Many of the responses bring a nostalgic tear to my eye. *sniff*
The hair may have fallen out, The denim jacket may have retired, The 20 year old tour T-shirts may lay ironed and neatly folded in a long unopened drawer, And yet... the metal-thrashing, fist-banging air-guitar-shredding maniac still rages unabated within! Arise metal brothers and sisters and reclaim your rightful heritage:-)
Let's see. By all accounts we're producing too much CO2 on Earth, meanwhile our closest neighbour is just begging for some CO2 to trigger a bit of global warming and make the planet nice and cosy.
OK. A bit simplistic, but you can't help wondering...
Benefits of electronic voting: * Convenience: no need for risky, ballot-box-at-a-time, physical-vote tampering * Participation: more corporations can now be involved in helping to bring about the right result, making those pesky "political donation" caps irrelevant. * Fewer errors: once a computer is involved there's no reason any vote should ever be disqualified (currently a significant proportion of ballot tampering is eventually discovered)
1. climate change skeptic in self-righteous post promotes solar-cycle theory. 2. climate change believer rapidly ripostes regarding selective fact picking. 3. comments about big-oil funded research 4. "AAAARGH - who cares what's causing it - let's fix it NOW!" i.e. unreasonable PANIC 5. comments arguing for caution, measured response i.e. unreasonable calm 6. some idiot bringing Microsoft in to this. 7. inevitable (yet unamusing) "...PROFIT!" jokes 8. inevitable (yet much deserved) Bush/US bashing. 9. various meta-posts (e.g. checklists of posts)
Corporations either wither away gradually (eg. Corel, Wordperfect) or spectacularly (eg, Enron, Worldcom). Sure some are pretty long lived. But if corporations are subject to evolutionary pressures, eventually they will adapt or die. At the end of the day, corporations have to keep "someone" outside of the corporation happy - customers, shareholders, politicians, employees - typically 3 out of 4, or else they (eventually) die.
Technically you are correct - corporations are non-thinking entities made up of thinking humans. However they are a perfect example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Of complex, sometimes unpredictable behaviour arising out of systems with relatively few, simple rules.
Anybody that has worked for or with large corporations knows that they have a unique "culture" that is different from one to another. This culture largely survives changes of individuals within it. It is hard to identify where the culture "comes from". There is no single source of it - in some corporations you could replace the CEO and his direct reports and the culture would not change in the short or medium term (or ever cf: government).
One analogy would be the human brain. Many brain cells - individually very simple - governed by few simple imperatives generating very complex behaviour which is hard to pin down to any single brain cell (or even small group of cells).
"Mob rule" is another example of this kind of thing - where behaviour arises that exceeds that which any of its individual elements would necessarily countenance.
Here's a thought... If evolutionary pressure was enough to select for "morality" and "ethical behaviour" in individuals, could it be that over time, these new entities will eventually evolve these traits as well?
Addiction of any sort can be fairly accurately diagnosed by the "20 questions" that most 12 step programs offer. Have a look at http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/20questions.html to see what I mean.
I know for myself that despite all logical and rational understanding to the contrary I would, at my worst, do anything to keep gambling. I personally know of people who lost families, jobs, went to jail, committed terrible crimes, literally starved themselves in order to keep gambling. I knew a couple of people who after long battles with this illness committed suicide because they could no longer keep up the fight.
I am aware that there is a preponderance of models and schools of thought on this area (well highlighted by the Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addiction).
Addicts of any kind share one common fundamental characteristic - when in the grip of addiction they hold nothing to be holy. There is absolutely no barrier (other than physical restraint) that could stop them from satisfying that craving. No thought of kids, family, God, the law, self-respect - nothing can beat that insidious desire.
So, no offence but you are talking through your arse.
And if you really want to learn about addiction - Google for your nearest GA chapter, call and ask if you can attend a meeting as an observer. I can guarantee you will change your perception of addiction.
Yes - ultrasound at a distance (specifically refer to the thermoelastic regime).
