Being a Pittsburgher I have heard a little smoke about the USAir to USAirways thing. (My mother also used to work for USAir)
The name was changed in inticipation of a merger between USAir and British Airways. The name was a logical combination of the two others. It's just that the deal never went through and they'd already made the effort to change their name.
These movies aren't usually about art. They're about masculinity. We over here in the US like to drink beer, eat pizza, and watch people blow shit up sometimes.
The Terminator series is about the best example of this. Cameron was either good or just lucky enough to give the audience something really good to think about and I've always been fascinated by the paradox he creates in T2. If they successfully prevent SkyNET from being built then how does the T-800 get sent back to 1984? If Kyle Reese was not chasing that T-800 then how did he get to 1984? If Kyle Reese doesn't get back to 1984 how is John concieved?
If John is never concieved then WHO is there to help the humans destroy SkyNET's defense grid and necessitate the sending of the T-800 to 1984? If it's not John Connor then WHY was the T-800 sent to kill his mother in 1984?
I've given up. I'll never run out of questions as it relates to the plotline of this movie.
But my point is this, movies don't have to be about (a bow to Eric Cartman) gay cowboys eating pudding in order to be good. As long as you understand what the point of the movie is. Is it to entertain, is it to make you think, is it to scare you, is it to impressyou with acting ability, or is it something else. Judge a movie based upon what it's intent is and how close it comes to doing what the film makers intended.
Big deal, you didn't like EOD. I don't know yet, I haven't seen it. But this isn't like some monolithic black tone tablet falling from the sky in hollywood. Even if this movie is as bad as you say, it's not the first time that someone in hollywood triedto use a previously sucessful recipe and ended up with a dud of a movie.
Waterworld anyone? Lethal Weapon 4 anyone?
Hell original movies can still suck, Blair Witch Project anyone?
My point is this, just because pixar made another great leap forward in CGI doesn't mean that the days of the good old fashioned "shoot 'em up" are numbered.
They've been a staple of US film making as long as there's been a hollywood.
From the James Cagney gangster era, to the 1950's cowboy phase, to the "lone good cop in a corrupt world" and black 'sploitation films of the 70's, and the "Vietnam film of the week" craze of the 1980s, guns and explosives entertain people.
Since Bruce Willis established the prototype for the alcoholic cop/ex cop/ex Secret Service agent having a bad day it's not surprising that screenwriters have tried to recapture that magic. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if this role in EOD was offered to Bruce before Arnold.
The sky is NOT falling Katz, you do realize that if they throw enough money around producers can get decent actors into shit productions. If you had the cash you might be able to get Anthony Hopkins to star in deep throat #500.
>>Right, that falls under stealing assets. I maintain that it is not the same as terminating a customer's account with an ISP. You've haven't denied that claim.
It's not "the same" but it is bad nonetheless. Just because it's "not as bad as" the other, doesn't change the fact that it's wrong.
>>Come on, I'm sure he refunded the customer.
Not the issue, the customer pays expecting the service provider to stick to it's end of the agreement. If that customer pays his bills on time and does not break the agreement, the service provider has to hold up it's end. If it does not, there is a problem.
>>My major point was that it is highly unlikely that he would be facing the loss of his business if his customers had been sent accurate information rather than FUD.
When you say "accurate" you mean "his side of the story". I have not read all of the letters that his customers recieved, but if they were accurate yet unflattering then what is the problem?
>>This had nothing to do with being aware of free speech rights.
If he knew his agreement with his upstream provider he'd have known if they could pull his access for this reason.
>>In any case, the guy was a small operation and had probably never dealt with First Amendment legal issues before.
You can't run a car dealership without being aware of the applicable laws. Why is this different?
>>This is hardly reprehensible or cowardly behavior.
It is both, and then some. If it were MY site I'd be exploring the possibility of a breach of contract lawsuit.
>>Terminating a customer's account is not the same as stealing assets or killing Jews.
The swiss banks might not have killed a single Jew, but they DID hold onto their assets after the Nazis expatriated and murdered them.
>>If his customers had been told that, do you really think Wieger would be facing the loss of his business, which he is?
Maybe he should have thought about the consequences of that BEFORE he pulled a paying customer's site.
Even the least constitutionally aware among us knows that the FBI would need a court order or a warrant to force us to do anything that we did not want to do. I don't buy the "they bullied me" defense. (I'll say it again) I've stood face to face with two armed BATF agents when I was falsely accused of owning an illegal firearm. I stood my ground and I haven't seen hide nor hair of either one of them in years. You don't have to be "brave" or "foolish" to stand up for yourself, just aware.
>>Civil disobediance is one thing. Purposefully destroying someone's business is another. I mean, the guy is hardly, like he said, an AOL. Which, I'm sure you'll say: That's no excuse!.. maybe it isn't. But that's no reason to crucify the poor man's business over the head of his (over?)reaction to Big Brother.
What do you think the sit-ins and bus boycotts of days gone by were? They were a deliberate attempt to change conduct through hurting businesses financially. I have no problem with it, as long as facts are the weapons that get used.
