the concept of gambling revenues as a replacement for direct taxation does little more than shift the tax burden off onto people who can't afford it
Good point. I used to work at an inconvienience store back in High school, and it always amazed me at the number of people who would come in, buy $10-20 worth of lottery or scratch tickets, then lay down food stamps for bread and milk. It was all I could do not to reach over the counter and slap them around a bit.
Oh, and lotteries do not lower taxes in the states that have them: they just give legislators more money to spend.
Steve Jobs introducing each Sunday episode of "The Wide World of Disney
he he...
Hi, kids, Steve Jobs here. We'll return to The Lion King 3: Simba in New York in just a few minutes. But first, I'd like to tell you about something that will change your life, called the NEXT computer...
Re:The real-world equivalent (OT .sig reply)
on
Web Site "Lock-In"
·
· Score: 1
It also means that an infinite number of chickens will only supply as much funny as the first two. Cleary the implications of this are astounding, and will shake the scientific community to the core. For more information, see this Goats.com comic on the subject. I would have had the whole quote and link in my sig, but that damn 120 character limit...
Me: Hello, I'm looking for RedHat Linux for Commodore64, do you have that in stock? Salesperson: No, but we do have the all-new WindowsYou 2000 v5.0 for Watches! Why don't you let me show that to you? Me: Umm, no thanks, I think I'll just go look elsewhere.....Umm, excuse me again... Salesperson: Yes? What is it? Me: Umm, this door appears to be locked. Salesperson: Oh, is that so? How odd. Perhaps you'd like to check out the latest release MacOS AquaTealMarine for CoffeePots, now with even more backgrounds! Me: No, I'd like to leave the store. This door that I justed entered through is now locked. Salesperson: Well, if you feel you really have to leave, you can climb that ladder into the rafters, walk across that I-beam to the far side of the store, and shimmy down the drainage pipe. But then you'd be missing our sale on OS/4 Impulse for Dishwashers...
I think it's clear that trapping sites are my biggest internet pet-peeve today. This is another reason why all marketing people should never be exposed to any new technology. Ever.
The real test would be if the parrot could take a piece of learned information (blue truck), and apply said knowledge to other objects. If the parrot learns what a blue metal truck is, can he then apply that knowledge to recognize that a red truck is still a truck? Can he tell the differnce between a blue truck and a blue car?
Conditioning is no big trick in the animal world: almost all mammels are capable of it. Cows will come running when a rancher honks his horn, thinking they'll get food. Dogs eventually learn to recognize their name when spoken by humans. This is also how human children begin the learning process. It't the ability to to logically tie all the information together that seperates humans from most animals.
Anyone know: Is the parrot capable of this kind of behavior?
Well, you have to take into consideration the mindset of the Microsoft drones. All their computing lives, they've been told what to do and how to do it, so words like "Freedom", and "Innovate", even when used in this context, are likely to be both confusing and frightening to your average drone.
This sounds like a good idea, but keep in mind that schools (at least state schools) are typically tied to state-approved vendors. Many times a school is limited to certain hardware and software configurations, based their state's "vendor 'O the day". Things get worse when you consider that many of those vendors are Microsoft Certified Solution Providers...
Also, unless your in a univeristy environment, I would suspect most teachers/faculty would favor a Windows desktop, simply because they want it to run all of their software. What good is that damn Linux machine if it can't run Stickybear Typing and Reader Rabbit?;)
Still, I can remember a time when a PC in a school was unheard of: Mac's ruled the day. So maybe it's not impossible...
Son: Daddy, Daddy! We installed Red Hat 9.1 in class today! It would have worked the first time, too, except that dumb old Billy Johnson can't even recompile the kernel right! Father: Red Hat? Is that by Dr. Suess or something?
France has been in the forefront of government-sponsored economic espionage for some time, so this whole "Echelon is bad" is fairly hypocritical
So in other words, they're saying "Echelon is bad", but what they really mean is, "Echelon is cool and effective, and we're really pissed the US didn't include us in it".
Sigh. Everytime I read an article similar to this one, I become more and more convinced that I must be a Libiterian. The Horror!:) Still, if even half of the stuff I've read about Echelon's capabilities are true...it's kinds frightening to realize that my weekly calls to Mom could possibly be in the voice analyzer right now. Perhaps it's time to take a cue from another slashdot posters Sig...
president bomb threat Iraq Oklahoma City fertilizer diesel Waco
Seems to me the major problem is a lack of moderation points floating around in this article. We all know moderators have no problem slapping a -1 on anything that remotely smells "troll". Perhaps the answer is to allocate more moderation points on weekends/holidays, or when the trolling starts to get out of hand?
