Those asshats have been trying to screw me for awhile now. I have a prepaid phone, only because I'm on call every few weeks. Now and again, I get by without paying the monthly $15, but I usually march into a phone store once a month to buy that $15 card. I forgot once, and I was at home on a Friday night, when I realized my phone wouldn't work if anyone called me. Pick up the credit card I use for online stuff, and paid. The dirty rat bastards charged me an extra dollar or so for having used a credit card!
Well, I don't use the card anymore, I make sure to pick up a prepaid card before I'm actually on call. But, it seems like every couple months, my fifteen bucks runs out a little sooner than it did in previous months.
Asshats.
BTW, who remembers way back in the mists of pre-history, when stores attempted to recover the expense of running credit cards, by displaying a slightly higher price for credit transactions? Attorney generals around the nation were on that, like stink on shit. It was quickly decided that everyone had to sell their products at the same price, whether the products were paid for with cash, or plastic.
Now, today, the really big mega-companies are playing pretend that it's legal to charge different prices, based on cash or credit.
Someone needs to remind those attorney generals and special prosecutors that law was established like 30 or 40 years ago, that prohibits this shit.
Notice the difference in your claim, and GP's claim.
"Bill Gates' - - to sell - - "
"Linus Torvalds' - - - able to run - - "
So, you grant that Gates is a salesman first, while Torvalds is a hacker, right? I know, the world isn't as I want it to be, but personally, I have almost zero use for a market droid, no matter how rich he might be.
It seems to me, that the original announcement about Linux didn't claim to have a desktop OS ready for use. In fact, it seemed to me like he was announcing something that may or may not work for some obscure purposes, of which he only had some vague ideas at the time. He sort implied that he hoped it might be comparable with Unix, with some maturity. I don't think he even used the word "compete".
Go on, look it up, and see what he actually posted, way back when. But, be sure to put your own mind into way-back-when, and make sure you understand what he was trying to accomplish. Forget about SCO, forget about Win95, forget about all the fancy GUI's you've seen since then. Go back in time, in your own mind, then read Linus' announcement that he had something just about good enough for people to hack at.
Years later, in hindsight, perhaps he may have wished that Linux was less embedded in the server world, and more conspicuous on the desktop. Then again, I don't really think he cares a whole lot.
Yet another partisan post. How long will you remain this naive? It isn't Bush, it isn't Obama, it wasn't Clinton, or any other president, or his party.
It's the SYSTEM!!!
How 'bout old Alan Greenspan? He's part of the system. Much more so than any of the presidents you might name. How long has his influence lasted?
I could ask, "Who is Greenspan?", but that would be rather pointless. More importantly, "What is Alan Greenspan?" He is the face, the figurehead, of the Federal Reserve. Who does that fed represent? Not you. Not me. Not the republicans, or the democrats. The fed represents the SYSTEM. And, who are the shareholders in that system?
Only the major banks. And, no upstart small town banks, either. You get to be a shareholder by invitation. Meaning, you have to own a large enough share of America to be noticed, then invited. And, even then, it's not the president of the bank who is invited - it's the bank itself that is invited to join the Fed, to become a member, and a shareholder.
When you've put all the bullshit aside, it's bankers who hold the strings. Big banks, like BofA, CitiBank, and others. Bush and Obama both danced at the end of the same strings.
But, go ahead, blame Obama for the bank bailouts. Pretend that TARP wasn't enacted under Bush and the congress of 2008. Blame Obama, because that's what figureheads are for. His main purpose is to help keep the gullible confused.
Revolution may or may not be violent. I mean, women got the vote, didn't they? They didn't have to kill men off to get it, either. Some guys may have gone to bed without getting any pussy, but they didn't get killed.
Gays are in the military now, and they didn't have to slaughter the straights. There may or may not have been a little head thumping beneath a few desks. There may be a few peter tracks on the bottom side of those desks now. But, no killings, no bloodshed.
Alright, Black people maybe resorted to a little violence. Probably less than one percent of the violence to which they were subjected to, but yeah, a little violence. Even so, they didn't have to kill off any major percentage of the white population.
