My dad was (for a time) a home improvement salesperson in the coalfields of rural WV. He said "I knew when I saw the driveways filled with Toyotas and Mazdas instead of more expensive Fords and Chevys that the WV coalminers were doomed to be out of work."
His point was that they were taking wages earned in the American economy and pumping the profits to another country where labor costs were lower.
Today American workers expect high pay (certainly even minimum wage is VERY high pay from a worldwide perspective) and great benefits, but we all want CD players made in China. We can't have it both ways.
If we want to keep our standard of living, we need to choose to pay more for American-made goods. I make a practice of looking for American made goods when I buy, but I know that I'm totally in the minority when I do so. I'll pay more to help sustain my standard of living. I'm hoping that someday soon others will figure that out and start doing the same.
I'm not really expecting that.
The good thing is that overseas manufacturing can be difficult because of lack of infrastructure, and overall productivity is pretty low, making our products more competetive in spite of different labor costs. This is changing and it will be interesting to see the landscape in 20 years....
Because there's still *lots* of opportunity, that's why!
IT's dirty little secret is that we're not very good at getting to business value from investements in technology.
Sure, we are able to turn a profit, but the vast majority of projects are death marches, or are only marginally as successful as we originally hoped. The real win is in figuring out how to use IT to make as many widgets as possible at the lowest overall cost. This includes hardware, software, and labor.
No one is *really* good at that. One thing that we're doing right now is saying, "well we're lousy at this, so if we throw cheaper labor at it, the costs go down." This is only a small part of the picture. If we figure out: a) how to understand what our businesses actually need from IT systems? (No one ultimately cares about the new whiz-bang technology from XYZ corp, or OSS project ABC.)
b) How to translate those into system requirements
c) What is really needed to code those into a functional system, and
d) how to lead teams of geeks so that they can complete the geekwork efficiently
We will be able to clobber anyone in the world, no matter the inequities of labor costs between countries/economies. The challenge is that a,b,c, and especially d are extremely HARD to do.
In developed nations we have a better idea about how to accomplish this, but truth be told we're not very good at it, we're just not as bad at it as everyone else.
Going to college is a great thing. Learn technology, but also learn humanities and people skills. The latter ultimately determine your earning potential far more than sheer technical knowledge.
Respectfully, Anomaly BTW - God loves you and longs for relationship with you. If you want to know more, please email me.
1. Carp about it on a geek forum 2. Ignore it - after all no one really cares how much money you spend on chewing gum from chewinggum.com 3. Find out how your congressperson voted on this issue, and call their office, then write a letter to them about it. When you get the standard form letter back from them, go see them to discuss this issue. If that doesn't get you what you want, use your geek skills to build a community forum site and use that to attract folks who can develop a coordinated campaign to contact congresspeople all over the US to get this law changed.
Democracy can work. If this is really a big deal to you, then invest your time figuring out how it can and should be undone rather than whine about it here.
according to the IRS website, the government, through a cooperative agreement with private industry will provide free e-filing to at least 60% of taxpayers. Exactly how to accomplish this has not yet been published, but it should be on line soon.
Respectfully,
Anomaly
If I could do it for free, I'd be a card carrying cheapskate, so I am loathe to pay for tax prep software.
However, my tax situation is a bit more complicated than the EZ form, so I've been paying for tax prep for the past few years.
I have found that typically in mid-January you can begin to see deals for the Federal and State versions of Tax Cut along with free e-filing and including MS Money (if you're so inclined) for approx $25USD after rebate.
I agree that in some cases, ending lives is socially and morally acceptable, but I take exception to a couple of your examples:
Euthanasia - I believe that Dr. Kevorkian is doing some jail time because this is *not* legal where he gave it a shot.
Abortion - is not recognized as murder, or even death of an individual. It is protected under the constitution under a perceived "right to privacy" for the mother. At the time of that Supreme Court ruling, it was not scientifically clear that a fetus was human life from conception. Now we know differently, and should behave differently than we did then.
I found when I stopped speeding that it had a positive impact on my stress level: When I see a cruiser I no longer need to panic/hit the brakes.