>>I made no intention of saying they should 'fit in'. Your self-imposed geek exile is a fallacy. We're all alone on this big, dumb rock. Get over it.
I don't have anything to get over, I'm a college student with a good GPA, I makedecent money at my job and I'm married to a big breasted blonde.
You and your desire to fit in amongst people who don't want you, will forever keep you an alone bitter little man.
>>How many atrocities have been committed in history just because the people commiting them were in the majority?
And how many were committed because the majority remained wilent and willfully ignorant?
>>But how does spamming (how could anyone consider flames intelligent) solve the situation? Especially to the victim!
It is NOT SPAMMING to send e-mail to a company to express your unhappyness with one of their decisions.
Spam is UCE, these companies provide e-mail addresses for customers (or potential customers) to communicate with them. I don't see where the problem is.
>>It's this kind of 'hack the world' mentality that makes people look down at./ers (and Linux users in general, in some cases).
It's this type of "we need to fit in" mentality that will forever keep geeks on the outside of things.
I don't see where you extract "hack the world" from my comment. Expression of dissatisfaction through e-mail and telephone calls is the 1990's version of the sit-in. It's a method of civil disobedience and it gets results. It is LEGAL, it is non-destructive and it is effective.
It can be good for a company's bottom line to lie to cheat and steal from consumers. Does that make it right?
I am one who has had multiple accounts cencelled by multiple ISPs, not for breaking their rules but for getting complaints from too many people because they didn't like what I had to say.
(While I'm at it, Tim Gaiches from Telerama likes to suck big dicks!Ý)
If the FBI couldn't get a warrant to pull the site WHY would anyone be concerned with the FBI confiscating their computers? In case you didn't know it does require a court decision to deprive a person in the US of property.
This ISP pussied out, plain and simple. The FBI asked and the FBI got. I'd be wary about spending any money with these people in the future. It's because of spineless actions like these that threaten to turn the internet into the largest infomercial that the world has ever seen. If opinion is punished, denied and censored, commerce is all that will remain. Controvercial ideas are the reason why the first amendment was written. If we are all homogenous, then why do we need protection?
I say that this is the correct response to this IS a nice slashdotting. Clogging a company's e-mail server with 10 thousand complaints about their practices is a GREAT way to get their attention.
I also think that informing a company's customers of their actions is a great way to force a company to re-examine their business practices. If their customers agree with those actions, then they'd be more likely to stick with that company and not defect to others, but if they're unhappy that company will pay a definate financial penalty for their actions.
From the standpoint of the Swiss banks it was the right business decision at the time to hold the stolen assets of expatriated european Jews. Was it the right thing to do? From a business standpoint it was. After all SOMEONE would have taken the money, why not them?
For Microsoft it's always a good business decision to stomp out competition before they get a chance to mount a serious threat to the corporate bottom line.
I could go on for years citing example like this.
My point is this, just because it's the best "business decision" is no more valid an excuse than the "Just following orders" excuse of Nazi war criminals.
I say WAY TO GO SLASHDOTTERS! You're on the way to becoming one of the most powerful forces of change on the 'net. Lest I remind you all of that peope PC commercial? "Strength in numbers my friends." It is people like us who built the internet, it must be people like us who fights against the commercialization of the net where "the bottom line" is always the most important motivating factor.
LK
ÝI don't have any personal knowledge of Tim Gaiches as it regards to his penchant for sucking dicks (big or small), I'm just venting.
>>Now the NRA are an element, but unless you have anti tank weapons, you will have difficulties stopping APC's and medium armor once they emerge from the airport. Not even the US is THAT liberal with weapons:) I work with a few people who wish it were otherwise.
I get the feeling that some of us here have no idea what the NRA is. The NRA is a public policy group like the EFF, they're not a paramilitary organization.
Second, you don't know too much about armament. A 50 caliber rifle can penetrate light and many medium armored vehicles. I would like to save up the 2k needed to buy one, but several people already own them. I would hate to be in an APC while someone is shooting a 50 caliber at it. One lucky shot would fill the inside of that APC with a shower of fast moving HOT metal.
Even 5.56mm Nato is a caliber that has decent ballistics for armor penetration. Especially if you're using the green tip Nato AP rounds.
Even less sohpisticated tanks can be disabled by a 50 caliber round. One shot down the barrel can render a tank's big gun useless. Would you be willing to get out try to use a machinegun against a person whom you can not see who is able to put bullets the size of your thumb into a target the size of an orange?
Also, all it would take is a little fertillizer and diesel fuel and POOF your million dollar tank is on it's back like a beetle, helpless, waiting to get stomped on.
Of all the nations on earth te US would be the hardest nut to crack for an invading army, Switzerland would probably be the only other country in the same league.
Without help from HIGH UP in the US military, such a plan couldn't work. China wouldn't even try. Then again, our current administration helped them get ballistic missile technology, who knows what else is possible.
Oh foolish AC. The US has 80 million armed citizens. Combined with our military it would take all 1.5 billion Chinese coming at once from every side to mount any type of serious offense.
1) Splurge on surveillance equipment and tail Bill Clinton for 18 months circa 1990.
