Not all liberals swallow the liberal hype, just as not all conservatives go for the conservative hype. While the conservative nuts are telling us that elimination of bayonet lugs and oversized magazines violate the constitution, you'll note that I've dismissed both as unnecessary.
I think that you'll grant that liberals and conservatives alike have their hype machines. People who think for themselves can recognize hype for what it is.
" in Texas you're on your own if something bad happens"
In California, you use the entire village to raise an idiot, and all you've got to show for it is - an idiot. Real men and women can indeed stand on their own. It's a shame that so many idiot can find creative ways to kill themselves - drug overdoses, for instance - but some of us believe that idiots have every right to remove themselves from the gene pool.
"on your own", you say? And, you say that like it's a bad thing!
Maybe the rails don't go where people need to go? Using the rails necessitates driving to the rail line, paying to park your car, then paying to get on the train? I've seen trains in California going up and down the tourist trap strips, carrying a handful of passengers. They sure look pretty, and they'll carry a tourist from one point of interest to the next - but they make little sense for moving the working population from their homes to their place of employment.
Bull SHIT! None of my rights, and none of yours, are granted by some interpretation by any court. Rights were granted in the Constitution, and by the amendments to the Constitution.
Blathering idiots attempt to explain away our rights by trying to define words like "militia", and "well regulated", etc ad nauseum.
Define "assault weapon". There is not a single "assault weapon" available on the civilian market. You're yet another victim of liberal hype. Talk to a veteran. Talk to almost any veteran, from any service. Some sailors never handled an assault rifle, and maybe some airedales. All marines have handled them, and I think all army soldiers have.
My own assault weapon was an M14. There is a little lever on the side that makes it what it is. That little lever switches the piece from semi-automatic to full automatic. That is the one determining characteristic of an "assault weapon". The bayonet lugs? I'll grant that it is probably unnecessary for civilians. Oversize magazines? Again, I'll grant that is probably unnecessary. But, those two features do not determine that the weapon is an "assault weapon".
However - if you're able to pass a background check, and you're willing to pay the licensing fee, you can purchase a Thompson submachine gun, perfectly legal.
Having spent most of an hour staring down the muzzles of several Thompsons while holding onto my M14, I'm here to tell you that it is a much more effective "assault weapon" than the M14 - or an M15 or an M16.
I don't know how many Thompsons are currently held by private citizens in the United States. Funny thing, you don't hear of them being stolen, and used in criminal activity. Seems that the people who own them, keep them properly secured, and that common criminals just can't get to them.
Maybe THAT is where legislation needs to be aimed. Make the owners of ALL weapons responsible for securing those weapons that they own.
Nuts? There are plenty of nuts on both sides of the issue. None of the nuts want to address the real issues. Those issues include identifying whackos, kooks, and nuts who are likely to commit a mass shooting. Almost always, people step forward after a shooting, to inform the media that the shooter was some kind of mental case. Family and acquaintances are generally unable to "connect" with the guy. He's strange, weird, or whatever - often a "loner".
The real issue here, is identifying such people, and getting help for them - OR, institutionalizing them, so that they most definitely CANNOT access weapons.
But, boo-hoo-hoo - it violates some kind of "rights" if we start institutionalizing mental cases.
Meanwhile, we continue to incarcerate people for possession of natural substances like marijuana. It's alright for corporations to profit from incarcerating perfectly safe people, but we don't want to violate any civil rights of genuinely dangerous people.
California is more interested in a lot of things, than they are in the economy. They've been bankrupt for a long time already, and it just gets worse. How much have illegal aliens cost California so far?
Bleeding hearts will tell us that illegals contribute more to the economy than they cost, but that's pure hogwash. California, like all other states, already have enough poor, nearly poor, and downwardly mobile people to perform all the drudge jobs that the illegals are doing. But, no, the state would rather pay welfare to the poor, pay more welfare to the illegals, and watch the middle class disappear.
Taxpayers have been funding all of this, or course, along with all the other idiocy.
Pay your taxes, Citizen. We have more illegals waiting to cross the border!!
" It would make the commute to work much quicker."
Dude - you ain't got the pecs to power the wings, and your dense, solid bones will make sure that you stay firmly planted on the ground. Sure, wish for wings, they'll just get caught in the car doors, caught in the elevator doors, and people on subways and trains will be trampling on your wingtips forever more.