I always had to laugh at customers who used to come in to the shop and complain about getting 26.4 on their 56K modem. Usually, they had one of four problems:
- shitty phone lines (most of the time) - 25 foot phone extensions, run through 2-3 splitters (signal loss? What's that?) - shitty Winmodems (The stuff they put in Compaq Presarios and HP's are just garbage) - crap modems at the ISP's (Internet service, only $9.95/month!!!)
The phone system in the Wichita area here is horrible. I've installed computers for customers from one side of town to the other, and I've never seen a solid connection speed above 38K. Of course, considering Southwestern Bell offers DSL, it's no wonder they aren't interested in the noise on their regular lines.
Jose Bove is a small French farmer, who, like many in Europe farms a small area of land. In his case he makes a fine Roquefort Cheese. His livelihood has been threatened by economic sanctions (punitive import taxes) placed on EU goods by the USA
I can't help but wonder: why does Jose depend so greatly on importing his cheese to the US? Why not sell it in his own back-yard?
Oh, I see, America is the only people he can sell it to. His fellow Frenchmen don't want it: they already have plenty of other people making cheese of equal or better quality in their country. Other countries don't want it: who else but America would pay incredibly high prices for otherwise ordinary cheese with a French name.
So now America put's another tax on Jose's cheese coming into the US, making it almost impossible for him to import it to us. Losing his major, if not only, source of income, Jose is naturally pissed. But does he protest the tax with his local politicians? Does he protest against the US government for creating the tax in the first place? NO! He attacks a McDonalds, probably the first American thing he saw. McDonalds, who have about as much to do with Roquefort cheese as Jose does with nuclear physics. To make his actions seem justified, Jose starts screaming about multi-national corporations, evil big business, and the oft tread-upon small farmer. This, of course, stirs up supports both in France and abroad, and suddenly, Jose is a champion of small business rights.
I'm sorry, but this makes no sense to me. If Jose is having trouble selling cheese (or at least the ingrediants for cheese, in his case), perhaps he should consider another line of work. The US tax on EU goods may be wrong: I don't have enough info to say one way or another. I do know, however, that it is perfectly legal for the US to tax goods coming into the country. If Jose, and others like him, have a problem with this, they need to take it up with the EU, who, if motivated, can put a tax on incoming US goods to Europe. US manufacturers have a cow, the two sides meet, and a compromise if reached. This is how international government works. It doesn't work with French farmers attacking random American businesses.
But isn't one of the requirements for a murder charge intent (at least under US law)? Assuming the cracker didn't intend to cause harm to the astronauts, I'd say you'd be stuck with manslaughter.
I like the previous posters suggestions: I Am Not A Lawyer, But I Watch Cop Shows. Sort of like, I Am Not A Technician, But My Son Knows About Computers.
Several people have tried, but the hard drives have a nasty tendancy to head crash during the second movement. Head crashes are supposed to be saved for the big finally, damn it!
All this talk about possible life on Jupiter reminds me of an old sci-fi short story I once read, but I don't remember who wrote it. Basically, it was told from the perspective of 3 robots, sent to Jupiter from Earth. Seems that several years ago, Earth had begun communicating with aliens on Jupiter, and the conversation did not go well. There was some concern that if the people of Jupiter ever developed space travel (no small feat considering Jupiters immense gravity), they would come and conquor the Earth. So, scientists on Earth decided they'd better send up these robotic probes, to get an idea of the intentions/military strength of the Jupitarians(?).
Anyway, these 3 incredibly powerful (built to survive Jupiter's environment) robots show up on Jupiter, perform a bunch of feats of strength and endurance that the Jupiterians see as incredible, and at the end reveal they are capable of surviving the absolute zero of space travel. The Jupitarians, mistaking these 3 robots for the common Earth man, immediately disgard their planned invasion of Earth, and request peace.
One of my first introductions to the realms of sci-fi literature; it was an entertaining, albiet highly improbable, story. Can anyone hook me up with a title/author?