Maybe you happen to believe that revolutions and coups have to be bloody, but I don't. Shit happens. Especially when you manage to get the oppressors by the short hairs somehow. Grab 'em by the balls, and their hearts and minds will follow. Ask any woman, though few women would phrase it like that.
I'm all for revolution. I'd rather not kill anyone for it, but I'm all for revolution. Throw every sack of shit out of the offices on Wall Street, and start over. Then grab every sack of shit in Washington, send them home to their constituents, and start over with that again - with TERM LIMITS! The banks, we should probably just burn. Fucking vampires - no one knows much about them, but it's pretty certain that fire is deadly to them. And, I don't think they bleed either, so still no bloodshed! A bloodless coup!!!
Even a very good point can be stretched a bit far.
I think that it's safe to say that millions of Americans have overextended their credit balances, in the past few years. Overextended to the point that they months of wages to the credit card companies.
A revolving credit scheme, which is managed properly, paid on time, and incurs no interest, no penalties, and no fees is hardly in the same class as the millions of people who will never dig themselves out of debt.
Do you really think that 80% of FireFox users just leave default settings on anything? Firefox' major selling point is, it is the most CUSTOMIZABLE browser on the web. People download it because they want to play with it. Kinda like Linux users.
Good people have done evil things. Evil people have done good things. Oftentimes, it's accidental. Sometimes, it's intentional, done in the belief that it's for the greater good. So, no, the distinction is NOT unimportant. Oftentimes in life, one has to pay attention to exactly what is said, and what is not said, to properly understand the message.
Why would you want to torture a novel? What could you hope to gain from it? Can you make the story end to your personal liking if you kick the book around for awhile?
Imagine that. We tamper with nature, and nature tampers right back. And, we're kinda stuck with a monoculture. I've read, and even posted on/. a time or two, about the many varieties of vegetables that are virtually extinct now. Potatoes. I think we have maybe 5 varieties, out of hundreds that were common in the 1800's. Just one super resistant blight that targets one currently grown variety can put mankind in real hardship. The strain of corn being cited probably accounts for more than 60% of the corn grown in the US, and possibly 40% or more of the corn grown worldwide. Kill it, and people are going to go very hungry.
Monocultures are so WONDERFUL - for the people who are extorting money out of that one culture!
Laugh at me, one and all. But it is within reason that these monocultures may put mankind's survival at stake one day.
You've pretty much described the system we have. But, what's that saying? Never attribute to malice, that which can be chalked up to incompetence.
I think - mind you, this is just what I think - that sometime back in the early 1900's, welfare started off with genuine goodwill. At the time, no one realized how many people were living in poverty, so the welfare grew much larger, and much more rapidly than any of the kind hearted souls ever expected. Yeah, there were politics involved, but less so than you seem to describe.
After a few years of welfare programs, some of the political agenda started creeping in, but even then, it was more incompetence than some kind of a plan. Politicians and bean counters started tampering with the qualifications, and of course, they expanded the programs to ensure that no child was left to go hungry.
The one thing they missed, was the eugenics angle. And, that subject has come up often enough, and it's always shot down, explained away, and rejected primarily because the Nazis made such an abortion of it when they were in power.
Eugenics. The government should be saying, "Yeah, we can feed you, and put a roof over your head. But, you must understand, if you're not competent enough to do that for yourself, then we don't want you having more babies to burden us with. Consent to sterilization, then we'll start paying your bills for you."
That generational welfare extended family thing never would have happened, if we could only get hold of that eugenics idea.
Of course, I lay it out rather cut and dried. There needs to be a humanitarian side to that. Anyone can be down on their luck for a few months, or a couple of years. There needs to be a time limit thing in there. Six to twelve months with no obligations about sterilization. You get maybe another year after signing the agreement. If at the end of 2 or 2 1/2 years, you haven't been sterilized, then the welfare ends. If children are involved, the state takes the kids to a foster home, or whatever, where they can be fed.
Someone will snivel that it sounds harsh. Well - life is tough. And, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. The rest are claimed by Darwin and company.
from: The New York Times nytimes@email.newyorktimes.com reply-to: "\"no-reply\"" to: nonyerdamnbiznezz@somemaildrop.com date: Wed, Dec 28, 2011 at 12:35 PM subject: Important information regarding your subscription mailed-by: email.newyorktimes.com
What MIM attack do you refer to? The email gives a phone number to contact, not an email or web page. Unless they have found a way to proxy telephone calls, I don't think it's a MIM.
