the thing is, in the electoral system which we have, a candidate with 49.1 percent of the vote, a candidate with 49.0 percent of the vote, and a candidate with 1.9 percent of the vote, the first candidate takes the entirety of that state's electoral votes.
if 1 vote could go to the third candidate, slightly half to the 2nd, and slightly more than half to the 1st, then i would have no problem with nader or a hundred other MINOR politicians on the PRESIDENTIAL ballot.
but the simple fact is, with the winner take all electoral system, MINOR candidates have NO PLACE. they should be given complete access, and equal air time in debates, things like that, but if they have absolutely 0 chance to win, they will only be defeating the purpose of the system if they show up on the presidential ballot. each state's ballot should include candidates with actual support, not 2-5% gnats. when nader has 15-20% support he should be on the ballot, not before, unless the electoral system gets tweaked, because as we've seen, the people's will does not get executed in such circumstances. the 'framers' i am sure did not have this in mind, they, i am sure, wanted the people's will to mean something.
I don't like any of this. Personally I think it should be fine to vote for who you want.
And the reason Gore could not reach out to the leftist voters is because a true leftist candidate doesn't have a chance to win a national election. The best a leftist voter can hope for in a president is that they at least have some leftist ideals, because the majority of the country actually is conservative and both parties know it. in most states they run ads against local democratic candidates by decrying them as 'liberals'. that's their nasty smear campaign which works every time. call someone a liberal in most states and it's an insult.
anyway i'm ranting as usual. personally i do believe that nader's political statement needed to be made, but did it have to come at the cost of the four years the republican president/house/congress has to completely screw over the economy/country? i dunno... it's all too complex for me.
and as for my politics, i am a communist (not socialist) which basically means i could vote libertarian if they weren't so damned stupid about public schools. i believe in 0 government but i know that can't possibly work, the government has to do the dirty work... police, schools, sewers, anyway...
-sam
the electoral system is the system the framers created to deal with the slow movement of information of their time. i believe it is good on the one hand, because it ensures proportional representation of the states (if 100% of vermont votes (all Rep), and 30% of michigan votes (20% dem, 10% rep), the popular vote looks very close but the electoral points could be very, very much in favor of democrats. this is a good thing, because the people of vermont, even with 100% turnout, should now outweigh the people of michigan.
however, the electoral system has the inverse fundamental problem: while ensuring proportional representation of the states, within the states it is the opposite. if, as is the case in florida, 49.98% vote for candidate A, and 49.99% vote for candidate B, 100% of the state's electoral votes goes to candidate B. Hrm. This doesn't make sense, as obviously florida is NOT 100% sure who should be president.
so, simply, the electoral college of florida should cast half their votes for candidate A, half for candidate B. that makes sense, as this system keeps the benefits of the electoral system (populous states still count more even with less turnout) while ridding us of the stupidity of it.
i took a few stat classes along the way in college (on the way to my BS in comp sci) and i don't remember a damned thing i learned in them. but, i put together some examples of how this system could work, even with minor third parties like Nader throwing their wrench in the works.
perhaps have it go like this:
if a state has 20 electoral votes...
the winner gets what is left after...
each candidate gets the floor of their percent times 20
example:
candidate A gets 56% of the vote
candidate B gets 40% of the vote
candidate C gets 3% of the vote
candidate D gets 1% of the vote
in a state with 20 electoral votes
candidate D gets 0 electoral votes (calc is 0.2)
candidate C gets 0 electoral votes (calc is 0.6)
candidate B gets 8 electoral votes (calc is 8.0)
candidate A gets 12 electoral votes (calc. is 11.2)
this preserves that the winner of a state will receive a benefit greater than
the simple popular vote, yet also rewards those who earn a substantial
amount of the popular vote.
how about another example:
candidate A gets 40% of the vote
candidate B gets 36% of the vote
candidate C gets 14% of the vote
candidate D gets 10% of the vote
in a state with 20 electoral votes
candidate D gets 2 electoral votes (calc is 2.0)
candidate C gets 2 electoral votes (calc is 2.8)
candidate B gets 7 electoral votes (calc is 7.2)
candidate A gets 9 electoral votes (calc is 8.0)
i believe that this system more accurately reflects the wishes of the people of this fictional state. for the state to award 100% of the electoral votes to any candidate is stupid, because we say every vote counts, and EITHER WAY, 4 million votes are going to count as ZERO in florida.
anyway that's my 2 cents, and i'm broke.