Oops, your right, busted. I guess I'm just pissed because I can't take a Pan-Am flight to the moon, and my computer doesn't sing "Daisy". Arthur C. Clark was a damn liar:)
Of course, there is one ironic thing about quoting 20xx in this thread. IIRC, didn't the aliens on Europa end up using a crashed spaceship to their survival advantage? Initially, the Monolith provided them shelter outside the water. Later, when that ship crashed landed on Europa, the aliens ended up scavanging the ship, making a home out of it? Been a while since I read those books...
Yes, but according to the books, those little gas-bags are at an evolutionary dead end anyway: incapable of leaving their thin layer of Jupiter's environment either up or down. Since Jupiter is going blow up and turn into another star next year anyway, we might as well crash it there. Ahh, science fiction: survival of the fittest.
Cyrix 3's? Now I guess we know what the new Packard Bell's will be built around. Add in a Quantum Bigfoot hard drive, and I think you could officially refer to them as Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal...
I know your just flame-trolling here, but this is the 4th or so "Midwest suxors" post I've read, so I must vent.
Who the hell wants to go to Kansas? (Really. That's not a flame. It's just fact.)
No one. It's a little known secret that the states of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and the Dakota's are actually sparsley populated, free-range lands, where Native American's still hunt buffallo. The only other people who live here are those like myself, hearty pioneers who eek out a meager existance tilling the soil, to pay for my cable modem.
It's not convenient to anybody.
It's convienient to the people who live in the midwest, which is pretty much the point of having a regional Linux trade show. No one was expecting major East or West coast attendence. The fact that the show was sparsley attended was because it was poorly advertised and promoted: the fault, as it turns out, of the shows director.
Now, since you so kindly flamed my home state, allow me to reciprocate. Remember, this is not a flame, it's just fact.
I sure hope they never hold a major Linux expo in Virginia. Anyone who attended would probably be pressured by big tobacco companies to start smoking against their will. Either that, or a damn hurricane would come and wipe out the entire convention. Nobody wants to go to Virginia anyway, its sucks.
BTW I think mineral spirits will do a very similiar job Err mineral oil I mean:)
Actually, mineral spirits sound much more interesting...
User: ls Computer: I knew a girl named Ellis once. She was a reeeeeaaaaal looker, boy, and had the biggest damn... User: ls Computer: I heard you the first time, big shot! What, you think I'm stupid, can't understand you the first time? Huh? User: kill -9 Computer: Oh, so you think your better than me, huh? Let's you and me throw down. Come on ya big pansy!
There is a pretty good majority that want Windows only games in their own catagory
First off, the tag line says, "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters". Diablo is a game very popular with "Nerds", hence the release of Diablo2 after so long a wait is definitely "News".
Second: I've been reading Slashdot pretty religiously for the past 3 months now, and this article, along with the one posted when Diablo2 went Gold, are the only articles I can remember that dealt with a Windows only games. There have probably been a couple more I missed, but they are very few and far between.
But most don't back up our words with our pocket books and rush out and buy games on the first day that will never see the light of day on anything else but Windows
Well, good point: if you really want to see a Linux port of a game that badly, you should be willing to live without the game. But to me, that's taking things a little too seriously. I mean, it's a game: it's supposed to be fun. Why should I let a hatred of Windows keep me from some Diablo2 gaming goodness. And it is gaming goodness, chock full of creamy nouget and rich caramel. I just got done with a nice little 8 hour romp, and I can already tell this game is going to eat every spare minute of my life.
Re:The reasons why - please read, Jon.
on
Frankenstein Time
·
· Score: 4
Consider now that almost 50% of our nation is creationist, and you can expect the majority of them to consider that a sin. Then take the rest of the religious types in the nation. A large portion of them will consider that wrong. Most of the rest will think it wrong to manipulate anything but things that are *obvious* disease.
In the light of this discovery, I can't help but think of works such as Brave New World or Gattaga. The initial danger won't be perfect children: it will start small and grow from there. Initially, parents will be able to screen all types of genetic diseases. Then, perhaps they are allowed to choose cosmetic things (eye/hair color, height, weight, build). Yes, environment plays a big role in things like that, but much of it is genetically determined. Many parents will be opposed to this, but undoutedly some would take advantage of it. If the results were successful, healthy children, more and more parents would try this, until it perhaps became the norm.
