use. Couple that with the more frequent use of Gtk# via C# via M$, and I don't see much of the Linux desktop innovating over the stuff that E already has.
Yes, maybe no one is writing anything based on much of the E libs, but there's something to be said about following or working with a project that inspires people to use it instead of the same old same old. But then again, if Gnome is positioning itself to be more friendly to those that will jump the Windows ship in the future, then I'm sure they don't lose much sleep at night over their decisions.
Yo, you are SO ON IT!
Empire is the key here. And like every empire, ours will pull back. As I've mentioned before, the current path of the US empire is not sustainable. We generate the majority of the world's green house gasses, consume the majority of it's oil, wage war with the most powerful military, and try to dictate one set of values while engaging with another. At some point, we're just gonna get tired of it. And honsetly, I think we're getting close to that.
Hey, I love the US. But I'm also a globalist because it's unstoppable and frankly, I'm not afraid of the world economy or infusion of cultures. You can even look back, from an anthropological point of view, and see societies and groups around the world, that either isolated themselves directly or indirectly, pretty much always died off if they couldn't assimilate.
The EU is on the right path, but only because of their proximity to each other and thousands of years of war. In the end, they've finally figured it out - they're sick of killing each other and realize that working together is a better way. Our empire at some point will realize this too. And not just from an economical standpoint, but a social one as well.
It's an unstoppable law of nature that those that can't adapt get plowed under. We'll see what happens to our rigid robber barons of the present...
First off, yes, people make up corporations. However, it was also people that worked for Bechtel that decided it was ok to own all the rain water in Bolivia. Of course, so did their government, but those people went home and slept well at night knowing that they ok'd owning the rain water of another country.
While corps are a way to pool resources, they also grant legal rights combined with (usually) vast cash resources. Combine those two and you have an entity that pretty much does what it wants (see Microsoft:MSFT).
I've been to the EU many times and can definitely feel the 'work to live and not live to work' vibe. In fact, I'm ok with some of the US capitalist ideals and values. I definitely believe in hard work and have no prob putting as much as I can into projects I see worthy.
However, the way the US capitalist system is now, is unbalanced and not sustainable. While EU does have corporations, you don't see any CEO's of energy companies here talking about green energy like the CEO of BP does. After two world wars, the EU and its people finally understands that they are here for the long haul.
Their rejection of patents isn't a us vs. them thing, it's more like, they understand the importance of software in the coming future and instead of allowing the priviledged, wealthy few (corporations), to control it all, they'd rather let everyone compete on a more equal level.
Granted, Europe is not the holy grail of life. And they have bad guys there too. But at some point you have to go in another direction. You can't keep going in a straight line and hope u don't run into a wall. The capitalist system has served the US pretty well (some would argue not) up to this point. But Bush's ownership society and collapsing of social programs will hurt only the poor and elderly even more. And what good is a society that doesn't help the poor and elderly? It's in the best interest of everyone that we are all taken care of to some point. Of course how much is always the debate.
While I don't see the law governing corps being substantially changed by government - ever - it will be up to those not just on the inside (cuz, hey, why should they change when they got it good?) but by those outside as well. They'll demand more responsibility, integrity, and ethical behavior from the corps. And it'll happen because not only is it happening elsewhere - like the EU - but because it's just plain not sustainable.
So, sure, give credit to the fact that people do make up a corporation. But hold them accountable for what they're involved with. And bring down some of the barriers that protect them so easily and thusly encourage them to step over the line.
How much does that VP soccer mom, whose 'group of people' (did) own all the water rights to Bolivia's water, feel for those other children? No much because she has no one to answer to. She is shielded behind laws designed to protect that behavior and the bottom line.
What I don't like is this negative FUD campaign against Mono.
/. zealot perspective, but someone who left the M$ camp years ago after being continually burned by the platform and development environment. They haven't changed and if anything, have only extended their reach increased their lock-in. I'll never go back.
Dude, it's not so much against Mono & co. - they're our peoples. I think they've done a great job. However, it is against M$ and their history and mindset. Until they start acting like there's a world where many types of languages and platforms can exist on their own merit, instead of wanting to own everything, then I won't trust them and I'll have to cast a skeptical eye towards anything berthed from Redmond. When was the last time Guido pronounced <insert Ballmer or Gates soundbite of the week here>?