2) Swing past 1992 and warn the "1992 me" not to go out with that bigtime whore that I dated back then.(Yes Jamie, I'm talking about YOU)
3) Win every lottery in every state from 1993-Present.
4) Buy 10000 high capacity magazines for popular firarms before the 1994 ban.
5) Sell those magazines for 1000% profit and dump the proceeds plus my billions from the lottery winnings into the RedHat IPO.
6) Sell my RedHat stock for a 1000% profit and buy 51% of M$ stock and FIRE EVERYBODY, and release the source code to every M$ app ever made ON THE DAY that M$ is found to be a monopoly.
7) Give a copy of the current kernel source to Linus back in 1993.
8) Give a copy of the Colt 1911 and Browning High Power to John Browning in 1890.
I'd die of old age before I finished doing the things that I think should be done to improve things.
>>Bottom line is that I have no problem with this "profiling" you whine about Jon.
Who is worse? The kids with problem or the kids who put unbearable pressure on kids with problems?
I was a fat little nerdy kid in school. I used to get beaten up and or bullied. After a while I decided that wasn't for me. I never through about killing everyone or blowing the place sky high (even though I think that I could have, I can put a bullet in a grapefruit at 200 yards, and I"m sure that the substitute will never forget the day that I made TNT in chem lab).
My point is how many high school kids have problems? Most of us did. I wouldn't have a problem if teachers or guidance counselors were trying to help kids that they think have problems, my problem is that the FBI and ATF have NO BUSINESS getting involved with such matters.
Contrary to popular belief the US Federal government has limits to what it is allowed to do. Those limits are spelled out in the US Constitution.
>>Then you're a fool for going to a fool college. But I don't think you're a fool, I think you're a liar.
Think whatever you want, however only ONE of us was there and one wasn't you.
>>What was her doctorate in? Probably Education. There were several teachers at my high school who held advanced degrees in Education. What was her name? Or is this just another conjectural automaton you've created to bolster your argument?
Dr. Retzer (I was 10 years old I didn't know her first name) Or I could tell you about Dr. James Botti who was my high schools resident computer Guru until he retired. Why does it matter? The fact is that many people with masters degrees teach in public schools, and because of their dedication they are usually VERY good teachers.
>>And again, please cite your sources as to the success of the Texas Teacher persecution.
I know of no persecution of teachers in Texas however on Dateline NBC the statistics were quoted that back up my claims.
It wouldn't be that big a deal. You miss out on all the other goodies of a DVD disc if you just take the video. No extra tracks, no behind the scenes goodies.
Don't get me wrong, I'd LOVE to have my collection of G.I. Joe episodes preserved on DVD, but this isn't that big a deal. *YET*
>>Unfortunately, civilian firearms are no match the US military, at present. Handguns cannot down B2s, hunting rifles cannot be used against tanks, etc.
Define "civillian firearms" with enough time and the right tool I can convert SEVERAL different target rifles into the functional equivalent of their military counterparts. I don't do this because it's illegal and only would endanger my right to own them, BUT if the need were great enough in the future I'd be forced to do so.
But nonetheless you are mistaken. Look at Afghanistan, Look at Vietnam, the two most powerful military forces on the planet couldn't stomp underequipped native people into defeat.
Have you ever heard of a little place called Waco Texas? The Branch Davidians had a 50 caliber rifle. With the proper ammunition there aren't many things that a 50 cal can't shoot through. The 50 caliber is a legitimate hunting rifle that is used for long distance BIG GAME hunting.
BTW, it is illegal to use the Military for domestic law enforcement.
>>If you lower a students rated ability level, their parents (however disinterested they have been in the past) will come screaming to the principals office. I suppose you'd just lay the law down for them, hmm? Try it. I dare you.
It's done every day for disruptive and violent students. One child's inability to learn the material can be even more disruptive than the child who pulls out his penis in class.
>>If you want masters to teach your children, then the base pay is going to have to go up past $24K/year.
I have no problem with that, administrative pay should be lower and good teachers should be making that kind of money.
>>I don't think any highly decorated academic would be interested in breaking up fights or patrolling hallways during their lunch hour, when they could be researching at a major university.
When I was in 5th grade we had a lady who held her doctorate who did just what you describe. She was a damned good teacher and was highly respected.
>>Solution: Quit bitching abnout how high taxes are and hire teachers of appropriate credential.
If you read what I wrote you'd know that I was talking about a COLLEGE class. I paid tuition for that class.
>>This last statement was puerile and anecdotal. Save it 'til after you've met an accurate random sample of teachers in America.
It's well known through educational institutions. If you have ever been to a "party school" you'd know that they have a disproportionately high number of teaching majors.
>>Teachers have always been underpaid for the amount of education they are required to undergo, our society does not respect teachers or education and until that changes, no simple plan is going to make much of a difference.
Teachers will get more respect when the teacher's unions stop fighting to keep inept teachers in the classrooms.
>>In the city were I live (Portland, OR) the average class size is 33 students. That's one teacher, 38 students. When I went to high school, ten years ago, a class with 25 students was considered huge.
