Overtaxation. I constantly hear this. But I see no proof. Are you claiming that rich people aren't rich enough? I'll tell you what I see. I see a country with far lower tax percentages than other industrialised countries, but with a higher percentage of poverty (real poverty, like missing a meal, or two, and not like not being able to buy a mercedes, and having to settle with a toyota). Tax is a system to redistribute whealth. If you disagree with that, go start your own damn dictatorship. But an ethical society supports those who can't support themselves (also called "the lazy" by the rich folks). And that, my friend, is simply not happening in the US.
I'm not talking about starvation and property, I'm talking about taxation. They are completely different topics.
Just because some other country has higher taxes than mine doesn't mean that I have implicitly forfeited the right to dissent.
You make an interesting point that taxes are a tool to "redistribute whealth [sic]." That, my friend, is what I have a problem with. I do not think the tax system should be punative. No good can come from punishing success and achievement.
The tax system should provide revenue for the government, which, in turn, should provide necessary services for the vital functions of the country.
We can, and should, have disagreements about what is vital.
What a rant. "Oh, you were finished? Allow me to retort."
-Allowing religion to limit science.
I assume you mean Bush's decisions on stem cell research. Clearly, you are missinformed: Bush hasn't limited stem cell research. He has limited federal funding of that type of research; the private sector is not similarly limited. Also, your comment appears to reflect a hostility toward religion and not necessarily a love for science.
--Irresponsibly cutting taxes and using it to blatently curry favor with the Nascar sect of American society.
The tax cut is not irresponsible, it is overdue and less than it should be. What is irresponsible, however, is over-taxation and current spending levels. (By the way, I hate nascar.)
-- Environmental destruction in favor of short-term corporate gains (Alaska, Kyoto).
It is time that we move away from our dependence on OPEC. Opening Alaska (and our shores) will help us, infinitely. Do you know how small of a foot-print any near-future drilling in Alaska will be? It's negligible. And, by the way, the folks up in those parts of Alaska seem to welcome the idea.
Oh, and Kyoto was a bad deal for America, I'm glad we walked away from that.
-- Doing his best to restart the good 'ol cold war (ABM treaty breaking, trying to isolate China).
Withdrawal is completely legitimate and allowed. The restrictions of that agreement are negatively affecting the ability to defend ourselves. You may think the world is a happy-go-lucky place, but it's not. We should not help our enemies by disarming ourselves.
Welcome to the future as owned by coporate america.
I'm not as worried about "corporate america" as I am about irrational, illogical, and unintelligent Americans, in general. The real problem is that it only takes a few of the aforementioned peoples, sometimes even only one, to wreak havoc. That, and the rest of the people won't stand up for what's rational, logical, and intelligent... because they're apathetic, worried what others will think, or spineless.
...would you rather write it in ASP.NET, JSP, or PHP?
How about "none of the above" or maybe even a completely different solution: Tea.
"Tea is a simple yet powerful template language. Tea is most commonly used for creating dynamic web pages in the TeaServlet. The TeaServlet is a template engine that works with the Tea template language. The TeaServlet makes it easy for developers to create web applications that separate the data aquisition from the presentation."
Aren't you supposed to be a programmer or something? Yeah? Then how the fsck do you get anything to run (besides the debugger) if your syntax is even close to its English counterpart and your variable names never have the same spelling on any two lines?
I was just thinking the very same thing... not because I read your post, but because I've been thinking about a senior software engineer at work. He can't spell to save his life, his penmanship is horrid, and he mispronounces words (even technical ones) quite often.
I'm amazed when I see him type code at his keyboard! Everything seems to come out as intended (i.e., correct). He's a damn good engineer, too.
You know... I have a feeling this happens more frequently than we'd like to think.
I took an ASM class in college, and it helped me understand some of the nitty-gritty of what's going on behind the scenes. So, after that, I've thought this same thing... teach the very basics, and then work your way up.
However, I've changed my mind. Do not teach ASM. Ever. Why? I'm tired of wondering, in the back of my mind or while I'm sleeping, did the compiler really optimize that loop? did it catch that redundant assignment operation I think I did? should I have shifted left instead of multiplying by 2? will my excessive recursive functions cause stack problems later? should I ADD cx,1 or INC cx? I can't stop thinking about that kind of stuff... it drives me nuts! I'm afraid I'll attempt a conversation about intermediate variables or nested for-loops with the person next to me on the bus.
I live 5 minutes away from the first vendor for these units (Infotech) so I've been researching the Koolance cases for quite some time.
Hey, I live that close to Infotech, too (Federal Way), and I've been thinking about going down there to check that case out... even if it is just "window shopping." So, it sounds like they have it set up and running... now I definitely need to go.
One of the big reasons that customers choose Qwest as an ISP for DSL is that they are told, either explicitly, or implicitly, by sales people, that this combinations of services is neccesary (which of course it is not).
That's odd... I was pleasantly surprised when they asked me, point-blank, what ISP I wanted to use. Of course, they said theirs was cheaper (and it was) but that I had a choice. I've been happy with Qwest.net, thus far.
Sometimes following a cable is necessary... they could have done it multiple ways. For example: using a tone sender and an inductive amplifier. Back when I was a network tech., those babies would frequently save our lives (or, at least, make them easier). Given my example, I wonder why they needed help from Novell?
Me a Mario!! I shop at the GAP, and jump a super high in my Nikes. I have to save Princess Britney Spears from the clutches of the evil coke can, but need to collect all the Pepsi Products before I have enough energy to take on the darkest evil in the universe.