Besides, I speak not from the typical
While very, er, direct, parent has a point.
.NET by the Mono team steers straight into a darker and deeper pit than anything that would have been experienced in Qt.
.NET, Miguel and the Mono guys are walking on really thin ice.
It is 100% true that GNOME was founded that way. And I believe, more than anything, that the plunge into
I've said it over and over that Miguel and crew have done a remarkable job. Really. But the biggest flaw in their tower is the fact that it's a spawn of Microsoft. I can completely understand their target of a langauage/platform that they know will succeed. But we all know Linux/FOSS to M$ is all about FUD, embrace and extend, etc... How many times has anyone from M$ talked about working with the GNOME/Linux community vs. destroying or crushing it? Plus, now that Miguel is part of Novell who do you think is going to prevail in court? On that one, I'm gonna put my bet on the company with $40bln in the bank (and that ain't Novell). Anyone up for the 'M$ pummels Novell again' show?
Until M$ comes out with an open source license for
For myselft, years back I started dabbling in C# thinking I'd broaden my programming knowledge. But I have to say that I prefer Java over C# as C# is just too Microsoft and there's something about the feel of it that gives me goosebumps. Like my old, really old, yukky VB days.
Plus, while most people don't care, I can't separate the poilitics from the code on this one.
You're telling me an Indian, EU or is going to model where they're not from first? Sure, I'm all for the world community just as much as any EU or other worldly person might be, but the service just came out a few days ago! Expecting them to already have mapped the world is a little too much at this point.
Remember, BETA usually means pre-release and time to work out all the bugs, etc. I'd much rather (and have in the past) work with a smaller data set and then add more after launch. I don't think this is a U.S. issue at all. What's the point of knowing where a Swedish pizza place is to the development/qa team? Or a French cafe? Or Belo Horizonte night club? You test where and what you know and move out from there...
I'm not completely skeptical of this statement and will actually be interested in seeing how Firefox will hold up. After all, it's not perfect, flaws exist. But, I have to believe that the approach behind the development of the Mozilla/Geko/etc has differed substantially from IE. After all, it's well known how tied to the os IE is and the fact that Moz/FF have (obviously for more than one reason) steered clear of this, I tend to think that user error/judgement will be a more likely cause of any kind of malware installation.
But regardless if there are any kind of infections for now, the OS community will respond with much quicker zeal than MS. However, how long will it take for the vendors to offer patched versions? What good is secure Firefox when Redhat or Novell (or any others) don't offer patched version? Remember, there are more and more comapnies who expect this - expect not to have to go out and fish for a download from some ftp server themselves. So it'll be interesting to see how that plays out.
Tho they have slowed, the themes over at wm.themes.org are fine. What's the use in some title bar that looks like an alien (besides the k00ln3$$ factor - which lasts about 5 mins)? I don't think a desktop needs all that extra crap and font sizes and the like can all be adjusted if things look like they take up too much space.
I dunno, KDE makes me wanna barf, so I guess I'll choose the one w/out the sheen.
I've always like NeXT and Windowmaker much better than Gnome and definitely better than KDE (sorry K-guys, it's waaaaay too much like Windows).
In fact, even Gnome is too much like Windows; even tho it does incorporate some OS X like features as well. But it also seems too fragile and it seems to be going more along the lines of C# dev, which I'm definitely not partial to (it's a mistake guys!).
Obviously, I feel that NeXT/OpenStep got a lot of things goin in the right direction. Turning away from the copy-all-Windows-features mindset seems to be the more logical choice. Will Gnome and KDE still exist? Absolutely. But Windowmaker - regardless of its sometimes slow development pace - is much more of a joy to use than whatever the current default Gnome window mananger is.
I spent many years developing in a Windowmaker environment and they were quite productive. That time changed the way I looked at using my desktop and even though I've switched to OS X, I can still tweak it to work like Windowmaker. So I'll have to second it as the official desktop env for Linux, hands down.
It's worth noting that an aircraft with multiple engines is more likely to have some sort of engine failure than an aircraft with one engine of similar design.
This is completely true from a hardware/mechanical point of view. However, software is much more organic than that. And not only that but Gates' responses are so telling of a flawed approach to what makes secure and therefore cost-effective software. Everyone at Microsoft will tell you their way is best. And even Gates' says there are thousands of security guys waiting to pounce on issues. But I have to ask the question then: what good are those thousands in regards to the track record MS has?