When I am going somewhere, I am not deluded into thinking that I can make up 5 minutes late departure in 10 miles of driving in excess of the speed limit. Most of the time driving fast and frequent lane changes do not really help.
I don't need to get angry at the bozo who is going slower than I want to go who is hogging the fast lane.
You'd be amazed at the number of vehicles you pass when driving the speed limit.
I don't care if they write tickets automatically based on cameras, toll booths, airplanes, etc.
Slowing down was one thing that helped me add margin to my life. My stress level is lower, I plan better, and I have 0 risk of speeding tickets and high insurance.
Something to consider.
I am pleased to report that a few jurisdictions have raised the highway limit to 70.
Respectfully, Anomaly PS - God loves you and longs for relationship with you. If you want to know more, please email me.
With all due respect, deploying the RedHat 6-7-8-9 versions in the data center ALWAYS meant that there was a short release cycle and EOL was frequent. The only way to avoid that was implementation of the AS product - which was based on 7.2.
I got tired of the upgrade treadmill for my home systems, and finally stopped doing upgrades as often as RH released them. I now upgrade when I need something.
If thinking like an enterprise was a requirement, then it would have been sensible to either deploy AS (or 7.2 and tell people that it was AS.)
As far as the desktop and server components are concerned, why avoid the WS product?
The problem you describe is that we no longer mean tolerance when we use the word tolerance.
If I merely tolerate your differences, I recognize that you are different and take no action to change you. In "classic" tolerance, I don't have to agree with you, encourage you.... in fact, I don't even have to like you.
In the "new" tolerance, I am not only required socially to tolerate you, but now I must celebrate the things that you value. If I refuse to *celebrate* your viewpoint, I am labeled as "intolerant" - one of the greatest condemnations within modern culture.
This new definition is no longer tolerance, it is the borg of social interaction. "I am {minority view} of BORG. You will be assimilated."
Talk about thought police! We are no longer permitted to think or discuss that which might be upsetting to someone somewhere.
This cuts both ways, and while it may seem to further minority viewpoints in the short term, in the long term we all pay because we are not afforded the protection and richness that is freedom of expression. Over time it becomes unacceptable to express ANY views.
This is, in my opinion, far worse than the "old world order" where tolerance meant that I allowed you to have whatever kooky issue or belief or practice you want, and you allow me the same. (Within societal boundaries of course. Other than Sparta, I'm not aware of cultures where Mr. Jackson's alleged behavior is celebrated.)
Respectfully, Anomaly
PS - God loves you and longs for relationship with you. If you want to know more, please email me.
If the vast majority of english speakers use the word incorrectly, doesn't that mean that the effective meaning of the word has changed?
Abortion providers are suspect, too...
on
Neil Gaiman Responds
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· Score: 0, Offtopic
I totally reject violence done in the name of abortion protests. As a self-described evangelical, Bible-believing Christian, I can give zero support to acts of terrorism carried out in the name of "protecting life." People who shoot abortion providers should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Period. It is inexcusable, and unjustifiable according to Christian beliefs.
That having been said, abortion providers should be considered suspect as well. The so called "pro-choice" movement has proven adept at positioning itself. Have you ever noticed that all newspapers use "pro choice" and "anti-abortion" instead of other monikers? (e.g. pro-abortion, pro-life?) The commonly used style guide in the press mandates this and there has recently been a controversy about a letter to the editor being revised without the consent of the author to reflect those word choices.
Please also note that the public debate from the so-called "pro choice" side has little to do with the medical and moral issues. The debate from that side is framed in terms of "my rights" "my body" "my choice." Propaganda? Most definitely.
Abortion on demand is a HUGE money maker. The providers have reason to influence people to choose their services - even if it means not disclosing all of the relevant information.
The matter of the impact to the woman - psychologically and physically - is not understood or cared for. Abortion providers do not systemically provide counseling for their clients. Many women are emotially scarred as a result of those services. It's not just a blob of tissue like a tumor. Telling women that the problem will be gone when the baby is removed is not telling the whole truth.
RU-486 - a dangerous drug that promises more privacy - in home abortion on demand that has killed a number of women (in addition to the unborn children.) This information is clearly not widely identified. In fact, when you read that last sentence, did you think "Is he making that up?"