But I guess the real reason is that I was lazy and this is one of those incidents which my over-developed conscience will berate me with for a few years.
As I said in my post... "but my car isn't exactly handicap-accessible". I have a two-seater sports car type piece of shit. For one, it might not make it to the next town. For two, the guy and his wheelchair are simply NOT fitting into it. And for three, I don't even know this guy, I don't want to be arrested for kidnapping when they find him missing. And for four, my boss didn't mind when I came in slightly late having voted, but it would have been a different story had I missed half the day taking this guy to the next town. Maybe one of the few things we can take from Nader's insane campaign is that election day should be a government holiday?
In any case, thank you for your well thought out response to my post. I'm glad/. can foster such eloquent discussion such as 'why didn't your ass drive him'. that's pulitzer material. But, having reviewed some of your other posts, at least we can agree that Nader is a big goverment freak.
Take it easy...
-sam
Well, I voted today, in this foul-smelling senior center (in)conveniently located down a no outlet road bracketed by giant electrical arrays.
In North Carolina, you vote by actually using a marker to connect two halves of a line. Why they don't use computers (or the INTERNET) to vote still blows my mind.
But what actually bothered me the most was the guy next to me in line (the way he was treated). He was fairly old, in a wheelchair, and living in a little center down the street. He got someone to bring him to the polls to vote. Unfortunately since he only recently moved to this center he was still registered in a neighboring city and couldn't vote. WTF. But what was worse than that, was the look on the guy's face, I mean, how's an old handicapped man with no family going to get to the next town? I thought about taking him but my car isn't exactly handicap-accessible.
But it was what the lady behind the counter did which really pissed me off. She was like, "Well, we can register you here now so that next time you can vote." Again, WTF. In four years it'll be a miracle if this guy's still alive. But as I left he was filling out the form so he could vote 'next time'.
So get off your asses and vote. Go pick up your grandparents from the home your parents stuck them in and drive them to where they can vote.
And if you're voting... you might as well vote Gore:)
-sam
maybe i'm wrong, but didn't bobby fisher regularly dispatch kasparov at the world championships?
on the other hand i watched a lot of kasparov's play over the last ten years. when he goes on the attack it is over, man!
Literary works, including computer programs and databases, protected by
access control mechanisms that fail to permit access because of malfunction,
damage or obsoleteness
DVD-CSS fails to permit access because of obsoleteness, and thus should fall into this exemption. Not supporting the second most popular operating system in the states (and perhaps the most popular operating system worldwide), Linux, would make something pretty damned obsolete. DeCSS is clearly an attempt to fix this obsolete pile of dung, DVD-CSS, and render it compatible with Linux. If DVD-CSS were not obsolete, i.e. if it ran under Linux, there would not have been a reason for DeCSS.
And don't get me started on the obsoleteness of country-encoding in a global market.
-frknfrk!?!
Literary works, including computer programs and databases, protected by
access control mechanisms that fail to permit access because of malfunction,
damage or obsoleteness
I emphasize the obsoleteness clause for further examination. Is not CSS obsolete because it does not support Linux? Doesn't that make DeCSS legal under this exception, as the only reason it exists is to combat this obsoleteness?
-sam
legalitires of mirroring
on
D&D Trailer
·
· Score: 1
first of all, rude or not, thanks for the direct link as the seednd page appears hosed.
second of all, and this is admittedly off topic, what is the legality of mirroring this movie? i believe i have fair rights to redistribute this movie to a few of my friends off a link from my own server so they don't have to wait on akamai, so long as i don't modify/make money/claim ownership/broadcast the movie.
any takers?:)
thanks,
sam
2) With regards to gender equality and a woman's reproductive rights, what reproductive rights do male members of
society have that are equal to that of a female's under Roe v. Wade? (assume Roe v. Wade is constitutional in this
case)
What I am usually told is that male members have the right to not have sex. However females also have that right.
I would say that male members have the right to wear a good condom if they choose.
However I think you are really asking, does the male have the right to force the female to abort/carry his progeny?
I would have to say no, males do not have this right. Think about it:
Harry knocks up Sally. Sally wants to have an abortion. Harry gets a court order preventing this abortion. Sally smokes like a chimney throughout her pregnancy, and Harry's son is born premature and with no lungs or brain.