Eventually, many parents won't have any trouble building their children like so much object-oriented programs. This was explored in Gattaga: what then happens to those children who are still created naturally? If your an insurer, would you give the lower rate to someone who is guarenteed to not have any genetic disorders (heart disease, diabeties, etc), or the one your not so sure about? What about if your an employer, and one applicant is guarenteed to have no desire to take drugs, while the other applicant is natural born, so who knows?
Do you *honestly* think that the government won't pass laws that say that you can't be discriminated on by basis of genetics, the same way they did with race, sexuality, gender identity, age, etc?
And of course, discrimination based on race, sexuality, gender, identify, or age NEVER happens in America now, does it? Please, wake up. Besides, genetically enhanced people really could have an advantage over others. It might be possible to make a person faster and stronger, with higher IQ's and faster reactions. Discrimination laws have always been based on the idea that someone of a different race/sex/etc is capable of performing equally well as another in a certain job, but what if that isn't true when dealing with natural/engineered people?
I'n not trying to condem the Human Genome project here, but I do agree with Katz: extreme caution is needed when dealing with this subject.
I agree with you somewhat. I enjoyed parts of Episode 1. The opening scene with Mark Renton and Rob Roy kicking robot ass, running light-sabers through 6-feet adamantium doors was cool. Pod racing was all right; space battle so-so. Jar-Jar was annoying, but not "Drop him in boiling grits" annoying.
Your right about the expectations, though. Personally, I think Episodes 2&3 will be a lot better, if only because people won't expect as much out of them.
It's natural that some companies will be slow to embrace new brands coming out. Compaq started using AMD chips, but only in their lower-end models until the Athlons came out. Dell still doesn't ship AMD machines. I don't see Transmeta being in trouble though, with big names like IBM, NEC and Hitachi on board.
For Compaq and Dell, there's probably also an issue of how the name looks to Joe Consumer. There's still a lot of people out there who won't look at a computer unless it has "Intel Inside" pimping on the case. If Crusoe kicks as much butt as we all think it will, though, it won't take long for everyone else to jump on the bandwagon.
Slashdot Mirror
the concept of gambling revenues as a replacement for direct taxation does little more than shift the tax burden off onto people who can't afford it
Good point. I used to work at an inconvienience store back in High school, and it always amazed me at the number of people who would come in, buy $10-20 worth of lottery or scratch tickets, then lay down food stamps for bread and milk. It was all I could do not to reach over the counter and slap them around a bit.
Oh, and lotteries do not lower taxes in the states that have them: they just give legislators more money to spend.
Steve Jobs introducing each Sunday episode of "The Wide World of Disney
he he...
Hi, kids, Steve Jobs here. We'll return to The Lion King 3: Simba in New York in just a few minutes. But first, I'd like to tell you about something that will change your life, called the NEXT computer...
It also means that an infinite number of chickens will only supply as much funny as the first two. Cleary the implications of this are astounding, and will shake the scientific community to the core. For more information, see this Goats.com comic on the subject. I would have had the whole quote and link in my sig, but that damn 120 character limit...
Me: Hello, I'm looking for RedHat Linux for Commodore64, do you have that in stock?
Salesperson: No, but we do have the all-new WindowsYou 2000 v5.0 for Watches! Why don't you let me show that to you?
Me: Umm, no thanks, I think I'll just go look elsewhere.....Umm, excuse me again...
Salesperson: Yes? What is it?
Me: Umm, this door appears to be locked.
Salesperson: Oh, is that so? How odd. Perhaps you'd like to check out the latest release MacOS AquaTealMarine for CoffeePots, now with even more backgrounds!
Me: No, I'd like to leave the store. This door that I justed entered through is now locked.
Salesperson: Well, if you feel you really have to leave, you can climb that ladder into the rafters, walk across that I-beam to the far side of the store, and shimmy down the drainage pipe. But then you'd be missing our sale on OS/4 Impulse for Dishwashers...
I think it's clear that trapping sites are my biggest internet pet-peeve today. This is another reason why all marketing people should never be exposed to any new technology. Ever.
The real test would be if the parrot could take a piece of learned information (blue truck), and apply said knowledge to other objects. If the parrot learns what a blue metal truck is, can he then apply that knowledge to recognize that a red truck is still a truck? Can he tell the differnce between a blue truck and a blue car?
