Interestingly enough, that page is no longer linked to within their little menu structure on the left. Is that something that has always been the case? Or did Microsoft say, "Get rid of that stupid screensaver" now that they own them?
It's just like how many people in government scream when they get their spending "cut". Not always really a "cut", but less than what it was set to increase. It happens everywhere. "Oh no! I only got a 3% increase instead of a 4% increase! I'll call it a spending cut and get people incensed!"
Uh, I think that if an elected US politician started spewing about forced abortions and vasectomies to control population growth, you'd see lots of people voting the person out of office. Just a hunch.
I'm an optimist. I fully believe that most industrialized countries will wean themselves off of a dependence on oil. We will have an abundance of energy. It's the market.
First, we look at oil dependence. We are in no way close to peak oil yet. Canada has yet to show their economic might with the oil discovered in their country. Hybrid cars are just now becoming economical, but more than that, they are becoming fashionable. There's a waiting list for Toyota Prius cars. Honda is selling hybrid versions of the Civic and Accord, not to mention the Insight, though it's a bit ugly IMO. Ford is selling the Escape hybrid. Second generation hybrid technology is out. It has matured. Fuel economy will go up. In the end, we can hold off on heavy oil dependence for a while longer. Electric cars are on their way as well, but that requires cheap energy at home...
Cheap energy in the home is possible. Ridiculously cheap energy is possible too. Real improvements have been made in solar energy in the past few years. The market will make people begin to buy these if energy costs get too high. Can you imagine the energy produced from millions of high efficiency solar panels spread across a country?
Many times I think people look only at what trouble the future will bring. Nobody ever seems to look at how far we've come. Our cars are producing fewer emissions. Granted, we have more cars on the road every year, which negates a net reduction, but the incremental advances we make are real. Our energy options are greater than ever. Sure, there are lots of people that will still drive that SUV, because they can afford the gas prices. But there are some that are feeling the squeeze of the market. Those people will buy the new technology that results in higher fuel efficiency. When the real squeeze hits, these technologies will be mature and proven. Energy becomes scarce, and higher cost, people will find a way to make do with less, or find more efficient ways of getting it. Necessity is the mother of invention. We haven't really needed efficient energy because we've been living in a fairy tale of cheap energy. That's coming to a close, so we'll invent new ways.
My sister and I have been raised in what you would call a "Conservative Republican" household. We've talked, and often, about what technologies we will put into our homes and lives. Geothermal heating and cooling. Solar energy. Energy efficient construction. Hybrid, high efficiency vehicles, or electric. In the end, this stuff is cheaper in the long run. It's not just those "greenies" living off the grid in the sticks that will use this stuff. We'll get it. Too be sure, the world economy runs on oil, but the ball has finally gotten rolling on alternates these past few years. I don't really think that we'll be in that severe of a crunch in the years to come.
What I'm more concerned about is other countries not getting access to these new technologies, and being stuck scraping enough to get by, or needing to fight with others over it. As you said, wars are waged over competition for resources.
Sadly, space exploration is out of the question for now. There isn't any technical reason we couldn't do it. Hell, if we were really interested and inspired, we could construct ships in orbital shipyards that used Orion drives. Mars and back in four weeks? No way! At least it's good to know that the technical hurdles are getting out of the way.
I really don't know where to draw the line, but it certainly seems the pendulum has swung in the direction of treating all students as potential Columbinites.
I expect it has something to do with liability, either real or imagined. What if this kid did do something later on, and the school knew about this and took no action? I'm not saying that the disciplinary action that they took matches his inappropriate behavior, but it's possible that they would be opening themselves up to a lawsuit if this kid did hurt someone and the school had done nothing. Thank our litigious society for that.
In the end, the bad PR from punishing this kid harshly would be less than "The school knew, and they did NOTHING!" Although I'd think that they could have been a bit lighter on the kid and still accomplished their goal of CYA.