Harry knocks up Sally. Sally wants to carry the baby. Harry gets a court order to force Sally to have an abortion. Sally, not believing in abortion, spends the remainder of her days as a nun, unable to reconcile her religion with having had a doctor kill her baby.
Definately we have a TON of problems in the US, not the least of it is poor sex education. There is a fundamental lack of sexual responsibility. I don't have any kind of moral problem with people having as much sex as they want with whomever they want. But before you have sex with someone, find out what they would want to do were they to get pregnant. If you don't like what they have to say, find someone else to have sex with.
Have a nice day... as usual I never can say exactly what I mean.
Wow! I actually completely agree with this. I had to take drug tests when simply *applying* for positions where I *might* be asked to do government work. I actually like this idea quite a lot. I am guessing that this is already the case, and if so, then I would like full disclosure of test results. If not, it should go into effect immediately!
In other news, in reading around researching what to ask, I found the following amendment to the constitution to be nearly hilarious:
AMENDMENT XXVI
Passed by Congress March 23, 1971. Ratified July 1, 1971.
Note: Amendment 14, section 2, of the Constitution was modified by section 1 of the 26th amendment.
Section 1.
The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by
the United States or by any State on account of age.
Section 2.
The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
It's nice that you bring up the 15-20% factor. But I should point out that 8 years ago, Ross Perot received 19% of the votes cast.
Yes, this means that 1 out of every 5 people who went to the polls voted for Ross Perot. It is this year when that voter turnout shoud be producing something interesting... But...
Now the Religious Right has usurped the Reform Party. Not very fair, but what the hell, they are all a bunch of hypocrites anyway. I'm very surprised not many people have mentioned John Hagelin (who I might vote for). Let's see, he is a quantum physicist, might win the Nobel prize. I think he's smart enough, at least on scientific issues, to be 'trusted' with the presidency. Anyway, I'm not going
to get into whether or not the president has any real power (which he hasn't) or
the disappointment in hearing people call Nader a 'socialist' as if that were a bad thing. I like Nader if for no other reason than he actually isn't afraid to
disagree with people. Watch the debates, watch the 'two' candidates argue over
who is more mainstream, who is less offensive. Neither has anything important to
say, because if they said something important, that might make someone less likely to vote for them. Argh!
Activism, yes, Vigilence, yes. Agreement, sure. Do you know what would happen to
the two-party system if everyone who could vote, did vote? Boom. No more two-party system, immediately. The reason the two parties are the only two parties currently is because the only people voting are the people who like them. Mostly this is elderly white people. If every Asian-American voted this year, expect with
out any fear that the next candidate would be talking a whole lot about Asian-American issues.
If you don't vote, you can't complain. Vote Hagelin, Nader, whomever. Just vote.
Once the establishment realises that the populace has woken up and wants representation, changes will happen. But not before. They are content to keep doing what they are doing (status quo) as long as no one gets upset enough to actually get off their couch and vote.
A decent place to start is election2000.com/review.html
basically 'lists' the candidates and gives links to their platforms. warning, has a slight left bias. (not that i'm picking sides, cause i couldn't care less what you label someone. although, as a question, is a leftist someone who believes in more social programs, or is a leftist someone who is prejudiced against people who believe in more social programs?:)
Well, Hagelin is at www.hagelin.com, and among other things he is a very respected Quantum Physicist (think: 'grand unified field theory'). Check out the website. He is mostly about 'common-sense'. I saw him on PBS one day and decided that he would have a good chance of getting my vote. He is the real Reform Party candidate, Buchanan is just the bastard child of the Religious Right's usurpation of the Reform Party. If you look closely, you'll see that Hagelin actually won the nomination, and that he is actually the Reform Party candidate in a handful of states.
sometimes, i enjoy being immersed into an environment, and sometimes i enjoy a quick blast-em-up. i'm guessing everyone is the same way, in different proportions.
but i guess overall i get more enjoyment from immersive 3D than blast-em-up. i actually feel like i'm using my brain a little.
They are plainly and openly committing extorsion and continuing their monopoly practises?
Just read the link. They actually threaten PC vendors by vague legal piracy implications if they try to ship a PC without Windows installed on it.
Why oh why and how oh how does it take so long for the legal department to do something? Based solely on this one URL alone there is enough of a case to be open and shut. What exactly could Microsoft possibly say?
Well, I suppose they could say they are 'protecting the consumer' from straying from the 'one true OS'. But then they are openly a monopoly. Open-shut.
