Although I don't really think counting your trade deficit really counts.
It most certainly does. There are entire national economies out there based solely on manufacturing consumer goods for the United States, or providing us with raw materials, or giving us some place nice to go for our vacations. Those nations would have no industry at all if not for us.
Sure, it may just be more proof of our raging imperialism, but it's true.
Whoopee. $62 Million. Better than nothing, but $0.17 per citizen strikes me as a platry amount.
The person to whom you're responding was mistaken on two counts. First, USAID's budget for 2002 was $7.8 billion, not $62 million.
Second, USAID is only one small foreign policy agency dedicated to managing health programs, infrastructure, and emergency relief. If you also include food subsidies, technology grants, military assistance, loan guarantees, and a truckload of other stuff, the actual total amount put towards foreign aid is more like $80 billion per year.
And then of course there's our trade deficit of $38 billion per month.
So, in a given year, the United States basically gives away $530 billion to the rest of the world.
...but I believe that the US Goverment should stand back and reflect all the possible concequences of what their policy of meddling in (and funding of) hardline groups of individuals in other countries could bring about.
If we don't "meddle," we're called isolationists. If we do "meddle," we're called imperialists. Fuck it, we just can't win.
Says who? IIRC, to participate in the Harris email polls, you had to proactively sign up for them (via the Excite portal, for example). If someone can show me otherwise, I'd love to see it.
That's not a good example. Harris Interactive polls truly are opt-in. The ISPs in question were blocking packets specifically requested by their users, without sufficient explanation or notification.
If I recall correctly, one of 'em got sued and forced to remove someone from the blacklist. That was a private list, maintained by private individuals, utilized on privatly-owned systems, and they still got sued (and lost). (Someone help me out on the details here, please.)
I'm not sure that you do recall correctly. Yes, several blacklists have been sued, but none of those suits have succeeded as far as I know.
The Web has the potential to make a meaningful buzz but search engines don't friggin cut it. The web will have to be ORGANIZED, INDEXED and cross-referenced the same way that libraries have been since the Great Library of Alexandria. The days of "Cowboy Content Creation" are over. Creatrion of web content will have to be via XML with precise industry standard DTDs. Otherwise you just get lost in the noise.
That all depends on what you're trying to generate buzz for. If you're one of those same Big Media corporations trying harness the Internet to generate artificial buzz, then you're right.
However, if you're an independent creator who just throws his stuff out there for everyone to enjoy, with no obsessions about profit margins or ROI, then you're wrong. The buzz will happen all on it's own.
A perfect example is Sluggy Freelance. It does almost no appreciable advertising -- and certainly less than MegaTokyo or Penny Arcade -- yet it is arguably one of the most popular and longest running comics on the Web.
How did it happen? Strictly word of mouth.
I think the corporate-driven hyperconsumerism of the last few decades has perverted our fundamental notions of just how the free market is supposed to work. The Internet is simply restoring the universality and equality that we used to enjoy in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, when anyone could buy an old printing press and call themselves a newspaper.
However, the trade-off is that we're now facing some devastating economic contraction. The dot.com bust, the slump in the media and advertising industries, the current financial scandals... they're all just symptoms of a larger problem: as the artificiality of hyperconsumerism is increasingly exposed and rejected, many modern corporations are discovering that they have no real reason to exist. They don't fulfill any real human needs. Their only products are novelty and convenience. Without a captive and ignorant audience, they're doomed.
MCSE's - oy vey. I've seen Macs running on their own separate networks because "they can't do Windows networking" or "Macs can't do DHCP" or "Macs can't ". Hell, there probably isn't a Mac user out there that hasn't heard "I hate Macs". Then you ask if they've ever used one and you get "No." Basically, if they don't know whether or not a Mac can do something or not, it's assumed they can't.
I can verify this from personal experience. When I started in my current position, I needed a Mac to be able to work seamlessly with several outside designers and print shops. (I also wanted a Mac simply to preserve my own sanity.) I told the sysadmin that I would set it up and maintain it myself and I would get it connected to the NT and Novell servers just fine. My bosses had already approved it and signed the PO. All the sysadmin had to do was give me an IP address and network login.
The guy fought it for TWO MONTHS. "Macs can't do this, Macs can't do that, you don't have the right software, you can just use this P133 that I cobbled together from leftover parts." And the last time he'd even touched a Mac was 1992.
Before the end, we had to have a VP-level meeting simply to get him to do as he was told.
Can we stop with the black-helicopters-are-watching-me-through-the-tele phone tin-foil hat paranoia for just a day or two?
It is not paranoia, because a) car rental agencies already use black boxes to track renters and b) insurance companies already "mandate" certain equipment through bump-and-discount pricing. Putting the two together is simply the logical conclusion.
You've answered your own question. Not all of us get on here to bitch.
Bullshit. That's the raison d'etre of Slashdot, to give holier-than-thou geeks and Linux snobs a place to congregate and complain. Taco says as much in his FAQ. You're just pissed off because I'm complaining about a fellow techie, rather than blaming it all on the Man.
