Wait a moment, now. I'll remind you that I drove truck for years. I delivered many loads of building materials to the devastated areas in Louisiana and Mississippi after Katrina. I'll give Walmart some credit for doing what you say - but Walmart trucks were NOT moving in the most devastated areas. They simply were not. The materials I moved were moved under various contracts, some of which were government contracts. I think it safe to say that ALL of those infamous mobile homes were moved under government contracts. Probably 80% of the early stage building materials were moved under government contract, and that was reduced over time to near zero percent. Medical and other real emergency supplies, as well as water and food started out near 100% government, and tapered off over time.
Wal-mart didn't deliver ANY of the mountains of bottled water that I saw stockpiled around New Orleans soon after Katrina. The National Guard delivered most of it. I can't say where the NG acquired the water - I can only say for certain that the NG unloaded it from their trucks, and from private OTR trucks. Not Walmart trucks.
Be careful that you don't buy into that Walmart corporate propaganda. A few photo ops, and an unlimited marketing budget don't make Walmart the saviours of any disaster. Walmart people were being rescued during and after Katrina, more than they were rescuing.
Now, that's a nice attitude. The problem with it is, I'm a US citizen, and the corporation is not. Yeah, you'll try to say that the corporation is owned by a US citizen - and you may or may not be right. But, my possessions don't get votes, so why should the rich bastard's corporation get a voice in government?
One citizen, one vote, and make lobbying illegal.
Many of you see no problem with politicians being bought and paid for. I do.
This deserves to be modded "insightful". Nations have constitutions, laws, and face insurrection, mutiny, and revolt if/when they trample people's rights to much. Corporations? Damned thieves can tramply anyone, and everyone, with no repercussions.
Go ahead, people, cheer for the corporations. None of them are doing anything for you. Your government supplies your drinking water, builds your roads, responds in the event of disaster, and much, much more. You have a voice in government in most countries - you have zero voice in any corporation, no matter whether you work for it or not.
I really don't understand your point. Wallowing in paranoia? Dude - it's NOT paranoia, when every lackwit in the world is TRYING to pry into your computer via malware, cookies, supercookies, etc ect ad nauseum. Wallowing in paranoia? You think that citizens should eliminate antivirus, antispam, malware scanners, and all the rest, open all their ports, and accept all incoming requests on all ports?
Personally, I don't think it's paranoid to close the drapes when I'm getting laid, nor do I think it's paranoid to close ports, and refuse unsolicited connections from Liberia, Surinam, Nigeria, Latvia, and China.
"Even identical twins don't necessarily eat the same things."
Dude - this is BRITAIN! Everyone eats fish & chips and meat pies. Kidney pies on Sundays, I think. If you're looking for a difference in diet, check their favorite brands of ale or laager. That might show up if anyone took note of body odor. Cheap drink smells bad forever!
Geez!
Re:Or maybe the police could do their jobs!
on
Twins' DNA Foils Police
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Errr, no. I'm not British, but I've followed a number of stories regarding video surveillance of British citizens. GP may have exaggerated a little when he said "every street corner" - but not by much. The Brits are obssessed with observing every interaction between every pair of people in their country. If they aren't "Orwellian" yet, they will be within a couple years.
One story about surveillance mentioned that CPS and/or the schools were considering putting cameras within the homes of "children at risk", or some such nonsense. They were specifically considering kids living in their equivelant of "The Projects". Ghetto housing. They want to make sure the kid is home, and going to bed on time, and that he spent x number of hours doing homework. Good grief!
"more entertaining than 90% of the current reality show lineups"
You seem to presume that reality shows have any entertainment value. I would differ with you. Sitting on the floor, hitting myself in the head with a hammer might be more entertaining than the few reality shows that I've seen. Maybe I'll try it soon, and let you know.
Did anyone think to search their persons for any cuts that might be healing? One twin or the other left blood on some broken glass? How did the blood get there, unless he cut himself?
I guess that if it took months to match the twins to the blood, then the cuts are healed - but crap! Did anyone think to LOOK?
"So we give them something that we can make in unlimited amounts for next to nothing, and they give us stuff that's actually useful. And you think that it's a bad thing for us?"
Our biggest trade deficit is with China. Can you name any items they make which is useful?
"Yes, because people that make less than minimum wage just take so much from us."
