If you consider IT to be fixing servers and instqalling cable, thats a blue collar job. If you consider it to be programming(which is different than IT in my opinion) it generally requires a college degree(at least at a big company) its a white collar job. This generally means unpaid overtime, but higher salary. Unionizing would not be a good idea, your work couldbe dumbed down and promotions wouldnt be based on a merit system and instead rely on seniority.
If you are unhappy, do some work on the side or open up your own business.
I have a BS EE too and sure by comparison thats cake. But it does show that the guy at least has some education.
I'd take someone more serious with an education than someone who has just a high school degree, then again most of the "famous" scientists and engineers of the 19th century were self-taught. I have no idea though for the education level of people who ran for office back then.
Well he may be a "grocery store employee", but he is a rather educated one at that.
A Hampton Cove resident, Williams, 28, holds a master's degree in political science from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and a bachelor's degree in business management from Athens State University. He works at Publix Super Market at Hampton Cove.
The train that takes you to Odaiwa isn't that bad either, but i can't remember if it is a "real" train on tracks or a bus that follows a set path. Either way I believe it was automated.
I ride the washington dc metro every day and would like it if the cars were similar to japanese commuter train cars(i.e. the seats line the sides of the rows and can be lifted up for rush hour). This would help crowding at peak times since people don't walk into the middle of the train to provide more room for others. Then again you don't have the mass pushing on/off the train either. I do miss the trains coming every two minutes during rush hour, and it would be nice if the WMATA had signs that more accuratly told you when the next train was coming as well as the one behind it. They currently have a display that sometimes displays the name and time for the next train, but usually just dislpays the current time or some general notice.
http://www.angkor.com/2bangkok/Skytrain/index.shtm l
Unfortuneatly, they are having money problems because the price is too high for the average thai. It does work remarkably well, but doesn't have enough track to make it worthwhile to everyone(doesn't go to the airport for example).
most it jobs start you out as at GS7, probably in mid 40s-51k
you have decent advancement options and good benefits. you won't get rich working for the government, but they will TRAIN you a lot which is good if you ever want to work elsewhere. the training oppertunites alone are probably worth it.
Why didn't they make use of subtitles in this movie. It would have been just as effective in conveying peoples messages (it was used for most of the aliens in the original trilogy). In the original 3 movies the only accents you seemed to hear were british and american(with the brits being the bad guys i.e. the empire). Perhaps it seems that the movie was aimed at a younger audience, perhaps one that can't read subtitles indstead of anas an older one, and accents had to be used to differentiate one group from another.
Granted starwars is fantasy, but some of the stuff with a ten year old kid requires more than a complete suspension of disbelief, for example a kid who has most likely never flown a spaceship somehow can control it reasonabily compently, just happens to blow up the mothership by mistake etc.
I guess the controls were perfectly sized for a 10 year old (I don't think most ten year olds have legs that can reach the pedals in most cars, let alone see above the steering wheel). Besides, I doubt knowing how to steer a racing car (the pod racer) carries over to much to a spaceship which moves in 3 dimensions).
don't give me any of this force crap, i don't think the force is going to compensate for a body that isn't the right size to operate a ship. The whole thing would have been more believeable if they had anakin as a 15 or 16 year old kid instead of 10. besides isn't there a big age difference between 10 year old anakin and the princess who is maybe 17-19?
so what you are saying is that someone comes up with a device that preforms the same function, but uses 2 2k resitors in series instead of a 4k resistor its deserving of a patent?
Patents are for novel ideas, not a specific product.
I saw an ad last night for some device which I believe was sold by the sharper image which you hook up to your phoneline. The device then dectects if an autodialer has been used and then claims to delete you from their database.
As I recall it was called the telezapper. And costs around 50 bucks.
http://www.telezapper.com/
From their website: The TeleZapper is designed to "zap" calls made by predictive dialer computers by doing two things: first, by disconnecting predictive-dialed calls before you can be connected to a live telemarketer and second, by deleting your phone number from telemarketing computer lists. Whether the TeleZapper will affect computer-dialed calls from other sources depends on the type of computer equipment and how that equipment is being used. Therefore, it may also "zap" calls from other organizations that use predictive dialer computers, such as charitable organizations, blood banks, public safety and service organizations, market researchers, opinion and political pollsters, and academic institutions.