By the way, is there are particular reason your response is so obnoxious or does your assumption of total superiority imbue with a compulsion to act like a complete knob.
Let's get this straight. To protect airports from fast, flying things we will employ lasers to shoot them down. Airports are places where LOTS of flying things gather. Presumably, since the bad flying things are so fast, and since we need to activate this when the bad things are not too far away (since the cost goes up with distance while the effectiveness goes down), we will require rapid, accurate target recognition, acquisition and tracking. Hmmmm....am I the only one seeing the possibility of accidentally shooting down airliners like this http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/military_bl unders/mb_iasd.html or this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_flight_800. Now that I think about it though, if it did happen the military would likely claim that the incoming missile hit the airliner and this would be parrotted by the media enough to drown out alternatives, so the risk - for those implementing the system - is actually pretty low. Somehow I don't feel at all comforted by the thought of this system.
Let's be clear. Survive does not necessarily mean that our civilisation as we know it would make it through, nor does it imply that relatively large numbers of humans won't die off. It is highly likely that no matter what we do to the planet and ourselves that a million years from now we could have a race of homoxxxxxxx which could trace direct descent from homosapiens as we are now. Little comfort to most though.
To paraphrase T.S.Elliot, democracy ends not with a bang but a whimper.
Where are the Democrats? The outraged Senators and Congressmen/women? Where are the people in the streets?
The Democrats know their time is coming and can't wait to get their hairy paws on the lovely Big Brother infrastructure the Republicans have so carefully constructed. And all of this in order to "protect our freedoms" and "maintain law and order". And everyone is too busy earning a crust or obsessing with self to care.
I'm truly sorry for you all. Your country is f*cked. The wonderful republic the founders created now rests in ashes. Maybe you really do need to lose something in order to appreciate it.
I work for a company which has a very restrictive policy. All PCs are centrally managed, monitored, patches are remotely applied, internet access is very strict (only ports 80, 443 outbound allowed). All access is via corporate proxy server with layer 7 filtering. Every outbound access is logged. However, despite these measures I can still use JAP or Tor to access any site. I can still ssh (via ProxyTunnel) to my home PC over port (my sshd runs on port 443). Basically, it just means I have to go through hoops to get stuff done. I understand that these measures are aimed at the non-geeks - the same people who have spyware infested PCs at home (and aren't even aware of it). However for geeks in the I.T. dept like myself, it is just a futile arms race which can never be won by either side.
Slashdot Mirror
OMG a logical post on /.
Please mod parent up now!
War is Peace
Ignorance is Strength
Windows is Secure
and
Windows is the most secure operating system. Windows has ALWAYS been the most secure operating system.
Oh my god! I have a twin!
... the metal-thrashing, fist-banging air-guitar-shredding maniac still rages unabated within! :-)
Many of the responses bring a nostalgic tear to my eye. *sniff*
The hair may have fallen out,
The denim jacket may have retired,
The 20 year old tour T-shirts may lay ironed and neatly folded in a long unopened drawer,
And yet
Arise metal brothers and sisters and reclaim your rightful heritage
Obligatory current playlist:
Nightwish,
Wolfmother,
Rollins Band,
Pantera,
Metallica,
Spinal Tap,
Soulfly,
Lynyrd Skynyrd.
"I listen to both kinds of music...thrash AND glam!"
Let's see. By all accounts we're producing too much CO2 on Earth, meanwhile our closest neighbour is just begging for some CO2 to trigger a bit of global warming and make the planet nice and cosy.
OK. A bit simplistic, but you can't help wondering...
Moving to Dubai huh? Too bad.
I was hoping that in the corporate "best practice" spirit of eating their own dog food , they would move HQ to Baghdad.
...please...for the...love of {DIETY OF CHOICE}...mod...parent...up...
> what problem is this trying to solve?
Benefits of electronic voting:
* Convenience: no need for risky, ballot-box-at-a-time, physical-vote tampering
* Participation: more corporations can now be involved in helping to bring about the right result, making those pesky "political donation" caps irrelevant.