There are 3,000+ abortions a day in the US. The vast majority are for birth control. What losses are we sustaining to our culture as we give up those lives from our shared culture?
Then there is the matter of the life of the infant.... When Roe v. Wade set the infamous precedent, our understanding of embryonic development was quite different than it is today. Today we can know that all of the components for humanity are present at conception. in vitro fertilization is fairly mature, and the age of viability keeps getting pushed back. I submit to you that a time is coming, and not too far off when a baby can be "born" without having benefit of shelter in a womb at all. It's a matter of shelter and food.
My big beef with the pro-life community is the limited support for adoption that is currently available. Thankfully that is changing. More and more pro-life organizations are lending emotional and monetary support to the adoption process. Thankfully the US tax code now provides more incentive to adopt.
There are plenty of wackos out there who will commit crimes in the name of the movement. Let's not assume that all of them work for one side of the debate.
Respectfully, Anomaly
PS - God loves you and longs for relationship with you. If you want to know more, please email me.
I mean you no disrespect, but while this makes for good jingo-ism, it simply makes no sense.
If as the conquerers we decided to take all of the oil in Iraq, then you could make the case that we are spilling blood for oil.
If we took their oil, what would that do to worldwide supply? OPEC would be totally undone because of the reserves in Iraq. In order to pay for the infrastructure rebuild we would need to flood the world markets with oil. After doing that, the bottom would drop out of the market - oil would be so cheap that there would be little profit in it.
We rid that country of a despot. We have freed the prisoners from the torture chambers and rape rooms. We have brought education on line that is far less biased - internationally authored new textbooks that don't deify Saddam. We have worked hard to both repair and modernize their electrical system, even while we are fighting with guerilla groups that can at best kill a few young men and women. When you decry the sacrifice of these people (and it is a major sacrifice each time one person dies in the name of our country) remember that the victory was won with astonishingly few casualties. The fact that we're 6 months into this process and only a few hundred have been lost is shocking - in a good way.
There are many today who make the case that we were wrong to take out Saddam (from power.) they argue that things are tough at home and we need to focus on our problems and not get involved in foreign wars.
This is the same thing that was said when Hitler came to power in Europe. We did nothing for the longest time, then we began the lend-lease program, then we finally got involved and unseated him from power - freeing those in the prison camps who were still living. Freeing those who cowered under the oppression of the previous regime. Through the Marshall plan, we then invested heavily - many decried too heavily - in rebuilding the countries that we had just finished bombing.
To my way of thinking, removing Saddam and then choosing the hard path - paying our dollars rather than waiting for the oil fields to start producing - is the right thing to do. It would have been easy to do nothing, or to destroy the government there and leave, or to simply do nothing until they can pay for repairs themselves.
I submit to you that the worls is a better place with the changes being made in Iraq than the way it was before.
All it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.
I searched the SEC website and found no information about ongoing investigations. (Apparently it is their policy to not publicize investigations.) I filled out a web form on their site and was quite surprised to receive a phone call the next day from an SEC investigator.
I spoke with the gentleman for about 45 minutes. He's a stock geek, and I'm a computer geek - different worlds, to be sure.
I did my best to communicate what I believe are the essential issues in this matter - that SCO
Is filing lawsuits to manipulate potential investors' opinions about them and their products
Is lying about the core issues in the case
Is a sham - not really developing technology but using IP (their definition) to wrest dollars from "infringers," and
That the leadership within the company is pumping and potentially dumping stock
The investigator listened patiently to my explanation and asked good "process" questions - he heard what I had to say. He indicated that he wanted to be sure that he understood my issues (IP and copyright issues are not day to day issues for them)
Unfortunately he indicated that he did not believe that he could express my concerns cogently, and that there was not enough volume of stock being sold by insiders to justify starting an investigation.
He did tell me that if we could demonstrate that SCO leaders knowingly lied about their products or other companies, he needed to know about that because that was substantive enough to justify an investigation.
Note that we don't have to find where they sold stock on the basis of the lies, only be able to demonstrate clear false statements.
I found it interesting that
a) They would contact me
b) They would listen to me
c) They want to protect the public from abusive leaders, and
d)They would show me how to help them initiate an investigation.
