Let me see if I can provide an analogy to your argument... "I knew that my neighbor beat his wife sometimes, so I was totally justified in burning their house to the ground."
... and there was a broad consensus among both the ex-pats and the Nicaraguans I knew that a canal through Nicaragua would be an unqualified ecological disaster. It would cut a wide swath through the little remaining virgin forest there, not to mention clearing out many of the remaining indigenous communities. They apparently also want to build an airport, an oil pipeline, multiple "free-trade" zones, and a second deep-water port. I can't believe that surfing is considered more important than all this.
We're hundreds of times smarter than the ancient Greeks and Romans -- and by "smarter," I mean we have vastly greater information available to us. And yet, I'd jump at the chance to go visit them in their time and place. Why? Because I think they were still pretty sharp, given their constraints. They did some pretty impressive stuff. Additionally, human nature makes for interesting drama, regardless of the level of technology. And that would map on reasonably well to any alien civilization capable of interstellar travel and communication with us. In other words, they'd have to have some order to their society, which we could learn in time. They'd likely have some form of metaphysical belief structure, and possibly several competing structures. They have to communicate somehow. They have to have advanced understandings of math and science. These are all things we could learn from them, or at least about them, just as an ancient Roman could learn to use a tablet computer, if they really wanted to. An advanced civilization would know that we are capable of advancing, and that would make us interesting to them.
These are our choices: stick with a variety of crappy ISPs, or consolidate on one that's pretty decent, but whose business model consists of stripping us of our privacy and funneling our Internet experience through its pipes.
This is not the 21st century I was told to expect.
First, there are two not-entirely-congruent Creation stories, right there in Genesis. Second, creationists are known to be wily about fudging their interpretations of Scripture and data: "Did I say literal days? Well, literal days were different back then." "Oh, sure, there's a fossil record, but that's God testing us." "The mention of 'behemoth' in the Old Testament proves man coexisted with dinosaurs." "Who were Cain and Abel's wives? Uhh... er..." Third, I can't imagine who they would find to arbitrate such a bet.
On the off chance I've missed any, please pick up where I left off...
There's an entire business model based on operating a business with no boss -- it's called a workercooperative. As a founder and member of one, and a friend of dozens more, I'm here to say that it works.
The existence of one bossless model makes it easy to believe that others could exist. The presence of an authority figure, or of any kind of hierarchy, is not a requirement for business success. This isn't speculation -- there's proof in black and white.
I think that if that were going to happen, it would have by now. Debian would have taken over, or Ubuntu, or Red Hat. But, instead, the success of each has had a ripple effect, as each works to imitate and/or provide alternatives to whatever bells and whistles are working for one of them this week. In other words, the GPL has provided a level playing field for competition, and there's no reason to think it won't continue to do so. The success of any given distro can't be entirely de-linked from the success of "Linux" generally, any more than the success of a particular microbrew can be de-linked from the success of microbrews generally, or a particular e-book from e-books generally, and so on.
I'm using LMDE, and I really like Cinnamon. However, my desktop has an AMD 64-bit processor, and there's a known bug where Cinammon randomly locks up on AMD 64, so I use XFCE.
Can anyone tell me if this bug is fixed? I'm not about to try it, and risk losing work. I learned about this bug the hard way.
... it's not so much a question of profit, it's what you do to get it. If you are secretive, controlling, colluding, or corrupt about it, then I'm against it. If you're transparent, responsible, sustainable, and honest, then I'm for it.
I've been known to pay for Linux software, and I've been paying for Linux-based services for years. I also use FLOSS in my freelance work.
I mean, c'mon. No less than RMS has said you can sell software if you want. Who does this guy think is more hard-core than RMS?
See, I didn't assume these hypothetical aliens were worried about us destroying them. I assumed they were trying to prevent us from destroying ourselves.
It's also (hypothetically) possible these are humans from the future trying to ensure their own existence by avoiding some catastrophe.
1. I followed your example, and after five years, pulled the "Designed for Windows XP" sticker off my main laptop and put it on my toaster. I hope it does better than yours, but if not, no big loss.
2. It wasn't a sticker. It was an actual piece of metal glued to my keyboard.
3. I, for one, love laptop stickers. I've put dozens on to express my taste in politics and music.
Also, I doubt babies would be interested in monochrome rabbits.
Actually, for their first several months, babies prefer black and white to color. As a proud new papa, I can assure you it's true.
With that in mind, I thought for a long time that it was dumb that more baby stuff didn't come in black and white, instead of all these pastels. Then I figured out: spit-up washes out of pastels easier than black and white.
In much the same vein, I strongly suspect spit-up washes out of a pamphlet-book more easily than a digital reader.
Moreover, other states would quickly impose an economic boycott on states whose policies were excessively objectionable. Much like some folks are trying to do to Arizona right now.
Slashdot Mirror
Let me see if I can provide an analogy to your argument... "I knew that my neighbor beat his wife sometimes, so I was totally justified in burning their house to the ground."
... and there was a broad consensus among both the ex-pats and the Nicaraguans I knew that a canal through Nicaragua would be an unqualified ecological disaster. It would cut a wide swath through the little remaining virgin forest there, not to mention clearing out many of the remaining indigenous communities. They apparently also want to build an airport, an oil pipeline, multiple "free-trade" zones, and a second deep-water port. I can't believe that surfing is considered more important than all this.
