>>I mean, China's interests are not the world's interests. History folks: read it.
This statement is equally true: "The USA's interests are not the world's interests."
As for the rest... I suggest you talk to some people who have actually lived in the People's Republic of China (PRC) recently. The Chinese government's lumbering inefficiency isn't limited to industry, it extends into the realms of censorship and informational control as well. The so called "iron fist" is a rusted piece of scrap metal.
The "Great Firewall" is utterly worthless. The Chinese people can get access to any news article or information on any website they want.
If you think the media controls implemented by the Chinese government can prevent the people from finding out what's going on, you're sorely mistaken. Everyone in China knows the media is censored. They know the press is unreliable and full of propaganda (unlike in the good old USA, where most people don't realize the amount of self-censorship practiced by the media). News travels by word of mouth, on internet bulletin boards and chatrooms, and via physical bulletin boards at universities and colleges.
And if you think the PRC is still Communist, you need to go back to school. Last time I checked, Communism didn't include private ownership of land and industry, entrepreneurialism, corporations, or a free market. The last vestiges of nationalized industry in China are being privatized as we post.
China is changing, but it is changing slowly. The current government survives on ignorance. As more of the population becomes educated, democracy will assert itself. I think most Americans would be surprised by how much the Chinese government is already influenced by the will of the people.
The only reason Taiwan doesn't have a seat on the UN is because they claim to be the "true" government of the Chinese people. As a government in exile, they get nothing. If they declared themselves a sovereign nation separate from China, they would have their seat in a day. (Barring, of course, invasion from the PRC, which is entirely possible)
I doubt anything I can say will change your deeply ingrained worldview, but here are a few points for consideration:
1) An entirely free market tends towards a state of monopoly. Businesses will tend to conglomerate and use "unfair" tactics to keep their market share. Anti-trust is the only thing in this country preventing 100% monopoly. There is a wealth of evidence supporting this. Look at any major products/services...the majority of market share is usually dominated by two competing companies. By merging, they could create a monopoly and charge whatever prices they want. Their profits would go through the roof. Why haven't they done this? Anti-Trust. The Federal Trade Commission blocks numerous mergers yearly, preserving competition and protecting the consumer.
2) Utilities are unique in the sense that it is inherently difficult to compete in a utility market. Just consider electricity. To move in onto this market, a company would have to construct a separate power grid. Chances are slim that the existing electricity supplier would allow the use of theirs. Competing in the water/sewage utility market would require building another set of pipes. No one in his right mind would try to do this...it would probably be cheaper just to acquire the current company with the monopoly.
3) Utiliy monopolies are regulated by the local governments. They are prevented from charging the consumer exorbitant prices. In some areas, the company owning the telephone lines is forced to allow competitors to use their proprietary network at reasonable, compulsory rates. All to protect the consumer.
If we're going to keep putting our chips in with the United Nations, maybe it's time for the United Nations to step in and start acting against these fascist governments, and demand some real reforms.
We aren't putting our chips in with the UN. Ever wonder why they weren't helping us in Iraq? We didn't want them there. Nations in the UN wanted equal jurisdiction over the reconstruction of Iraq in return for aid in the invasion, etc. The current administration, however, wanted full control and declared that it would go it alone.
That's what the UN is for, for governments to get together, come up with some common laws, and rule when some nations are in contempt of those laws.
Unfortunately, the UN will remain useless as long as the world's remaining superpower continues to rebuff any attempt at international consensus. The current administration has withdrawn or is violating numerous international treaties. One of these is the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which sets up an international court to prosecute war crimes. In fact, the administration has announced that it will use means of force to "rescue" any American that is prosecuted before such a court.
Reducing government will solve the problem, but not in the way you think. Corporations won't exploit the law anymore, because they won't have to--they'll be able to exploit the people directly.
How much do you think your electricity, water, and telephone services would cost without government regulation?
We're making progress as long as we force them to spend huge amounts of time and money crawling through loopholes, which are finite in number and closed at very little cost.
The real solution is to return government to its original intended state: By the people, for the people.
The current policy of running using the government to further the interests of the rich and powerful has to end.
Unlikely. if we spend over 9 trillion dollars per year (the approximate value of our GDP) we could probably put a base on the moon in five years. And that wouldn't be due to lack of money, but minimum testing timeframes.