Conditioning is no big trick in the animal world: almost all mammels are capable of it. Cows will come running when a rancher honks his horn, thinking they'll get food. Dogs eventually learn to recognize their name when spoken by humans. This is also how human children begin the learning process. It't the ability to to logically tie all the information together that seperates humans from most animals.
Anyone know: Is the parrot capable of this kind of behavior?
Well, you have to take into consideration the mindset of the Microsoft drones. All their computing lives, they've been told what to do and how to do it, so words like "Freedom", and "Innovate", even when used in this context, are likely to be both confusing and frightening to your average drone.
All right, how about Libertarian. The spelling police seemed to have passed by my house today...
This sounds like a good idea, but keep in mind that schools (at least state schools) are typically tied to state-approved vendors. Many times a school is limited to certain hardware and software configurations, based their state's "vendor 'O the day". Things get worse when you consider that many of those vendors are Microsoft Certified Solution Providers...
;)
Also, unless your in a univeristy environment, I would suspect most teachers/faculty would favor a Windows desktop, simply because they want it to run all of their software. What good is that damn Linux machine if it can't run Stickybear Typing and Reader Rabbit?
Still, I can remember a time when a PC in a school was unheard of: Mac's ruled the day. So maybe it's not impossible...
Son: Daddy, Daddy! We installed Red Hat 9.1 in class today! It would have worked the first time, too, except that dumb old Billy Johnson can't even recompile the kernel right!
Father: Red Hat? Is that by Dr. Suess or something?
France has been in the forefront of government-sponsored economic espionage for some time, so this whole "Echelon is bad" is fairly hypocritical
:) Still, if even half of the stuff I've read about Echelon's capabilities are true...it's kinds frightening to realize that my weekly calls to Mom could possibly be in the voice analyzer right now. Perhaps it's time to take a cue from another slashdot posters Sig...
So in other words, they're saying "Echelon is bad", but what they really mean is, "Echelon is cool and effective, and we're really pissed the US didn't include us in it".
Sigh. Everytime I read an article similar to this one, I become more and more convinced that I must be a Libiterian. The Horror!
president bomb threat Iraq Oklahoma City fertilizer diesel Waco
Seems to me the major problem is a lack of moderation points floating around in this article. We all know moderators have no problem slapping a -1 on anything that remotely smells "troll". Perhaps the answer is to allocate more moderation points on weekends/holidays, or when the trolling starts to get out of hand?
I always had to laugh at customers who used to come in to the shop and complain about getting 26.4 on their 56K modem. Usually, they had one of four problems:
- shitty phone lines (most of the time)
- 25 foot phone extensions, run through 2-3 splitters (signal loss? What's that?)
- shitty Winmodems (The stuff they put in Compaq Presarios and HP's are just garbage)
- crap modems at the ISP's (Internet service, only $9.95/month!!!)
The phone system in the Wichita area here is horrible. I've installed computers for customers from one side of town to the other, and I've never seen a solid connection speed above 38K. Of course, considering Southwestern Bell offers DSL, it's no wonder they aren't interested in the noise on their regular lines.
Jose Bove is a small French farmer, who, like many in Europe farms a small area of land. In his case he makes a fine Roquefort Cheese. His livelihood has been threatened by economic sanctions (punitive import taxes) placed on EU goods by the USA
I can't help but wonder: why does Jose depend so greatly on importing his cheese to the US? Why not sell it in his own back-yard?
Oh, I see, America is the only people he can sell it to. His fellow Frenchmen don't want it: they already have plenty of other people making cheese of equal or better quality in their country. Other countries don't want it: who else but America would pay incredibly high prices for otherwise ordinary cheese with a French name.
So now America put's another tax on Jose's cheese coming into the US, making it almost impossible for him to import it to us. Losing his major, if not only, source of income, Jose is naturally pissed. But does he protest the tax with his local politicians? Does he protest against the US government for creating the tax in the first place? NO! He attacks a McDonalds, probably the first American thing he saw. McDonalds, who have about as much to do with Roquefort cheese as Jose does with nuclear physics. To make his actions seem justified, Jose starts screaming about multi-national corporations, evil big business, and the oft tread-upon small farmer. This, of course, stirs up supports both in France and abroad, and suddenly, Jose is a champion of small business rights.