I just don't understand how this case is not open-shut. It is just another example of how frustrating the United States is. Forget marijuana laws which make no sense, lax penalties on convicted violent offenders, the tax bracket system, and the electoral college, wtf is up with this? This should have taken ONE AFTERNOON of a court's time. Instead millions of taxpayer dollars go toward fighting this case. Wtf, I ask you America, wtf?
In summation, I think Microsoft has the right to innovate and do all kinds of things, but not extort PC vendors. It is all too obvious, and has been for so many years, that they are are not only a monopoly, they are a predatorial, vindictive monopoly, with absolutely no regard whatsoever for their customers.
We argue that the RIAA should change, that the MPAA should change. Microsoft had better change its tune, the time for 'One world, one reich, one fuhrer' is over. If I were a stockholder in Microsoft I would wonder wtf they are doing, also. Why aren't they moving into the obviously growing markets, why aren't they reducing their risks of even harsher antitrust penalties? Are they out to screw Joe Stockholder, too?
Anyway, I've ranted for too long for no good reason...
-my opinions do not reflect my employer's, yada yada yada
How do they plan on getting back? This works fine for probes and all, but I want to send -people- to other planets. Factoring in all the extra weight for return equipment (booster rocket, fuel, fuel, fuel) the solar engine takes longer to accelerate. I think the best part about this is DEFINATELY the shielding against solar radiation. I'd like to see one of these which shields the radiation while not being pushed by solar winds. Think about a return trip from Mars. Do you want shielded, or do you want less drag?
You know, it's funny you mention that.
A few years ago I came up with a great fund-raising scheme, kinda like the Jerry Lewis telethon for techs. I didn't have a particularly worthy cause in mind, but the gist of it is this...
Ellison, Jobs, Gates, et al auctioning off pies to be hit with, or sitting in dunk tanks, etc, with a grand a ball. I can see Jobs lining up with bags of money and a rented roger clemens when gates gets in the tank. Feed the homeless, clean the environment, all is possible with this scheme. And all it really costs is the rental of the arena (Say, the San Jose Sharks rink comes to mind) and the pride of the few CEOs involved.
The t-shirts, mugs, etc are always appealing, but they're the kind of thing it's hard to justify spending one's OWN money on. That's what makes them great gifts. Geeks need new T-shirts to wear (it's true, how many pizzas can you go through while owning a limited number of T-shirts??) and I've throughly enjoyed my Slashdot coffee mug. And they're cheap, AND more funds for worthy causes. What could be the better show of holiday spirit? (And, to anyone who is buying ME things this holiday season, ignore this. I want money. Please, send money.)
I have nothing but good things to say about my DSL provider. They dealt with GTE when GTE needed dealt with (which can be a real pain) and installation happened, mostly because they made it happen. They don't enforce yearly commitments but instead reward you with price breaks if you choose to (I did). They are BritSys. If you're in the Durham, NC area I'd go with them. Fast, too...
Please use your mirrors. I know not all of them have updated, but there are a TON of mirrors (ftp..freebsd.org) and usually even there you have a number of ftp sites. Like, for instance, ftp5.freebsd.org has most of 4.1.1-RELEASE ready.
The only concievable thing I think they could claim for intellectual property is if they had patented the idea of scanning a barcode encoded URL and automatically sending you to the website.
And even that is what is commonly called a 'bullshit' patent. It's not an invention, it's a concept. Like patenting the idea of modeling the universe using a computer is MUCH different that the actual, interesting algorithm which the computer would use to do so.
Well the game looks like a perfect fit for someone like me, even if it is 'Quake 2'. For one, at least it's a few different maps. Second, it runs on an NT machine which doesn't happen to be owned by someone with enough cash to drop on a P-III and a massive video card. And, you can get Daikatana from buy.com for $32.94 plus shipping. Using one of these coupons and the price goes down to $22.94 plus shipping or $32.94 with no shipping. Thanks to pricescan.com and amazing-bargains.com for finding the price and coupon, respectively. The point being, go out, buy the game, judge for yourself. If nothing else the story, whatever its faults, seems original enough to perhaps at least prod the FPS world out of the 'boom boom boom' mode (even if not in the same way as Thief 2). Of course, nothing looks as cool as what the people over at artifact entertainment are doing: Demise and Horizons. Both labors of love in their own right. (Demise is, btw, the successor to Mordor, and was formerly called 'Infinite Worlds'.) Demise is out and ready for order, and Horizons is pretty alpha atm.