Um, if you mod something down down, and then comment, it wipes out your moderation. Which, in effect, also negates your post.
But, keep trying!
The other good news here is that 90% of the emails the NSA collects are spam.
We're hundreds of times smarter than the ancient Greeks and Romans -- and by "smarter," I mean we have vastly greater information available to us. And yet, I'd jump at the chance to go visit them in their time and place. Why? Because I think they were still pretty sharp, given their constraints. They did some pretty impressive stuff. Additionally, human nature makes for interesting drama, regardless of the level of technology. And that would map on reasonably well to any alien civilization capable of interstellar travel and communication with us. In other words, they'd have to have some order to their society, which we could learn in time. They'd likely have some form of metaphysical belief structure, and possibly several competing structures. They have to communicate somehow. They have to have advanced understandings of math and science. These are all things we could learn from them, or at least about them, just as an ancient Roman could learn to use a tablet computer, if they really wanted to. An advanced civilization would know that we are capable of advancing, and that would make us interesting to them.
Don't expect us.
Cue the jokes about a cure for Microsoft.
These are our choices: stick with a variety of crappy ISPs, or consolidate on one that's pretty decent, but whose business model consists of stripping us of our privacy and funneling our Internet experience through its pipes.
This is not the 21st century I was told to expect.
Certified mortgage banker?
First, there are two not-entirely-congruent Creation stories, right there in Genesis. Second, creationists are known to be wily about fudging their interpretations of Scripture and data: "Did I say literal days? Well, literal days were different back then." "Oh, sure, there's a fossil record, but that's God testing us." "The mention of 'behemoth' in the Old Testament proves man coexisted with dinosaurs." "Who were Cain and Abel's wives? Uhh... er..." Third, I can't imagine who they would find to arbitrate such a bet.
On the off chance I've missed any, please pick up where I left off...
There's an entire business model based on operating a business with no boss -- it's called a worker cooperative. As a founder and member of one, and a friend of dozens more, I'm here to say that it works.
The existence of one bossless model makes it easy to believe that others could exist. The presence of an authority figure, or of any kind of hierarchy, is not a requirement for business success. This isn't speculation -- there's proof in black and white.
I think that if that were going to happen, it would have by now. Debian would have taken over, or Ubuntu, or Red Hat. But, instead, the success of each has had a ripple effect, as each works to imitate and/or provide alternatives to whatever bells and whistles are working for one of them this week. In other words, the GPL has provided a level playing field for competition, and there's no reason to think it won't continue to do so. The success of any given distro can't be entirely de-linked from the success of "Linux" generally, any more than the success of a particular microbrew can be de-linked from the success of microbrews generally, or a particular e-book from e-books generally, and so on.
Smartwatch confirms it: keyboards are dying.
*checks date* ...Still October..
I'm using LMDE, and I really like Cinnamon. However, my desktop has an AMD 64-bit processor, and there's a known bug where Cinammon randomly locks up on AMD 64, so I use XFCE.
Can anyone tell me if this bug is fixed? I'm not about to try it, and risk losing work. I learned about this bug the hard way.
... it's not so much a question of profit, it's what you do to get it. If you are secretive, controlling, colluding, or corrupt about it, then I'm against it. If you're transparent, responsible, sustainable, and honest, then I'm for it.
I've been known to pay for Linux software, and I've been paying for Linux-based services for years. I also use FLOSS in my freelance work.
I mean, c'mon. No less than RMS has said you can sell software if you want. Who does this guy think is more hard-core than RMS?
See, I didn't assume these hypothetical aliens were worried about us destroying them. I assumed they were trying to prevent us from destroying ourselves.
It's also (hypothetically) possible these are humans from the future trying to ensure their own existence by avoiding some catastrophe.
You, sir, need to study your P.T. Barnum.
Three notes related to this.
1. I followed your example, and after five years, pulled the "Designed for Windows XP" sticker off my main laptop and put it on my toaster. I hope it does better than yours, but if not, no big loss.
2. It wasn't a sticker. It was an actual piece of metal glued to my keyboard.
3. I, for one, love laptop stickers. I've put dozens on to express my taste in politics and music.
That's one PDF I wouldn't want to download.
More specifically, anonymous cowards.
Apple already has the pole position (no pun intended)
None taken.
Also, I doubt babies would be interested in monochrome rabbits.
Actually, for their first several months, babies prefer black and white to color. As a proud new papa, I can assure you it's true.
With that in mind, I thought for a long time that it was dumb that more baby stuff didn't come in black and white, instead of all these pastels. Then I figured out: spit-up washes out of pastels easier than black and white.
In much the same vein, I strongly suspect spit-up washes out of a pamphlet-book more easily than a digital reader.
In this day and age? I'd love to see them try.
Moreover, other states would quickly impose an economic boycott on states whose policies were excessively objectionable. Much like some folks are trying to do to Arizona right now.
What are we to conclude?
That you've missed the point. That was a deliberate self-reference and self-critique, presumably done to see who's paying attention.