Frankly, I see a place for MS in the computing world, but not to the degree and prevalence it enjoys now. Amonng some of their mantras are 'Windows Everywhere' and 'Bundle it for the benefit of the customer'. But any ecology cannot support just one organism and it is not to the benefit of the customers if their machines are continually at risk for the virii/trojan/malwayre/etc du jour.
I thought the interview was good, but the truth rings clear as a bell, regardless of Gates' utopian dream world. His company creates the platform - knowingly - that enables all the questionables to breed on and infect. If they worked more with the world community as a whole, then this could be greatly reduced - instead we see lawsuit after lawsuit (such is the capitalist way I suppose).
And just now he's [Gates] coming around to announcing that MS products should be more interoperable. This coming from a company notorious for embrace/extend and non-human readable binary formats (i.e., does not play at all with others); they're the kings of non-interoperability.
One one hand, Gates is seen as a visionary. On the other, a devil. At some point the dam will break (maybe it's already breaking now). People will realize there still are choices out there. Evil, socialistic leaning governments and bodies will require MS to stop some of their questionable tactics and people will really come to see how beneficial an OS not stacked to the rim with crap really is. Will it be Linux? OS X? Who knows. But I have a dream too, and in 10 years it entails more diversity in the software ecology and not just one company dictating all standards so as to facilitate their monopolistic position.
Nothing and no one is perfect. But MS has only down to go and nothing Gates nor, especially, Ballmer can do will stop it because they've built their ivory tower on unstable ground from the get go and shun outside cooperation. Such is the nature of their model and they are their own worst enemy.
So I have a friend who worked for Big App Server company a few years back, when J2EE was just startin to break big.
He went in for his first day - he was doing tech support - a guy comes up to him and says "dude, here's your first case, I sent it to your email". So my friend opens the email, downloads the file to the drive root and then proceeds to drive the mouse 'till he finds Visual Cafe. Needless to say he can't find it and the guy is looking at hime thinkin 'what the hell?!' and tells my friend "dude, what are you doin? Move over."
He kicks my friend out of the chair, opens up a cmd (yes, it's Windows) window and types:
emacs filename.java
he gives it back to my friend and my friend kinda stares for a sec and says "what's that?"
"Emacs. And it's what we use here."
Then the guy walks away. My friend called me up that night and said that was the hardest working day of his life.
I think there's a certain art in editors that don't have a lot of icons and menus. So for me, it's always been about emacs. I also know just enough vi to get me by on whatever *nix machine I run across.
Never use IDEs but a lot of people love them. Sorta like favorite ice cream flavor. Would I use Eclipse/NetBeans if I had to on a job - sure, but I wouldn't necessairly enjoy it (that's happened a few times).
I think it's easier for developers to go from text -> gui development vs. the other way around. My friend was the perfect example and I've found that while on client sites, when I got to use Emacs, people would fumble quite a bit at my desk. But when I went to theirs, there usually weren't any issues.
Plus, while I'm all for machine intelligence, there's just something about knowing all the pieces of your code and putting them there yourself. Yah, it takes longer, but when in a bind, I've seen a lot more IDE/code-completers fumbling around with errors or whatnot vs. their emacs/vi/shell countrerparts.
Just my experience, yours may vary..
Dude your post just killed all the magic..
Yo, dude, Windows is the worst non-OSS friendly OS out there! Are you gonna say now that people should quit making free software for Windows?!
Didn't think so and fyi, OS X has a hell of a lot more OSS under the hood arriving at your doorstep than M$ ever will. So I'd say this is, if anything, not good!
Luckily NeoOffice/J will pick up the slack.
Apparently this says it all about an Aqua port. NeoOffice/J works pretty well and I'm sure it'll just get better. So looks like that's the only version of OOo for Mac for the forseeable future.
As far as OOo being the future of office apps, I dunno. There's something to be said about simplicity and OOo inherits all of M$'s bad habits, specifically more is more. I do agree witht he open file format approach tho.
Frankly, I'd like some office apps with core functionality and that's it. That's why I like Keynote so much over PP - besides the fact that it looks a million times better.
I would seriously consider this w/a gig of ram. I currently devlop on a 17"PB 1.5GHZ, 1.5GB ram. This is running Postgres, Dbvisualizer, Tomcat, Emacs ;), Camino, various iTerm windows (each w/tabs), Konfabulator, iTunes, multiple desktops - and the list goes on.