It's #2. And no, I'm not saying that to cover my own ass. We really are a pathetic little shithole of a company.
I'm curious, though -- why am I a sniveling loser for complaining about an incompetent sysadmin? Pointless ranting is the traditional pasttime of Slashdotters everywhere. I still manage to do my own job in spite of him, and I frequently put in extra hours to clean up after him. What makes him so sacred while the management (or marketing or human resources or whatever) is fair game?
It just goes to illustrate just how weenie the whole idea is. Sysadmins do not deserve special appreciation because they are just as fallible as everyone else.
My sysadmin doesn't deserve any appreciation. He's an incompetent boob who should have been replaced years ago. Unfortunately, we can't replace him because he's got the network so screwed up that no one else could ever figure it out.
Mind you, I'm not the only one who feels this way. This isn't a personal grudge. All of my coworkers get the same defeated look whenever they are forced to deal with him. More projects and initiatives than I can count have been abandoned in midstream, because the sysadmin either put up too many roadblocks or broke an important bit of code or whatever.
The rest of the company has learned to work around him, but I am beligerant enough -- even after two and a half years here -- to really call him out. I've spent hours watching over his shoulder, pointing out his mistakes, whenever he tries to screw with my Web servers. He has finally come to understand that I am one of the few people here that he can't afford to cross, because he knows that I know just how bad he truly is and that when the real business decisions (priorities, budgets) get made, I now have far more pull than him.
Back in June, Mr. Brown (AB to his friends and fans) went on tour to promote his book. I caught his last stop here in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (It's the hometown of Borders, don'cha know...)
Basically, the guy is just as witty and cool in person as he is on the show. He was obviously a little burnt out from the tour, and there were rumors his marriage was on the rocks, but in every other way he was just... himself. Most celebrities, when you meet them in person, are paler and scabbier and much more socially inept than they ever appear on screen. Not AB. Watching him during the Q&A session was just like watching him on his show -- so much so that I actually got a slight sense of dissociation.
He's going back out on tour again soon. Here are the dates. If you can, go see him. It's definitely worth it.
The best Good Eats site is not at the Food Network's main site. They just warehouse AB's recipes. The best Good Eats site is the Good Eats Fan Page. News, transcripts, FAQs, family tree (no, really;-) and a complete index of the recipes. Enjoy.
As soon as Farscape finishes its run (five or six seasons, they haven't quite decided yet), that's exactly what I plan to do. Good Eats should also be done by then...
Seriously, those are the only two shows for which I still have a television. Sunday night Adult Swim is fun too, but it's not enough in itself.
Slashdot Mirror
Blockquoth the poster:
It most certainly does. There are entire national economies out there based solely on manufacturing consumer goods for the United States, or providing us with raw materials, or giving us some place nice to go for our vacations. Those nations would have no industry at all if not for us.
Sure, it may just be more proof of our raging imperialism, but it's true.
Blockquoth the poster:
Well, until another country actually offers aid to the U.S., we don't have much of a basis for comparison, do we?
Blockquoth the poster:
The person to whom you're responding was mistaken on two counts. First, USAID's budget for 2002 was $7.8 billion, not $62 million.
Second, USAID is only one small foreign policy agency dedicated to managing health programs, infrastructure, and emergency relief. If you also include food subsidies, technology grants, military assistance, loan guarantees, and a truckload of other stuff, the actual total amount put towards foreign aid is more like $80 billion per year.
And then of course there's our trade deficit of $38 billion per month.
So, in a given year, the United States basically gives away $530 billion to the rest of the world.
Now tell me again about the UK's $9.9 billion...
Blockquoth the poster:
If we don't "meddle," we're called isolationists. If we do "meddle," we're called imperialists. Fuck it, we just can't win.
Blockquoth the poster:
So give me a link.
Blockquoth the poster:
Says who? IIRC, to participate in the Harris email polls, you had to proactively sign up for them (via the Excite portal, for example). If someone can show me otherwise, I'd love to see it.
That's not a good example. Harris Interactive polls truly are opt-in. The ISPs in question were blocking packets specifically requested by their users, without sufficient explanation or notification.
Blockquoth the poster:
I'm not sure that you do recall correctly. Yes, several blacklists have been sued, but none of those suits have succeeded as far as I know.
...are Linux and BSD really that different? Different enough to make someone go to this much extra effort?
Sure, this would have made sense a couple years ago, but now? Do you really hate the Aqua interface that much?
Someone please mod this parent up. It summarizes the whole issue perfectly.
Your skit seems to make sense at first glance, but you haven't carried it out to its logical conclusion:
PARENT of CHILD: You monster! What have you done? I'm going to kill you!
CAPITALIST: Uh-oh...
In the long run, murder is not profitable. The social consequences will eventually catch up with you.
Why is that such a revelation?
That all depends on what you're trying to generate buzz for. If you're one of those same Big Media corporations trying harness the Internet to generate artificial buzz, then you're right.