Find the lies and report them, and the SEC will get engaged. Remember that what seems completely obvious to a tech geek may not be clear to a stock geek. (and vice-versa) Do the legwork, find the proof and then in a clear, concise, non-inflammatory way using layman's terms communicate that to the SEC, and they will do their job. They can't do what they don't understand. Remember that they have to prove it in a court of law, not a court of open-source advocates.
Regards, Anomaly
PS - God loves you and longs for relationship with you. If you want to know more about this, please email me.
I use all the might of my reason to arrive to a conclusion: there is no god
With all due respect, the only way one can posit a logical negative is to have all knowledge about a certain topic. In order to assert certainly that no god exists, you would have to have all knowledge of the entirety of existence simultaneously.
This would make you omniscient - one of the qualities of the god that you contend does not exist.:)
You may choose to believe that there is no god, but it is not the only conclusion that can be reached through the might of reason.
Check out http://pxes.sourceforge.net I've futzed with it a bit and my company is planning a pilot project in the next couple of months.
It gets us off of Windows for the PCs, and will give us RDP. (using rdesktop - http://rdesktop.org) pxes also supports X, ssh, text terminals, and more.
Scientists with SETI are convinced that if they could find one ordered pattern of information from space that they would have proof of extraterrestrial intelligence.
Today we know that DNA contains highly ordered sequences of information within the components of life itself. Naturalists depend on long spans of time combined with chance that provided this.
This only logically follows if one has an a priori commitment to naturalism - that nothing supernatural could ever occur.
I submit to you that it is far more likely that God created life in its full complexity than chance and time.
Ever see a tornado hit a junkyard and come up with a fully functional 747? The chances of even basic life forms existing as a result of naturalistic processes are far less likely than the 747.
Sorry that you're creeped out. Why be creeped out rather than just write me off as you would one of those "I was abducted by aliens, and had one of their babies!" kooks?
Is it perhaps because the idea of a relationship with God appeals to you in a way that bothers you?
Oh well. I was hoping to find out how I could buy drugs online, increase my bust and genetalia size, refnance my mortgage, and meet someone in a chat room anyway.:)
Besides, there are plenty of folks on slashdot who sign me up for more spam anyway just because I talk about God here.
Even though the fact-finding portion of the case is over, these facts may be admissible in a new case when Eolas goes after the next guy.
As a result, MS may still have to pay the $500M, but Mozilla et al may be spared from similar judgement. Sadly this could go to court and could be expensive if Eolas wants to pursue it with others... has anyone from the OSS browser community contacted Eolas? As others have suggested, they might be amenable to licensing it to that community and then a court proceeding might be avoidable altogether.
PS - God loves you and longs for relationship with you. If you have questions about this, please email me at tom_cooper@bigfoot.com
I'm not constitutional scholar, but with my vast experience (5 minutes with Google's help) it looks like you just have to be 30 and have lived there for 5 years
We would love for him to change, and have offered to assist him in many productive ways. We are available to help him - we provide food and lodging when he comes to visit, we provide transportation to doctors, have offered to help him get his drivers' license, have assisted with clarifying issues with service providers (doctors, social service agencies, etc.)
We love him and want a real, deep emotionally connected relationship. We recognize that he is mentally impaired, affected by drugs, etc - but each of us has the capacity to respond to unconditional love.
Love - even unconditional love is not the same thing as 'being nice' to people or just doing what they want. Love and accountability are two sides of the same coin.
If a person is holding a gun to their head and says that they really want to kill themselves, I submit to you that intervention is far more loving than "being nice" and letting them pull the trigger.
We love him the way he is, but we love him too much to want him to stay that way. It's the same way that God loves all of us.
Slashdot Mirror
My dad was (for a time) a home improvement salesperson in the coalfields of rural WV. He said "I knew when I saw the driveways filled with Toyotas and Mazdas instead of more expensive Fords and Chevys that the WV coalminers were doomed to be out of work."
His point was that they were taking wages earned in the American economy and pumping the profits to another country where labor costs were lower.
Today American workers expect high pay (certainly even minimum wage is VERY high pay from a worldwide perspective) and great benefits, but we all want CD players made in China. We can't have it both ways.