Hhmm... the "darkest evil in the universe" would have to be... (*remembering that I'm on Slashdot*)... Microsoft?!
What about the Xbox version of the game? The "darkest evil in the universe" would be... the U.S. Government?!
Does the Slashdot Jihad hate Microsoft so much that they want them OUT OF BUSINESS? Jeezum crow, MS isn't the greatest software company in the world, nor are they cute and snuggly, but worthy of being DESTROYED?
Holy crap! Yet another person who says what I've been thinking! rho, you rock! For most of the people that I see posting here on/., the underlying issue/motivation really isn't that Microsoft is doing "something" illegal or anything black-and-white like that... they just want to see the big guy take it up the ass. That, and they want their "free" software because "information wants to be free," or something. Yeah.
Second of all, a greater concern might be "Is the Internet growing too disorganized?" There are ten jillion pages out there, and the vast majority of them aren't even linked to from other documents. They don't show up on search engines, they just sit there, with the web masters wondering why they've only gotten 3 visits in the past year.
What I want to know is why everyone, (apparently) including the/. community, seems to think that the only thing on the Internet is HTTP/WWW.
To bastardize the oft-bastardized phrase: It's the culture, stupid.
It's not the guns and it's not the video games. It's the culture surrounding the guns and the video games.
My parents taught me it wasn't ok to shoot people at school and that video games are make-believe.
Of course, they also taught me that some of the video games are mindless and have little redeeming value. I believe that's what Ashcroft, et al., mean when they say that they're a part of the problem.
Oh, well... here we are dealing with the product of the demorialization of human life. Maybe we should point fingers and distract from the real issues some more?
... is it common practice to label doctored images with the legend "Yes, these are actual screenshots?"
... uh, please tell me that this was a rhetorical question that you've answered yourself. Have you looked at any of the artwork on game boxes over the last couple years?
Slashdot Mirror
Just because some other country has higher taxes than mine doesn't mean that I have implicitly forfeited the right to dissent.
You make an interesting point that taxes are a tool to "redistribute whealth [sic]." That, my friend, is what I have a problem with. I do not think the tax system should be punative. No good can come from punishing success and achievement.
The tax system should provide revenue for the government, which, in turn, should provide necessary services for the vital functions of the country.
We can, and should, have disagreements about what is vital.
Why is complexity a good thing? Why should it be rewarded, over other attributes? Why can't fun and simple win the day?
In this article, "broadband" seems to be used to mean "big fat pipe."
Maybe I'm being a nitpick?
Maybe not: I found a definition of broadband that jives with my own definition.
Well, enjoy the rest...
I'm so impressed with the GameBoy Advance handheld that I'm actually considering getting the GameCube when it comes out.
:)
With the success of the GBA, and its sales pace, Nintendo is smart to ship in big numbers.
As an aside, I can't wait to see what all the different developers and games can do with a GBA as a GC controller.
I'm actually excited about console games again. First time since the original NES.
"Tea is a simple yet powerful template language. Tea is most commonly used for creating dynamic web pages in the TeaServlet. The TeaServlet is a template engine that works with the Tea template language. The TeaServlet makes it easy for developers to create web applications that separate the data aquisition from the presentation."
You can find out more about Tea by going to Disney's open source website or reading Jason Hunter's "Servlet Programming, 2nd Ed."
I was just thinking the very same thing... not because I read your post, but because I've been thinking about a senior software engineer at work. He can't spell to save his life, his penmanship is horrid, and he mispronounces words (even technical ones) quite often.
I'm amazed when I see him type code at his keyboard! Everything seems to come out as intended (i.e., correct). He's a damn good engineer, too.
You know... I have a feeling this happens more frequently than we'd like to think.
However, I've changed my mind. Do not teach ASM. Ever. Why? I'm tired of wondering, in the back of my mind or while I'm sleeping, did the compiler really optimize that loop? did it catch that redundant assignment operation I think I did? should I have shifted left instead of multiplying by 2? will my excessive recursive functions cause stack problems later? should I ADD cx,1 or INC cx? I can't stop thinking about that kind of stuff... it drives me nuts! I'm afraid I'll attempt a conversation about intermediate variables or nested for-loops with the person next to me on the bus.
hehehe
Actually, there hasn't been much rain here. In fact, right now it's pretty damn sunny.
Damn, I can't believe I missed 696969696! Seeing 31337 would have been cool, too. Uhm, yeah.
Sometimes following a cable is necessary... they could have done it multiple ways. For example: using a tone sender and an inductive amplifier. Back when I was a network tech., those babies would frequently save our lives (or, at least, make them easier). Given my example, I wonder why they needed help from Novell?
What about the Xbox version of the game? The "darkest evil in the universe" would be... the U.S. Government?!
(I'm off-topic, but I don't care.)
So much for news for nerds/stuff that matters. It's more like knee-jerk hysteria... as if I don't get enough of it on tv.
To bastardize the oft-bastardized phrase: It's the culture, stupid.
It's not the guns and it's not the video games. It's the culture surrounding the guns and the video games.
My parents taught me it wasn't ok to shoot people at school and that video games are make-believe.
Of course, they also taught me that some of the video games are mindless and have little redeeming value. I believe that's what Ashcroft, et al., mean when they say that they're a part of the problem.
Oh, well... here we are dealing with the product of the demorialization of human life. Maybe we should point fingers and distract from the real issues some more?