I agree. I read the first 25 or so before outgrowing them.
A couple of observations:
1) Sally and Bugs had a love/hate relationship. Most likely, she dumped the geek Encyclopedia in high school and got busy with Bugs because she was attracted to his rebel side and figured she could tame him.
2) Encyclopedia hung out in a garage all day with a tomboy who "protected" him. Didn't his dad and mom worry about that? Why didn't Mr. Brown take Cyclo out back and teach him how to fight and be a man?
3) What kind of town would elect a police chief whose 10 year old son had to do his job for him?
4) Why did everyone always confess? In real life, Bugs would have said, "Big deal, punk! Whadya gonna do, take me to jail!?"
5) You think Cyclo ever got a Atari, or was he more content hanging around the garage solving crimes?
6) When Cyclo got into high school, did he find that most of his crimes took place in or around the girls locker room and it required him to spend long hours in hidden surveillance?
"We're also left with this bloody stupid practice of selling "popular".com names for absurd amounts of money, which is just.. completely unnecessary and ridiculous."
..unless you own one of these "popular".com names and have been offered obscene amounts of money for them. It has happened to two people I know already, it will happen to more before this is all over.
Internet ethics are nice, but when a six-figure check is offered with your name on it all for a goofy name you registered in 1994, well, it makes you laugh.
Generally are put out by some publication like Computer World or a web site like ZD. You know what drives me crazy? There is usually some 40-something, bearded yahoo in a suit whose weekly/monthly articles are all about how MegaCorp just decided to move from their IBM mainframes purchased in 1978 to NT servers running IIS.
And then they go on with and interview with some reject from a barnyard with bright red hair in a bowl haircut whose title is CIO/Chief Technologist who describes the methodology for choosing these systems based upon vendors taking them to lunch, boardroom pitches, white papers and indepth studies of competing megacorps' IT organizations.
And it always boils down to a two page ad for MS with a singular paragraph busting Unix as being unscalable and unsupportable and too hard for the desktop users to understand (like they do anything else besides making Excel spreadsheets and Project reports).
The next year, there is an article about how MegaCorp' IIS servers crapped out when a DOS took place or when more than 2 people decided to buy one of their widgets online and the whole system died.
"The speech echoed last week's calls from an influential Democratic policy think tank to change copyright laws in a way that would also eliminate anonymity for people"
When are we going to realize, that the Big 2 parties in the US are in league on this: Destroy the right to privacy.
Some of you applaud Bush or Gore for their choice of OS on their website, or announce your support for "prudent measures". Get real.
We are at a crossroads. In 20 years or less this wonderful medium we share can be a version of the Home Shopping Network or it can be what it was designed to be: A equalizing platform for freedom of speech!
"Scott's interest in politics was fostered through years of political involvement with his mother, Sue Reents, a political consultant and former Idaho State senator (1991-96). Most recently in 1998, Scott was a consultant to his mother's election bid for Lieutenant Governor."
Your mother ran as a Democrat in all of her elections for public office.
As one who assisted your mother, a Democratic candidate, wouldn't you say your views, as demonstrated by your experience, be biased towards the Democratic Party rather than "non-partisan" and "driven by civic values" as you claim on the Democracy Project web site?
2. How does an activist make a living? I mean it does not say on your biography how you get paid. And NYC is an expensive place to live, eat, work, etc. So how do you and your organization pay the bills? This raises the question of who or what funds your efforts.
I personally do not share the philosophy of either "Big Party" and do not care for their influences on the Internet.
You think we have it bad? Try being a teacher, city employee or police officer in these areas.
I have had friends who have taken jobs in SV for large sums of money, only to end up living in a dumpy one bedroom apartment an hour away from work.
Here is the solution: Thanks, but no thanks. There are other high-tech concentrated areas (Boston, Austin, Virginia, etc) with more reasonable living conditions. Tell SV and the rest of Kalifornia to take a flying leap. When the market dries up, they will be forced to change.
Watch the news. Not slashdot or some other arcane news source read by a few thousand people on the Internet, but ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, etc. Read the news. New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, etc.