China? A country with mobile death vans? I think the ability to write OSS would be the least of my concerns. So no; it's not worth it to move to China for me.
It's the "Look! Shiny!" complex. Apple makes hardware that's pleasing to look at. Whether or not it performs better is beside the issue. People look at something and if it looks good, they assume it is a good product, even if it's on a subconscious level. Same goes for Nintendo, with that nice little cube. Although, I have to say, no games on the other systems have come close to the fun value of Super Smash Bros. or Double Dash on the GameCube. Four wireless controllers, refreshments, and frantic, social games played in the same room? It's an experience that no person should miss, even if they aren't a gamer.
I dunno, I've seen people drive 20 miles across town to save five bucks on something, but don't have any problem walking into a car dealership and laying down bank without checking around. Where would XP fall into a situation like this? I'm not going to have to deal with it, since I've recently switched to runnning Linux on all my boxes, but sometimes people have funny behaviors when it comes to saving money. It might not turn out exactly the way MS expects.
Oh, I've still got XP on a tablet. Too bad the inking and character recognition were better on Linux, or I'd switch that over too.
Checkout will never go anywhere because they require a soc sec # to sell.
That's for individuals. Incorporate and get a federal tax ID number instead. Smart people should be incorporating anyway, because it reduces your liability. With a sole proprietorship, entities suing you can go after your personal assets as well.
Nope, I want the Chinese people to get pissed enough at all the restrictions that they have to live under to set them over the boiling point to overthrow their government.
But where will we get all our cheap plastic shit then? Time to move the production to another oppressive country, I guess.
What I'd really like is for all of those countries to get their personal freedom at once. Much more efficient to not have to keep moving manufacturing centers from country to country. Sure, prices will go up, but then we might have something closer to a free market. It might cost roughly the same in any country to produce goods.
Ah, but that wouldn't affect the average human lifespan. If there are only an elite few that can afford the gene-therapy, that won't affect the average. It won't do any good if 1 in every 100 people lives to 200, while the rest live to 85. That still makes an average of 86.15. Even if 1 out of 100 lived to 2000 years old, that still only makes an average of 104.15. And if the calculated average lifespan only takes into account the age of people when they die, if these elite never do, they'll never affect the average lifespan at all.
It would be in their best interest to make sure that everyone lives forever.
Perhaps new copyright legislation should define the "limited time" as one half of the total average lifespan of an American citizen, according to an unbiased source (where do we get this statistic now?). Have it be measured and applied every 10 years. That way, copyright holders and their agents will have a real interest in the extension of the human lifespan as well, not just copyright!
Also Offtopic, but as I've seen it a few times, I just need to say that I approve of your sig. I hate it when people mess up those words, much like their, there, and they're. Someone I know (native language is English) messes those up all the time. The excuse? "People still understand what I'm trying to say." My response? "But it makes you look like a clueless dumbfuck!"
Generally, I would think that this would just make it that much easier. I imagine that if there are those that can develop Linux for a Treo 650, which was really never meant to run it in the first place, having actual hardware designed for some form of Linux would lend itself to more easily getting a distribution running on those phones. Get another Linux version on there and bypass the crap that the network operator installed for your "convenience".
I suppose if the people are moderately happy and generally want the same things, who are we to argue? And I'm guessing that extra marketing afforded to the affluent would ensure that the people getting their three squares of media content per day would be of the same mind of the wealthy.
Not unlike a shepherd herding sheep. Keep them contained and happy, fleece them, and put them back out to pasture until the next time. Everybody wins.
All it takes is a few rounds of not re-electing the same bought and paid-for fools. The problem is that the general population is so ignorant, indifferent, or both, that they end up having exactly zero effect on the system. The only change is that the list of laws get longer, the tax code gets more complex, and a bunch more money changes hands.
So, the majority must be more or less accepting of the situation, even if it's grudging. "I know my Senator is corrupt, but at least he's familiar. I don't know how corrupt that new guy is. Strange ideas, he has; Clean Up government? What's his angle?"