If we want to keep our standard of living, we need to choose to pay more for American-made goods. I make a practice of looking for American made goods when I buy, but I know that I'm totally in the minority when I do so. I'll pay more to help sustain my standard of living. I'm hoping that someday soon others will figure that out and start doing the same.
I'm not really expecting that.
The good thing is that overseas manufacturing can be difficult because of lack of infrastructure, and overall productivity is pretty low, making our products more competetive in spite of different labor costs. This is changing and it will be interesting to see the landscape in 20 years....
Because there's still *lots* of opportunity, that's why!
IT's dirty little secret is that we're not very good at getting to business value from investements in technology.
Sure, we are able to turn a profit, but the vast majority of projects are death marches, or are only marginally as successful as we originally hoped. The real win is in figuring out how to use IT to make as many widgets as possible at the lowest overall cost. This includes hardware, software, and labor.
No one is *really* good at that. One thing that we're doing right now is saying, "well we're lousy at this, so if we throw cheaper labor at it, the costs go down." This is only a small part of the picture. If we figure out:
a) how to understand what our businesses actually need from IT systems? (No one ultimately cares about the new whiz-bang technology from XYZ corp, or OSS project ABC.)
b) How to translate those into system requirements
c) What is really needed to code those into a functional system, and
d) how to lead teams of geeks so that they can complete the geekwork efficiently
We will be able to clobber anyone in the world, no matter the inequities of labor costs between countries/economies. The challenge is that a,b,c, and especially d are extremely HARD to do.
In developed nations we have a better idea about how to accomplish this, but truth be told we're not very good at it, we're just not as bad at it as everyone else.
Going to college is a great thing. Learn technology, but also learn humanities and people skills. The latter ultimately determine your earning potential far more than sheer technical knowledge.
Respectfully,
Anomaly
BTW - God loves you and longs for relationship with you. If you want to know more, please email me.
1. Carp about it on a geek forum
2. Ignore it - after all no one really cares how much money you spend on chewing gum from chewinggum.com
3. Find out how your congressperson voted on this issue, and call their office, then write a letter to them about it. When you get the standard form letter back from them, go see them to discuss this issue. If that doesn't get you what you want, use your geek skills to build a community forum site and use that to attract folks who can develop a coordinated campaign to contact congresspeople all over the US to get this law changed.
Democracy can work. If this is really a big deal to you, then invest your time figuring out how it can and should be undone rather than whine about it here.
Respectfully,
Anomaly
according to the IRS website, the government, through a cooperative agreement with private industry will provide free e-filing to at least 60% of taxpayers. Exactly how to accomplish this has not yet been published, but it should be on line soon. Respectfully, Anomaly
Check with your state, but Marylanders can efile at no cost through the treasurer's website.
If I could do it for free, I'd be a card carrying cheapskate, so I am loathe to pay for tax prep software.
.02
However, my tax situation is a bit more complicated than the EZ form, so I've been paying for tax prep for the past few years.
I have found that typically in mid-January you can begin to see deals for the Federal and State versions of Tax Cut along with free e-filing and including MS Money (if you're so inclined) for approx $25USD after rebate.
It's been money well spent.
Just my
Regards,
Anomaly
I agree that in some cases, ending lives is socially and morally acceptable, but I take exception to a couple of your examples:
Euthanasia - I believe that Dr. Kevorkian is doing some jail time because this is *not* legal where he gave it a shot.
Abortion - is not recognized as murder, or even death of an individual. It is protected under the constitution under a perceived "right to privacy" for the mother. At the time of that Supreme Court ruling, it was not scientifically clear that a fetus was human life from conception. Now we know differently, and should behave differently than we did then.
Respectfully,
Anomaly
I found when I stopped speeding that it had a positive impact on my stress level:
When I see a cruiser I no longer need to panic/hit the brakes.
When I am going somewhere, I am not deluded into thinking that I can make up 5 minutes late departure in 10 miles of driving in excess of the speed limit. Most of the time driving fast and frequent lane changes do not really help.
I don't need to get angry at the bozo who is going slower than I want to go who is hogging the fast lane.
You'd be amazed at the number of vehicles you pass when driving the speed limit.