Point is, I have a fair amount of stuff going on and my machine is solid and holds up well throughout the day. With only the top model sporting a cpu that is 100mhz slower than mine, but allowing the same DDR speed, I would seriously consider this for a development shop. Provided it's a web shop anyway.
Plus, who knows what this is gonna do in the home now that it's affordable.
Both systems have snags.
.NET is here to stay, who knows what it will cost to continually develop with it (past experience tells me much more than on Linux or a Mac). Plus .NET is somewhat new compared to J2SE/J2EE. And, while Java isn't 100% secure, I'd feel a little nervous building on something with the security record that Windows has. While Java's sandbox isn't perfect, it's prob a safer bet than .NET.
.NET probably isn't the best thing either. With Java at least you have many choices for app servers and even hardware/os environments whether it be Linux, Mac, Solaris, or Windows.
.NET and with SWT, you can even have the look and feel of Windows on Windows instead of the fugly Swing look.
While Windows people might not see it this way, I think being limited to just one platform is not a very long term development solution. While
Also, I don't see single language an issue. C# people will stay there, Java devs will stay with Java. However, Mono being the only compatible solution to
I've gone thru these things in the past and I feel much freer dealing with Java than I ever have with Microsoft. I don't feel Java is necessairly slower than
I agree with you regarding Sony's industrial design. It is the only company that can stand on the same platform as Apple.
However, XP is junk. And I know that Sony has little choice until they get their own version of Linux out. But using a high-end Mac and a high-end Sony (in this case, the Type-X) with XP - there's no contest. I think Sony realizes this and only when they come out with their own branded OS will they really get a leg up on Apple.
Of course by then, Apple will have entered the home entertainment market as well. And that will be some interesting times.
You're startin to sound like those commie-lovin old Europeean types. Whatch yer step boyah..
All jokes aside, some people here really think like this. What's a super power to do...?
Frankly, I've thought about this - being in the tech industry - quite a bit and the only conclusion I've come up with is:
Innovate
The biz guys do have one thing right, labor - equal or better than we can provide here - is cheap overseas. Business is all about making money and part of making money is keeping costs in check.
However, the real problem we have nowadays is that management and execs make wayyyy too much money. It's completely out of balance. Sure, a CEO is great and smart, but I'm sorry, I don't see any need for that guy to make 10x the amount of a programmer with a CS degree. Or, in fact, any programmer who brings some serious contribution to the organization.
A good documentary to see is The Corporation. Has some good history as to what corps are and why things are they way they are.
Fuck it, let 'em. Remember, the management and execs are the problems in this equation, not the workers. They (mgmt) will still keep their high salaries, regardless, so it's not even a issue about moving work overseas. It's an issue about how greedy American comapnies have become and how the society just accepts it.
We don't have to accept this shit and something can and should be done about it.
Gee, how many times have we (the trench workers) seen stuff like this before. After reading the memo and the ea_spouse posting, there was an all too fimilar 'ping' in my gut.
The EA management team should be paraded around the town square a whipped with wet noodles (or harsher) , pelted with whatever gum can be pried off the sidewalk, and humiliated in what ever manner seen fit. It is completely true that the ones that make the big salaries don't give much of a care about those minions below pumped for the bulk of the grunt work.
True, we (the worker geeks) used to be the cool ones a few years back. But that was then and now, it's back to the same 'ol same 'ol where the execs once again have the spotlight, the workers know their place, and the economy favors mostly those on top.
Frankly, I'm not much of an game player and will make it a point to specifically not buy EA games anymore - for myself or anyone else.
The leaked memo needs to go much further and pretty much include everyone in overtime rules. The fact that some will be looked at leads to a bunch of magic hand waving while the practices continue. EA's made a boat load of cash and should share the wealth with those who are probably most responsible for it.
But alas, the top execs and management need to maintain their pecking order and paychecks so their lifestyles can continue. Such is the way of things.
My advice to EA employees: stage a mass demonstration or walk out - organize! It's no fair that you get crap from all the hard work while others reap the real benefits.
I really hope the class action yields some cash for those who deserve and more bad press for EA and in fact, the rest of the software industry where this happens more than not. This type of work is not sustainable and we Americans need to stand up for better jobs and better working conditions (gee, that sounds historically fimiliar). Otherwise, companies will take everything they can, including your life.