I'm sorry, but this makes no sense to me. If Jose is having trouble selling cheese (or at least the ingrediants for cheese, in his case), perhaps he should consider another line of work. The US tax on EU goods may be wrong: I don't have enough info to say one way or another. I do know, however, that it is perfectly legal for the US to tax goods coming into the country. If Jose, and others like him, have a problem with this, they need to take it up with the EU, who, if motivated, can put a tax on incoming US goods to Europe. US manufacturers have a cow, the two sides meet, and a compromise if reached. This is how international government works. It doesn't work with French farmers attacking random American businesses.
But isn't one of the requirements for a murder charge intent (at least under US law)? Assuming the cracker didn't intend to cause harm to the astronauts, I'd say you'd be stuck with manslaughter.
I like the previous posters suggestions: I Am Not A Lawyer, But I Watch Cop Shows. Sort of like, I Am Not A Technician, But My Son Knows About Computers.
Has anyone done a symphony for harddisks yet?
Several people have tried, but the hard drives have a nasty tendancy to head crash during the second movement. Head crashes are supposed to be saved for the big finally, damn it!
All this talk about possible life on Jupiter reminds me of an old sci-fi short story I once read, but I don't remember who wrote it. Basically, it was told from the perspective of 3 robots, sent to Jupiter from Earth. Seems that several years ago, Earth had begun communicating with aliens on Jupiter, and the conversation did not go well. There was some concern that if the people of Jupiter ever developed space travel (no small feat considering Jupiters immense gravity), they would come and conquor the Earth. So, scientists on Earth decided they'd better send up these robotic probes, to get an idea of the intentions/military strength of the Jupitarians(?).
Anyway, these 3 incredibly powerful (built to survive Jupiter's environment) robots show up on Jupiter, perform a bunch of feats of strength and endurance that the Jupiterians see as incredible, and at the end reveal they are capable of surviving the absolute zero of space travel. The Jupitarians, mistaking these 3 robots for the common Earth man, immediately disgard their planned invasion of Earth, and request peace.
One of my first introductions to the realms of sci-fi literature; it was an entertaining, albiet highly improbable, story. Can anyone hook me up with a title/author?
Oops, your right, busted. I guess I'm just pissed because I can't take a Pan-Am flight to the moon, and my computer doesn't sing "Daisy". Arthur C. Clark was a damn liar :)
Of course, there is one ironic thing about quoting 20xx in this thread. IIRC, didn't the aliens on Europa end up using a crashed spaceship to their survival advantage? Initially, the Monolith provided them shelter outside the water. Later, when that ship crashed landed on Europa, the aliens ended up scavanging the ship, making a home out of it? Been a while since I read those books...
Yes, but according to the books, those little gas-bags are at an evolutionary dead end anyway: incapable of leaving their thin layer of Jupiter's environment either up or down. Since Jupiter is going blow up and turn into another star next year anyway, we might as well crash it there. Ahh, science fiction: survival of the fittest.
Cyrix 3's? Now I guess we know what the new Packard Bell's will be built around. Add in a Quantum Bigfoot hard drive, and I think you could officially refer to them as Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal...
I know your just flame-trolling here, but this is the 4th or so "Midwest suxors" post I've read, so I must vent.
Who the hell wants to go to Kansas? (Really. That's not a flame. It's just fact.)
No one. It's a little known secret that the states of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and the Dakota's are actually sparsley populated, free-range lands, where Native American's still hunt buffallo. The only other people who live here are those like myself, hearty pioneers who eek out a meager existance tilling the soil, to pay for my cable modem.
It's not convenient to anybody.
It's convienient to the people who live in the midwest, which is pretty much the point of having a regional Linux trade show. No one was expecting major East or West coast attendence. The fact that the show was sparsley attended was because it was poorly advertised and promoted: the fault, as it turns out, of the shows director.
Now, since you so kindly flamed my home state, allow me to reciprocate. Remember, this is not a flame, it's just fact.
I sure hope they never hold a major Linux expo in Virginia. Anyone who attended would probably be pressured by big tobacco companies to start smoking against their will. Either that, or a damn hurricane would come and wipe out the entire convention. Nobody wants to go to Virginia anyway, its sucks.
BTW I think mineral spirits will do a very similiar job :)
Err mineral oil I mean
Actually, mineral spirits sound much more interesting...
User: ls
Computer: I knew a girl named Ellis once. She was a reeeeeaaaaal looker, boy, and had the biggest damn...