However, if you're an independent creator who just throws his stuff out there for everyone to enjoy, with no obsessions about profit margins or ROI, then you're wrong. The buzz will happen all on it's own.
A perfect example is Sluggy Freelance. It does almost no appreciable advertising -- and certainly less than MegaTokyo or Penny Arcade -- yet it is arguably one of the most popular and longest running comics on the Web.
How did it happen? Strictly word of mouth.
I think the corporate-driven hyperconsumerism of the last few decades has perverted our fundamental notions of just how the free market is supposed to work. The Internet is simply restoring the universality and equality that we used to enjoy in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, when anyone could buy an old printing press and call themselves a newspaper.
However, the trade-off is that we're now facing some devastating economic contraction. The dot.com bust, the slump in the media and advertising industries, the current financial scandals... they're all just symptoms of a larger problem: as the artificiality of hyperconsumerism is increasingly exposed and rejected, many modern corporations are discovering that they have no real reason to exist. They don't fulfill any real human needs. Their only products are novelty and convenience. Without a captive and ignorant audience, they're doomed.
Because it's a small company and I was still the new guy at the time. I had to go through the motions, to keep everything kosher.
I can verify this from personal experience. When I started in my current position, I needed a Mac to be able to work seamlessly with several outside designers and print shops. (I also wanted a Mac simply to preserve my own sanity.) I told the sysadmin that I would set it up and maintain it myself and I would get it connected to the NT and Novell servers just fine. My bosses had already approved it and signed the PO. All the sysadmin had to do was give me an IP address and network login.
The guy fought it for TWO MONTHS. "Macs can't do this, Macs can't do that, you don't have the right software, you can just use this P133 that I cobbled together from leftover parts." And the last time he'd even touched a Mac was 1992.
Before the end, we had to have a VP-level meeting simply to get him to do as he was told.
And yes, this is the same sysadmin that I complained about before.
It is not paranoia, because a) car rental agencies already use black boxes to track renters and b) insurance companies already "mandate" certain equipment through bump-and-discount pricing. Putting the two together is simply the logical conclusion.
Bullshit. That's the raison d'etre of Slashdot, to give holier-than-thou geeks and Linux snobs a place to congregate and complain. Taco says as much in his FAQ. You're just pissed off because I'm complaining about a fellow techie, rather than blaming it all on the Man.
It's #2. And no, I'm not saying that to cover my own ass. We really are a pathetic little shithole of a company.
I'm curious, though -- why am I a sniveling loser for complaining about an incompetent sysadmin? Pointless ranting is the traditional pasttime of Slashdotters everywhere. I still manage to do my own job in spite of him, and I frequently put in extra hours to clean up after him. What makes him so sacred while the management (or marketing or human resources or whatever) is fair game?
It just goes to illustrate just how weenie the whole idea is. Sysadmins do not deserve special appreciation because they are just as fallible as everyone else.
My sysadmin doesn't deserve any appreciation. He's an incompetent boob who should have been replaced years ago. Unfortunately, we can't replace him because he's got the network so screwed up that no one else could ever figure it out.
Mind you, I'm not the only one who feels this way. This isn't a personal grudge. All of my coworkers get the same defeated look whenever they are forced to deal with him. More projects and initiatives than I can count have been abandoned in midstream, because the sysadmin either put up too many roadblocks or broke an important bit of code or whatever.
The rest of the company has learned to work around him, but I am beligerant enough -- even after two and a half years here -- to really call him out. I've spent hours watching over his shoulder, pointing out his mistakes, whenever he tries to screw with my Web servers. He has finally come to understand that I am one of the few people here that he can't afford to cross, because he knows that I know just how bad he truly is and that when the real business decisions (priorities, budgets) get made, I now have far more pull than him.
Back in June, Mr. Brown (AB to his friends and fans) went on tour to promote his book. I caught his last stop here in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (It's the hometown of Borders, don'cha know...)
Basically, the guy is just as witty and cool in person as he is on the show. He was obviously a little burnt out from the tour, and there were rumors his marriage was on the rocks, but in every other way he was just... himself. Most celebrities, when you meet them in person, are paler and scabbier and much more socially inept than they ever appear on screen. Not AB. Watching him during the Q&A session was just like watching him on his show -- so much so that I actually got a slight sense of dissociation.
He's going back out on tour again soon. Here are the dates. If you can, go see him. It's definitely worth it.
The best Good Eats site is not at the Food Network's main site. They just warehouse AB's recipes. The best Good Eats site is the Good Eats Fan Page. News, transcripts, FAQs, family tree (no, really ;-) and a complete index of the recipes. Enjoy.
How can we be sure? We want to see some pictures...
As soon as Farscape finishes its run (five or six seasons, they haven't quite decided yet), that's exactly what I plan to do. Good Eats should also be done by then...
Seriously, those are the only two shows for which I still have a television. Sunday night Adult Swim is fun too, but it's not enough in itself.
You, sir, apparently have not yet encountered the American tort system...
Have you actually read sci.archaeology lately? That's really a pretty fair description.