I don't care if they write tickets automatically based on cameras, toll booths, airplanes, etc.
Slowing down was one thing that helped me add margin to my life. My stress level is lower, I plan better, and I have 0 risk of speeding tickets and high insurance.
Something to consider.
I am pleased to report that a few jurisdictions have raised the highway limit to 70.
Respectfully,
Anomaly
PS - God loves you and longs for relationship with you. If you want to know more, please email me.
With all due respect, deploying the RedHat 6-7-8-9 versions in the data center ALWAYS meant that there was a short release cycle and EOL was frequent. The only way to avoid that was implementation of the AS product - which was based on 7.2.
.02
I got tired of the upgrade treadmill for my home systems, and finally stopped doing upgrades as often as RH released them. I now upgrade when I need something.
If thinking like an enterprise was a requirement, then it would have been sensible to either deploy AS (or 7.2 and tell people that it was AS.)
As far as the desktop and server components are concerned, why avoid the WS product?
Just my
The problem you describe is that we no longer mean tolerance when we use the word tolerance.
If I merely tolerate your differences, I recognize that you are different and take no action to change you. In "classic" tolerance, I don't have to agree with you, encourage you.... in fact, I don't even have to like you.
In the "new" tolerance, I am not only required socially to tolerate you, but now I must celebrate the things that you value. If I refuse to *celebrate* your viewpoint, I am labeled as "intolerant" - one of the greatest condemnations within modern culture.
This new definition is no longer tolerance, it is the borg of social interaction. "I am {minority view} of BORG. You will be assimilated."
Talk about thought police! We are no longer permitted to think or discuss that which might be upsetting to someone somewhere.
This cuts both ways, and while it may seem to further minority viewpoints in the short term, in the long term we all pay because we are not afforded the protection and richness that is freedom of expression. Over time it becomes unacceptable to express ANY views.
This is, in my opinion, far worse than the "old world order" where tolerance meant that I allowed you to have whatever kooky issue or belief or practice you want, and you allow me the same. (Within societal boundaries of course. Other than Sparta, I'm not aware of cultures where Mr. Jackson's alleged behavior is celebrated.)
Respectfully,
Anomaly
PS - God loves you and longs for relationship with you. If you want to know more, please email me.
If the vast majority of english speakers use the word incorrectly, doesn't that mean that the effective meaning of the word has changed?
I totally reject violence done in the name of abortion protests. As a self-described evangelical, Bible-believing Christian, I can give zero support to acts of terrorism carried out in the name of "protecting life." People who shoot abortion providers should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Period. It is inexcusable, and unjustifiable according to Christian beliefs.
That having been said, abortion providers should be considered suspect as well. The so called "pro-choice" movement has proven adept at positioning itself. Have you ever noticed that all newspapers use "pro choice" and "anti-abortion" instead of other monikers? (e.g. pro-abortion, pro-life?) The commonly used style guide in the press mandates this and there has recently been a controversy about a letter to the editor being revised without the consent of the author to reflect those word choices.
Please also note that the public debate from the so-called "pro choice" side has little to do with the medical and moral issues. The debate from that side is framed in terms of "my rights" "my body" "my choice." Propaganda? Most definitely.
Abortion on demand is a HUGE money maker. The providers have reason to influence people to choose their services - even if it means not disclosing all of the relevant information.
The matter of the impact to the woman - psychologically and physically - is not understood or cared for. Abortion providers do not systemically provide counseling for their clients. Many women are emotially scarred as a result of those services. It's not just a blob of tissue like a tumor. Telling women that the problem will be gone when the baby is removed is not telling the whole truth.
RU-486 - a dangerous drug that promises more privacy - in home abortion on demand that has killed a number of women (in addition to the unborn children.) This information is clearly not widely identified. In fact, when you read that last sentence, did you think "Is he making that up?"
There are 3,000+ abortions a day in the US. The vast majority are for birth control. What losses are we sustaining to our culture as we give up those lives from our shared culture?
Then there is the matter of the life of the infant.... When Roe v. Wade set the infamous precedent, our understanding of embryonic development was quite different than it is today. Today we can know that all of the components for humanity are present at conception. in vitro fertilization is fairly mature, and the age of viability keeps getting pushed back. I submit to you that a time is coming, and not too far off when a baby can be "born" without having benefit of shelter in a womb at all. It's a matter of shelter and food.