Your math is awful. Just terrible. Price of 1 lb lentils + price of 1 lb brown rice \ number of portions is much price of chicken \ number of portions.
Try it out. Go to your local grocer, buy your rice and lentils, or beans and rice. Cook up a whole pound of each, and see how many portions you get out of them. Now, spend the same money on chicken, and see how many portions you get. Do the same for beef. Even ground beef is much more expensive than the chicken, per portion.
Granted, I too will rationalize the purchase of some beef, or some chicken, if I'm put on a welfare subsistence diet. But, at least I'll be perfectly well aware that I am squandering money on the meat!
You make a damned good argument for people to get off their asses, and get a job. Eating a welfare diet cuts your life expectancy? Who could have imagined such a thing?
Maybe you would like to talk some sense into one of my sons. Two sons have learned the value of having a work ethic, the third one thinks the world owes him a living. Go figure . . . .
How many people in America know how to cook lentils - or any dry bean? How many people know how to make them appetizing? Of those who do know how to cook, how many are actually willing to spend the time cooking?
My wife is actually a pretty good cook. So am I when I feel like it. Either one of us can cook up a mean pot of beans, or lentils. Much much better than anything you could possibly buy in a supermarket, in terms of taste, visual appeal, and nutrition.
How often do we cook a pot of beans? Me, maybe 4 times a year. She cooks them - ohhh - maybe every six weeks.
Beans aren't hard to cook, of course. But, a pot of beans takes a little bit of planning, and the cook has to be around the kitchen range while they are cooking.
Oh - it's split green peas, this year, for New Year day. Don't ask me why, she always makes black eyed peas for New Year. Maybe she grabbed the wrong bag in the store? Who knows. I like the split peas better anyway!
The Monkey Theory comes into play here, in an indirect fashion. People can only remember so many facts, figures, names and slogans. Some of the smaller minded people in incapable of separating socialism from communism, and they can't go any further afield into the political spectrum to find terms that might fit their ideas. Assuming, of course, that they have any ideas that need to be articulated.
LMAO - you deserve some funny mods! Most people have never seen a trucker's atlas - they'll be thinking of that little hundred page soft bound atlas they see in gas stations!
Great point. We tend to forget that for every mercenary con artist in entertainment, there are hundreds of people who work tirelessly for years, just hoping that people notice and appreciate them. And, thousands more who entertain just for the sake of entertaining, and don't even care if they are ever noticed by the wider world.
Speaking of job security - he has just supplied an application to do necessary tasks for the "company", which no one else is likely to be able to support.
We have a guy at work who modifies machines, without documenting anything. We have quarter million dollar machines which have been rewired, and the prints and drawings are no longer reliable, because he has spliced wires, replaced wires, installed his own wires, installed relays, blah blah blah. Job security? My "coworker" and rsmith are probably blood brothers, or spiritual twins, or something exotic like that.
Further, the guy puts himself into a slot between middle and upper management. Managers aren't paid by the hour. They get a salary. And, managers are supposed to be "company men", that is, they are expected to work round the clock when necessary to advance the company's agenda, without extra pay.
The fact is, he's bucking for a "bonus" that he doesn't see coming.
I think that rsmith84 should have gone into the banking industry, or the futures exchanges. He might have had a bonus, if he were cutthroat enough to fight his way to the top of the septic tank! BOOM! Billion dollar bonus!
Bloodthirsty bastard, aren't you? Killing off the competition is fun?
I haven't liked Intel very much since I read the first story of unethical business practices. Intel doesn't rank as highly on my shitlist as Microsoft, but they are on it.
There have been a couple of stories about 3000 to 5000 year old corpses recovered from these melting glaciers. One of the is famous, but I've forgotten his name. Igwi or something. Ohhh, here, I'll google for a couple stories:
Slashdot Mirror
Those asshats have been trying to screw me for awhile now. I have a prepaid phone, only because I'm on call every few weeks. Now and again, I get by without paying the monthly $15, but I usually march into a phone store once a month to buy that $15 card. I forgot once, and I was at home on a Friday night, when I realized my phone wouldn't work if anyone called me. Pick up the credit card I use for online stuff, and paid. The dirty rat bastards charged me an extra dollar or so for having used a credit card!