Wait - who told you that the Mexicans are working for less than minimum wage? Some few may do so, but that isn't the norm. Do you work with those illegals? I do, and so does my wife. NONE of them work for minimum wage, or less. They DO WORK for less than many US citizens will work for. That is, an entry level production position pays about 7.00/hr, and most US citizens find that to be to little.
Three women at the plant my wife works at have retired, or are retiring this year. Their pensions make them RICH in Mexico, and that is just where they are going. Back to Mexico. They have never been naturalized, they never wanted to become citizens, they never had anything to offer the United States, other than their labor. Cheap labor, which undercut citizens, unions, the minimum wage - the whole ball of wax.
So many people speak in ignorance. "Mexicans are just doing the work that Americans don't want to do!" Pure ignorance. 10, 15, 20 years ago, Juan got into the plant by working for 2 or 3 dollars less than a US citizen was willing to work for. SOMETIMES that might have meant he worked for less than minimum wage. But, today, he has SENIORITY, and he moves up the food chain. Today, Juan is in maintenance, engineering, operations, marketing, and everything else that the plant does. He is no longer undercutting the entry level job positions - he is also undercutting the wages of skilled trades, as well as the jobs that have traditionally been done by college grads.
And, Juan has never given ANYTHING to this country. No military service, for instance. He isn't even registered for the draft. He manages to avoid paying a boatload of taxes, while at the same time qualifying for various forms of assistance. He takes a vacation, goes home to Mexico, and comes back with a different name - and the front office just changes his name on their paperwork, and goes on about business as usual.
And, you know what? Last year, when so many people were laid off in this country - US Citizens were laid off of their jobs, because Juan Fucking Illegal Alien was not eligible for unemployment benefits.
Please, tell me again that Juan and Juanita aren't bleeding this country dry.
Maybe you don't work with illegals - but the town I work in has a population of thousands of illegals.
People with a Mexican heritage who are citizens of this nation are my brothers and sisters, just like any white or black person. The ILLEGAL ALIENS are invaders, and they should be shot at the border. The bastards do NOT belong here. Try getting them to pledge allegiance to our flag. It ain't happening - they have nothing but contempt for us and our nation.
Read. Visit the newspaper forums in places like Houston. When you do, be sure to distinguish between citizens and illegal aliens. Get the real story. It isn't hatred of brown people that motivates us who are opposed to "immigration reform". It is the hatred of CRIMINALS.
20 million criminals can steal a lot of wealth, even if they WERE all working at or below the minimum wage.
Hmmmm. Depending on your hardware, and your capability with your hardware. Let's say that in more than 99% of cases, any security oriented agency, such as the military, knows when one of their lines is open. With any wireless transmitter, you KNOW the line is open to interception. No guesswork involved with that!;^)
"That doesn't actually make any difference to the economy. Money doesn't just vanish when it's spent overseas. It always makes its way back,"
That is precisely what a "trade deficit" is - the money is NOT coming back. When trade is balanced, the money goes out, comes back, goes out, and comes back again. With a trade deficit, we send 100 out, and less than 100 comes back. If it's 95 that come back, the deficit isn't to bad. If it's less than 80 that come back, then we're hurting. If it's less than 50 dollars that come back, we are REALLY hurting!
Remember, we've had a trade deficit for years now. Decades, actually. We're bleeding money overseas. Not to mention all of those illegal aliens who are bleeding us for money right here at home!
As for the shoes that fit - I agree. I have three different brands of boots that I'm willing to buy, because they are good quality, and they FIT MY FEET! It doesn't matter what those boots look like, or even if they might wear out more quickly than a more expensive pair - they MUST fit, or I'm a cripple.
Khyber should be modded "insightful" - but he will probably be modded down, if at all. The problem is, everyone thinks in terms of cost efficiency today. And, that is the very reason everything has been networked. No one is willing to position a human being, with all the inherent costs, somewhere that he can manually control anything.
Which is weird, since we have millions of Americans sitting around in their Mama's basements and/or in the projects, contributing nothing to society, sucking in those welfare checks.
As JesseL points out - an agent or thousands of agents in the US can gain access, despite the fact that they are furriners. I'll go a wee bit further - much of the "command and control" being installed today is wireless. From a military point of view, wireless has ALWAYS been the least secure method of communications. You'll find that this has been doctrine since the earliest wireless sets. Whatever you broadcast is going to be recieved by the enemy, to be decoded at his leisure. With wire, at least you can detect that your signal is being intercepted.
Question - how many lives is it worth to put a colony on the moon?