* Fewer errors: once a computer is involved there's no reason any vote should ever be disqualified (currently a significant proportion of ballot tampering is eventually discovered)
Let's see:
1. climate change skeptic in self-righteous post promotes solar-cycle theory.
2. climate change believer rapidly ripostes regarding selective fact picking.
3. comments about big-oil funded research
4. "AAAARGH - who cares what's causing it - let's fix it NOW!" i.e. unreasonable PANIC
5. comments arguing for caution, measured response i.e. unreasonable calm
6. some idiot bringing Microsoft in to this.
7. inevitable (yet unamusing) "...PROFIT!" jokes
8. inevitable (yet much deserved) Bush/US bashing.
9. various meta-posts (e.g. checklists of posts)
Climate change: Nero - fiddle - Rome - burn.
Corporations either wither away gradually (eg. Corel, Wordperfect) or spectacularly (eg, Enron, Worldcom). Sure some are pretty long lived. But if corporations are subject to evolutionary pressures, eventually they will adapt or die. At the end of the day, corporations have to keep "someone" outside of the corporation happy - customers, shareholders, politicians, employees - typically 3 out of 4, or else they (eventually) die.
i cense_stuff/5 44207
If you want to study imminent corporate death throes in action just keep your eyes focused on the big-music-media corps(e). One or two might survive - only if they adapt. In this instance evolutionary pressures include the mass adoption of P2P by their customers, demand for unencumbered music and the rise of independent alternatives. See:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/20/kenswil_l
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/22/1
Technically you are correct - corporations are non-thinking entities made up of thinking humans. However they are a perfect example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Of complex, sometimes unpredictable behaviour arising out of systems with relatively few, simple rules.
Anybody that has worked for or with large corporations knows that they have a unique "culture" that is different from one to another. This culture largely survives changes of individuals within it. It is hard to identify where the culture "comes from". There is no single source of it - in some corporations you could replace the CEO and his direct reports and the culture would not change in the short or medium term (or ever cf: government).
One analogy would be the human brain. Many brain cells - individually very simple - governed by few simple imperatives generating very complex behaviour which is hard to pin down to any single brain cell (or even small group of cells).
"Mob rule" is another example of this kind of thing - where behaviour arises that exceeds that which any of its individual elements would necessarily countenance.
Here's a thought...
If evolutionary pressure was enough to select for "morality" and "ethical behaviour" in individuals, could it be that over time, these new entities will eventually evolve these traits as well?
I forgot to add that the first time I went to GA I got a perfect score on the 20 questions.
Spoken like someone who hasn't got a clue.
I am a recovering compulsive gambler.
Addiction of any sort can be fairly accurately diagnosed by the "20 questions" that most 12 step programs offer. Have a look at http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/20questions.html to see what I mean.
I know for myself that despite all logical and rational understanding to the contrary I would, at my worst, do anything to keep gambling. I personally know of people who lost families, jobs, went to jail, committed terrible crimes, literally starved themselves in order to keep gambling. I knew a couple of people who after long battles with this illness committed suicide because they could no longer keep up the fight.
I am aware that there is a preponderance of models and schools of thought on this area (well highlighted by the Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addiction).
Addicts of any kind share one common fundamental characteristic - when in the grip of addiction they hold nothing to be holy. There is absolutely no barrier (other than physical restraint) that could stop them from satisfying that craving. No thought of kids, family, God, the law, self-respect - nothing can beat that insidious desire.
So, no offence but you are talking through your arse.
And if you really want to learn about addiction - Google for your nearest GA chapter, call and ask if you can attend a meeting as an observer. I can guarantee you will change your perception of addiction.
> Where is this disconnect happening in their heads?
c ience-John-Dean/dp/0670037745/sr=8-1/qid=116474367 5/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-6914497-3816065?ie=UTF8&s=bo oks)
If you really want an answer to this question I very strongly urge you to read: Conservatives Without Conscience by John Dean (former White House counsel under Nixon)
(http://www.amazon.com/Conservatives-Without-Cons
In it he describes how Conservatism as a movement has been largely radicalized by so-called "Right Wing Authoritarians".