Well, I don't use the card anymore, I make sure to pick up a prepaid card before I'm actually on call. But, it seems like every couple months, my fifteen bucks runs out a little sooner than it did in previous months.
Asshats.
BTW, who remembers way back in the mists of pre-history, when stores attempted to recover the expense of running credit cards, by displaying a slightly higher price for credit transactions? Attorney generals around the nation were on that, like stink on shit. It was quickly decided that everyone had to sell their products at the same price, whether the products were paid for with cash, or plastic.
Now, today, the really big mega-companies are playing pretend that it's legal to charge different prices, based on cash or credit.
Someone needs to remind those attorney generals and special prosecutors that law was established like 30 or 40 years ago, that prohibits this shit.
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc226/Runaway1956/whylinux-1.jpg
Notice the difference in your claim, and GP's claim.
"Bill Gates' - - to sell - - "
"Linus Torvalds' - - - able to run - - "
So, you grant that Gates is a salesman first, while Torvalds is a hacker, right? I know, the world isn't as I want it to be, but personally, I have almost zero use for a market droid, no matter how rich he might be.
Citations?
It seems to me, that the original announcement about Linux didn't claim to have a desktop OS ready for use. In fact, it seemed to me like he was announcing something that may or may not work for some obscure purposes, of which he only had some vague ideas at the time. He sort implied that he hoped it might be comparable with Unix, with some maturity. I don't think he even used the word "compete".
Go on, look it up, and see what he actually posted, way back when. But, be sure to put your own mind into way-back-when, and make sure you understand what he was trying to accomplish. Forget about SCO, forget about Win95, forget about all the fancy GUI's you've seen since then. Go back in time, in your own mind, then read Linus' announcement that he had something just about good enough for people to hack at.
Years later, in hindsight, perhaps he may have wished that Linux was less embedded in the server world, and more conspicuous on the desktop. Then again, I don't really think he cares a whole lot.
Yet another partisan post. How long will you remain this naive? It isn't Bush, it isn't Obama, it wasn't Clinton, or any other president, or his party.
It's the SYSTEM!!!
How 'bout old Alan Greenspan? He's part of the system. Much more so than any of the presidents you might name. How long has his influence lasted?
I could ask, "Who is Greenspan?", but that would be rather pointless. More importantly, "What is Alan Greenspan?" He is the face, the figurehead, of the Federal Reserve. Who does that fed represent? Not you. Not me. Not the republicans, or the democrats. The fed represents the SYSTEM. And, who are the shareholders in that system?
Only the major banks. And, no upstart small town banks, either. You get to be a shareholder by invitation. Meaning, you have to own a large enough share of America to be noticed, then invited. And, even then, it's not the president of the bank who is invited - it's the bank itself that is invited to join the Fed, to become a member, and a shareholder.
When you've put all the bullshit aside, it's bankers who hold the strings. Big banks, like BofA, CitiBank, and others. Bush and Obama both danced at the end of the same strings.
But, go ahead, blame Obama for the bank bailouts. Pretend that TARP wasn't enacted under Bush and the congress of 2008. Blame Obama, because that's what figureheads are for. His main purpose is to help keep the gullible confused.
Revolution may or may not be violent. I mean, women got the vote, didn't they? They didn't have to kill men off to get it, either. Some guys may have gone to bed without getting any pussy, but they didn't get killed.
Gays are in the military now, and they didn't have to slaughter the straights. There may or may not have been a little head thumping beneath a few desks. There may be a few peter tracks on the bottom side of those desks now. But, no killings, no bloodshed.
Alright, Black people maybe resorted to a little violence. Probably less than one percent of the violence to which they were subjected to, but yeah, a little violence. Even so, they didn't have to kill off any major percentage of the white population.
Maybe you happen to believe that revolutions and coups have to be bloody, but I don't. Shit happens. Especially when you manage to get the oppressors by the short hairs somehow. Grab 'em by the balls, and their hearts and minds will follow. Ask any woman, though few women would phrase it like that.