They "delete" you from the database by sending a line disconect signal. I don't know of anyone who has used this device so I can't attest to how well it works.
When i was in university in japan, i found it took me a lot longer to input characters phonetically and select them while using the macintosh. The main downside I found to using the word processor all the time was that my skill in writing kanji (and even remembering how to write them) decreased as my reliance/skill on the word processor increased. Its gotten to the point where of the 1000 or so characters i can read/comprehend, i probably can only remember how to write properly 3-400 of them anymore.
I found when i used the zaurus back around 99 when i was in japan, it did an acceptable job of character recognition. I'd like to try the input/character recognition on my ipaq for japanese to see how well it works.
Your points are very valid, unless you are doing non roman character input for wordprocessing type applications.
Certanly people who speak these languages would code using roman characters(its the standard isn't it?), but if you are writing a paper in your native language I could certianly see it being faster since you don't have to select the proper character from a menu after you have typed it phonetically.
For inputting the english language, i can type far faster than i write, and i believe most people who ultilize computers on a day to day basis can.
However, when I type in japanese, it takes me a lot longer to type the character phonetically and then select the proper character from a list to use. Pen input of complex characters would be signifigantly faster because, assuming the character regonizer is good enough, you wouldnt need to select the character from a list.
The other main advantage of a pen is that you need not lift your hand off the keyboard to reach the mouse to manipulate a GUI. Granted for a "power user" you would have a number of hotkeys/shortcuts handy on the keyboard, but for someone who is already using the pen, its just point and click. Its also easier for someone who is just learning to navigate a computer as it is just like using a mouse.
Re:a little nonsense, but hey - it's near April Fo
on
Globalism Post 9/11
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· Score: 1
"Ask yourself why were guns banned at the Winter Olympics? Surely an armed population would have been a deterrence to terrorism? "
Simple, international pressure. Utah allows concealed weapons permit holders to have their firearms in the legislature.
There is no other reason than international pressure, if the states own legislature trusts its own citizens to carry firearms in the state capitol. The reason according to a democratic representative, Rep. Scott Daniels, is "People in other parts of the world think it's odd Americans want to be armed all the time," Daniels said. "I think it's going to scare them. They're going to think every third person at the opening ceremony is carrying a gun."
It didnt help either that the IOC was supposed to supply storage for firearms permit holders at the olympics but didnt.
http://www.jointogether.org/gv/news/summaries/re ad er/0,2061,547483,00.html
In regards to sporting events and legally concealed guns, i don't really have a problem with it, however, once somebody starts drinking then their is a problem. The is illegal to do if you have a concealled carry permit and have the gun on your person. Keep in mind that most criminals are drugged/drunk when commiting a crime since the drugs/drink do effect judgement. A person who is impaired lacks judgement when opperating a firearm or even a car.
Re:a little nonsense, but hey - it's near April Fo
on
Globalism Post 9/11
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· Score: 1
"Guns may not be evil but they give evil men the ability to do more harm than they could otherwise do. For this reason alone they should be banned because you cannot know who the next mass murderer of school kids will be."
Well, you never do know who the next mass murder might be, but it doesn't take a knife to do it.
Last june, a japanese man killed 8 school children and injured 15 others with a butchers knife.
If you carry a gun and it makes you feel like a big man, and assuming you use it responsibly, you are better off as you would carry yourself with more self confidence and make a possible attacker go find an easier target.
Americas problem with "guns", isn't a gun problem its a people problem. Take away the gun crime and the US homicide rate is still higher than canada (and 3x japans). http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:2p_ iwxSRoRoC: www.cfc-ccaf.gc.ca/research/other_docs/notes/canus / efault.html+us+homicide+non-firearm+rate&hl=en
As you noted, the vast majority of crime in concentrated in a few areas. The same is true in america as well. Somehow people think that if all their neighbors are carrying guns then there willbe shootings every time there is "road rage".
Fortuneatly this isn't the case. Despite living near metro DC which is host to a number of road rage incidents, and the stateof virginia which has liberal concealed carry laws, i have yet to hear of a single road rage shooting. There might have been, but nothing came up in a search on google.