And again, no. The only reason to remove those comments is if the owner of those comments wants them removed, or by some kind of government action. And, although, IANAL, even the entire text of those comments is PERFECTLY LEGAL because they are NOT COPYRIGHTED, they are TRADE SECRETS which if I have a copy of them and have not formally agreed not to disburse them, I can make a bajillion copies and tack them to every tree on the continent. Trade Secrets are only as secret as any agreement which has been reached, and if I simply unzip the silly proprietary microsoft information without agreeing not to distribute more copies of their trade secret, I am under absolutely ZERO obligation to keep their trade secret confidential. ZERO. If they let me have their trade secret, I can give it to WHOMEVER I want. It is THEIR RESPONSIBILITY to protect their secretive information from falling into the wrong hands.
Slashdot Mirror
the thing is, in the electoral system which we have, a candidate with 49.1 percent of the vote, a candidate with 49.0 percent of the vote, and a candidate with 1.9 percent of the vote, the first candidate takes the entirety of that state's electoral votes. if 1 vote could go to the third candidate, slightly half to the 2nd, and slightly more than half to the 1st, then i would have no problem with nader or a hundred other MINOR politicians on the PRESIDENTIAL ballot. but the simple fact is, with the winner take all electoral system, MINOR candidates have NO PLACE. they should be given complete access, and equal air time in debates, things like that, but if they have absolutely 0 chance to win, they will only be defeating the purpose of the system if they show up on the presidential ballot. each state's ballot should include candidates with actual support, not 2-5% gnats. when nader has 15-20% support he should be on the ballot, not before, unless the electoral system gets tweaked, because as we've seen, the people's will does not get executed in such circumstances. the 'framers' i am sure did not have this in mind, they, i am sure, wanted the people's will to mean something. I don't like any of this. Personally I think it should be fine to vote for who you want. And the reason Gore could not reach out to the leftist voters is because a true leftist candidate doesn't have a chance to win a national election. The best a leftist voter can hope for in a president is that they at least have some leftist ideals, because the majority of the country actually is conservative and both parties know it. in most states they run ads against local democratic candidates by decrying them as 'liberals'. that's their nasty smear campaign which works every time. call someone a liberal in most states and it's an insult. anyway i'm ranting as usual. personally i do believe that nader's political statement needed to be made, but did it have to come at the cost of the four years the republican president/house/congress has to completely screw over the economy/country? i dunno... it's all too complex for me. and as for my politics, i am a communist (not socialist) which basically means i could vote libertarian if they weren't so damned stupid about public schools. i believe in 0 government but i know that can't possibly work, the government has to do the dirty work... police, schools, sewers, anyway... -sam
the electoral system is the system the framers created to deal with the slow movement of information of their time. i believe it is good on the one hand, because it ensures proportional representation of the states (if 100% of vermont votes (all Rep), and 30% of michigan votes (20% dem, 10% rep), the popular vote looks very close but the electoral points could be very, very much in favor of democrats. this is a good thing, because the people of vermont, even with 100% turnout, should now outweigh the people of michigan. however, the electoral system has the inverse fundamental problem: while ensuring proportional representation of the states, within the states it is the opposite. if, as is the case in florida, 49.98% vote for candidate A, and 49.99% vote for candidate B, 100% of the state's electoral votes goes to candidate B. Hrm. This doesn't make sense, as obviously florida is NOT 100% sure who should be president. so, simply, the electoral college of florida should cast half their votes for candidate A, half for candidate B. that makes sense, as this system keeps the benefits of the electoral system (populous states still count more even with less turnout) while ridding us of the stupidity of it. i took a few stat classes along the way in college (on the way to my BS in comp sci) and i don't remember a damned thing i learned in them. but, i put together some examples of how this system could work, even with minor third parties like Nader throwing their wrench in the works. perhaps have it go like this:
if a state has 20 electoral votes...
the winner gets what is left after...
each candidate gets the floor of their percent times 20
example:
candidate A gets 56% of the vote
candidate B gets 40% of the vote
candidate C gets 3% of the vote
candidate D gets 1% of the vote
in a state with 20 electoral votes
candidate D gets 0 electoral votes (calc is 0.2)
candidate C gets 0 electoral votes (calc is 0.6)
candidate B gets 8 electoral votes (calc is 8.0)
candidate A gets 12 electoral votes (calc. is 11.2)
this preserves that the winner of a state will receive a benefit greater than the simple popular vote, yet also rewards those who earn a substantial amount of the popular vote.