I'm all for revolution. I'd rather not kill anyone for it, but I'm all for revolution. Throw every sack of shit out of the offices on Wall Street, and start over. Then grab every sack of shit in Washington, send them home to their constituents, and start over with that again - with TERM LIMITS! The banks, we should probably just burn. Fucking vampires - no one knows much about them, but it's pretty certain that fire is deadly to them. And, I don't think they bleed either, so still no bloodshed! A bloodless coup!!!
You lie. He IS Goldman Sachs.
Even a very good point can be stretched a bit far.
I think that it's safe to say that millions of Americans have overextended their credit balances, in the past few years. Overextended to the point that they months of wages to the credit card companies.
A revolving credit scheme, which is managed properly, paid on time, and incurs no interest, no penalties, and no fees is hardly in the same class as the millions of people who will never dig themselves out of debt.
Do you really think that 80% of FireFox users just leave default settings on anything? Firefox' major selling point is, it is the most CUSTOMIZABLE browser on the web. People download it because they want to play with it. Kinda like Linux users.
Which reminds me of a great pic -
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/102342595285863325267/albums/posts/5675640915223683682
If you're like me, or if you have a small desktop, you may have to zoom it to read it. ;^)
Good people have done evil things. Evil people have done good things. Oftentimes, it's accidental. Sometimes, it's intentional, done in the belief that it's for the greater good. So, no, the distinction is NOT unimportant. Oftentimes in life, one has to pay attention to exactly what is said, and what is not said, to properly understand the message.
Why would you want to torture a novel? What could you hope to gain from it? Can you make the story end to your personal liking if you kick the book around for awhile?
Imagine that. We tamper with nature, and nature tampers right back. And, we're kinda stuck with a monoculture. I've read, and even posted on /. a time or two, about the many varieties of vegetables that are virtually extinct now. Potatoes. I think we have maybe 5 varieties, out of hundreds that were common in the 1800's. Just one super resistant blight that targets one currently grown variety can put mankind in real hardship. The strain of corn being cited probably accounts for more than 60% of the corn grown in the US, and possibly 40% or more of the corn grown worldwide. Kill it, and people are going to go very hungry.
Monocultures are so WONDERFUL - for the people who are extorting money out of that one culture!
Laugh at me, one and all. But it is within reason that these monocultures may put mankind's survival at stake one day.
You've pretty much described the system we have. But, what's that saying? Never attribute to malice, that which can be chalked up to incompetence.
I think - mind you, this is just what I think - that sometime back in the early 1900's, welfare started off with genuine goodwill. At the time, no one realized how many people were living in poverty, so the welfare grew much larger, and much more rapidly than any of the kind hearted souls ever expected. Yeah, there were politics involved, but less so than you seem to describe.
After a few years of welfare programs, some of the political agenda started creeping in, but even then, it was more incompetence than some kind of a plan. Politicians and bean counters started tampering with the qualifications, and of course, they expanded the programs to ensure that no child was left to go hungry.
The one thing they missed, was the eugenics angle. And, that subject has come up often enough, and it's always shot down, explained away, and rejected primarily because the Nazis made such an abortion of it when they were in power.
Eugenics. The government should be saying, "Yeah, we can feed you, and put a roof over your head. But, you must understand, if you're not competent enough to do that for yourself, then we don't want you having more babies to burden us with. Consent to sterilization, then we'll start paying your bills for you."
That generational welfare extended family thing never would have happened, if we could only get hold of that eugenics idea.
Of course, I lay it out rather cut and dried. There needs to be a humanitarian side to that. Anyone can be down on their luck for a few months, or a couple of years. There needs to be a time limit thing in there. Six to twelve months with no obligations about sterilization. You get maybe another year after signing the agreement. If at the end of 2 or 2 1/2 years, you haven't been sterilized, then the welfare ends. If children are involved, the state takes the kids to a foster home, or whatever, where they can be fed.
Someone will snivel that it sounds harsh. Well - life is tough. And, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. The rest are claimed by Darwin and company.
from: The New York Times nytimes@email.newyorktimes.com
reply-to: "\"no-reply\""
to: nonyerdamnbiznezz@somemaildrop.com
date: Wed, Dec 28, 2011 at 12:35 PM
subject: Important information regarding your subscription
mailed-by: email.newyorktimes.com
What MIM attack do you refer to? The email gives a phone number to contact, not an email or web page. Unless they have found a way to proxy telephone calls, I don't think it's a MIM.