As far as an estimate of costs goes, I'd say that if we weren't wasting all of this money developing useless weapons of mass destruction, we'd be easily able to afford an ambitious space program.
If we paid off the national deficit, which costs us 300 billion a year (5% APR, yes, that's right, higher interest than your mortgage) in tax-payers dollars, we could easily pay for all sorts of research and social programs. Too bad the the current administration likes the national debt for various reasons and has no intentions of paying it off.
FYI, Killing the boss is easy with one simple trick: the alien "bee" gun shoots little bees which are actually considered monsters, and get teleported by the teleportation shots, neutralizing them. The rest of his attacks are a cakewalk.
From what I remember, and I may be wrong since it's been almost a year since I watched Firefly, the chinese dialect used was Mandarin, not Cantonese. Very, very, very badly pronounced Mandarin, which may be the source of the confusion.
It occurs to me that someone should design a device which recieves radio transmissions and has the capability to record them directly into mp3 format. In addition, it should be able to intelligently separate transmissions into individual songs and discard "junk" such as commercials and talk radio.
Hmmmm...interesting idea. *big red stamp* [PATENT PENDING] *end big red stamp*:P
This should be well within the power of a complex tape machine, and hopefully will blur the lines between internet and terrestrial radio as far as distributing copies goes enough to make one of two things happen: a) Webcasting is recognized as pretty much identical to terrestrial radio. RIAA royalties removed. b) RIAA tries to push its royalties on terrestrial radio. Radio stations across the country band together and legally beat the crap out of the RIAA.
I'm surprised you guys haven't figured this out yet, but here goes...
The reason Blizzard is so pissed at Bnetd is not because they're trying to implement a substitute Bnet server, but rather that Bnetd's server, in conjunction with a crack *posted on the Bnetd webpage* allowed widespread piracy of the Warcraft 3 beta test, which was intended to be a closed beta. College campuses all over the U.S. have 10-100 copies of the War3beta running off numerous bnetd servers, each.
I think that Blizzard is completely legit in trying to keep it's beta under wraps.
about the fact that the U.S. is trying to deny China high technology, which seems to be the PRC's only hope for democracy.
I've been in Beijing on an exchange program for four months. Every media source is controlled. When a provincial paper accidentally printed a joke about a high level official, it was shut down, and the editor was driven into hiding.
The only unrestricted method of communication, the only outlet for the REAL political opinions of the Chinese people is, no surprise, the Internet (and piracy...the government has no way to restrict pirated media...Red Alert is prohibited because it portrays Communism as 'bad', but you can get it pirated).
I think the U.S. should be promoting the distribution of high tech throughout the world, not suppressing it. Especially for something has harmless as DVD.
If Uncle Sam wants to keep military tech out of the PRC's hands, then it should worry about more important things, like keeping state-of-the-art spyplanes from falling into China.
Man, you really are the most fascist asshole I've ever seen. Period. You're just begging to become a mindless slave, aren't you? One of those people who thinks the Bill of Rights was the biggest mistake in the history of the US, eh?
If you're willing to sacrifice freedom to stop piracy, understand that there are some of us out here who are more than willing to protect freedom by sacrificing you.
It's interesting to contemplate whether or not the Crusoe will actually be able to compete against Intel in anything but the mobile market. Sure, saving power is on everyone's minds, but the majority of people are willing to sacrifice a few watts of power for another 150mhz in clockspeed. I am intrigued by the idea of a chip that is "upgradable" through software, but this brings up even more security issues. Security through obscurity may be the only option here, or risk massive disruption. From what I've heard so far, the potential for damage is almost limitless. A chip whose routines can be modified by software to perform multiple and varied functions raises all my hackles.
My question is, what kind of maniacal plan have the people at NASA come up with this time? Building probes that can survive 400mph impacts is surely more expensive than adding a couple parachutes or whatever they use to slow the things down...Could this be another freakish post-coldwar conspiracy targeted at chewing up precious tax-dollars?
Slashdot Mirror
>>I mean, China's interests are not the world's interests. History folks: read it.
This statement is equally true: "The USA's interests are not the world's interests."
As for the rest...