how about another example:
candidate A gets 40% of the vote
candidate B gets 36% of the vote
candidate C gets 14% of the vote
candidate D gets 10% of the vote
in a state with 20 electoral votes
candidate D gets 2 electoral votes (calc is 2.0)
candidate C gets 2 electoral votes (calc is 2.8)
candidate B gets 7 electoral votes (calc is 7.2)
candidate A gets 9 electoral votes (calc is 8.0)
i believe that this system more accurately reflects the wishes of the people of this fictional state. for the state to award 100% of the electoral votes to any candidate is stupid, because we say every vote counts, and EITHER WAY, 4 million votes are going to count as ZERO in florida. anyway that's my 2 cents, and i'm broke.
But I guess the real reason is that I was lazy and this is one of those incidents which my over-developed conscience will berate me with for a few years.
As I said in my post... "but my car isn't exactly handicap-accessible". I have a two-seater sports car type piece of shit. For one, it might not make it to the next town. For two, the guy and his wheelchair are simply NOT fitting into it. And for three, I don't even know this guy, I don't want to be arrested for kidnapping when they find him missing. And for four, my boss didn't mind when I came in slightly late having voted, but it would have been a different story had I missed half the day taking this guy to the next town. Maybe one of the few things we can take from Nader's insane campaign is that election day should be a government holiday? In any case, thank you for your well thought out response to my post. I'm glad /. can foster such eloquent discussion such as 'why didn't your ass drive him'. that's pulitzer material. But, having reviewed some of your other posts, at least we can agree that Nader is a big goverment freak.
Take it easy...
-sam
Well, I voted today, in this foul-smelling senior center (in)conveniently located down a no outlet road bracketed by giant electrical arrays. In North Carolina, you vote by actually using a marker to connect two halves of a line. Why they don't use computers (or the INTERNET) to vote still blows my mind. But what actually bothered me the most was the guy next to me in line (the way he was treated). He was fairly old, in a wheelchair, and living in a little center down the street. He got someone to bring him to the polls to vote. Unfortunately since he only recently moved to this center he was still registered in a neighboring city and couldn't vote. WTF. But what was worse than that, was the look on the guy's face, I mean, how's an old handicapped man with no family going to get to the next town? I thought about taking him but my car isn't exactly handicap-accessible. But it was what the lady behind the counter did which really pissed me off. She was like, "Well, we can register you here now so that next time you can vote." Again, WTF. In four years it'll be a miracle if this guy's still alive. But as I left he was filling out the form so he could vote 'next time'. So get off your asses and vote. Go pick up your grandparents from the home your parents stuck them in and drive them to where they can vote. And if you're voting... you might as well vote Gore :)
-sam
maybe i'm wrong, but didn't bobby fisher regularly dispatch kasparov at the world championships? on the other hand i watched a lot of kasparov's play over the last ten years. when he goes on the attack it is over, man!
first of all, rude or not, thanks for the direct link as the seednd page appears hosed. second of all, and this is admittedly off topic, what is the legality of mirroring this movie? i believe i have fair rights to redistribute this movie to a few of my friends off a link from my own server so they don't have to wait on akamai, so long as i don't modify/make money/claim ownership/broadcast the movie. any takers? :)
thanks,
sam
- Harry knocks up Sally. Sally wants to have an abortion. Harry gets a court order preventing this abortion. Sally smokes like a chimney throughout her pregnancy, and Harry's son is born premature and with no lungs or brain.
- Harry knocks up Sally. Sally wants to carry the baby. Harry gets a court order to force Sally to have an abortion. Sally, not believing in abortion, spends the remainder of her days as a nun, unable to reconcile her religion with having had a doctor kill her baby.
Definately we have a TON of problems in the US, not the least of it is poor sex education. There is a fundamental lack of sexual responsibility. I don't have any kind of moral problem with people having as much sex as they want with whomever they want. But before you have sex with someone, find out what they would want to do were they to get pregnant. If you don't like what they have to say, find someone else to have sex with. Have a nice day... as usual I never can say exactly what I mean.Wow! I actually completely agree with this. I had to take drug tests when simply *applying* for positions where I *might* be asked to do government work. I actually like this idea quite a lot. I am guessing that this is already the case, and if so, then I would like full disclosure of test results. If not, it should go into effect immediately! In other news, in reading around researching what to ask, I found the following amendment to the constitution to be nearly hilarious: AMENDMENT XXVI Passed by Congress March 23, 1971. Ratified July 1, 1971. Note: Amendment 14, section 2, of the Constitution was modified by section 1 of the 26th amendment. Section 1.