1. None - if anyone is going to die it isn't worth it.
2. A dozen
3. A hundred
4. A thousand
5. A percentage of the people immigrating to the moon
Your answer tells a lot about your decision making processes, and/or your values.
Something to think about: we still lose about 40,000 Americans due to auto accidents annually, down from a high when I was in school of about 50,000. Do you drive? Do you ride in automobiles as a passenger?
Risk. Am I willing to see astronauts die? Yes, I'm just as willing to see astronauts and their passengers die as I am willing to see Americans die on the highway. That is to say, not really, but the risk is acceptable.
NASA today accepts just about zero risk. Those deaths that have occured blindsided NASA, which thought that it had removed all risk.
The real shame is, they haven't yet designed a vehicle which really does remove the risks that DID kill our astronauts!
That doesn't change the fact that we remain a nation of wasteful asses, who prefer disposable trash over quality goods. As long as the net value of imports exceeds the net value of exports, we are doing it wrong.
I've just purchased two new T-shirts. I could have gone to Walmart, and paid something like ten bucks for them, imported from almost anywhere in the world. Instead, I bought Carhartt T-shirts, which cost me 30 bucks, or 15 dollars each.
From long experience, I know that those cheap T-shirts would wear out in a year, give or take a little bit. My Carhartt T's last between 6 and 8 years. Not only have I purchased better quality, but someone in America was paid for making those T's. Each person involved in the production of those T's paid some tax, and whatever they profited after taxes will almost certainly be spent in America, to better an American's life.
A couple shirts doesn't mean much, in the grand scheme of things - but if 350 million American made a similar decision each and every day, our economy would begin to turn around.
"Just Say NO" to disposable worthless trash. Shop around, and get value for your dollar. Sometimes, that might mean purchasing an imported product - but not all the time. Not even most of the time!
Alright, then, I hate short people for always getting underfoot. And, I hate extremely tall people, because I have to look UP, and get a crick in my neck when I talk to them. I hate stupid people. I guess hating on phat people wouldn't count, because they can change their phat content?
AC does a lot of things that are strange, but he has just proved he is not very observant. Commodore64 may or may not be a wife, but I don't think she has a wife.
Or, was AC trying to make a pass at Commodore64?
Hmmmm - I couldn't hear the inflection of the keys being hit while he typed . . . .
Wow. Pretty good paper. I'm not British, so I don't speak quite like that - but it's more understandable than some of our US legal opinions and documents!
Very nice job by the court! A good decision, given in understandable language.
Hate speech. Where did they dream that phrase up, anyway? What's wrong with having an opinion, anyway? Should a person go to jail if he says he doesn't like teachers? Lawyers? Police? I don't think so. Why should chiropractors enjoy protection? I think chiropractors are overly expensive, much like doctors. There, have I pissed off almost everyone yet?
Oh, of course not. If I want to piss people off around here, I'll have to point out that nerds and geeks are wierd, IT people are pains in the ass, developers are mostly eccentric twits, and most support personnel (the kind you call on the phone) are totally clueless.
Past achievements are past. You can't rest on your laurels. As your sibling post suggests, if Iran had a viable space program, we could well see a return to the attitudes of the '60's. Iran puts a man on the moon, we put a man on Phoebe, along with a half dozen women. Iran reaches Mars, we put orbiting stations around Mercury.
It's a shame, but we only make these great leaps when we are in direct competition with someone else.
Oh, really? A bunch of pathetic, fearful old women, sitting around, nattering about risk, can actually do that? You do realize that today's NASA is not the same NASA that put men on the moon, don't you?
When the mission was to put men on the mooon, the atmosphere was much like the atmosphere aboard a warship.
Today, there is no mission, and the atmosphere is more like a cruise ship catering to octogenarians.
It's NOT an easy cruise to the moon, or mars, or anyplace else out there. We need some kick-ass, no-nonsense types to decide that we are going to space, then get it done. Blabbering and yakking about risk has it's place, but when it becomes the primary concern, nothing gets done.
Years of experience and observation. 90% and more of the drivers on the road see nothing around them. How far ahead of your car are you looking while you drive? Do you see the farmer on his tractor 1 1/2 miles ahead of you? Do you see the little sports car two miles behind you, and gaining? More than 90% of drivers see neither - and when you arrive at the location of the tractor, and the sports car wants to pass, you have almost zero idea that you are in an extremely hazardous situation - THREE of you are going to try sharing two lanes for a few brief moments.