Fine if we're going to trade anecdotes, here in Pittsburgh I had a graduating class of 125 or so students. Back in 1976 my step father (who went to the same high school) had a graduating class of over 400. Look back 20 years, look back 30 years, the averae class size is smaller today than it was then.
And as I said in Texas the test scores of the students has gone UP since George W's plan was enacted. No matter how much teachers and teacher's unions bitch about it. When you subject them to a review the quality of the performance goes UP.
With all of the rabates that companies are offering you can actually MAKE MONEY by buying one of these pieces of garbage.
I just saw in a Best Buy flyer a PC with over $600 of rebates included.
These things are a recipe for disaster. Do you own an old Pentium of 486 based Packard Bell? If you do then you know what I'm talking about. Nobody in their right mind is going to service these piecs of garbage. The upgrade market brings businesses PILES of money. If a PC is going to be cheaper to replace than to repair or upgrade why pay the money to get certified to repair them?
I repair Apples , Compaqs, and HPs. As well as upgrade them. If a new HD and 128MB of ram is going to cost more than a NEW PC why would anyone push them? These things will have abysmally low performance. So when Game X v3.5 comes out you have to buy a new $300 PC to play a $40 game, where does that leave you?
Compaq and Packard Bell have tried this in the past and if it were not for Compaq's server market share they'd have gone the same route as Packard Bell. Garbage PCs won't get the support of retailers, I'm not talking about the Suits that work for Circuit City. I'm talking about the grunts that deal directly with the customers.
I almost daily steer people AWAY from garbage, and I know that most of the salespeople that I know do the same thing. "Yes ma'am this computer is half the price of the other one but just look at how Game X runs on the two. See how jumpy it is on this one, see how smooth it is on the other one. What do you think is going to happen in 6 months when a new game you and your son want to play comes out? This computer will run it even slower than it is currently running this one."
>>Still, If I had to choose I would prefer a place with little violent crime and CCTV over a "free" place with so much crime that I would need a weapon for protection.
Nazi Germany would have been perfect for you then. The SS kept poblic disturbances to a minimum. Nobody other than government/military officials could have weapons and if you were not jewish things were great for the average German.
>>Fine, IF AND ONLY IF the teachers have the right to reject a poor ranking student from their classes.
In there US in many schools there are classes for students of different levels of ability. If a student can't learn the material he should be in a lower class. If he can't learn the material there he should be in a lower grade.
>>And who would administer these teachers competency tests?
A duly authorized state government agency.
>>Anyone who has ever taught can tell you that teaching goes far beyond merely a mastery of subject material.
If a teacher lacks mastery of a subject s/he has NO BUSINESS teaching it to our children.
>>Anyone who's been to college can tell you that simply knowing a subject does not make an instructor effective.
I've been to college in the past and am currently enrolled in college, I've had english teachers assigned to teach "computer classes", one woman in particular taught the class that a kilobyte was EXACTLY 1000 bytes. She may have been an excellent english professor but she had NO BUSINESS teaching a computer class.
>>You don't go into teaching to seek fiscal reward. For mosty teachers, the act of teaching is rewarding in and of itself.
I once heard a saying it goes like this "Those who can, do. Those who can', teach. Those who can't teach, teach gym." and as time goes on I've learned how true that is for about 75% of teachers in the US.
>>One would think that bonuses and incentives would be highly effective motivators,a s they are in the private sector, considering these are the lowest paid professionals in the country.
Considering the results that they get, this is to be expected.
>>But believe it or not, most teachers would rather have smaller classes and better teaching materials than bonuses.
In the US today we have some of the smallest class sizes that the world has seen for decades but the performance of our teachers and our students is abysmally low.
>>This emphasis on testing is the biggest crock of shit of your whole oversimplification. What evidence is there that placement tests measure any valuable information? Do they predict success in life? Do they showcase all facets of a students ability? Nope. They simply show how well a student does on placement tests.
Placement test can and DO show how well teachers are teaching the material to the students. If one class of students in DIstrict X's "College Preparation" program do substantially worse on the placement tests than do their counterparts in other classes and other schools either 1. there are too many children in that class who do not belong there or 2. the teacher isn't up to snuff.
>>American students do poorly in school because American society doesn't value education anywhere near to the same degree that societies in Asia and Europe do.
While it's true that our society doesn't put enough emphasis on education, our school system is more to blame than the society is.
>>We are do'ers not thinkers.
Speak for yourself. There can bo no doing without thinking.
>>So do get all high and mighty with your half-baked theories.
It's working in Texas. My theories are not "half-baked" when you hold someone accountable for the quality of their work they either do better work of find a new field of employment.
Slashdot Mirror
Then some of the later models had the 68lc040, as did the Centris.
Maybe the centris got it's name because of the lc near the Center of the word.
LK
Being a Pittsburgher I have heard a little smoke about the USAir to USAirways thing. (My mother also used to work for USAir)
The name was changed in inticipation of a merger between USAir and British Airways. The name was a logical combination of the two others. It's just that the deal never went through and they'd already made the effort to change their name.
LK
Off the top of my head.
Quadra
Centris
Performa
DOS
Bravada
Festiva
Nova
McAnything
Pentium II/III
K62/3
Vaio
Presario
Celebrity
Quake/2/3/...../*
LK
These movies aren't usually about art. They're about masculinity. We over here in the US like to drink beer, eat pizza, and watch people blow shit up sometimes.