Pretty much so. Let's remember, cops and soldiers and sailors are paid roughly equally. And they are treated roughly equally as well. When you NEED a cop, a soldier, or a sailor, they are freaking HEROS!! The day after you don't need one of them, they are pushed aside, and told to wait for their betters.
Rudyard Kipling had much to say on the subject, if you care to read him.
That's one hell of a dream. Yeah, I've heard it before. I don't buy into the dream though. Wanna know what the problem is with it?
Someone, or some group, is going to CONTROL all those machines. People are people, politics is politics. No matter that the world can be fed effortlessly, someone is going to take charge, take control, and reap whatever perceived profits are available. In the name of nationalism, or religion, or racism, or whatever, more food will be available to some, and less food will be available to others. Or, lacking those motivations, the food will be manipulated in some manner to enable the people in charge to feel important, and to reap the glory and honor of "solving" nonexistent problems.
Food will still be used to attain power and status even if food is absolutely free in terms of human effort.
People look at me weird when I make any attempt to explain what Facebook does with their data. People over the age of fifteen seem to forget that very recently they did stuff for which they would be embarrassed today. Prepubescent children do a lot of weird, disgusting things. People over the age of 20 forget that they were freaky-ass zit-faced punks very recently, and that the conduct that seemed so amusing a couple years ago would be very embarrassing today.
But - they continue to post all manner of stupid shit, never thinking for a moment that some of it might be embarrassing someday, in a divorce court, or a slander case, or at an employment interview.
Dumb. Just plain dumb. Post all your stupidest shit online, so that your worst enemies will always have it to use against you. And, who knows - maybe today's best friend will be your worst enemy next year!
I have zero problem with a police department doing actual police work, building a case strong enough to warrant reasonable cause, then actually getting a warrant. This is cool - it's what we have police for. Joe Schmuck is suspected of whatever, they find a couple of things on Facebook that indicates he might really be guilty, he's overheard making a couple comments in a bar, and those few things add up to, "Your honor, we believe that Mr. Schmuck is guilty of at least three counts of preying on the elderly (or whatever) but we need access to his email and stuff - will you sign this warrant?" The judge accepts these bits and pieces as probable cause, or he tells the cops to get their asses to work, and do a better job of convincing him that Joe is a crook.
Warrant in hand, they can browse anything and everything available on the guy.
Fishing expeditions should cost cops their careers.
Patriot Act, dude. Gubbermint wrote themselves a blank check with that one. And, they've written more blank checks since then. Everything the Buggermint - I mean GUBBERMINT! wants is "legal". Don't confuse "legal" with "moral", or "ethical", or "right". If the buggerers in gubbermint ever figures out that something they want is illegal, they'll just write some new laws!
" I find that one a bit Ironic since it's derived from Ubuntu. "
Sorry, but you're in error there.
"Mainline" Linux Mint is derived from Ubuntu. And, I don't think they are doing rolling releases, as they depend on Ubuntu.
HOWEVER, Linux Mint Debian is a rolling release. It is NOT based on Ubuntu, but on Debian. LMDE is currently at Update Pack 6, while Linux Mint is still using the older, more standard version releases.
Actually, my Debian has Mate, Cinnamon, Openbox, LXDE, and Enlightenment all installed. Linux Mint DEBIAN Edition works just fine. No Gnome3, no Unity, no KDE. Thanks for your interest!
Linux Mint Debian basically does that. They release the "update pack", and the user has to intentionally install it. Currently, LMDE is at UP6. The wife decided to update, she just went ahead and ran the updater without reading any of the release notes. Luckily, she got through the process without any problems. I did warn her to READ the release notes, AND to WAIT until a few days after release. At which time, it would be wise to browse the forums, looking for problems that people found during the update.
Yeah, rolling releases are great, if handled properly. Handled improperly, they can bork a system. I managed to trash a Sabayon system in the process of learning how good rolling releases are.
I'm amused every time Unity is discussed. That is hilarious, though.
"apt-get-rid unity"
Hilarious!
I suppose that I should point out that if you couldn't alt-F1 to get a terminal, then you're not really a Linux guy at all. But, hell, you made me laugh, so I'm not going to beat up on you!
50/50 chance? You're talking about the original investors and original staff, I take it.