"The NAFTA agreement is no good for any country, only corporations. "
Well that isn't entirely true. In another year or two, it will enable mexicans to purchase cars which are also sold in mexico. Whats the bigd eal you might ask? The models sold in mexico are priced signifigantly higher than in the US, hence this allows more mexicans to purchase cars. I don't believe the higher prices are due to taxes, as they would have to pay them anyways(just like when you buy a car out of state in the US.)
Its to bad that this doesn't work for car models not certified for sale in the US, as they offer a number of european and japanese models which aren't for sale in america.
In regards to pearl harbor, i would have to look into that myself. Allowing a number of very exspensive shipped to be severly damaged or sunk while in harbor doesn't seem like a good financial plan.
Re:a little nonsense, but hey - it's near April Fo
on
Globalism Post 9/11
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· Score: 1
"Man, I'm Canadian and even I know American history well enough to know that. The time for the second ammendment's existance is over, it's time to get rid of the guns in every house, perhaps then there'd be less shooting deaths in America."
Well ovbiouslly thats the case, but according to your logic "if we got rid of all the bicycles in america there would be less people who fall off our bikes." If someone wants to commit premediated murder, there are a wide variety of manners to commit it. Granted, using a firearm is probably one of the easiest and requires the least training, but that being said its also one of the easiest ways to defend yourself (the other is to have confidence and notmake yourself a target or visit bad areas).
The way to less violence in america is to spend more money on education and programs for children after school. Mass incarceation is not the problem as young criminals are given a chance to become better criminals to learn from other prisioners, however teaching children right from wrong, letting them know there are consequences for their actions, and providing them with the skills in life to succed certainly would make them better off.
The other solution is to institute a police state(video cameras everywhere, massive police force) to cut down crime, but i'm certianly not infavour of that.
I do advocate for gun education in school though. I'm not saying that children in 3rd grade should join a gun club, but they should learn how to behave responsibly around them and learn that they are not toys.
"Second, gun just aren't cool. I'm amazed how many of these gun nuts are too stupid to know their own history and that the point of the second ammendment was as protection against British invasion."
Well, a hostile power would even today have a hard time subduing the america populace with the number of guns privately owned.
I find it funny how people seem to think that all americans live some sort of cowboy lifestyle. I'm willing to wager that 90% of firearms bought through lawful means are NOT used for crimes,but instead are used for defensive purposes or target shooting.
By the way, I don't own firearms. Even if I wanted to, the state I grew up in, New Jersey, and currently live in, Maryland, have restrictive gun laws. They don't seem to have helped things in baltimore or newark either. If firearms laws were suddenly liberalized, would their be a rapid crime rate drop? Well i doubt it would make anything worse.
Sure Koresh didn't last that long (a couple of months), but if you had a couple of hundred thousand or more gun owners start an uprising, you would have a serious problem.
In an urban situation, all the smart weapons in the US armament won't help too much in house to house combat. Certianly body armour, night vision goggles etc would though.
Re:a little nonsense, but hey - it's near April Fo
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Globalism Post 9/11
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· Score: 1
From a self defense standpoint, a person is better off with a gun over any other weapon as it is a great equilizer. It takes little training to learn to operate one safely and effectively.
Basically it allows a 120lb woman to defend herself against a 250lbs man, who could overpower her with his bare hands or with a knife. More often than not, just displaying a gun sould make the attacker think twice. Now I will admit, if both the attacker and his target are both carrying a gun it might escalte.
Some would say, well just be passive and give your attacker what they want. I think the events on 9/11 onboard the airplanes show what happens when you submit to your attacker.
Anyways as a martial arts instructor, learning to carry yourself with confidence(as in being alert and not looking at the ground when you walk through town) and not visiting high risk areas will make you less of a target. Having a gun on your person may give you the confidence you need so that you aren't viewed as an ovbious target.
Most discussions I have had with people who were anti gun blamed the guns themselves as the problem far more than the reasons why in the US there is such a high incedence of crimes as compared to europe (i believe it is in part due to education and a portion of society which does not place an empasis on education or maintain a strong interest in their children's education, less social programs compared to europe, lack of strong male role models etc).