Years of experience shows that no one slows down when they see a basketball, soccerball, or baseball roll out into the street. They might dodge the ball, but they run right over the silly little kid who is chasing the ball.
You're right - we have little idea how YOU drive. But, experience suggests that young people with a license are far more interested in their telephone, CD changer, and shiny buttons on the dash than they are in anything more then 15 feet from their cars.
If you are offended, sorry. Prove us wrong with 30, 50, or 70 years of accident free driving. If in 2080, you're sitting in front of your computer, typing comments here at slashdot, and you remember us, you can then say, "Well, I showed THOSE assholes!"
Of course, by then, you'll be the cynical old bastard, and you be much more like the biker dude and me. You'll realize that most people act like idiots, and would much rather run down an old lady than pay attention to the fact that she's using a walker to cross the street.
The point of the above post, is that people are not OBSERVANT. Some day, try pairing up with a cop. Cops are trained not to merely see, but to OBSERVE. Just go about your business, with a cop in tow. In my case, my sister was often around, so it didnt' take any special arrangements to do this. Spend a couple hours, anyway, then let the cop quiz you on what you saw. You will be amazed at how little you have observed of the world around you.
Or, you could turn that around backward. Spend some hours in the company of a truck driver. You try to remember how many cops you saw, and where they were when you saw them. That truck driver will be able to multiply your list at the end of the trip. He OBSERVED the cops, he didn't merely see them.
You, my freind, owe it to society at large to OBSERVE what is going on around your vehicle. Stop sitting in your insulated machine, and deciding what it important, and what is not. It's the vehicle, pedestrian, or unusual situation that you dismissed as unimportant that is going to get someone killed.
The biker above understands perfectly what I'm saying - because a biker MUST observe everything, from the dog chasing cars, to the school bus, to the cops - everything. He isn't insulated from any of it. That dog can kill him just as dead as the idiot schoolbus driver who can't see another vehicle that weighs less than 2000 pounds.
This is the reason some very intelligent people manage to look like idiots. They don't bother to observe the world around them.
Wait a moment, now. I'll remind you that I drove truck for years. I delivered many loads of building materials to the devastated areas in Louisiana and Mississippi after Katrina. I'll give Walmart some credit for doing what you say - but Walmart trucks were NOT moving in the most devastated areas. They simply were not. The materials I moved were moved under various contracts, some of which were government contracts. I think it safe to say that ALL of those infamous mobile homes were moved under government contracts. Probably 80% of the early stage building materials were moved under government contract, and that was reduced over time to near zero percent. Medical and other real emergency supplies, as well as water and food started out near 100% government, and tapered off over time.
Wal-mart didn't deliver ANY of the mountains of bottled water that I saw stockpiled around New Orleans soon after Katrina. The National Guard delivered most of it. I can't say where the NG acquired the water - I can only say for certain that the NG unloaded it from their trucks, and from private OTR trucks. Not Walmart trucks.
Be careful that you don't buy into that Walmart corporate propaganda. A few photo ops, and an unlimited marketing budget don't make Walmart the saviours of any disaster. Walmart people were being rescued during and after Katrina, more than they were rescuing.
Now, that's a nice attitude. The problem with it is, I'm a US citizen, and the corporation is not. Yeah, you'll try to say that the corporation is owned by a US citizen - and you may or may not be right. But, my possessions don't get votes, so why should the rich bastard's corporation get a voice in government?
One citizen, one vote, and make lobbying illegal.
Many of you see no problem with politicians being bought and paid for. I do.
This deserves to be modded "insightful". Nations have constitutions, laws, and face insurrection, mutiny, and revolt if/when they trample people's rights to much. Corporations? Damned thieves can tramply anyone, and everyone, with no repercussions.
Go ahead, people, cheer for the corporations. None of them are doing anything for you. Your government supplies your drinking water, builds your roads, responds in the event of disaster, and much, much more. You have a voice in government in most countries - you have zero voice in any corporation, no matter whether you work for it or not.
I really don't understand your point. Wallowing in paranoia? Dude - it's NOT paranoia, when every lackwit in the world is TRYING to pry into your computer via malware, cookies, supercookies, etc ect ad nauseum. Wallowing in paranoia? You think that citizens should eliminate antivirus, antispam, malware scanners, and all the rest, open all their ports, and accept all incoming requests on all ports?