These people all write and say the same thing, day in and day out. I worked for an ABC affiliate in a major market for 3 years. They follow a plan of reporting the news the same way each of the others does. The agenda never varies. Millions watch the TV, millions more read the daily papers. API, UP, Reuters spread the same thing around the world. For every person who finally understands what's happening, 10, 20, 50 or more are duped.
You can claim you don't want to or won't put up with this crap all you want. You can claim people are censoring you, squashing you, stepping on your rights, whatever. It happens every single day. But there is really nothing you can do.
There is no conspiracy because there is nothing to hide. We gave up our will to fight a long time ago and now we have to settle for the consequences.
Voting won't get you anything. Protests are a joke. Petitions a waste of paper and time. They control the airwaves, the press and sooner or later the most of the Internet (quick: How many backbones have been swallowed up by large companies in the past two years?) In time, you will not be able to buy, eat, travel, rent or own anything unless you have the right electronic tracking devices or codes. This is happening now as we speak. Research it, check it out. It is happening.
There is only one solution to this situation and in 10 or 20 years it maybe too late. Maybe sooner.
Go ahead. Yell, shout, protest. I will check back with you in 5 or 10 years. We will see who is right.
.. it would be nice if www.feedmag.com would quit timing out.
Also, it seems feedmag.com shares the same point of view of the defendants. This is sort of like saying "Rush Limbaugh reported on a facinating story today which called Bill Clinton a liar..".
This sort of stuff preaches to the converted in the choir loft. Get the "other side" on ABC, NBC, CBS, etc. Then when mainstream American sees it they can decide for themselves rather than listen to Jack Valenti's propoganda over and over again.
Certain people hold the reins in this country. The rest of us are left out like cattle in the rain. Quit believing in terms like treason, censorship, freedom and liberty. They just don't exist any in the US any longer.
Re:Jon, corporations are not the danger
on
At The Crossroads
·
· Score: 1
Correct. Consider.
A private company needs my support through revenue. I have to purchase a product or service by entering into a contract (can be paper or can be as simple as handing money over in exchange for a can of Coke, for instance), in order for said company to raise revenue. If I do not like a product I have purchased, I have legal recourse. No private company is immune from the legal system, even if it is only Small Claims Court against Sears for delivering a broken lawn mower to my house.
The government collects revenue, mainly through taxation imposed upon corporations and individuals based upon their annual earnings. They take money and redistribute it to various other individuals and organizations. If you are not satisfied with the product (military, Congress, Social Security,,etc) the government produces for you, with your money, you cannot get your money back nor can you take the government to court without their permission.
Furthermore, if you decide not to give a private company your business, you don't have to. If you decide not to pay your taxes, the IRS has the right to impound your wages and property without due process of law and force you to prove your case before returning said property, interest free by the way.
Mmmm... take it and run with it you who claim to love the word freedom...
.. if Jon Katz stops writing articles on/. and instead starts publishing recipes, instructional manuals, or street signs. Anything but his opinion; it is like reading online version of Newsweek or Time...
..and stops using the term "the 'Net". His Sandra Bullock fixation has grown weary. Maybe he can start using terms like "cyber" or interchange between "The Web" and "The Internet" when describing the Internet! After all, he probably thinks they are the same..
Somehow or another my original thoughts were skewed here, (gee, how does that happen on/.?).
This is simple. Sometime ago, an agenda was created (most likely in the hallowed halls of heresy - American Academia) which was passed on to our Prez (who holds their dear opinion in such high regard above the people who pay his salary) that there was some sort of "digital divide" between the information technology haves and have nots. Therefore, the current administration, their trolls, the mainstream news media and a series of other "pundits" (to use one of their own words), began a program to "encourage" companies and taxpayers to subsidize an effort to put computers and Internet access in homes of persons who meet a certain ecomomic status, irregardless of whether or not said persons actually desired this technology (after all, they know what is best for them, right?).
The problem with this thinking has many parts. First, there is a belief among our enlightened leaders that providing low or no cost computers, Internet access and access means will encourage persons to persue "high-tech" jobs and careers. False - using free Internet access in its' limited form will not suddenly create Geeks.