Here is a question I pose, if the gunbans in DC NYC and chicago were lifted, would violent crime rapidly drop due to a legally armed populace? I'd like to think so, but to be honest I really don't know.
"Perhaps the only thing that I hate *worse* than a sales goon is a techie is condenscending to those who aren't "in the know".
I unfortuantely see this type of mentality all the time with the IT fuckwads I've worked with. Perhaps it's because they realize that their MS certs will expire. (Then instead of being a dime a dozen, they will be a penny a dozen!) "
Part of the problem I have found with IT people is that they are technichians and not engineers or computer scientists. That doesnt make them bad or stupid people, it is that they usually aren't as educated (didn't finish college or have an associates degree)and don't seem to realize that lording over people because they precieve them to be stupid or ill informed, is a bad idea. It really isn't a wise move to call your CEO an idiot to his face if you are on the IT support staff ( i heard stories of this back in my sales days). The only thing I can think of why some of these guys have that attitude is that they are insecure, and like in the dilbert cartoon, this is the only area in their lives where they can exert their will over others. It is kind of sad really.
At least having a technical degree from a university is still going to be worth something 20 years from now, whereas the latest certification won't be worth #@$ 10 years from now.The thing about sticking it out and getting your degree is that you have the self discipline and patence to go for the long haul instead of trying to go for the quick money.
On a side note, anyone ever notice that DeVry and the like don't really advertise for things like electrical or HVAC repair anymore? It seems like they are going the IT support route now adays.
I agree with you totally that it wasn't that great a movie, but for visual effects i would say it was quite good at least for the main characters. Suplemental characters were not animated nearly as well.
The effects for resident evil were pretty good, mainly because they weren't forced on you as in doing CG for the sake of CG.
Slashdot Mirror
No, like bronx science!
its really quite good
its just that there is a prevailing attitude that school isn't cool among parents and students that results in the associated problems
If you consider IT to be fixing servers and instqalling cable, thats a blue collar job. If you consider it to be programming(which is different than IT in my opinion) it generally requires a college degree(at least at a big company) its a white collar job. This generally means unpaid overtime, but higher salary. Unionizing would not be a good idea, your work couldbe dumbed down and promotions wouldnt be based on a merit system and instead rely on seniority.
If you are unhappy, do some work on the side or open up your own business.
I have a BS EE too and sure by comparison thats cake. But it does show that the guy at least has some education.
I'd take someone more serious with an education than someone who has just a high school degree, then again most of the "famous" scientists and engineers of the 19th century were self-taught. I have no idea though for the education level of people who ran for office back then.
Well he may be a "grocery store employee", but he is a rather educated one at that.
A Hampton Cove resident, Williams, 28, holds a master's degree in political science from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and a bachelor's degree in business management from Athens State University. He works at Publix Super Market at Hampton Cove.
The train that takes you to Odaiwa isn't that bad either, but i can't remember if it is a "real" train on tracks or a bus that follows a set path. Either way I believe it was automated.
I ride the washington dc metro every day and would like it if the cars were similar to japanese commuter train cars(i.e. the seats line the sides of the rows and can be lifted up for rush hour). This would help crowding at peak times since people don't walk into the middle of the train to provide more room for others. Then again you don't have the mass pushing on/off the train either. I do miss the trains coming every two minutes during rush hour, and it would be nice if the WMATA had signs that more accuratly told you when the next train was coming as well as the one behind it. They currently have a display that sometimes displays the name and time for the next train, but usually just dislpays the current time or some general notice.
http://www.angkor.com/2bangkok/Skytrain/index.shtm l
Unfortuneatly, they are having money problems because the price is too high for the average thai. It does work remarkably well, but doesn't have enough track to make it worthwhile to everyone(doesn't go to the airport for example).
most it jobs start you out as at GS7, probably in mid 40s-51k
you have decent advancement options and good benefits. you won't get rich working for the government, but they will TRAIN you a lot which is good if you ever want to work elsewhere. the training oppertunites alone are probably worth it.