My big beef with the pro-life community is the limited support for adoption that is currently available. Thankfully that is changing. More and more pro-life organizations are lending emotional and monetary support to the adoption process. Thankfully the US tax code now provides more incentive to adopt.
There are plenty of wackos out there who will commit crimes in the name of the movement. Let's not assume that all of them work for one side of the debate.
Respectfully,
Anomaly
PS - God loves you and longs for relationship with you. If you want to know more, please email me.
There's a reason that serious cyclists forearms look a bit like Popeye's!
Hill climbing is a great way to build forearms, triceps and delts.
Bike on the flat and you might not need much arm strength, but do any hills regularly and watch your arms grow....
I mean you no disrespect, but while this makes for good jingo-ism, it simply makes no sense.
If as the conquerers we decided to take all of the oil in Iraq, then you could make the case that we are spilling blood for oil.
If we took their oil, what would that do to worldwide supply? OPEC would be totally undone because of the reserves in Iraq. In order to pay for the infrastructure rebuild we would need to flood the world markets with oil. After doing that, the bottom would drop out of the market - oil would be so cheap that there would be little profit in it.
We rid that country of a despot. We have freed the prisoners from the torture chambers and rape rooms. We have brought education on line that is far less biased - internationally authored new textbooks that don't deify Saddam. We have worked hard to both repair and modernize their electrical system, even while we are fighting with guerilla groups that can at best kill a few young men and women. When you decry the sacrifice of these people (and it is a major sacrifice each time one person dies in the name of our country) remember that the victory was won with astonishingly few casualties. The fact that we're 6 months into this process and only a few hundred have been lost is shocking - in a good way.
There are many today who make the case that we were wrong to take out Saddam (from power.) they argue that things are tough at home and we need to focus on our problems and not get involved in foreign wars.
This is the same thing that was said when Hitler came to power in Europe. We did nothing for the longest time, then we began the lend-lease program, then we finally got involved and unseated him from power - freeing those in the prison camps who were still living. Freeing those who cowered under the oppression of the previous regime. Through the Marshall plan, we then invested heavily - many decried too heavily - in rebuilding the countries that we had just finished bombing.
To my way of thinking, removing Saddam and then choosing the hard path - paying our dollars rather than waiting for the oil fields to start producing - is the right thing to do. It would have been easy to do nothing, or to destroy the government there and leave, or to simply do nothing until they can pay for repairs themselves.
I submit to you that the worls is a better place with the changes being made in Iraq than the way it was before.
All it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.
Regards,
Anomaly
1001 ways to reward employees
by Bob Nelson, ISBN 1-56305-339-X is a good resource that might help you determine what to give.
Amazon link
Regards, Anomaly
I contacted the SEC about SCO, and they called me back!
I posted a comment with more information about this yesterday....
I searched the SEC website and found no information about ongoing investigations. (Apparently it is their policy to not publicize investigations.) I filled out a web form on their site and was quite surprised to receive a phone call the next day from an SEC investigator.
I spoke with the gentleman for about 45 minutes. He's a stock geek, and I'm a computer geek - different worlds, to be sure.
I did my best to communicate what I believe are the essential issues in this matter - that SCO
Is filing lawsuits to manipulate potential investors' opinions about them and their products
Is lying about the core issues in the case
Is a sham - not really developing technology but using IP (their definition) to wrest dollars from "infringers," and
That the leadership within the company is pumping and potentially dumping stock
The investigator listened patiently to my explanation and asked good "process" questions - he heard what I had to say.
He indicated that he wanted to be sure that he understood my issues (IP and copyright issues are not day to day issues for them)
Unfortunately he indicated that he did not believe that he could express my concerns cogently, and that there was not enough volume of stock being sold by insiders to justify starting an investigation.
He did tell me that if we could demonstrate that SCO leaders knowingly lied about their products or other companies, he needed to know about that because that was substantive enough to justify an investigation.
Note that we don't have to find where they sold stock on the basis of the lies, only be able to demonstrate clear false statements.