The Terminator series is about the best example of this. Cameron was either good or just lucky enough to give the audience something really good to think about and I've always been fascinated by the paradox he creates in T2. If they successfully prevent SkyNET from being built then how does the T-800 get sent back to 1984? If Kyle Reese was not chasing that T-800 then how did he get to 1984? If Kyle Reese doesn't get back to 1984 how is John concieved?
If John is never concieved then WHO is there to help the humans destroy SkyNET's defense grid and necessitate the sending of the T-800 to 1984? If it's not John Connor then WHY was the T-800 sent to kill his mother in 1984?
I've given up. I'll never run out of questions as it relates to the plotline of this movie.
But my point is this, movies don't have to be about (a bow to Eric Cartman) gay cowboys eating pudding in order to be good. As long as you understand what the point of the movie is. Is it to entertain, is it to make you think, is it to scare you, is it to impressyou with acting ability, or is it something else. Judge a movie based upon what it's intent is and how close it comes to doing what the film makers intended.
LK
Big deal, you didn't like EOD. I don't know yet, I haven't seen it. But this isn't like some monolithic black tone tablet falling from the sky in hollywood. Even if this movie is as bad as you say, it's not the first time that someone in hollywood triedto use a previously sucessful recipe and ended up with a dud of a movie.
Waterworld anyone? Lethal Weapon 4 anyone?
Hell original movies can still suck, Blair Witch Project anyone?
My point is this, just because pixar made another great leap forward in CGI doesn't mean that the days of the good old fashioned "shoot 'em up" are numbered.
They've been a staple of US film making as long as there's been a hollywood.
From the James Cagney gangster era, to the 1950's cowboy phase, to the "lone good cop in a corrupt world" and black 'sploitation films of the 70's, and the "Vietnam film of the week" craze of the 1980s, guns and explosives entertain people.
Since Bruce Willis established the prototype for the alcoholic cop/ex cop/ex Secret Service agent having a bad day it's not surprising that screenwriters have tried to recapture that magic. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if this role in EOD was offered to Bruce before Arnold.
The sky is NOT falling Katz, you do realize that if they throw enough money around producers can get decent actors into shit productions. If you had the cash you might be able to get Anthony Hopkins to star in deep throat #500.
LK
I've dealt with worse than the FBI myself. Knowledge of the applicable laws is all that is necessary
>>The government can take your property, and you have to prove that it wasn't purchased with drug profits to get it back.
As I understand it they still can't make the initial seizure without a court order. (ok, ok, ok, or catch you with enough drugs)
LK
>>Right, that falls under stealing assets. I maintain that it is not the same as terminating a customer's account with an ISP. You've haven't denied that claim.
It's not "the same" but it is bad nonetheless. Just because it's "not as bad as" the other, doesn't change the fact that it's wrong.
>>Come on, I'm sure he refunded the customer.
Not the issue, the customer pays expecting the service provider to stick to it's end of the agreement. If that customer pays his bills on time and does not break the agreement, the service provider has to hold up it's end. If it does not, there is a problem.
>>My major point was that it is highly unlikely that he would be facing the loss of his business if his customers had been sent accurate information rather than FUD.
When you say "accurate" you mean "his side of the story". I have not read all of the letters that his customers recieved, but if they were accurate yet unflattering then what is the problem?
>>This had nothing to do with being aware of free speech rights.
If he knew his agreement with his upstream provider he'd have known if they could pull his access for this reason.
>>In any case, the guy was a small operation and had probably never dealt with First Amendment legal issues before.
You can't run a car dealership without being aware of the applicable laws. Why is this different?
>>This is hardly reprehensible or cowardly behavior.
It is both, and then some. If it were MY site I'd be exploring the possibility of a breach of contract lawsuit.
LK
ESR?
>>Terminating a customer's account is not the same as stealing assets or killing Jews.
The swiss banks might not have killed a single Jew, but they DID hold onto their assets after the Nazis expatriated and murdered them.
>>If his customers had been told that, do you really think Wieger would be facing the loss of his business, which he is?
Maybe he should have thought about the consequences of that BEFORE he pulled a paying customer's site.
Even the least constitutionally aware among us knows that the FBI would need a court order or a warrant to force us to do anything that we did not want to do. I don't buy the "they bullied me" defense. (I'll say it again) I've stood face to face with two armed BATF agents when I was falsely accused of owning an illegal firearm. I stood my ground and I haven't seen hide nor hair of either one of them in years. You don't have to be "brave" or "foolish" to stand up for yourself, just aware.
LK
>>Civil disobediance is one thing. Purposefully destroying someone's business is another. I mean, the guy is hardly, like he said, an AOL. Which, I'm sure you'll say: That's no excuse! .. maybe it isn't. But that's no reason to crucify the poor man's business over the head of his (over?)reaction to Big Brother.
What do you think the sit-ins and bus boycotts of days gone by were? They were a deliberate attempt to change conduct through hurting businesses financially. I have no problem with it, as long as facts are the weapons that get used.