Why didn't they make use of subtitles in this movie. It would have been just as effective in conveying peoples messages (it was used for most of the aliens in the original trilogy). In the original 3 movies the only accents you seemed to hear were british and american(with the brits being the bad guys i.e. the empire). Perhaps it seems that the movie was aimed at a younger audience, perhaps one that can't read subtitles indstead of anas an older one, and accents had to be used to differentiate one group from another.
Granted starwars is fantasy, but some of the stuff with a ten year old kid requires more than a complete suspension of disbelief, for example a kid who has most likely never flown a spaceship somehow can control it reasonabily compently, just happens to blow up the mothership by mistake etc.
I guess the controls were perfectly sized for a 10 year old (I don't think most ten year olds have legs that can reach the pedals in most cars, let alone see above the steering wheel). Besides, I doubt knowing how to steer a racing car (the pod racer) carries over to much to a spaceship which moves in 3 dimensions).
don't give me any of this force crap, i don't think the force is going to compensate for a body that isn't the right size to operate a ship. The whole thing would have been more believeable if they had anakin as a 15 or 16 year old kid instead of 10. besides isn't there a big age difference between 10 year old anakin and the princess who is maybe 17-19?
so what you are saying is that someone comes up with a device that preforms the same function, but uses 2 2k resitors in series instead of a 4k resistor its deserving of a patent?
Patents are for novel ideas, not a specific product.
http://www.opm.gov/oca/02tables/indexGS.htm
Most jobs get some sort of adjustment (i.e. extra pay on top as well), some jobs get signing bonus's as well.
Remember, when the PS2 came out in the US there weren't any good games either. The "killer app" and anly good game according to reviewers was SSX.
It took a while before games like GT3 or MGS, DMC etc came out(i.e. 9 months).
The Xbox has the same problem, but I havent kept on top of good games coming out.
My last console was a dreamcast(bought it while i lived in japan) which was a great system. To bad it was killed by the hype of the PS2.
I'd like to get a gamecube but not until metroid or zelda or even a new fzero game comes out.
I'll buy a PS2 once the price drops below 300. I'm not sure when that will happen though.
I saw an ad last night for some device which I believe was sold by the sharper image which you hook up to your phoneline. The device then dectects if an autodialer has been used and then claims to delete you from their database.
As I recall it was called the telezapper. And costs around 50 bucks.
http://www.telezapper.com/
From their website:
The TeleZapper is designed to "zap" calls made by predictive dialer computers by doing two things: first, by disconnecting predictive-dialed calls before you can be connected to a live telemarketer and second, by deleting your phone number from telemarketing computer lists. Whether the TeleZapper will affect computer-dialed calls from other sources depends on the type of computer equipment and how that equipment is being used. Therefore, it may also "zap" calls from other organizations that use predictive dialer computers, such as charitable organizations, blood banks, public safety and service organizations, market researchers, opinion and political pollsters, and academic institutions.
They "delete" you from the database by sending a line disconect signal. I don't know of anyone who has used this device so I can't attest to how well it works.
When i was in university in japan, i found it took me a lot longer to input characters phonetically and select them while using the macintosh. The main downside I found to using the word processor all the time was that my skill in writing kanji (and even remembering how to write them) decreased as my reliance/skill on the word processor increased. Its gotten to the point where of the 1000 or so characters i can read/comprehend, i probably can only remember how to write properly 3-400 of them anymore.
I found when i used the zaurus back around 99 when i was in japan, it did an acceptable job of character recognition. I'd like to try the input/character recognition on my ipaq for japanese to see how well it works.
Your points are very valid, unless you are doing non roman character input for wordprocessing type applications.
Certanly people who speak these languages would code using roman characters(its the standard isn't it?), but if you are writing a paper in your native language I could certianly see it being faster since you don't have to select the proper character from a menu after you have typed it phonetically.
For inputting the english language, i can type far faster than i write, and i believe most people who ultilize computers on a day to day basis can.
However, when I type in japanese, it takes me a lot longer to type the character phonetically and then select the proper character from a list to use. Pen input of complex characters would be signifigantly faster because, assuming the character regonizer is good enough, you wouldnt need to select the character from a list.
The other main advantage of a pen is that you need not lift your hand off the keyboard to reach the mouse to manipulate a GUI. Granted for a "power user" you would have a number of hotkeys/shortcuts handy on the keyboard, but for someone who is already using the pen, its just point and click. Its also easier for someone who is just learning to navigate a computer as it is just like using a mouse.