I suggest you talk to some people who have actually lived in the People's Republic of China (PRC) recently. The Chinese government's lumbering inefficiency isn't limited to industry, it extends into the realms of censorship and informational control as well. The so called "iron fist" is a rusted piece of scrap metal.
The "Great Firewall" is utterly worthless. The Chinese people can get access to any news article or information on any website they want.
If you think the media controls implemented by the Chinese government can prevent the people from finding out what's going on, you're sorely mistaken. Everyone in China knows the media is censored. They know the press is unreliable and full of propaganda (unlike in the good old USA, where most people don't realize the amount of self-censorship practiced by the media). News travels by word of mouth, on internet bulletin boards and chatrooms, and via physical bulletin boards at universities and colleges.
And if you think the PRC is still Communist, you need to go back to school. Last time I checked, Communism didn't include private ownership of land and industry, entrepreneurialism, corporations, or a free market. The last vestiges of nationalized industry in China are being privatized as we post.
China is changing, but it is changing slowly. The current government survives on ignorance. As more of the population becomes educated, democracy will assert itself. I think most Americans would be surprised by how much the Chinese government is already influenced by the will of the people.
The only reason Taiwan doesn't have a seat on the UN is because they claim to be the "true" government of the Chinese people. As a government in exile, they get nothing. If they declared themselves a sovereign nation separate from China, they would have their seat in a day. (Barring, of course, invasion from the PRC, which is entirely possible)
FYI, Chinese has an "l" sound.
The most difficult sound for Mandarin Chinese speakers to pronounce is "th", as in the word "the". It tends to come out more like "z".
I doubt anything I can say will change your deeply ingrained worldview, but here are a few points for consideration:
1) An entirely free market tends towards a state of monopoly. Businesses will tend to conglomerate and use "unfair" tactics to keep their market share. Anti-trust is the only thing in this country preventing 100% monopoly. There is a wealth of evidence supporting this. Look at any major products/services...the majority of market share is usually dominated by two competing companies. By merging, they could create a monopoly and charge whatever prices they want. Their profits would go through the roof. Why haven't they done this? Anti-Trust. The Federal Trade Commission blocks numerous mergers yearly, preserving competition and protecting the consumer.
2) Utilities are unique in the sense that it is inherently difficult to compete in a utility market. Just consider electricity. To move in onto this market, a company would have to construct a separate power grid. Chances are slim that the existing electricity supplier would allow the use of theirs. Competing in the water/sewage utility market would require building another set of pipes. No one in his right mind would try to do this...it would probably be cheaper just to acquire the current company with the monopoly.
3) Utiliy monopolies are regulated by the local governments. They are prevented from charging the consumer exorbitant prices. In some areas, the company owning the telephone lines is forced to allow competitors to use their proprietary network at reasonable, compulsory rates. All to protect the consumer.
If we're going to keep putting our chips in with the United Nations, maybe it's time for the United Nations to step in and start acting against these fascist governments, and demand some real reforms.
We aren't putting our chips in with the UN. Ever wonder why they weren't helping us in Iraq? We didn't want them there. Nations in the UN wanted equal jurisdiction over the reconstruction of Iraq in return for aid in the invasion, etc. The current administration, however, wanted full control and declared that it would go it alone.
That's what the UN is for, for governments to get together, come up with some common laws, and rule when some nations are in contempt of those laws.
Unfortunately, the UN will remain useless as long as the world's remaining superpower continues to rebuff any attempt at international consensus. The current administration has withdrawn or is violating numerous international treaties. One of these is the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which sets up an international court to prosecute war crimes. In fact, the administration has announced that it will use means of force to "rescue" any American that is prosecuted before such a court.
Reducing government will solve the problem, but not in the way you think. Corporations won't exploit the law anymore, because they won't have to--they'll be able to exploit the people directly.
How much do you think your electricity, water, and telephone services would cost without government regulation?
We're making progress as long as we force them to spend huge amounts of time and money crawling through loopholes, which are finite in number and closed at very little cost.
The real solution is to return government to its original intended state: By the people, for the people.
The current policy of running using the government to further the interests of the rich and powerful has to end.
Unlikely. if we spend over 9 trillion dollars per year (the approximate value of our GDP) we could probably put a base on the moon in five years. And that wouldn't be due to lack of money, but minimum testing timeframes.