Personally, I don't think it's paranoid to close the drapes when I'm getting laid, nor do I think it's paranoid to close ports, and refuse unsolicited connections from Liberia, Surinam, Nigeria, Latvia, and China.
"Even identical twins don't necessarily eat the same things."
Dude - this is BRITAIN! Everyone eats fish & chips and meat pies. Kidney pies on Sundays, I think. If you're looking for a difference in diet, check their favorite brands of ale or laager. That might show up if anyone took note of body odor. Cheap drink smells bad forever!
Geez!
Errr, no. I'm not British, but I've followed a number of stories regarding video surveillance of British citizens. GP may have exaggerated a little when he said "every street corner" - but not by much. The Brits are obssessed with observing every interaction between every pair of people in their country. If they aren't "Orwellian" yet, they will be within a couple years.
One story about surveillance mentioned that CPS and/or the schools were considering putting cameras within the homes of "children at risk", or some such nonsense. They were specifically considering kids living in their equivelant of "The Projects". Ghetto housing. They want to make sure the kid is home, and going to bed on time, and that he spent x number of hours doing homework. Good grief!
"more entertaining than 90% of the current reality show lineups"
You seem to presume that reality shows have any entertainment value. I would differ with you. Sitting on the floor, hitting myself in the head with a hammer might be more entertaining than the few reality shows that I've seen. Maybe I'll try it soon, and let you know.
Did anyone think to search their persons for any cuts that might be healing? One twin or the other left blood on some broken glass? How did the blood get there, unless he cut himself?
I guess that if it took months to match the twins to the blood, then the cuts are healed - but crap! Did anyone think to LOOK?
"So we give them something that we can make in unlimited amounts for next to nothing, and they give us stuff that's actually useful. And you think that it's a bad thing for us?"
Our biggest trade deficit is with China. Can you name any items they make which is useful?
"Yes, because people that make less than minimum wage just take so much from us."
Wait - who told you that the Mexicans are working for less than minimum wage? Some few may do so, but that isn't the norm. Do you work with those illegals? I do, and so does my wife. NONE of them work for minimum wage, or less. They DO WORK for less than many US citizens will work for. That is, an entry level production position pays about 7.00/hr, and most US citizens find that to be to little.
Three women at the plant my wife works at have retired, or are retiring this year. Their pensions make them RICH in Mexico, and that is just where they are going. Back to Mexico. They have never been naturalized, they never wanted to become citizens, they never had anything to offer the United States, other than their labor. Cheap labor, which undercut citizens, unions, the minimum wage - the whole ball of wax.
So many people speak in ignorance. "Mexicans are just doing the work that Americans don't want to do!" Pure ignorance. 10, 15, 20 years ago, Juan got into the plant by working for 2 or 3 dollars less than a US citizen was willing to work for. SOMETIMES that might have meant he worked for less than minimum wage. But, today, he has SENIORITY, and he moves up the food chain. Today, Juan is in maintenance, engineering, operations, marketing, and everything else that the plant does. He is no longer undercutting the entry level job positions - he is also undercutting the wages of skilled trades, as well as the jobs that have traditionally been done by college grads.
And, Juan has never given ANYTHING to this country. No military service, for instance. He isn't even registered for the draft. He manages to avoid paying a boatload of taxes, while at the same time qualifying for various forms of assistance. He takes a vacation, goes home to Mexico, and comes back with a different name - and the front office just changes his name on their paperwork, and goes on about business as usual.
And, you know what? Last year, when so many people were laid off in this country - US Citizens were laid off of their jobs, because Juan Fucking Illegal Alien was not eligible for unemployment benefits.
Please, tell me again that Juan and Juanita aren't bleeding this country dry.
Maybe you don't work with illegals - but the town I work in has a population of thousands of illegals.
People with a Mexican heritage who are citizens of this nation are my brothers and sisters, just like any white or black person. The ILLEGAL ALIENS are invaders, and they should be shot at the border. The bastards do NOT belong here. Try getting them to pledge allegiance to our flag. It ain't happening - they have nothing but contempt for us and our nation.
Read. Visit the newspaper forums in places like Houston. When you do, be sure to distinguish between citizens and illegal aliens. Get the real story. It isn't hatred of brown people that motivates us who are opposed to "immigration reform". It is the hatred of CRIMINALS.
20 million criminals can steal a lot of wealth, even if they WERE all working at or below the minimum wage.