People are so distrusting of the system that they don't trust any politicians, but at least they can have "their" own "party" in power.
"He's a corrupt politician, but he's my corrupt politician!"
Slashdot Mirror
No, it protects Microsoft's copy of Windows. We're only licensing it from them, after all.
Interestingly enough, that page is no longer linked to within their little menu structure on the left. Is that something that has always been the case? Or did Microsoft say, "Get rid of that stupid screensaver" now that they own them?
It's just like how many people in government scream when they get their spending "cut". Not always really a "cut", but less than what it was set to increase. It happens everywhere. "Oh no! I only got a 3% increase instead of a 4% increase! I'll call it a spending cut and get people incensed!"
Excellent. We now know that all those hard vacuum hijinks on Star Trek, Farscape, etc, are not totally wrong.
I can now sleep easier at night. Thank you.
The paper is wrong. It says so on Slashdot.
Uh, I think that if an elected US politician started spewing about forced abortions and vasectomies to control population growth, you'd see lots of people voting the person out of office. Just a hunch.
I'm an optimist. I fully believe that most industrialized countries will wean themselves off of a dependence on oil. We will have an abundance of energy. It's the market.
First, we look at oil dependence. We are in no way close to peak oil yet. Canada has yet to show their economic might with the oil discovered in their country. Hybrid cars are just now becoming economical, but more than that, they are becoming fashionable. There's a waiting list for Toyota Prius cars. Honda is selling hybrid versions of the Civic and Accord, not to mention the Insight, though it's a bit ugly IMO. Ford is selling the Escape hybrid. Second generation hybrid technology is out. It has matured. Fuel economy will go up. In the end, we can hold off on heavy oil dependence for a while longer. Electric cars are on their way as well, but that requires cheap energy at home...
Cheap energy in the home is possible. Ridiculously cheap energy is possible too. Real improvements have been made in solar energy in the past few years. The market will make people begin to buy these if energy costs get too high. Can you imagine the energy produced from millions of high efficiency solar panels spread across a country?
Many times I think people look only at what trouble the future will bring. Nobody ever seems to look at how far we've come. Our cars are producing fewer emissions. Granted, we have more cars on the road every year, which negates a net reduction, but the incremental advances we make are real. Our energy options are greater than ever. Sure, there are lots of people that will still drive that SUV, because they can afford the gas prices. But there are some that are feeling the squeeze of the market. Those people will buy the new technology that results in higher fuel efficiency. When the real squeeze hits, these technologies will be mature and proven. Energy becomes scarce, and higher cost, people will find a way to make do with less, or find more efficient ways of getting it. Necessity is the mother of invention. We haven't really needed efficient energy because we've been living in a fairy tale of cheap energy. That's coming to a close, so we'll invent new ways.
My sister and I have been raised in what you would call a "Conservative Republican" household. We've talked, and often, about what technologies we will put into our homes and lives. Geothermal heating and cooling. Solar energy. Energy efficient construction. Hybrid, high efficiency vehicles, or electric. In the end, this stuff is cheaper in the long run. It's not just those "greenies" living off the grid in the sticks that will use this stuff. We'll get it. Too be sure, the world economy runs on oil, but the ball has finally gotten rolling on alternates these past few years. I don't really think that we'll be in that severe of a crunch in the years to come.
What I'm more concerned about is other countries not getting access to these new technologies, and being stuck scraping enough to get by, or needing to fight with others over it. As you said, wars are waged over competition for resources.
Sadly, space exploration is out of the question for now. There isn't any technical reason we couldn't do it. Hell, if we were really interested and inspired, we could construct ships in orbital shipyards that used Orion drives. Mars and back in four weeks? No way! At least it's good to know that the technical hurdles are getting out of the way.
Great. We'll have a glut of these to look forward to on ebay and craigslist. I can't wait.