The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age. Section 2.
The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
It's nice that you bring up the 15-20% factor. But I should point out that 8 years ago, Ross Perot received 19% of the votes cast. Yes, this means that 1 out of every 5 people who went to the polls voted for Ross Perot. It is this year when that voter turnout shoud be producing something interesting... But... Now the Religious Right has usurped the Reform Party. Not very fair, but what the hell, they are all a bunch of hypocrites anyway. I'm very surprised not many people have mentioned John Hagelin (who I might vote for). Let's see, he is a quantum physicist, might win the Nobel prize. I think he's smart enough, at least on scientific issues, to be 'trusted' with the presidency. Anyway, I'm not going to get into whether or not the president has any real power (which he hasn't) or the disappointment in hearing people call Nader a 'socialist' as if that were a bad thing. I like Nader if for no other reason than he actually isn't afraid to disagree with people. Watch the debates, watch the 'two' candidates argue over who is more mainstream, who is less offensive. Neither has anything important to say, because if they said something important, that might make someone less likely to vote for them. Argh! Activism, yes, Vigilence, yes. Agreement, sure. Do you know what would happen to the two-party system if everyone who could vote, did vote? Boom. No more two-party system, immediately. The reason the two parties are the only two parties currently is because the only people voting are the people who like them. Mostly this is elderly white people. If every Asian-American voted this year, expect with out any fear that the next candidate would be talking a whole lot about Asian-American issues. If you don't vote, you can't complain. Vote Hagelin, Nader, whomever. Just vote. Once the establishment realises that the populace has woken up and wants representation, changes will happen. But not before. They are content to keep doing what they are doing (status quo) as long as no one gets upset enough to actually get off their couch and vote.
A decent place to start is election2000.com/review.html basically 'lists' the candidates and gives links to their platforms. warning, has a slight left bias. (not that i'm picking sides, cause i couldn't care less what you label someone. although, as a question, is a leftist someone who believes in more social programs, or is a leftist someone who is prejudiced against people who believe in more social programs? :)
Well, Hagelin is at www.hagelin.com, and among other things he is a very respected Quantum Physicist (think: 'grand unified field theory'). Check out the website. He is mostly about 'common-sense'. I saw him on PBS one day and decided that he would have a good chance of getting my vote. He is the real Reform Party candidate, Buchanan is just the bastard child of the Religious Right's usurpation of the Reform Party. If you look closely, you'll see that Hagelin actually won the nomination, and that he is actually the Reform Party candidate in a handful of states.
sometimes, i enjoy being immersed into an environment, and sometimes i enjoy a quick blast-em-up. i'm guessing everyone is the same way, in different proportions. but i guess overall i get more enjoyment from immersive 3D than blast-em-up. i actually feel like i'm using my brain a little.
They are plainly and openly committing extorsion and continuing their monopoly practises? Just read the link. They actually threaten PC vendors by vague legal piracy implications if they try to ship a PC without Windows installed on it. Why oh why and how oh how does it take so long for the legal department to do something? Based solely on this one URL alone there is enough of a case to be open and shut. What exactly could Microsoft possibly say? Well, I suppose they could say they are 'protecting the consumer' from straying from the 'one true OS'. But then they are openly a monopoly. Open-shut. I just don't understand how this case is not open-shut. It is just another example of how frustrating the United States is. Forget marijuana laws which make no sense, lax penalties on convicted violent offenders, the tax bracket system, and the electoral college, wtf is up with this? This should have taken ONE AFTERNOON of a court's time. Instead millions of taxpayer dollars go toward fighting this case. Wtf, I ask you America, wtf? In summation, I think Microsoft has the right to innovate and do all kinds of things, but not extort PC vendors. It is all too obvious, and has been for so many years, that they are are not only a monopoly, they are a predatorial, vindictive monopoly, with absolutely no regard whatsoever for their customers. We argue that the RIAA should change, that the MPAA should change. Microsoft had better change its tune, the time for 'One world, one reich, one fuhrer' is over. If I were a stockholder in Microsoft I would wonder wtf they are doing, also. Why aren't they moving into the obviously growing markets, why aren't they reducing their risks of even harsher antitrust penalties? Are they out to screw Joe Stockholder, too? Anyway, I've ranted for too long for no good reason... -my opinions do not reflect my employer's, yada yada yada
How do they plan on getting back? This works fine for probes and all, but I want to send -people- to other planets. Factoring in all the extra weight for return equipment (booster rocket, fuel, fuel, fuel) the solar engine takes longer to accelerate. I think the best part about this is DEFINATELY the shielding against solar radiation. I'd like to see one of these which shields the radiation while not being pushed by solar winds. Think about a return trip from Mars. Do you want shielded, or do you want less drag?