>>I made no intention of saying they should 'fit in'. Your self-imposed geek exile is a fallacy. We're all alone on this big, dumb rock. Get over it.
I don't have anything to get over, I'm a college student with a good GPA, I makedecent money at my job and I'm married to a big breasted blonde.
You and your desire to fit in amongst people who don't want you, will forever keep you an alone bitter little man.
LK
>>How many atrocities have been committed in history just because the people commiting them were in the majority?
./ers (and Linux users in general, in some cases).
And how many were committed because the majority remained wilent and willfully ignorant?
>>But how does spamming (how could anyone consider flames intelligent) solve the situation? Especially to the victim!
It is NOT SPAMMING to send e-mail to a company to express your unhappyness with one of their decisions.
Spam is UCE, these companies provide e-mail addresses for customers (or potential customers) to communicate with them. I don't see where the problem is.
>>It's this kind of 'hack the world' mentality that makes people look down at
It's this type of "we need to fit in" mentality that will forever keep geeks on the outside of things.
I don't see where you extract "hack the world" from my comment. Expression of dissatisfaction through e-mail and telephone calls is the 1990's version of the sit-in. It's a method of civil disobedience and it gets results. It is LEGAL, it is non-destructive and it is effective.
LK
It can be good for a company's bottom line to lie to cheat and steal from consumers. Does that make it right?
I am one who has had multiple accounts cencelled by multiple ISPs, not for breaking their rules but for getting complaints from too many people because they didn't like what I had to say.
(While I'm at it, Tim Gaiches from Telerama likes to suck big dicks!Ý)
If the FBI couldn't get a warrant to pull the site WHY would anyone be concerned with the FBI confiscating their computers? In case you didn't know it does require a court decision to deprive a person in the US of property.
This ISP pussied out, plain and simple. The FBI asked and the FBI got. I'd be wary about spending any money with these people in the future. It's because of spineless actions like these that threaten to turn the internet into the largest infomercial that the world has ever seen. If opinion is punished, denied and censored, commerce is all that will remain. Controvercial ideas are the reason why the first amendment was written. If we are all homogenous, then why do we need protection?
I say that this is the correct response to this IS a nice slashdotting. Clogging a company's e-mail server with 10 thousand complaints about their practices is a GREAT way to get their attention.
I also think that informing a company's customers of their actions is a great way to force a company to re-examine their business practices. If their customers agree with those actions, then they'd be more likely to stick with that company and not defect to others, but if they're unhappy that company will pay a definate financial penalty for their actions.
From the standpoint of the Swiss banks it was the right business decision at the time to hold the stolen assets of expatriated european Jews. Was it the right thing to do? From a business standpoint it was. After all SOMEONE would have taken the money, why not them?
For Microsoft it's always a good business decision to stomp out competition before they get a chance to mount a serious threat to the corporate bottom line.
I could go on for years citing example like this.
My point is this, just because it's the best "business decision" is no more valid an excuse than the "Just following orders" excuse of Nazi war criminals.
I say WAY TO GO SLASHDOTTERS! You're on the way to becoming one of the most powerful forces of change on the 'net. Lest I remind you all of that peope PC commercial? "Strength in numbers my friends." It is people like us who built the internet, it must be people like us who fights against the commercialization of the net where "the bottom line" is always the most important motivating factor.
LK
ÝI don't have any personal knowledge of Tim Gaiches as it regards to his penchant for sucking dicks (big or small), I'm just venting.
>>Now the NRA are an element, but unless you have anti tank weapons, you will have difficulties stopping APC's and medium armor once they emerge from the airport. Not even the US is THAT liberal with weapons:) I work with a few people who wish it were otherwise.
I get the feeling that some of us here have no idea what the NRA is. The NRA is a public policy group like the EFF, they're not a paramilitary organization.
Second, you don't know too much about armament. A 50 caliber rifle can penetrate light and many medium armored vehicles. I would like to save up the 2k needed to buy one, but several people already own them. I would hate to be in an APC while someone is shooting a 50 caliber at it. One lucky shot would fill the inside of that APC with a shower of fast moving HOT metal.
Even 5.56mm Nato is a caliber that has decent ballistics for armor penetration. Especially if you're using the green tip Nato AP rounds.
Even less sohpisticated tanks can be disabled by a 50 caliber round. One shot down the barrel can render a tank's big gun useless. Would you be willing to get out try to use a machinegun against a person whom you can not see who is able to put bullets the size of your thumb into a target the size of an orange?
Also, all it would take is a little fertillizer and diesel fuel and POOF your million dollar tank is on it's back like a beetle, helpless, waiting to get stomped on.
Of all the nations on earth te US would be the hardest nut to crack for an invading army, Switzerland would probably be the only other country in the same league.
Without help from HIGH UP in the US military, such a plan couldn't work. China wouldn't even try. Then again, our current administration helped them get ballistic missile technology, who knows what else is possible.
LK
Oh foolish AC. The US has 80 million armed citizens. Combined with our military it would take all 1.5 billion Chinese coming at once from every side to mount any type of serious offense.