Second, they believe that this is fair. That is, that certain persons have been locked out of this so-called revolution due to economic reasons. False, again - Free market economics have forced cheaper, even free, Internet access (remember 30 or 40 bux a month for a PPP account with 25 hours?). PC's are now either free (with strings attached, of course) or so cheap anyone with enough gumption can buy one.
Finally, advocates of this planning believe that once a computer and Internet access is introduced into a person's life they will wonder how they lived without it before. False - Nobody can mandate you turn the thing on and connect to the Internet and learn the wonders of this age. It takes desire. The same desire that would most likely cause someone to procur a computer on their own without the government or corporation's assistance.
What "moral" reason is there to hand out free stuff and services? There is none. Katz and Clinton can fix the imaginary "digital divide" with their ivory tower, intellectual, elitist, pigplan of handing out free computers, phone lines, and Internet access. Guess what happens? A bunch of low-end PC's for sale at pawn shops within 24 hours.
Free net access and low cost PC's are available right now to anyone who wants them. It takes the desire on a person's part to obtain these things, not a government or corporate plan devised by some non-reality dwelling, take-no-responsibility-when-it-does-not-work academic.
Look what happened to the Inuit indians in Alaska when oil money was liberally handed out in the 1970's. A bunch of drunk Eskimos and broken skimobiles in every driveway. That is immoral. Get real.
There is no such thing as a "level playing field" in regards to the Internet. This is an erroneous buzzword developed by Internet marketeers and ecommerce web goons.
The fact of the matter is things still work the same in the long run as they always have with "bidness". The organization/person/business with the most marketing and PR dollars can afford to blitz the market place with banners, billboards, commercials on traditional media channels, and mailouts (consider how many web sites you see advertised on TV and radio).
In the end, (five years from now), most web sites will be the product of some big institution or commercial concern. How we will laugh/cry thinking about the "good ol days".
Worry anytime a company or the government has any tracking plans designed to:
- to stop crime, information piracy or terrorists.
- streamline processes which will allegedly result in lower costs to the consumer/taxpayer but requires less accountability or bypasses standard protections.
- cater to fearmongering in any sort, i.e. protecting your children, the Commies are coming to get us!, etc.
Privacy, personal responsibility and accountability are the most important rights all persons in this world should fight for.
13-21 year old girls "buy" records at music stores. Geeks download MP3's for nada.
One generates revenue that continues the trend: money generated by the sale of less than admirable music (N'Sync for instance)is enough to convince record company execs to create additional acts.
The other downloads music, does not pay for it therefore is not a revenue stream.
Quick. Name all five members of New Kids on the Block.
Had the same concerns and questions myself when planning a trip to Europe.
Here is a listing of free ISP's in other countries. There are several for the countries you are going to:
http://www.nzlist.org/user/freeisp (click on the International lists)
I used a Dell Latitude and brought with me an extra battery and power adapters.
Rent, don't buy, cellphones in countries or regions (most cell phone companies in Europe have calling plans for the whole continent).
Finally, pack light. Don't bring extra connectors, periphials or floppies. Amazingly, most countries sell computer supplies at comparable prices to the US.
Here is some websites that may give you some good information:
Using something from theonion on a/. post is like those people who haven't got a damn original thing in their heads and they stand around at parties and work blabbing lines, word for word, from Monty Python.
Miramax will eventually allow you to download some crappy movie to your computer but the Library of Congress has no plans to digitize books i.e. make available over the Internet.
This bodes well for all of us. 30 years and we will be lucky if we can even dress ourselves any longer.
How many times do you hear this when you go to the checkout counter at some stores? What happened to "Did you find everything you were looking for? How will you be paying?"
Instead, they should say "Hi, because we allowed you into our store, we would like to violate your privacy, please."
The reasoning for the need for this is either to pass this on to telemarketers or to mail you more junkmail.
For some reason or another, my wife and I like our privacy and don't feel like giving out this information to the guy at Radio Shack, so either:
a) question the need for this and if a good answer is not provided, we sometimes threaten to take our business elsewhere OR
b) we give them the phone number for their own store or make one up.
Nice try, junebug, but I am married, over 35 and with children. (not everyone here lives in dreamworld).