As much as u may deny the Jobs mind-warp marketing slogans, he is dead on the money when he says (compared to the rest of the market) they make "insanely great" products. And what makes them great is not just the hardware design, but software design.
For years and years, years back, I enjoyed the x86 cuz of the way the Mac hid everything. If you wanted to upgrade, well, good luck with the OS and the parts were an arm and a leg. But that was then. Now, it's all about portability for me and that only means one thing: a laptop. For the past 4 years the laptop has been king with me and thusly, since I usually get them maxed out, there is no upgrades. Coupled with an OS that, while not perfect and sometimes a bit more sluggish than Linux, I have a machine that just runs. I do my development exclusively on that and it goes with me everywhere. My 1st gen iPod still works great too (when does 1st gen anything work anymore???). True, many people have had probs with the battery, but I still have the stock everything on it and it's still very useful. Much more so than my previous MD players. As for Apple'ss DRM, it's easily circumvented and Apple's service of 'get out of my face and gimmie my song' does just that. Period.
In a world where it seems the only way for corps to go is to try to own everything (which is not sustainable in the long run, but of course, corps are never really concerned with the long run), Apple was marginalized (somewhat) and forced to do things differently than the Dells and M$s of the world - of which there are only a few now.
Look back at the last 5 or so years and you'll see the PC industry's knee-jerk reaction to quite a bit of Apple 'innovations' (I think that term is pretty silly and over used, but whatever):
- 17" laptops
- Wi-fi for the home/soho (and recently, AirTunes)
- Lcd desktop displays
- dvd-burners on desktop as well as laptop
- iMac colored cases (yes, pc manufacturers tried to jump on this)
- iPod
- iTunes
- Encrypted home dir on the fly (heh!)
- Rendezvous
- Firewire
- Gigabit ethernet in laptops
- backlit laptop kbds & screens that adjust to room brightness automatically
Now when has any of the above come out of M$ or Dell or Hp/Compaq?
Like so many other aspects of life, I feel that the diluted, lesser quality - not in terms of design or manufacturing, but in terms also of idea conception - cannot be sustained at critical mass levels. So you get a Dell plastic laptop that is 'good enough' but feels like, well, the cheap plastic it is. Or you get a M$ XP OS riddled with security holes throught the core of the OS, but has the widest appeal and ubiquity.
Big organizations are a slow moving giant. They like to put on a pretty face to attract cutting-edge talent, but in the end, they pound that talent into the ground and the result is sorta like the Apple 1984 commerical. Sure, there are definitely smart and creative people at big companies, but I have to say most of the creative people I've met and worked with don't survive long in the corporate environment. And most of the time the creative folks take a back seat to the suits. I say this cuz when you look at the Queen Latifa & Billy G pic, you can just see that moment where she rattles off somethin, throws in a little slang, and then Billy pops in afterword with some canned Windows-media-can-do-everything-u-want-and-more-in -your-cab-and-home remark (chuckle from the audience). The suit. Jobs, on the other hand, while I don't think he's some perfect guy, has much more 'entertainment finesse' than Bill or Ballmer. When you have these fundamental elements of getting it at the highest levels of an org, then it makes it much easier to those lower creative types on the pole to gel with those above. Why? Cuz like minds think alike.
So, when you take all of Apple's successes over the past we can say they've been possible because some creative and smart people had some wiggle room to take c
Why see the latest "Star Wars" film at all?
Because I am forced to admit that demigod tales resonate deeply in the human heart.
Yah, here we go, there's the answer covered up in a layer of crap.
The plain and simple:
Lucas is a dork. His views and opinions resonate about as much as a rock being dropped into thick mud. People who are so worried about changing the past are just that cuz their trapped in it. Lucas' latest episodes and views like "I better release it now before piracy swallows it up and then I'll never have a chance to add more to my mound of cash" are so idiotic and myopic that it boggles the mind.
Look, special effects are good. But when those overtake the story, then they're a waste. You can clearly watch the first three vs. the last two (talking about when they were made and not episode numbers) and actually see the difference. The story, the acting, the script - huge differences. And it's not just Lucas, it's a lot of 'artists' that get too fat later in the game and still wanna raise their hands saying to people "look, I still matter, I'm still cool and prophetic, love me". Bullshit.