LK
1) Splurge on surveillance equipment and tail Bill Clinton for 18 months circa 1990.
2) Swing past 1992 and warn the "1992 me" not to go out with that bigtime whore that I dated back then.(Yes Jamie, I'm talking about YOU)
3) Win every lottery in every state from 1993-Present.
4) Buy 10000 high capacity magazines for popular firarms before the 1994 ban.
5) Sell those magazines for 1000% profit and dump the proceeds plus my billions from the lottery winnings into the RedHat IPO.
6) Sell my RedHat stock for a 1000% profit and buy 51% of M$ stock and FIRE EVERYBODY, and release the source code to every M$ app ever made ON THE DAY that M$ is found to be a monopoly.
7) Give a copy of the current kernel source to Linus back in 1993.
8) Give a copy of the Colt 1911 and Browning High Power to John Browning in 1890.
I'd die of old age before I finished doing the things that I think should be done to improve things.
LK
000 was not forgotten, it was just not counted, by my way of thinking it's the zeroth configuration.
LK
>>I'm worried about this. Three buttons, in all permutations can only create 6 actions, which is just enough for a 2-buttoned mouse.
I count 7
00x
0x0
x00
xx0
0xx
x0x
xxx
Where x is when a key is pressed and 0 is when a key remains unpressed.
LK
>>Bottom line is that I have no problem with this "profiling" you whine about Jon.
Who is worse? The kids with problem or the kids who put unbearable pressure on kids with problems?
I was a fat little nerdy kid in school. I used to get beaten up and or bullied. After a while I decided that wasn't for me. I never through about killing everyone or blowing the place sky high (even though I think that I could have, I can put a bullet in a grapefruit at 200 yards, and I"m sure that the substitute will never forget the day that I made TNT in chem lab).
My point is how many high school kids have problems? Most of us did. I wouldn't have a problem if teachers or guidance counselors were trying to help kids that they think have problems, my problem is that the FBI and ATF have NO BUSINESS getting involved with such matters.
Contrary to popular belief the US Federal government has limits to what it is allowed to do. Those limits are spelled out in the US Constitution.
LK
>>Then you're a fool for going to a fool college. But I don't think you're a fool, I think you're a liar.
Think whatever you want, however only ONE of us was there and one wasn't you.
>>What was her doctorate in? Probably Education. There were several teachers at my high school who held advanced degrees in Education. What was her name? Or is this just another conjectural automaton you've created to bolster your argument?
Dr. Retzer (I was 10 years old I didn't know her first name) Or I could tell you about Dr. James Botti who was my high schools resident computer Guru until he retired. Why does it matter? The fact is that many people with masters degrees teach in public schools, and because of their dedication they are usually VERY good teachers.
>>And again, please cite your sources as to the success of the Texas Teacher persecution.
I know of no persecution of teachers in Texas however on Dateline NBC the statistics were quoted that back up my claims.
LK
It wouldn't be that big a deal. You miss out on all the other goodies of a DVD disc if you just take the video. No extra tracks, no behind the scenes goodies.
Don't get me wrong, I'd LOVE to have my collection of G.I. Joe episodes preserved on DVD, but this isn't that big a deal. *YET*
LK
>>Unfortunately, civilian firearms are no match the US military, at present. Handguns cannot down B2s, hunting rifles cannot be used against tanks, etc.
Define "civillian firearms" with enough time and the right tool I can convert SEVERAL different target rifles into the functional equivalent of their military counterparts. I don't do this because it's illegal and only would endanger my right to own them, BUT if the need were great enough in the future I'd be forced to do so.
But nonetheless you are mistaken. Look at Afghanistan, Look at Vietnam, the two most powerful military forces on the planet couldn't stomp underequipped native people into defeat.
Have you ever heard of a little place called Waco Texas? The Branch Davidians had a 50 caliber rifle. With the proper ammunition there aren't many things that a 50 cal can't shoot through. The 50 caliber is a legitimate hunting rifle that is used for long distance BIG GAME hunting.
BTW, it is illegal to use the Military for domestic law enforcement.
LK
>>If you lower a students rated ability level, their parents (however disinterested they have been in the past) will come screaming to the principals office. I suppose you'd just lay the law down for them, hmm? Try it. I dare you.
It's done every day for disruptive and violent students. One child's inability to learn the material can be even more disruptive than the child who pulls out his penis in class.
>>If you want masters to teach your children, then the base pay is going to have to go up past $24K/year.
I have no problem with that, administrative pay should be lower and good teachers should be making that kind of money.
>>I don't think any highly decorated academic would be interested in breaking up fights or patrolling hallways during their lunch hour, when they could be researching at a major university.
When I was in 5th grade we had a lady who held her doctorate who did just what you describe. She was a damned good teacher and was highly respected.
>>Solution: Quit bitching abnout how high taxes are and hire teachers of appropriate credential.
If you read what I wrote you'd know that I was talking about a COLLEGE class. I paid tuition for that class.
>>This last statement was puerile and anecdotal. Save it 'til after you've met an accurate random sample of teachers in America.
It's well known through educational institutions. If you have ever been to a "party school" you'd know that they have a disproportionately high number of teaching majors.