I found it interesting that
a) They would contact me
b) They would listen to me
c) They want to protect the public from abusive leaders, and
d)They would show me how to help them initiate an investigation.
Find the lies and report them, and the SEC will get engaged. Remember that what seems completely obvious to a tech geek may not be clear to a stock geek. (and vice-versa) Do the legwork, find the proof and then in a clear, concise, non-inflammatory way using layman's terms communicate that to the SEC, and they will do their job. They can't do what they don't understand. Remember that they have to prove it in a court of law, not a court of open-source advocates.
Regards,
Anomaly
PS - God loves you and longs for relationship with you. If you want to know more about this, please email me.
I use all the might of my reason to arrive to a conclusion: there is no god
:)
With all due respect, the only way one can posit a logical negative is to have all knowledge about a certain topic. In order to assert certainly that no god exists, you would have to have all knowledge of the entirety of existence simultaneously.
This would make you omniscient - one of the qualities of the god that you contend does not exist.
You may choose to believe that there is no god, but it is not the only conclusion that can be reached through the might of reason.
Respectfully, Anomaly
Check out http://pxes.sourceforge.net I've futzed with it a bit and my company is planning a pilot project in the next couple of months.
It gets us off of Windows for the PCs, and will give us RDP. (using rdesktop - http://rdesktop.org) pxes also supports X, ssh, text terminals, and more.
Sounds like the worst of all possible worlds to me.
Do you really believe that God and evolution are both extant?
If so, I'd like to understand how you can believe that.
Respectfully,
Anomaly (tom_cooper at bigfoot dot com)
Scientists with SETI are convinced that if they could find one ordered pattern of information from space that they would have proof of extraterrestrial intelligence.
Today we know that DNA contains highly ordered sequences of information within the components of life itself. Naturalists depend on long spans of time combined with chance that provided this.
This only logically follows if one has an a priori commitment to naturalism - that nothing supernatural could ever occur.
I submit to you that it is far more likely that God created life in its full complexity than chance and time.
Ever see a tornado hit a junkyard and come up with a fully functional 747? The chances of even basic life forms existing as a result of naturalistic processes are far less likely than the 747.
Sorry that you're creeped out. Why be creeped out rather than just write me off as you would one of those "I was abducted by aliens, and had one of their babies!" kooks?
Is it perhaps because the idea of a relationship with God appeals to you in a way that bothers you?
Respectfully,
Anomaly
Oh well. I was hoping to find out how I could buy drugs online, increase my bust and genetalia size, refnance my mortgage, and meet someone in a chat room anyway.:)
Besides, there are plenty of folks on slashdot who sign me up for more spam anyway just because I talk about God here.
Even though the fact-finding portion of the case is over, these facts may be admissible in a new case when Eolas goes after the next guy.
As a result, MS may still have to pay the $500M, but Mozilla et al may be spared from similar judgement. Sadly this could go to court and could be expensive if Eolas wants to pursue it with others... has anyone from the OSS browser community contacted Eolas? As others have suggested, they might be amenable to licensing it to that community and then a court proceeding might be avoidable altogether.
PS - God loves you and longs for relationship with you. If you have questions about this, please email me at tom_cooper@bigfoot.com
I'm not constitutional scholar, but with my vast experience (5 minutes with Google's help) it looks like you just have to be 30 and have lived there for 5 years
Begging your pardon....What exactly do you mean?
We would love for him to change, and have offered to assist him in many productive ways. We are available to help him - we provide food and lodging when he comes to visit, we provide transportation to doctors, have offered to help him get his drivers' license, have assisted with clarifying issues with service providers (doctors, social service agencies, etc.)
We love him and want a real, deep emotionally connected relationship. We recognize that he is mentally impaired, affected by drugs, etc - but each of us has the capacity to respond to unconditional love.
Love - even unconditional love is not the same thing as 'being nice' to people or just doing what they want. Love and accountability are two sides of the same coin.
If a person is holding a gun to their head and says that they really want to kill themselves, I submit to you that intervention is far more loving than "being nice" and letting them pull the trigger.
We love him the way he is, but we love him too much to want him to stay that way. It's the same way that God loves all of us.