If you really want to know how these people think and why your country has become what it has. Read this book.
>> We're in a war. We don't arrest wartime enemies and give them lawyers and court dates. We kill them.
... after they've been found guilty.
Really?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremburg_trials
They may well be executed
Someone PLEASE mod parent up as insightful.
Some titles are obviously encrypted, such as:
"Extraterrestrial Intelligence",
"Key to the Extraterrestrial Messages"
which, when decyphered are:
"IT lie alters electing Rex* in Terrae#",
"Relax, see eager tits stroke thy master"
* Rex = latin for King
# Terrae = latin for Earth
One is obviously describing the manipulation of the electoral process and the other describes the appropriate response.
DRM a pipe dream?
Yeah well let's see you get around a welded-on DRM helmet baby!
http://www.oreillynet.com/1540.html
You obviously haven't heard of laser ultrasound.h /ultra/research/laser/
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/researc
Yes - ultrasound at a distance (specifically refer to the thermoelastic regime).
By the way, is there are particular reason your response is so obnoxious or does your assumption of total superiority imbue with a compulsion to act like a complete knob.
clots "no matter how deep they are".
I believe this could also be a weapon whose end result would be indistinguishable from death by "natural causes".
I guess its appropriate the military came up with this.
OK - I'll bite. Where?
I'm in the market and the best price I can get is a little under $12K for a 1KW setup AFTER the rebate.
Let's get this straight.l unders/mb_iasd.html or this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_flight_800.
To protect airports from fast, flying things we will employ lasers to shoot them down.
Airports are places where LOTS of flying things gather.
Presumably, since the bad flying things are so fast, and since we need to activate this when the bad things are not too far away (since the cost goes up with distance while the effectiveness goes down), we will require rapid, accurate target recognition, acquisition and tracking.
Hmmmm....am I the only one seeing the possibility of accidentally shooting down airliners like this http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/military_b
Now that I think about it though, if it did happen the military would likely claim that the incoming missile hit the airliner and this would be parrotted by the media enough to drown out alternatives, so the risk - for those implementing the system - is actually pretty low.
Somehow I don't feel at all comforted by the thought of this system.
Let's be clear. Survive does not necessarily mean that our civilisation as we know it would make it through, nor does it imply that relatively large numbers of humans won't die off.
It is highly likely that no matter what we do to the planet and ourselves that a million years from now we could have a race of homoxxxxxxx which could trace direct descent from homosapiens as we are now. Little comfort to most though.
To paraphrase T.S.Elliot, democracy ends not with a bang but a whimper.
Where are the Democrats? The outraged Senators and Congressmen/women? Where are the people in the streets?
The Democrats know their time is coming and can't wait to get their hairy paws on the lovely Big Brother infrastructure the Republicans have so carefully constructed. And all of this in order to "protect our freedoms" and "maintain law and order". And everyone is too busy earning a crust or obsessing with self to care.
I'm truly sorry for you all. Your country is f*cked. The wonderful republic the founders created now rests in ashes. Maybe you really do need to lose something in order to appreciate it.
Don't worry - I've already backed up my petabyte porn collection - on a device called the Internet.
I work for a company which has a very restrictive policy. All PCs are centrally managed, monitored, patches are remotely applied, internet access is very strict (only ports 80, 443 outbound allowed). All access is via corporate proxy server with layer 7 filtering. Every outbound access is logged.
However, despite these measures I can still use JAP or Tor to access any site. I can still ssh (via ProxyTunnel) to my home PC over port (my sshd runs on port 443). Basically, it just means I have to go through hoops to get stuff done.
I understand that these measures are aimed at the non-geeks - the same people who have spyware infested PCs at home (and aren't even aware of it). However for geeks in the I.T. dept like myself, it is just a futile arms race which can never be won by either side.