"Ask yourself why were guns banned at the Winter Olympics? Surely an armed population would have been a deterrence to terrorism? "
y /2 28185p-2195707c.html
e ad er/0,2061,547483,00.html
Simple, international pressure. Utah allows concealed weapons permit holders to have their firearms in the legislature.
http://www.modbee.com/24hour/spec/olympics/stor
There is no other reason than international pressure, if the states own legislature trusts its own citizens to carry firearms in the state capitol. The reason according to a democratic representative, Rep. Scott Daniels, is "People in other parts of the world think it's odd Americans want to be armed all the time," Daniels said. "I think it's going to scare them. They're going to think every third person at the opening ceremony is carrying a gun."
It didnt help either that the IOC was supposed to supply storage for firearms permit holders at the olympics but didnt.
http://www.jointogether.org/gv/news/summaries/r
In regards to sporting events and legally concealed guns, i don't really have a problem with it, however, once somebody starts drinking then their is a problem. The is illegal to do if you have a concealled carry permit and have the gun on your person. Keep in mind that most criminals are drugged/drunk when commiting a crime since the drugs/drink do effect judgement. A person who is impaired lacks judgement when opperating a firearm or even a car.
"Guns may not be evil but they give evil men the ability to do more harm than they could otherwise do. For this reason alone they should be banned because you cannot know who the next mass murderer of school kids will be."
1 /0 6/09/850909.xml
_ iwxSRoRoC: www.cfc-ccaf.gc.ca/research/other_docs/notes/canus / efault.html+us+homicide+non-firearm+rate&hl=en
Well, you never do know who the next mass murder might be, but it doesn't take a knife to do it.
http://college3.nytimes.com/guests/articles/200
Last june, a japanese man killed 8 school children and injured 15 others with a butchers knife.
If you carry a gun and it makes you feel like a big man, and assuming you use it responsibly, you are better off as you would carry yourself with more self confidence and make a possible attacker go find an easier target.
Americas problem with "guns", isn't a gun problem its a people problem. Take away the gun crime and the US homicide rate is still higher than canada (and 3x japans).
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:2p
As you noted, the vast majority of crime in concentrated in a few areas. The same is true in america as well. Somehow people think that if all their neighbors are carrying guns then there willbe shootings every time there is "road rage".
Fortuneatly this isn't the case. Despite living near metro DC which is host to a number of road rage incidents, and the stateof virginia which has liberal concealed carry laws, i have yet to hear of a single road rage shooting. There might have been, but nothing came up in a search on google.
"The NAFTA agreement is no good for any country, only corporations. "
Well that isn't entirely true. In another year or two, it will enable mexicans to purchase cars which are also sold in mexico. Whats the bigd eal you might ask? The models sold in mexico are priced signifigantly higher than in the US, hence this allows more mexicans to purchase cars. I don't believe the higher prices are due to taxes, as they would have to pay them anyways(just like when you buy a car out of state in the US.)
Its to bad that this doesn't work for car models not certified for sale in the US, as they offer a number of european and japanese models which aren't for sale in america.
In regards to pearl harbor, i would have to look into that myself. Allowing a number of very exspensive shipped to be severly damaged or sunk while in harbor doesn't seem like a good financial plan.
"Man, I'm Canadian and even I know American history well enough to know that. The time for the second ammendment's existance is over, it's time to get rid of the guns in every house, perhaps then there'd be less shooting deaths in America."
Well ovbiouslly thats the case, but according to your logic "if we got rid of all the bicycles in america there would be less people who fall off our bikes." If someone wants to commit premediated murder, there are a wide variety of manners to commit it. Granted, using a firearm is probably one of the easiest and requires the least training, but that being said its also one of the easiest ways to defend yourself (the other is to have confidence and notmake yourself a target or visit bad areas).
The way to less violence in america is to spend more money on education and programs for children after school. Mass incarceation is not the problem as young criminals are given a chance to become better criminals to learn from other prisioners, however teaching children right from wrong, letting them know there are consequences for their actions, and providing them with the skills in life to succed certainly would make them better off.