Mr. Brin delves a little too deep into something that doesn't need any or much explaining. And by doing so, jumps headfirst into the Lucas camp of "look at how deep all this is, look at the quintessential battle between good and evil, the timeless struggle in us all..". By doing this, both put too much onus on something that was better left alone and un-interpreted.
True, it's not an OS problem per say, but to the average public (including Joe CTO), there's little distinction between their e-comm app and GNU/Linux itself.
I agree, this fact in the article spoke of shotty programming having, probably, little or nothing to do with the OS. I guess it's just hard to see how something like this coulda even been built. But I guess there's all kinds of levels of mediocrity in the development world, regardless of OS or language.
Take a gander over here.
Basically same article. And yup, d-e-l-a-y-e-d.
The fact is if you support W then you:
1. Agree in free markets and religion rule over human rights, separation of church and state; your ideals put you above the law; secrecy over openness; Reagan's blind idiology over reality; and worst of all, the ends justify the means, the the U.S. has a moral responsibility (read: religious, i.e. Christian responsibility) to change the world (see the Project for the New American Century <shudders>).
2. And/Or, you don't delve too much into the issues, which usually debunks point 1.
The RNC espoused how free Iraqi's are now vs. under Hussein. Hmm, 20k+ CIVILIAN casualties in one year doesn't appear any freer to me. Civilians still afraid to leave there homes doesn't seem any freer to me. And the fact that the Iraqi Olympic soccer team is sympathetic to the insurgents says something, especially since some of those guys in the past would be tortured under that worthless Qusay!
It also espoused how great our economy is, how well our schools are doing, how much safer we are (even tho we continue to have bogus Orange alerts and are constantly reminded of threats everywhere at every step) - all things that are easily refuted time and time again by the CBO, the press or some non-partisan group. Jesus, I can say I'll live if I jump off a skyscraper all I want. The the reality, however, and matter of factly, is I won't.
And since when did record deficits become an good thing???!! We came from a record surplus to a record deficit?! Don't tell me it's all about 9/11 cuz we've had worse wars and lost about the same in the Pearl Harbor attack. And remember, at least 1/3 of those lost in the towers were foreign workers.
As for taxes IT IS A FACT (FACT) that anyone making under $200k isn't going to see any significant relief. If you look into tax law (by all means, plase do!), you'd learn how stacked the Bush tax cut is to the wealthy. But then again, what did u expect?
The death tax? A joke. Only applies to estates $1m and over. Hmm, my mom's not gonna leave me a $1m+ estate, but she says that sounds like an unnecessary tax. Yah, if you're rich maybe. But if you're an average Joe, then you just got suckered by some political marketing, which the Republicans excel at.
Grants to faith based (i.e. religious) groups violates the separation of church and state pretty blatantly. Religion is fine, JUST KEEP IT OUT OF GOVT!
Assault on the environment. Yah, that's a pretty easy one.
'Frivilous Trial lawyers'. Hmmm, yah, why don't you read up on Scalia's son Eugene to #3 spot at the labor dept. And guess what he did in Texas - represented big biz in workmans comp claims. Hmm and now he's there to help the labor dept. Yah, it's obvious where this goes. Bush is the master, unfortunately, of acting on opposite of what he says. His trial lawyer stance is basically aimed at wiping out ALL claims, frivilous or not, against big biz.
God told him so. This is so whacked out that it's not even funny. Didn't God also tell Osama to do the things he's done? And also, didn't God tell Boykin that we will win against all enemies? Hmmm, an awful lot of God tellin everyone they're gonna win and usually, um, only one guy wins. Right? So who's gonna win then? I mean, God said all three of those guys are gonna win. A win, win, win situation?
Tom DeLay, Hastert, Frist, Santorum, Lott, Gingrich, Hannity, Coulter, Norquist, Limbaugh etc. These guys are your leaders and idealists ?! Their records speak for themselves and frankly, these guys should ALL be behind bars or at least reduced to actually doing a honest days work. A very hateful bunch.
Cheney. Halliburton. Bush Sr. Carlyle Group. Profiteering on death. Gee, what a great bunch of 'visionaries' and couragous human beings. Changing the world, no doubt. But for the better? Hardly.
Religious fundamentalism. The right wing's insistence on dragging rel