Your math is awful. Just terrible. Price of 1 lb lentils + price of 1 lb brown rice \ number of portions is much price of chicken \ number of portions.
Try it out. Go to your local grocer, buy your rice and lentils, or beans and rice. Cook up a whole pound of each, and see how many portions you get out of them. Now, spend the same money on chicken, and see how many portions you get. Do the same for beef. Even ground beef is much more expensive than the chicken, per portion.
Granted, I too will rationalize the purchase of some beef, or some chicken, if I'm put on a welfare subsistence diet. But, at least I'll be perfectly well aware that I am squandering money on the meat!
You make a damned good argument for people to get off their asses, and get a job. Eating a welfare diet cuts your life expectancy? Who could have imagined such a thing?
Maybe you would like to talk some sense into one of my sons. Two sons have learned the value of having a work ethic, the third one thinks the world owes him a living. Go figure . . . .
How many people in America know how to cook lentils - or any dry bean? How many people know how to make them appetizing? Of those who do know how to cook, how many are actually willing to spend the time cooking?
My wife is actually a pretty good cook. So am I when I feel like it. Either one of us can cook up a mean pot of beans, or lentils. Much much better than anything you could possibly buy in a supermarket, in terms of taste, visual appeal, and nutrition.
How often do we cook a pot of beans? Me, maybe 4 times a year. She cooks them - ohhh - maybe every six weeks.
Beans aren't hard to cook, of course. But, a pot of beans takes a little bit of planning, and the cook has to be around the kitchen range while they are cooking.
Oh - it's split green peas, this year, for New Year day. Don't ask me why, she always makes black eyed peas for New Year. Maybe she grabbed the wrong bag in the store? Who knows. I like the split peas better anyway!
The Monkey Theory comes into play here, in an indirect fashion. People can only remember so many facts, figures, names and slogans. Some of the smaller minded people in incapable of separating socialism from communism, and they can't go any further afield into the political spectrum to find terms that might fit their ideas. Assuming, of course, that they have any ideas that need to be articulated.
LMAO - you deserve some funny mods! Most people have never seen a trucker's atlas - they'll be thinking of that little hundred page soft bound atlas they see in gas stations!
Great point. We tend to forget that for every mercenary con artist in entertainment, there are hundreds of people who work tirelessly for years, just hoping that people notice and appreciate them. And, thousands more who entertain just for the sake of entertaining, and don't even care if they are ever noticed by the wider world.
Speaking of job security - he has just supplied an application to do necessary tasks for the "company", which no one else is likely to be able to support.
We have a guy at work who modifies machines, without documenting anything. We have quarter million dollar machines which have been rewired, and the prints and drawings are no longer reliable, because he has spliced wires, replaced wires, installed his own wires, installed relays, blah blah blah. Job security? My "coworker" and rsmith are probably blood brothers, or spiritual twins, or something exotic like that.
Further, the guy puts himself into a slot between middle and upper management. Managers aren't paid by the hour. They get a salary. And, managers are supposed to be "company men", that is, they are expected to work round the clock when necessary to advance the company's agenda, without extra pay.
The fact is, he's bucking for a "bonus" that he doesn't see coming.
I think that rsmith84 should have gone into the banking industry, or the futures exchanges. He might have had a bonus, if he were cutthroat enough to fight his way to the top of the septic tank! BOOM! Billion dollar bonus!
Bloodthirsty bastard, aren't you? Killing off the competition is fun?
I haven't liked Intel very much since I read the first story of unethical business practices. Intel doesn't rank as highly on my shitlist as Microsoft, but they are on it.
There have been a couple of stories about 3000 to 5000 year old corpses recovered from these melting glaciers. One of the is famous, but I've forgotten his name. Igwi or something. Ohhh, here, I'll google for a couple stories:
Ötzi here, in a PDF
http://geog-www.sbs.ohio-state.edu/courses/g820.01/sp06/alpine_iceman.pdf
Incan ice children and others here:
http://www.mummytombs.com/mummylocator/featured/glacier.htm