You know, it's funny you mention that. A few years ago I came up with a great fund-raising scheme, kinda like the Jerry Lewis telethon for techs. I didn't have a particularly worthy cause in mind, but the gist of it is this...
Ellison, Jobs, Gates, et al auctioning off pies to be hit with, or sitting in dunk tanks, etc, with a grand a ball. I can see Jobs lining up with bags of money and a rented roger clemens when gates gets in the tank. Feed the homeless, clean the environment, all is possible with this scheme. And all it really costs is the rental of the arena (Say, the San Jose Sharks rink comes to mind) and the pride of the few CEOs involved.
The t-shirts, mugs, etc are always appealing, but they're the kind of thing it's hard to justify spending one's OWN money on. That's what makes them great gifts. Geeks need new T-shirts to wear (it's true, how many pizzas can you go through while owning a limited number of T-shirts??) and I've throughly enjoyed my Slashdot coffee mug. And they're cheap, AND more funds for worthy causes. What could be the better show of holiday spirit? (And, to anyone who is buying ME things this holiday season, ignore this. I want money. Please, send money.)
I have nothing but good things to say about my DSL provider. They dealt with GTE when GTE needed dealt with (which can be a real pain) and installation happened, mostly because they made it happen. They don't enforce yearly commitments but instead reward you with price breaks if you choose to (I did). They are BritSys. If you're in the Durham, NC area I'd go with them. Fast, too...
Please use your mirrors. I know not all of them have updated, but there are a TON of mirrors (ftp..freebsd.org) and usually even there you have a number of ftp sites. Like, for instance, ftp5.freebsd.org has most of 4.1.1-RELEASE ready.
The only concievable thing I think they could claim for intellectual property is if they had patented the idea of scanning a barcode encoded URL and automatically sending you to the website. And even that is what is commonly called a 'bullshit' patent. It's not an invention, it's a concept. Like patenting the idea of modeling the universe using a computer is MUCH different that the actual, interesting algorithm which the computer would use to do so.
Micropayments. Micropayments. And again, I say, Micropayments.
Well the game looks like a perfect fit for someone like me, even if it is 'Quake 2'. For one, at least it's a few different maps. Second, it runs on an NT machine which doesn't happen to be owned by someone with enough cash to drop on a P-III and a massive video card. And, you can get Daikatana from buy.com for $32.94 plus shipping. Using one of these coupons and the price goes down to $22.94 plus shipping or $32.94 with no shipping. Thanks to pricescan.com and amazing-bargains.com for finding the price and coupon, respectively. The point being, go out, buy the game, judge for yourself. If nothing else the story, whatever its faults, seems original enough to perhaps at least prod the FPS world out of the 'boom boom boom' mode (even if not in the same way as Thief 2). Of course, nothing looks as cool as what the people over at artifact entertainment are doing: Demise and Horizons. Both labors of love in their own right. (Demise is, btw, the successor to Mordor, and was formerly called 'Infinite Worlds'.) Demise is out and ready for order, and Horizons is pretty alpha atm.
And again, no. The only reason to remove those comments is if the owner of those comments wants them removed, or by some kind of government action. And, although, IANAL, even the entire text of those comments is PERFECTLY LEGAL because they are NOT COPYRIGHTED, they are TRADE SECRETS which if I have a copy of them and have not formally agreed not to disburse them, I can make a bajillion copies and tack them to every tree on the continent. Trade Secrets are only as secret as any agreement which has been reached, and if I simply unzip the silly proprietary microsoft information without agreeing not to distribute more copies of their trade secret, I am under absolutely ZERO obligation to keep their trade secret confidential. ZERO. If they let me have their trade secret, I can give it to WHOMEVER I want. It is THEIR RESPONSIBILITY to protect their secretive information from falling into the wrong hands.