Hey, if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.
I really don't know where to draw the line, but it certainly seems the pendulum has swung in the direction of treating all students as potential Columbinites.
I expect it has something to do with liability, either real or imagined. What if this kid did do something later on, and the school knew about this and took no action? I'm not saying that the disciplinary action that they took matches his inappropriate behavior, but it's possible that they would be opening themselves up to a lawsuit if this kid did hurt someone and the school had done nothing. Thank our litigious society for that.
In the end, the bad PR from punishing this kid harshly would be less than "The school knew, and they did NOTHING!" Although I'd think that they could have been a bit lighter on the kid and still accomplished their goal of CYA.
I'm not talking about performance. I'm talking about the eye humping that occurs, manifesting itself into biased moderation for Apple and Nintendo.
China? A country with mobile death vans? I think the ability to write OSS would be the least of my concerns. So no; it's not worth it to move to China for me.
It's the "Look! Shiny!" complex. Apple makes hardware that's pleasing to look at. Whether or not it performs better is beside the issue. People look at something and if it looks good, they assume it is a good product, even if it's on a subconscious level. Same goes for Nintendo, with that nice little cube. Although, I have to say, no games on the other systems have come close to the fun value of Super Smash Bros. or Double Dash on the GameCube. Four wireless controllers, refreshments, and frantic, social games played in the same room? It's an experience that no person should miss, even if they aren't a gamer.
Oh, I've still got XP on a tablet. Too bad the inking and character recognition were better on Linux, or I'd switch that over too.
That's for individuals. Incorporate and get a federal tax ID number instead. Smart people should be incorporating anyway, because it reduces your liability. With a sole proprietorship, entities suing you can go after your personal assets as well.
But where will we get all our cheap plastic shit then? Time to move the production to another oppressive country, I guess.
What I'd really like is for all of those countries to get their personal freedom at once. Much more efficient to not have to keep moving manufacturing centers from country to country. Sure, prices will go up, but then we might have something closer to a free market. It might cost roughly the same in any country to produce goods.
By sucking all the happiness out of you? Maybe. More likely they'll just send you to 'Azkaban'.
It would be in their best interest to make sure that everyone lives forever.
Perhaps new copyright legislation should define the "limited time" as one half of the total average lifespan of an American citizen, according to an unbiased source (where do we get this statistic now?). Have it be measured and applied every 10 years. That way, copyright holders and their agents will have a real interest in the extension of the human lifespan as well, not just copyright!
ping thepiratebay.nete bay.org (83.140.176.146): icmp_seq=1 ttl=40 time=138 ms
PING thepiratebay.net (83.140.176.146) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from hey.mpaa.and.apb.bite.my.shiny.metal.ass.thepirat
Also Offtopic, but as I've seen it a few times, I just need to say that I approve of your sig. I hate it when people mess up those words, much like their, there, and they're. Someone I know (native language is English) messes those up all the time. The excuse? "People still understand what I'm trying to say." My response? "But it makes you look like a clueless dumbfuck!"
Or someone. YMMV, of course.
Generally, I would think that this would just make it that much easier. I imagine that if there are those that can develop Linux for a Treo 650, which was really never meant to run it in the first place, having actual hardware designed for some form of Linux would lend itself to more easily getting a distribution running on those phones. Get another Linux version on there and bypass the crap that the network operator installed for your "convenience".
Not unlike a shepherd herding sheep. Keep them contained and happy, fleece them, and put them back out to pasture until the next time. Everybody wins.
So, the majority must be more or less accepting of the situation, even if it's grudging. "I know my Senator is corrupt, but at least he's familiar. I don't know how corrupt that new guy is. Strange ideas, he has; Clean Up government? What's his angle?"
People are so distrusting of the system that they don't trust any politicians, but at least they can have "their" own "party" in power.
"He's a corrupt politician, but he's my corrupt politician!"