Hmmmm. Depending on your hardware, and your capability with your hardware. Let's say that in more than 99% of cases, any security oriented agency, such as the military, knows when one of their lines is open. With any wireless transmitter, you KNOW the line is open to interception. No guesswork involved with that! ;^)
"That doesn't actually make any difference to the economy. Money doesn't just vanish when it's spent overseas. It always makes its way back,"
That is precisely what a "trade deficit" is - the money is NOT coming back. When trade is balanced, the money goes out, comes back, goes out, and comes back again. With a trade deficit, we send 100 out, and less than 100 comes back. If it's 95 that come back, the deficit isn't to bad. If it's less than 80 that come back, then we're hurting. If it's less than 50 dollars that come back, we are REALLY hurting!
Remember, we've had a trade deficit for years now. Decades, actually. We're bleeding money overseas. Not to mention all of those illegal aliens who are bleeding us for money right here at home!
As for the shoes that fit - I agree. I have three different brands of boots that I'm willing to buy, because they are good quality, and they FIT MY FEET! It doesn't matter what those boots look like, or even if they might wear out more quickly than a more expensive pair - they MUST fit, or I'm a cripple.
Khyber should be modded "insightful" - but he will probably be modded down, if at all. The problem is, everyone thinks in terms of cost efficiency today. And, that is the very reason everything has been networked. No one is willing to position a human being, with all the inherent costs, somewhere that he can manually control anything.
Which is weird, since we have millions of Americans sitting around in their Mama's basements and/or in the projects, contributing nothing to society, sucking in those welfare checks.
As JesseL points out - an agent or thousands of agents in the US can gain access, despite the fact that they are furriners. I'll go a wee bit further - much of the "command and control" being installed today is wireless. From a military point of view, wireless has ALWAYS been the least secure method of communications. You'll find that this has been doctrine since the earliest wireless sets. Whatever you broadcast is going to be recieved by the enemy, to be decoded at his leisure. With wire, at least you can detect that your signal is being intercepted.
Question - how many lives is it worth to put a colony on the moon?
1. None - if anyone is going to die it isn't worth it.
2. A dozen
3. A hundred
4. A thousand
5. A percentage of the people immigrating to the moon
Your answer tells a lot about your decision making processes, and/or your values.
Something to think about: we still lose about 40,000 Americans due to auto accidents annually, down from a high when I was in school of about 50,000. Do you drive? Do you ride in automobiles as a passenger?
Risk. Am I willing to see astronauts die? Yes, I'm just as willing to see astronauts and their passengers die as I am willing to see Americans die on the highway. That is to say, not really, but the risk is acceptable.
NASA today accepts just about zero risk. Those deaths that have occured blindsided NASA, which thought that it had removed all risk.
The real shame is, they haven't yet designed a vehicle which really does remove the risks that DID kill our astronauts!
That doesn't change the fact that we remain a nation of wasteful asses, who prefer disposable trash over quality goods. As long as the net value of imports exceeds the net value of exports, we are doing it wrong.
I've just purchased two new T-shirts. I could have gone to Walmart, and paid something like ten bucks for them, imported from almost anywhere in the world. Instead, I bought Carhartt T-shirts, which cost me 30 bucks, or 15 dollars each.
From long experience, I know that those cheap T-shirts would wear out in a year, give or take a little bit. My Carhartt T's last between 6 and 8 years. Not only have I purchased better quality, but someone in America was paid for making those T's. Each person involved in the production of those T's paid some tax, and whatever they profited after taxes will almost certainly be spent in America, to better an American's life.
A couple shirts doesn't mean much, in the grand scheme of things - but if 350 million American made a similar decision each and every day, our economy would begin to turn around.
"Just Say NO" to disposable worthless trash. Shop around, and get value for your dollar. Sometimes, that might mean purchasing an imported product - but not all the time. Not even most of the time!
Alright, then, I hate short people for always getting underfoot. And, I hate extremely tall people, because I have to look UP, and get a crick in my neck when I talk to them. I hate stupid people. I guess hating on phat people wouldn't count, because they can change their phat content?
AC does a lot of things that are strange, but he has just proved he is not very observant. Commodore64 may or may not be a wife, but I don't think she has a wife.
Or, was AC trying to make a pass at Commodore64?
Hmmmm - I couldn't hear the inflection of the keys being hit while he typed . . . .