>>Teachers have always been underpaid for the amount of education they are required to undergo, our society does not respect teachers or education and until that changes, no simple plan is going to make much of a difference.
Teachers will get more respect when the teacher's unions stop fighting to keep inept teachers in the classrooms.
>>In the city were I live (Portland, OR) the average class size is 33 students. That's one teacher, 38 students. When I went to high school, ten years ago, a class with 25 students was considered huge.
Fine if we're going to trade anecdotes, here in Pittsburgh I had a graduating class of 125 or so students. Back in 1976 my step father (who went to the same high school) had a graduating class of over 400. Look back 20 years, look back 30 years, the averae class size is smaller today than it was then.
And as I said in Texas the test scores of the students has gone UP since George W's plan was enacted. No matter how much teachers and teacher's unions bitch about it. When you subject them to a review the quality of the performance goes UP.
LK
With all of the rabates that companies are offering you can actually MAKE MONEY by buying one of these pieces of garbage.
I just saw in a Best Buy flyer a PC with over $600 of rebates included.
These things are a recipe for disaster. Do you own an old Pentium of 486 based Packard Bell? If you do then you know what I'm talking about. Nobody in their right mind is going to service these piecs of garbage. The upgrade market brings businesses PILES of money. If a PC is going to be cheaper to replace than to repair or upgrade why pay the money to get certified to repair them?
I repair Apples , Compaqs, and HPs. As well as upgrade them. If a new HD and 128MB of ram is going to cost more than a NEW PC why would anyone push them? These things will have abysmally low performance. So when Game X v3.5 comes out you have to buy a new $300 PC to play a $40 game, where does that leave you?
Compaq and Packard Bell have tried this in the past and if it were not for Compaq's server market share they'd have gone the same route as Packard Bell. Garbage PCs won't get the support of retailers, I'm not talking about the Suits that work for Circuit City. I'm talking about the grunts that deal directly with the customers.
I almost daily steer people AWAY from garbage, and I know that most of the salespeople that I know do the same thing. "Yes ma'am this computer is half the price of the other one but just look at how Game X runs on the two. See how jumpy it is on this one, see how smooth it is on the other one. What do you think is going to happen in 6 months when a new game you and your son want to play comes out? This computer will run it even slower than it is currently running this one."
See what I mean?
Not all of us are snake oil salesmen.
LK
>>Still, If I had to choose I would prefer a place with little violent crime and CCTV over a "free" place with so much crime that I would need a weapon for protection.
Nazi Germany would have been perfect for you then. The SS kept poblic disturbances to a minimum. Nobody other than government/military officials could have weapons and if you were not jewish things were great for the average German.
LK
>>Fine, IF AND ONLY IF the teachers have the right to reject a poor ranking student from their classes.
In there US in many schools there are classes for students of different levels of ability. If a student can't learn the material he should be in a lower class. If he can't learn the material there he should be in a lower grade.
>>And who would administer these teachers competency tests?
A duly authorized state government agency.
>>Anyone who has ever taught can tell you that teaching goes far beyond merely a mastery of subject material.
If a teacher lacks mastery of a subject s/he has NO BUSINESS teaching it to our children.
>>Anyone who's been to college can tell you that simply knowing a subject does not make an instructor effective.
I've been to college in the past and am currently enrolled in college, I've had english teachers assigned to teach "computer classes", one woman in particular taught the class that a kilobyte was EXACTLY 1000 bytes. She may have been an excellent english professor but she had NO BUSINESS teaching a computer class.
>>You don't go into teaching to seek fiscal reward. For mosty teachers, the act of teaching is rewarding in and of itself.
I once heard a saying it goes like this "Those who can, do. Those who can', teach. Those who can't teach, teach gym." and as time goes on I've learned how true that is for about 75% of teachers in the US.
>>One would think that bonuses and incentives would be highly effective motivators,a s they are in the private sector, considering these are the lowest paid professionals in the country.
Considering the results that they get, this is to be expected.
>>But believe it or not, most teachers would rather have smaller classes and better teaching materials than bonuses.
In the US today we have some of the smallest class sizes that the world has seen for decades but the performance of our teachers and our students is abysmally low.
>>This emphasis on testing is the biggest crock of shit of your whole oversimplification. What evidence is there that placement tests measure any valuable information? Do they predict success in life? Do they showcase all facets of a students ability? Nope. They simply show how well a student does on placement tests.
Placement test can and DO show how well teachers are teaching the material to the students. If one class of students in DIstrict X's "College Preparation" program do substantially worse on the placement tests than do their counterparts in other classes and other schools either 1. there are too many children in that class who do not belong there or 2. the teacher isn't up to snuff.
>>American students do poorly in school because American society doesn't value education anywhere near to the same degree that societies in Asia and Europe do.
While it's true that our society doesn't put enough emphasis on education, our school system is more to blame than the society is.
>>We are do'ers not thinkers.
Speak for yourself. There can bo no doing without thinking.
>>So do get all high and mighty with your half-baked theories.
It's working in Texas. My theories are not "half-baked" when you hold someone accountable for the quality of their work they either do better work of find a new field of employment.
LK