Not having a Social Security number was not a problem for the first 60+ years of our income tax. The numbers of persons violating the law will not change regardless of what laws the lumbering government puts on its' citizens. Those that have broken the law will only find another way around it. Furthermore, I would like to see the real numbers that prove the level of fraud was at a neccessary level which dictated this change.
Also, this is not limited to tax forms. In recent years, there have been a host of proposals to use SS#'s for other "government streamlining" proposals. Look it up.
The GOVERNMENT used to require Social Security numbers when you got a job, now they require every child six months and older to have one for "tax purposes". A seven-month old needs to pay taxes? Since when?
The GOVERNMENT has broken treaties with the Indians over mineral and oil rights, has broken up fair protests (Seattle), and arrested and detained citizens without due process.
The GOVERNMENT does not want me to buy airline tickets with cash, limits the amount of cash I can legally send using wire services and is opposed to encryption of my personal files on my computer all in the name of public safety, (and requires privately owned companies to comply with these rules). How does me whipping out a wad of Ben Franklins to pay for a plane trip to Philadelphia threaten national security?
The GOVERNMENT has broad search and seizure rules without need for warrant, has the right to track all firearm purchases and trips outside of our shores, has the right to mandate new taxes (even though it is forbidden by the Constitution), and has the right to fight undeclared wars against foreign powers (even though that is against the Constitution as well).
Evil corporations gather data on me to send me spam, junk mail, and telemarketer's calls. I can live with that.
Further more, I can still call Sears, AT&T, Bank of America, and just about any other "corporation" I have done business with and get someone with authority to hear my grievance and make amends, up to and including, refunding my money.
I challenge you to call any branch of GOVERNMENT, (post office, county tax assessors, congressman, etc) and find a anyone remotely interested in listening to your problem, and having the authority to refund your tax dollars for causing you inconvinience.
Once you hand it over to the GOVERNMENT, you can forget about getting it back.
List for me the liberties "evil corporations" have taken from you.
Slashdot Mirror
I agree. I read the first 25 or so before outgrowing them.
A couple of observations:
1) Sally and Bugs had a love/hate relationship. Most likely, she dumped the geek Encyclopedia in high school and got busy with Bugs because she was attracted to his rebel side and figured she could tame him.
2) Encyclopedia hung out in a garage all day with a tomboy who "protected" him. Didn't his dad and mom worry about that? Why didn't Mr. Brown take Cyclo out back and teach him how to fight and be a man?
3) What kind of town would elect a police chief whose 10 year old son had to do his job for him?
4) Why did everyone always confess? In real life, Bugs would have said, "Big deal, punk! Whadya gonna do, take me to jail!?"
5) You think Cyclo ever got a Atari, or was he more content hanging around the garage solving crimes?
6) When Cyclo got into high school, did he find that most of his crimes took place in or around the girls locker room and it required him to spend long hours in hidden surveillance?
"We're also left with this bloody stupid practice of selling "popular" .com names for absurd amounts of money, which is just.. completely unnecessary and ridiculous."
.com names and have been offered obscene amounts of money for them. It has happened to two people I know already, it will happen to more before this is all over.
..unless you own one of these "popular"
Internet ethics are nice, but when a six-figure check is offered with your name on it all for a goofy name you registered in 1994, well, it makes you laugh.
Generally are put out by some publication like Computer World or a web site like ZD. You know what drives me crazy? There is usually some 40-something, bearded yahoo in a suit whose weekly/monthly articles are all about how MegaCorp just decided to move from their IBM mainframes purchased in 1978 to NT servers running IIS.
And then they go on with and interview with some reject from a barnyard with bright red hair in a bowl haircut whose title is CIO/Chief Technologist who describes the methodology for choosing these systems based upon vendors taking them to lunch, boardroom pitches, white papers and indepth studies of competing megacorps' IT organizations.
And it always boils down to a two page ad for MS with a singular paragraph busting Unix as being unscalable and unsupportable and too hard for the desktop users to understand (like they do anything else besides making Excel spreadsheets and Project reports).
The next year, there is an article about how MegaCorp' IIS servers crapped out when a DOS took place or when more than 2 people decided to buy one of their widgets online and the whole system died.
They all learn in the end.