Wow. Pretty good paper. I'm not British, so I don't speak quite like that - but it's more understandable than some of our US legal opinions and documents!
Very nice job by the court! A good decision, given in understandable language.
Hate speech. Where did they dream that phrase up, anyway? What's wrong with having an opinion, anyway? Should a person go to jail if he says he doesn't like teachers? Lawyers? Police? I don't think so. Why should chiropractors enjoy protection? I think chiropractors are overly expensive, much like doctors. There, have I pissed off almost everyone yet?
Oh, of course not. If I want to piss people off around here, I'll have to point out that nerds and geeks are wierd, IT people are pains in the ass, developers are mostly eccentric twits, and most support personnel (the kind you call on the phone) are totally clueless.
Hate speech. What a sissy concept.
Past achievements are past. You can't rest on your laurels. As your sibling post suggests, if Iran had a viable space program, we could well see a return to the attitudes of the '60's. Iran puts a man on the moon, we put a man on Phoebe, along with a half dozen women. Iran reaches Mars, we put orbiting stations around Mercury.
It's a shame, but we only make these great leaps when we are in direct competition with someone else.
To bad the old Soviet folded up, huh?
"Nasa could do that."
Oh, really? A bunch of pathetic, fearful old women, sitting around, nattering about risk, can actually do that? You do realize that today's NASA is not the same NASA that put men on the moon, don't you?
When the mission was to put men on the mooon, the atmosphere was much like the atmosphere aboard a warship.
Today, there is no mission, and the atmosphere is more like a cruise ship catering to octogenarians.
It's NOT an easy cruise to the moon, or mars, or anyplace else out there. We need some kick-ass, no-nonsense types to decide that we are going to space, then get it done. Blabbering and yakking about risk has it's place, but when it becomes the primary concern, nothing gets done.
Years of experience and observation. 90% and more of the drivers on the road see nothing around them. How far ahead of your car are you looking while you drive? Do you see the farmer on his tractor 1 1/2 miles ahead of you? Do you see the little sports car two miles behind you, and gaining? More than 90% of drivers see neither - and when you arrive at the location of the tractor, and the sports car wants to pass, you have almost zero idea that you are in an extremely hazardous situation - THREE of you are going to try sharing two lanes for a few brief moments.
Years of experience shows that no one slows down when they see a basketball, soccerball, or baseball roll out into the street. They might dodge the ball, but they run right over the silly little kid who is chasing the ball.
You're right - we have little idea how YOU drive. But, experience suggests that young people with a license are far more interested in their telephone, CD changer, and shiny buttons on the dash than they are in anything more then 15 feet from their cars.
If you are offended, sorry. Prove us wrong with 30, 50, or 70 years of accident free driving. If in 2080, you're sitting in front of your computer, typing comments here at slashdot, and you remember us, you can then say, "Well, I showed THOSE assholes!"
Of course, by then, you'll be the cynical old bastard, and you be much more like the biker dude and me. You'll realize that most people act like idiots, and would much rather run down an old lady than pay attention to the fact that she's using a walker to cross the street.
No sensitivity here.
http://static.vi.be/pictures/style/4617/csstheme_mast_CowPie-JeffVanuga.JPG
The point of the above post, is that people are not OBSERVANT. Some day, try pairing up with a cop. Cops are trained not to merely see, but to OBSERVE. Just go about your business, with a cop in tow. In my case, my sister was often around, so it didnt' take any special arrangements to do this. Spend a couple hours, anyway, then let the cop quiz you on what you saw. You will be amazed at how little you have observed of the world around you.
Or, you could turn that around backward. Spend some hours in the company of a truck driver. You try to remember how many cops you saw, and where they were when you saw them. That truck driver will be able to multiply your list at the end of the trip. He OBSERVED the cops, he didn't merely see them.
You, my freind, owe it to society at large to OBSERVE what is going on around your vehicle. Stop sitting in your insulated machine, and deciding what it important, and what is not. It's the vehicle, pedestrian, or unusual situation that you dismissed as unimportant that is going to get someone killed.
The biker above understands perfectly what I'm saying - because a biker MUST observe everything, from the dog chasing cars, to the school bus, to the cops - everything. He isn't insulated from any of it. That dog can kill him just as dead as the idiot schoolbus driver who can't see another vehicle that weighs less than 2000 pounds.
This is the reason some very intelligent people manage to look like idiots. They don't bother to observe the world around them.
Wait - you mean this wasn't the april fool's joke?
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