User: ls
Computer: I heard you the first time, big shot! What, you think I'm stupid, can't understand you the first time? Huh?
User: kill -9
Computer: Oh, so you think your better than me, huh? Let's you and me throw down. Come on ya big pansy!
There is a pretty good majority that want Windows only games in their own catagory
First off, the tag line says, "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters". Diablo is a game very popular with "Nerds", hence the release of Diablo2 after so long a wait is definitely "News".
Second: I've been reading Slashdot pretty religiously for the past 3 months now, and this article, along with the one posted when Diablo2 went Gold, are the only articles I can remember that dealt with a Windows only games. There have probably been a couple more I missed, but they are very few and far between.
But most don't back up our words with our pocket books and rush out and buy games on the first day that will never see the light of day on anything else but Windows
Well, good point: if you really want to see a Linux port of a game that badly, you should be willing to live without the game. But to me, that's taking things a little too seriously. I mean, it's a game: it's supposed to be fun. Why should I let a hatred of Windows keep me from some Diablo2 gaming goodness. And it is gaming goodness, chock full of creamy nouget and rich caramel. I just got done with a nice little 8 hour romp, and I can already tell this game is going to eat every spare minute of my life.
Consider now that almost 50% of our nation is creationist, and you can expect the majority of them to consider that a sin. Then take the rest of the religious types in the nation. A large portion of them will consider that wrong. Most of the rest will think it wrong to manipulate anything but things that are *obvious* disease.
In the light of this discovery, I can't help but think of works such as Brave New World or Gattaga. The initial danger won't be perfect children: it will start small and grow from there. Initially, parents will be able to screen all types of genetic diseases. Then, perhaps they are allowed to choose cosmetic things (eye/hair color, height, weight, build). Yes, environment plays a big role in things like that, but much of it is genetically determined. Many parents will be opposed to this, but undoutedly some would take advantage of it. If the results were successful, healthy children, more and more parents would try this, until it perhaps became the norm.
Eventually, many parents won't have any trouble building their children like so much object-oriented programs. This was explored in Gattaga: what then happens to those children who are still created naturally? If your an insurer, would you give the lower rate to someone who is guarenteed to not have any genetic disorders (heart disease, diabeties, etc), or the one your not so sure about? What about if your an employer, and one applicant is guarenteed to have no desire to take drugs, while the other applicant is natural born, so who knows?
Do you *honestly* think that the government won't pass laws that say that you can't be discriminated on by basis of genetics, the same way they did with race, sexuality, gender identity, age, etc?
And of course, discrimination based on race, sexuality, gender, identify, or age NEVER happens in America now, does it? Please, wake up. Besides, genetically enhanced people really could have an advantage over others. It might be possible to make a person faster and stronger, with higher IQ's and faster reactions. Discrimination laws have always been based on the idea that someone of a different race/sex/etc is capable of performing equally well as another in a certain job, but what if that isn't true when dealing with natural/engineered people?
I'n not trying to condem the Human Genome project here, but I do agree with Katz: extreme caution is needed when dealing with this subject.
Michael: Listen, KITT, we've had some great times and all, but I think it's time for both of us to move on...
KITT: It's that tramp, MegaCar, isn't it? You've been driving around on me!
Michael: No, KITT, it's not like that! Honest!
KITT: Fine, Michael, trade me in. But don't come crawling back when you realize you miss bullet-proof glass and 240mph turbo-jets.
I agree with you somewhat. I enjoyed parts of Episode 1. The opening scene with Mark Renton and Rob Roy kicking robot ass, running light-sabers through 6-feet adamantium doors was cool. Pod racing was all right; space battle so-so. Jar-Jar was annoying, but not "Drop him in boiling grits" annoying.
Your right about the expectations, though. Personally, I think Episodes 2&3 will be a lot better, if only because people won't expect as much out of them.
It's natural that some companies will be slow to embrace new brands coming out. Compaq started using AMD chips, but only in their lower-end models until the Athlons came out. Dell still doesn't ship AMD machines. I don't see Transmeta being in trouble though, with big names like IBM, NEC and Hitachi on board.
For Compaq and Dell, there's probably also an issue of how the name looks to Joe Consumer. There's still a lot of people out there who won't look at a computer unless it has "Intel Inside" pimping on the case. If Crusoe kicks as much butt as we all think it will, though, it won't take long for everyone else to jump on the bandwagon.