"The speech echoed last week's calls from an influential Democratic policy think tank to change copyright laws in a way that would also eliminate anonymity for people"
When are we going to realize, that the Big 2 parties in the US are in league on this: Destroy the right to privacy.
Some of you applaud Bush or Gore for their choice of OS on their website, or announce your support for "prudent measures". Get real.
We are at a crossroads. In 20 years or less this wonderful medium we share can be a version of the Home Shopping Network or it can be what it was designed to be: A equalizing platform for freedom of speech!
1) From your biography:
"Scott's interest in politics was fostered
through years of political involvement with his mother, Sue Reents, a political consultant and former Idaho State senator (1991-96). Most
recently in 1998, Scott was a consultant to his mother's election bid for Lieutenant Governor."
Your mother ran as a Democrat in all of her elections for public office.
As one who assisted your mother, a Democratic candidate, wouldn't you say your views, as demonstrated by your experience, be biased towards the Democratic Party rather than "non-partisan" and "driven by civic values" as you claim on the Democracy Project web site?
2. How does an activist make a living? I mean it does not say on your biography how you get paid. And NYC is an expensive place to live, eat, work, etc. So how do you and your organization pay the bills? This raises the question of who or what funds your efforts.
I personally do not share the philosophy of either "Big Party" and do not care for their influences on the Internet.
Thanks
You think we have it bad? Try being a teacher, city employee or police officer in these areas.
I have had friends who have taken jobs in SV for large sums of money, only to end up living in a dumpy one bedroom apartment an hour away from work.
Here is the solution: Thanks, but no thanks. There are other high-tech concentrated areas (Boston, Austin, Virginia, etc) with more reasonable living conditions. Tell SV and the rest of Kalifornia to take a flying leap. When the market dries up, they will be forced to change.
Let me explain.
Watch the news. Not slashdot or some other arcane news source read by a few thousand people on the Internet, but ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, etc.
Read the news. New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, etc.
These people all write and say the same thing, day in and day out. I worked for an ABC affiliate in a major market for 3 years. They follow a plan of reporting the news the same way each of the others does. The agenda never varies. Millions watch the TV, millions more read the daily papers. API, UP, Reuters spread the same thing around the world. For every person who finally understands what's happening, 10, 20, 50 or more are duped.
You can claim you don't want to or won't put up with this crap all you want. You can claim people are censoring you, squashing you, stepping on your rights, whatever. It happens every single day. But there is really nothing you can do.
There is no conspiracy because there is nothing to hide. We gave up our will to fight a long time ago and now we have to settle for the consequences.
Voting won't get you anything. Protests are a joke. Petitions a waste of paper and time. They control the airwaves, the press and sooner or later the most of the Internet (quick: How many backbones have been swallowed up by large companies in the past two years?) In time, you will not be able to buy, eat, travel, rent or own anything unless you have the right electronic tracking devices or codes. This is happening now as we speak. Research it, check it out. It is happening.
There is only one solution to this situation and in 10 or 20 years it maybe too late. Maybe sooner.
Go ahead. Yell, shout, protest. I will check back with you in 5 or 10 years. We will see who is right.
Back to my couch. My stories are on...
.. it would be nice if www.feedmag.com would quit timing out.
Also, it seems feedmag.com shares the same point of view of the defendants. This is sort of like saying "Rush Limbaugh reported on a facinating story today which called Bill Clinton a liar..".
This sort of stuff preaches to the converted in the choir loft. Get the "other side" on ABC, NBC, CBS, etc. Then when mainstream American sees it they can decide for themselves rather than listen to Jack Valenti's propoganda over and over again.
Certain people hold the reins in this country. The rest of us are left out like cattle in the rain. Quit believing in terms like treason, censorship, freedom and liberty. They just don't exist any in the US any longer.
Correct. Consider.
,etc) the government produces for you, with your money, you cannot get your money back nor can you take the government to court without their permission.
A private company needs my support through revenue. I have to purchase a product or service by entering into a contract (can be paper or can be as simple as handing money over in exchange for a can of Coke, for instance), in order for said company to raise revenue. If I do not like a product I have purchased, I have legal recourse. No private company is immune from the legal system, even if it is only Small Claims Court against Sears for delivering a broken lawn mower to my house.