As far as an estimate of costs goes, I'd say that if we weren't wasting all of this money developing useless weapons of mass destruction, we'd be easily able to afford an ambitious space program.
If we paid off the national deficit, which costs us 300 billion a year (5% APR, yes, that's right, higher interest than your mortgage) in tax-payers dollars, we could easily pay for all sorts of research and social programs. Too bad the the current administration likes the national debt for various reasons and has no intentions of paying it off.
FYI, Killing the boss is easy with one simple trick: the alien "bee" gun shoots little bees which are actually considered monsters, and get teleported by the teleportation shots, neutralizing them. The rest of his attacks are a cakewalk.
From what I remember, and I may be wrong since it's been almost a year since I watched Firefly,
the chinese dialect used was Mandarin, not Cantonese. Very, very, very badly pronounced Mandarin, which may be the source of the confusion.
It occurs to me that someone should design a device which recieves radio transmissions and has the capability to record them directly into mp3 format. In addition, it should be able to intelligently separate transmissions into individual songs and discard "junk" such as commercials and talk radio.
:P
Hmmmm...interesting idea.
*big red stamp* [PATENT PENDING] *end big red stamp*
This should be well within the power of a complex tape machine, and hopefully will blur the lines between internet and terrestrial radio as far as distributing copies goes enough to make one of two things happen:
a) Webcasting is recognized as pretty much identical to terrestrial radio. RIAA royalties removed.
b) RIAA tries to push its royalties on terrestrial radio. Radio stations across the country band together and legally beat the crap out of the RIAA.
Now I can attain immortality through the simple process of replacing my feeble human body with enduring tree parts. Mwahahahahahahahaha.
I, for one, welcome our new scum-sucking, bottom-feeding, algae-eating overlords.
I'm surprised you guys haven't figured this out yet, but here goes...
The reason Blizzard is so pissed at Bnetd is not because they're trying to implement a substitute Bnet server, but rather that Bnetd's server, in conjunction with a crack *posted on the Bnetd webpage* allowed widespread piracy of the Warcraft 3 beta test, which was intended to be a closed beta. College campuses all over the U.S. have 10-100 copies of the War3beta running off numerous bnetd servers, each.
I think that Blizzard is completely legit in trying to keep it's beta under wraps.
about the fact that the U.S. is trying to deny China high technology, which seems to be the PRC's only hope for democracy.
I've been in Beijing on an exchange program for four months. Every media source is controlled. When a provincial paper accidentally printed a joke about a high level official, it was shut down, and the editor was driven into hiding.
The only unrestricted method of communication, the only outlet for the REAL political opinions of the Chinese people is, no surprise, the Internet (and piracy...the government has no way to restrict pirated media...Red Alert is prohibited because it portrays Communism as 'bad', but you can get it pirated).
I think the U.S. should be promoting the distribution of high tech throughout the world, not suppressing it. Especially for something has harmless as DVD.
If Uncle Sam wants to keep military tech out of the PRC's hands, then it should worry about more important things, like keeping state-of-the-art spyplanes from falling into China.
Man, you really are the most fascist asshole I've ever seen. Period. You're just begging to become a mindless slave, aren't you? One of those people who thinks the Bill of Rights was the biggest mistake in the history of the US, eh?
If you're willing to sacrifice freedom to stop piracy, understand that there are some of us out here who are more than willing to protect freedom by sacrificing you.
It's interesting to contemplate whether or not the Crusoe will actually be able to compete against Intel in anything but the mobile market. Sure, saving power is on everyone's minds, but the majority of people are willing to sacrifice a few watts of power for another 150mhz in clockspeed. I am intrigued by the idea of a chip that is "upgradable" through software, but this brings up even more security issues. Security through obscurity may be the only option here, or risk massive disruption. From what I've heard so far, the potential for damage is almost limitless. A chip whose routines can be modified by software to perform multiple and varied functions raises all my hackles.
My question is, what kind of maniacal plan have the people at NASA come up with this time? Building probes that can survive 400mph impacts is surely more expensive than adding a couple parachutes or whatever they use to slow the things down...Could this be another freakish post-coldwar conspiracy targeted at chewing up precious tax-dollars?