Given that they are almost as likely to fail as they are to succeed, what happens when they go under? Someone buys up their assets, right? They will have left some valuable tools up there, and someone will want to claim them, maybe for pennies on the dollar. That someone will have a somewhat different plant, and succeed where the first team failed. Or, something like that.
Bottom line, for me, is that they are accumulating experience and knowledge in the attempt. We, mankind, will build on that, and eventually succeed.
Everything needed for exploration and colonization is already out there. All we need do is figure out how to use them. Success depends only on our initiative.
Tragedy has a much better grasp of "strength" than you seem to have. You must overcome inertia in space, but not gravity or friction. Hence, much less strength is required to move an object. Picking up a quarter ton on the moon is about as easy as lifting a hundred pounds on earth. With even smaller microgravities, you might pick up two or three tons. But, inertia might get you killed, unless you're experienced in those microgravities. Pick up a ton, without planning how you're going to stop that mass moving, and it may very well crash through your sunroof, inducing explosive decompression in all the occupants of your habitat.
There was a lot more to it than just failing to sell.
Never did Dell actually PUSH Linux on their machines. Behind-the-scenes politics blocked that. Had Dell devoted as much as ten percent of their sales efforts to push Linux, sales would probably have been strong. I've browsed their site over the years. Linux was difficult to find, at the best of times. You have to SEARCH for Linux.
Not like Windows, which is the default on every single machine they sell.
Your claim has not been made evident in recent years. Wall Street had a lot of equity in the housing bubble, for instance. Yet, they continued to drive that bubble into the stratosphere before it finally burst. I have zero faith in the predictions of economists and financial advisors.
Remind me to tag you as "evil bastard" if I ever look at your profile, alright? Not only do you destroy a future old man's retirement scheme, but you turn my stomach with a future menu item. Evil.
Pekoe is pekoe - there's really nothing else to say about it. Get some Russian Caravan tea, and don't be timid with it. Guaranteed to pop your eyes open in the morning!
Slashdot Mirror
Not all liberals swallow the liberal hype, just as not all conservatives go for the conservative hype. While the conservative nuts are telling us that elimination of bayonet lugs and oversized magazines violate the constitution, you'll note that I've dismissed both as unnecessary.
I think that you'll grant that liberals and conservatives alike have their hype machines. People who think for themselves can recognize hype for what it is.
" in Texas you're on your own if something bad happens"
In California, you use the entire village to raise an idiot, and all you've got to show for it is - an idiot. Real men and women can indeed stand on their own. It's a shame that so many idiot can find creative ways to kill themselves - drug overdoses, for instance - but some of us believe that idiots have every right to remove themselves from the gene pool.
"on your own", you say? And, you say that like it's a bad thing!
Maybe the rails don't go where people need to go? Using the rails necessitates driving to the rail line, paying to park your car, then paying to get on the train? I've seen trains in California going up and down the tourist trap strips, carrying a handful of passengers. They sure look pretty, and they'll carry a tourist from one point of interest to the next - but they make little sense for moving the working population from their homes to their place of employment.
Bull SHIT! None of my rights, and none of yours, are granted by some interpretation by any court. Rights were granted in the Constitution, and by the amendments to the Constitution.
Blathering idiots attempt to explain away our rights by trying to define words like "militia", and "well regulated", etc ad nauseum.
Read: http://www.mgoa.com/GunRightsQuotes-1.htm
Define "assault weapon". There is not a single "assault weapon" available on the civilian market. You're yet another victim of liberal hype. Talk to a veteran. Talk to almost any veteran, from any service. Some sailors never handled an assault rifle, and maybe some airedales. All marines have handled them, and I think all army soldiers have.
My own assault weapon was an M14. There is a little lever on the side that makes it what it is. That little lever switches the piece from semi-automatic to full automatic. That is the one determining characteristic of an "assault weapon". The bayonet lugs? I'll grant that it is probably unnecessary for civilians. Oversize magazines? Again, I'll grant that is probably unnecessary. But, those two features do not determine that the weapon is an "assault weapon".
However - if you're able to pass a background check, and you're willing to pay the licensing fee, you can purchase a Thompson submachine gun, perfectly legal.
Having spent most of an hour staring down the muzzles of several Thompsons while holding onto my M14, I'm here to tell you that it is a much more effective "assault weapon" than the M14 - or an M15 or an M16.