The other solution is to institute a police state(video cameras everywhere, massive police force) to cut down crime, but i'm certianly not infavour of that.
I do advocate for gun education in school though. I'm not saying that children in 3rd grade should join a gun club, but they should learn how to behave responsibly around them and learn that they are not toys.
"Second, gun just aren't cool. I'm amazed how many of these gun nuts are too stupid to know their own history and that the point of the second ammendment was as protection against British invasion."
Well, a hostile power would even today have a hard time subduing the america populace with the number of guns privately owned.
I find it funny how people seem to think that all americans live some sort of cowboy lifestyle. I'm willing to wager that 90% of firearms bought through lawful means are NOT used for crimes,but instead are used for defensive purposes or target shooting.
By the way, I don't own firearms. Even if I wanted to, the state I grew up in, New Jersey, and currently live in, Maryland, have restrictive gun laws. They don't seem to have helped things in baltimore or newark either. If firearms laws were suddenly liberalized, would their be a rapid crime rate drop? Well i doubt it would make anything worse.
Sure Koresh didn't last that long (a couple of months), but if you had a couple of hundred thousand or more gun owners start an uprising, you would have a serious problem.
In an urban situation, all the smart weapons in the US armament won't help too much in house to house combat. Certianly body armour, night vision goggles etc would though.
From a self defense standpoint, a person is better off with a gun over any other weapon as it is a great equilizer. It takes little training to learn to operate one safely and effectively.
Basically it allows a 120lb woman to defend herself against a 250lbs man, who could overpower her with his bare hands or with a knife. More often than not, just displaying a gun sould make the attacker think twice. Now I will admit, if both the attacker and his target are both carrying a gun it might escalte.
Some would say, well just be passive and give your attacker what they want. I think the events on 9/11 onboard the airplanes show what happens when you submit to your attacker.
Anyways as a martial arts instructor, learning to carry yourself with confidence(as in being alert and not looking at the ground when you walk through town) and not visiting high risk areas will make you less of a target. Having a gun on your person may give you the confidence you need so that you aren't viewed as an ovbious target.
Most discussions I have had with people who were anti gun blamed the guns themselves as the problem far more than the reasons why in the US there is such a high incedence of crimes as compared to europe (i believe it is in part due to education and a portion of society which does not place an empasis on education or maintain a strong interest in their children's education, less social programs compared to europe, lack of strong male role models etc).
Here is a question I pose, if the gunbans in DC NYC and chicago were lifted, would violent crime rapidly drop due to a legally armed populace? I'd like to think so, but to be honest I really don't know.
"Perhaps the only thing that I hate *worse* than a sales goon is a techie is condenscending to those who aren't "in the know".
I unfortuantely see this type of mentality all the time with the IT fuckwads I've worked with. Perhaps it's because they realize that their MS certs will expire. (Then instead of being a dime a dozen, they will be a penny a dozen!) "
Part of the problem I have found with IT people is that they are technichians and not engineers or computer scientists. That doesnt make them bad or stupid people, it is that they usually aren't as educated (didn't finish college or have an associates degree)and don't seem to realize that lording over people because they precieve them to be stupid or ill informed, is a bad idea. It really isn't a wise move to call your CEO an idiot to his face if you are on the IT support staff ( i heard stories of this back in my sales days). The only thing I can think of why some of these guys have that attitude is that they are insecure, and like in the dilbert cartoon, this is the only area in their lives where they can exert their will over others. It is kind of sad really.
At least having a technical degree from a university is still going to be worth something 20 years from now, whereas the latest certification won't be worth #@$ 10 years from now.The thing about sticking it out and getting your degree is that you have the self discipline and patence to go for the long haul instead of trying to go for the quick money.
On a side note, anyone ever notice that DeVry and the like don't really advertise for things like electrical or HVAC repair anymore? It seems like they are going the IT support route now adays.
I agree with you totally that it wasn't that great a movie, but for visual effects i would say it was quite good at least for the main characters. Suplemental characters were not animated nearly as well.
The effects for resident evil were pretty good, mainly because they weren't forced on you as in doing CG for the sake of CG.
if final fantasy was in the running, i would have said that should have won for visual effects.