The government collects revenue, mainly through taxation imposed upon corporations and individuals based upon their annual earnings. They take money and redistribute it to various other individuals and organizations. If you are not satisfied with the product (military, Congress, Social Security,
Furthermore, if you decide not to give a private company your business, you don't have to. If you decide not to pay your taxes, the IRS has the right to impound your wages and property without due process of law and force you to prove your case before returning said property, interest free by the way.
Mmmm... take it and run with it you who claim to love the word freedom...
.. if Jon Katz stops writing articles on /. and instead starts publishing recipes, instructional manuals, or street signs. Anything but his opinion; it is like reading online version of Newsweek or Time...
..and stops using the term "the 'Net". His Sandra Bullock fixation has grown weary. Maybe he can start using terms like "cyber" or interchange between "The Web" and "The Internet" when describing the Internet! After all, he probably thinks they are the same..
Blah.
Somehow or another my original thoughts were skewed here, (gee, how does that happen on /.?).
This is simple. Sometime ago, an agenda was created (most likely in the hallowed halls of heresy - American Academia) which was passed on to our Prez (who holds their dear opinion in such high regard above the people who pay his salary) that there was some sort of "digital divide" between the information technology haves and have nots. Therefore, the current administration, their trolls, the mainstream news media and a series of other "pundits" (to use one of their own words), began a program to "encourage" companies and taxpayers to subsidize an effort to put computers and Internet access in homes of persons who meet a certain ecomomic status, irregardless of whether or not said persons actually desired this technology (after all, they know what is best for them, right?).
The problem with this thinking has many parts. First, there is a belief among our enlightened leaders that providing low or no cost computers, Internet access and access means will encourage persons to persue "high-tech" jobs and careers. False - using free Internet access in its' limited form will not suddenly create Geeks.
Second, they believe that this is fair. That is, that certain persons have been locked out of this so-called revolution due to economic reasons.
False, again - Free market economics have forced cheaper, even free, Internet access (remember 30 or 40 bux a month for a PPP account with 25 hours?). PC's are now either free (with strings attached, of course) or so cheap anyone with enough gumption can buy one.
Finally, advocates of this planning believe that once a computer and Internet access is introduced into a person's life they will wonder how they lived without it before.
False - Nobody can mandate you turn the thing on and connect to the Internet and learn the wonders of this age. It takes desire. The same desire that would most likely cause someone to procur a computer on their own without the government or corporation's assistance.
What "moral" reason is there to hand out free stuff and services? There is none. Katz and Clinton can fix the imaginary "digital divide" with their ivory tower, intellectual, elitist, pigplan of handing out free computers, phone lines, and Internet access. Guess what happens? A bunch of low-end PC's for sale at pawn shops within 24 hours.
Free net access and low cost PC's are available right now to anyone who wants them. It takes the desire on a person's part to obtain these things, not a government or corporate plan devised by some non-reality dwelling, take-no-responsibility-when-it-does-not-work academic.
Look what happened to the Inuit indians in Alaska when oil money was liberally handed out in the 1970's. A bunch of drunk Eskimos and broken skimobiles in every driveway. That is immoral. Get real.
..but I think the best part is the little picture of him on top of the article. He reminds me of John Tesh, another waste of time at the keyboard.
Lots of people have responded directly to this gentleman and ZD on their site. I doubt he will read the responses, though.
There is no such thing as a "level playing field" in regards to the Internet. This is an erroneous buzzword developed by Internet marketeers and ecommerce web goons.
The fact of the matter is things still work the same in the long run as they always have with "bidness". The organization/person/business with the most marketing and PR dollars can afford to blitz the market place with banners, billboards, commercials on traditional media channels, and mailouts (consider how many web sites you see advertised on TV and radio).
In the end, (five years from now), most web sites will be the product of some big institution or commercial concern. How we will laugh/cry thinking about the "good ol days".
Worry anytime a company or the government has any tracking plans designed to:
- to stop crime, information piracy or terrorists.
- streamline processes which will allegedly result in lower costs to the consumer/taxpayer but requires less accountability or bypasses standard protections.
- cater to fearmongering in any sort, i.e. protecting your children, the Commies are coming to get us!, etc.