I don't know how many Thompsons are currently held by private citizens in the United States. Funny thing, you don't hear of them being stolen, and used in criminal activity. Seems that the people who own them, keep them properly secured, and that common criminals just can't get to them.
Maybe THAT is where legislation needs to be aimed. Make the owners of ALL weapons responsible for securing those weapons that they own.
Nuts? There are plenty of nuts on both sides of the issue. None of the nuts want to address the real issues. Those issues include identifying whackos, kooks, and nuts who are likely to commit a mass shooting. Almost always, people step forward after a shooting, to inform the media that the shooter was some kind of mental case. Family and acquaintances are generally unable to "connect" with the guy. He's strange, weird, or whatever - often a "loner".
The real issue here, is identifying such people, and getting help for them - OR, institutionalizing them, so that they most definitely CANNOT access weapons.
But, boo-hoo-hoo - it violates some kind of "rights" if we start institutionalizing mental cases.
Meanwhile, we continue to incarcerate people for possession of natural substances like marijuana. It's alright for corporations to profit from incarcerating perfectly safe people, but we don't want to violate any civil rights of genuinely dangerous people.
This whole controversy borders on insanity.
California is more interested in a lot of things, than they are in the economy. They've been bankrupt for a long time already, and it just gets worse. How much have illegal aliens cost California so far?
Bleeding hearts will tell us that illegals contribute more to the economy than they cost, but that's pure hogwash. California, like all other states, already have enough poor, nearly poor, and downwardly mobile people to perform all the drudge jobs that the illegals are doing. But, no, the state would rather pay welfare to the poor, pay more welfare to the illegals, and watch the middle class disappear.
Taxpayers have been funding all of this, or course, along with all the other idiocy.
Pay your taxes, Citizen. We have more illegals waiting to cross the border!!
" It would make the commute to work much quicker."
Dude - you ain't got the pecs to power the wings, and your dense, solid bones will make sure that you stay firmly planted on the ground. Sure, wish for wings, they'll just get caught in the car doors, caught in the elevator doors, and people on subways and trains will be trampling on your wingtips forever more.
Always, be careful what you wish for.
Pretty much so. Let's remember, cops and soldiers and sailors are paid roughly equally. And they are treated roughly equally as well. When you NEED a cop, a soldier, or a sailor, they are freaking HEROS!! The day after you don't need one of them, they are pushed aside, and told to wait for their betters.
Rudyard Kipling had much to say on the subject, if you care to read him.
That's one hell of a dream. Yeah, I've heard it before. I don't buy into the dream though. Wanna know what the problem is with it?
Someone, or some group, is going to CONTROL all those machines. People are people, politics is politics. No matter that the world can be fed effortlessly, someone is going to take charge, take control, and reap whatever perceived profits are available. In the name of nationalism, or religion, or racism, or whatever, more food will be available to some, and less food will be available to others. Or, lacking those motivations, the food will be manipulated in some manner to enable the people in charge to feel important, and to reap the glory and honor of "solving" nonexistent problems.
Food will still be used to attain power and status even if food is absolutely free in terms of human effort.
Ditto with all other resources.
People look at me weird when I make any attempt to explain what Facebook does with their data. People over the age of fifteen seem to forget that very recently they did stuff for which they would be embarrassed today. Prepubescent children do a lot of weird, disgusting things. People over the age of 20 forget that they were freaky-ass zit-faced punks very recently, and that the conduct that seemed so amusing a couple years ago would be very embarrassing today.
But - they continue to post all manner of stupid shit, never thinking for a moment that some of it might be embarrassing someday, in a divorce court, or a slander case, or at an employment interview.
Dumb. Just plain dumb. Post all your stupidest shit online, so that your worst enemies will always have it to use against you. And, who knows - maybe today's best friend will be your worst enemy next year!
Yeah, what AC said.
I have zero problem with a police department doing actual police work, building a case strong enough to warrant reasonable cause, then actually getting a warrant. This is cool - it's what we have police for. Joe Schmuck is suspected of whatever, they find a couple of things on Facebook that indicates he might really be guilty, he's overheard making a couple comments in a bar, and those few things add up to, "Your honor, we believe that Mr. Schmuck is guilty of at least three counts of preying on the elderly (or whatever) but we need access to his email and stuff - will you sign this warrant?" The judge accepts these bits and pieces as probable cause, or he tells the cops to get their asses to work, and do a better job of convincing him that Joe is a crook.
Warrant in hand, they can browse anything and everything available on the guy.
Fishing expeditions should cost cops their careers.
Patriot Act, dude. Gubbermint wrote themselves a blank check with that one. And, they've written more blank checks since then. Everything the Buggermint - I mean GUBBERMINT! wants is "legal". Don't confuse "legal" with "moral", or "ethical", or "right". If the buggerers in gubbermint ever figures out that something they want is illegal, they'll just write some new laws!
That's what I say, too. When they release a working distro of Hurd/Gnu, then they can call it anything they like.
My bad - as AC points out, it's actually CTRL-ALT-F1. Just ALT-F1 brings up my Mate menu.
" I find that one a bit Ironic since it's derived from Ubuntu. "
Sorry, but you're in error there.
"Mainline" Linux Mint is derived from Ubuntu. And, I don't think they are doing rolling releases, as they depend on Ubuntu.
HOWEVER, Linux Mint Debian is a rolling release. It is NOT based on Ubuntu, but on Debian. LMDE is currently at Update Pack 6, while Linux Mint is still using the older, more standard version releases.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYGWl3i9SmA
Actually, my Debian has Mate, Cinnamon, Openbox, LXDE, and Enlightenment all installed. Linux Mint DEBIAN Edition works just fine. No Gnome3, no Unity, no KDE. Thanks for your interest!
Linux Mint Debian basically does that. They release the "update pack", and the user has to intentionally install it. Currently, LMDE is at UP6. The wife decided to update, she just went ahead and ran the updater without reading any of the release notes. Luckily, she got through the process without any problems. I did warn her to READ the release notes, AND to WAIT until a few days after release. At which time, it would be wise to browse the forums, looking for problems that people found during the update.
Yeah, rolling releases are great, if handled properly. Handled improperly, they can bork a system. I managed to trash a Sabayon system in the process of learning how good rolling releases are.
I'm amused every time Unity is discussed. That is hilarious, though.
"apt-get-rid unity"
Hilarious!
I suppose that I should point out that if you couldn't alt-F1 to get a terminal, then you're not really a Linux guy at all. But, hell, you made me laugh, so I'm not going to beat up on you!
50/50 chance? You're talking about the original investors and original staff, I take it.
Given that they are almost as likely to fail as they are to succeed, what happens when they go under? Someone buys up their assets, right? They will have left some valuable tools up there, and someone will want to claim them, maybe for pennies on the dollar. That someone will have a somewhat different plant, and succeed where the first team failed. Or, something like that.
Bottom line, for me, is that they are accumulating experience and knowledge in the attempt. We, mankind, will build on that, and eventually succeed.
Everything needed for exploration and colonization is already out there. All we need do is figure out how to use them. Success depends only on our initiative.
Two thumbs up for initiative!
Tragedy has a much better grasp of "strength" than you seem to have. You must overcome inertia in space, but not gravity or friction. Hence, much less strength is required to move an object. Picking up a quarter ton on the moon is about as easy as lifting a hundred pounds on earth. With even smaller microgravities, you might pick up two or three tons. But, inertia might get you killed, unless you're experienced in those microgravities. Pick up a ton, without planning how you're going to stop that mass moving, and it may very well crash through your sunroof, inducing explosive decompression in all the occupants of your habitat.
"Linux machines at dell failed to sell."
There was a lot more to it than just failing to sell.
Never did Dell actually PUSH Linux on their machines. Behind-the-scenes politics blocked that. Had Dell devoted as much as ten percent of their sales efforts to push Linux, sales would probably have been strong. I've browsed their site over the years. Linux was difficult to find, at the best of times. You have to SEARCH for Linux.
Not like Windows, which is the default on every single machine they sell.
Your claim has not been made evident in recent years. Wall Street had a lot of equity in the housing bubble, for instance. Yet, they continued to drive that bubble into the stratosphere before it finally burst. I have zero faith in the predictions of economists and financial advisors.
Remind me to tag you as "evil bastard" if I ever look at your profile, alright? Not only do you destroy a future old man's retirement scheme, but you turn my stomach with a future menu item. Evil.
Pekoe is pekoe - there's really nothing else to say about it. Get some Russian Caravan tea, and don't be timid with it. Guaranteed to pop your eyes open in the morning!