Privacy, personal responsibility and accountability are the most important rights all persons in this world should fight for.
13-21 year old girls "buy" records at music stores. Geeks download MP3's for nada.
One generates revenue that continues the trend: money generated by the sale of less than admirable music (N'Sync for instance)is enough to convince record company execs to create additional acts.
The other downloads music, does not pay for it therefore is not a revenue stream.
Quick. Name all five members of New Kids on the Block.
Had the same concerns and questions myself when planning a trip to Europe.
. htm
Here is a listing of free ISP's in other countries. There are several for the countries you are going to:
http://www.nzlist.org/user/freeisp (click on the International lists)
I used a Dell Latitude and brought with me an extra battery and power adapters.
Rent, don't buy, cellphones in countries or regions (most cell phone companies in Europe have calling plans for the whole continent).
Finally, pack light. Don't bring extra connectors, periphials or floppies. Amazingly, most countries sell computer supplies at comparable prices to the US.
Here is some websites that may give you some good information:
http://www.worldwidewanderings.com/helppreptech
http://artoftravel.com
F-A-C-I-S-T
Using something from theonion on a /. post is like those people who haven't got a damn original thing in their heads and they stand around at parties and work blabbing lines, word for word, from Monty Python.
Somebody, quick, send me a personality!
Miramax will eventually allow you to download some crappy movie to your computer but the Library of Congress has no plans to digitize books i.e. make available over the Internet.
This bodes well for all of us. 30 years and we will be lucky if we can even dress ourselves any longer.
How many times do you hear this when you go to the checkout counter at some stores? What happened to "Did you find everything you were looking for? How will you be paying?"
Instead, they should say "Hi, because we allowed you into our store, we would like to violate your privacy, please."
The reasoning for the need for this is either to pass this on to telemarketers or to mail you more junkmail.
For some reason or another, my wife and I like our privacy and don't feel like giving out this information to the guy at Radio Shack, so either:
a) question the need for this and if a good answer is not provided, we sometimes threaten to take our business elsewhere OR
b) we give them the phone number for their own store or make one up.
Nice try, junebug, but I am married, over 35 and with children. (not everyone here lives in dreamworld).
Not having a Social Security number was not a problem for the first 60+ years of our income tax. The numbers of persons violating the law will not change regardless of what laws the lumbering government puts on its' citizens. Those that have broken the law will only find another way around it. Furthermore, I would like to see the real numbers that prove the level of fraud was at a neccessary level which dictated this change.
Also, this is not limited to tax forms. In recent years, there have been a host of proposals to use SS#'s for other "government streamlining" proposals. Look it up.
Yep, I am afraid of evil "corporations"..
The GOVERNMENT used to require Social Security numbers when you got a job, now they require every child six months and older to have one for "tax purposes". A seven-month old needs to pay taxes? Since when?
The GOVERNMENT has broken treaties with the Indians over mineral and oil rights, has broken up fair protests (Seattle), and arrested and detained citizens without due process.
The GOVERNMENT does not want me to buy airline tickets with cash, limits the amount of cash I can legally send using wire services and is opposed to encryption of my personal files on my computer all in the name of public safety, (and requires privately owned companies to comply with these rules). How does me whipping out a wad of Ben Franklins to pay for a plane trip to Philadelphia threaten national security?
The GOVERNMENT has broad search and seizure rules without need for warrant, has the right to track all firearm purchases and trips outside of our shores, has the right to mandate new taxes (even though it is forbidden by the Constitution), and has the right to fight undeclared wars against foreign powers (even though that is against the Constitution as well).
Evil corporations gather data on me to send me spam, junk mail, and telemarketer's calls. I can live with that.
Further more, I can still call Sears, AT&T, Bank of America, and just about any other "corporation" I have done business with and get someone with authority to hear my grievance and make amends, up to and including, refunding my money.
I challenge you to call any branch of GOVERNMENT, (post office, county tax assessors, congressman, etc) and find a anyone remotely interested in listening to your problem, and having the authority to refund your tax dollars for causing you inconvinience.
Once you hand it over to the GOVERNMENT, you can forget about getting it back.
List for me the liberties "evil corporations" have taken from you.
I will be waiting.