You have an overly simplistic understanding of ownership and "LEGAL RIGHTS". You shout those words as though they were engraved in a stone tablet by a messenger of God. IP laws were created by imperfect men and women. Laws which do not serve public interest are bogus. It's important that people have an incentive to create copyable things, but it's disastrous when the past works of a few inhibit the future works of the many.
Just as we celebrate the disobedience of Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Robinhood, we love to see Jon J. sticking it to "the man". What we really need is an organized effort to massively distribute collections of works which, if not for the new mickey mouse laws, would be in the public domain.
Does information "want to be free"? Not in the sense that a child wants a new toy. But, like the energy it's composed of, information does radiate outward. The longer and farther it travels, the more universal its effects become, and the more futile it becomes to try to control it. Sounds echo thru the hills and travel on radio waves toward distant galaxies. What will the RIAA do about a bunch of little green creatures on Quidnark-37 illegaly twisting to Chubby Checker?
"I hung up some napkins and drink covers to personalize my space."
Trying to ketchup to the pixar guys, eh?
"My boss is real mad"
Flipping mad?
"he lacks the creative spark that Steve Jobs has..."
Mustard been his training at Hamburger U. It seems you're in a pickle, but there's no need to get cheesed off. Grow some mcnuggets, take off the funny hat, and tell him you deserve a break today.
"There was sod all wrong with the Firestone tyres. It was because the users had been told to run them at absurdly low pressures to try to minimise the risk of the vehicle flipping at low speed. Had the Explorer been built with a low enough centre of gravity (instead of being about as stable as an egg standing on its pointy end) the problem would not have occurred."
Congratulations on being one of the few people who saw through Ford's propaganda on this issue.
"Yet you trust them with your money more than you trust yourself."
First of all, it's not just my money. Secondly, it's not a matter of trusting GW with the present system.
What matters is not letting him make changes whereby he can have control over the flow of trillions of dollars of investment and deficit spending.
The red-staters who put him back into office are the same people who depend most on Social Security. There's the disconnect.
Fortunately, there's evidence coming back from his roadshow that these people are starting to see the real GW, not the born-again-anti-gay-married-terrorist they voted for.
privatized social security is equivalent to no social security. Why does George Bush think it's a good idea for the government to entrust Wall Street with the responsibility for securing the social status of all Americans?
Is he...
a) too young to remember the 1929 crash? b) too stupid to see what's going on around him? c) just a puppet on a string? d) a greedy mofo planning to cash in somehow? e) a samsquamch?
So all the macs they sold with MacOS 1-9 have turned into pumpkins?
Allow me to reverse troll. The 1984 machines were real macs, crash prone and overpriced. OS X is just another unix machine that favors eye candy over functionality.
"That doesn't change the fact that he can only sign what they put on his desk."
But you ignore the fact that he has great influence over what they bring him.
"I do understand how Social Security was MEANT to work. Furthermore, I DO believe it should be abolished."
I did too, once, and I'm still in favor of reforming the system, but not in the ways Bush is proposing. Allowing SS to be privatized means putting it in the hands of those who cannot be trusted to the degree necessary, wall street. It also means going trillions of dollars further in debt to continue paying benefits.
"Older people have been finding ways to support themselves for thousands of years."
People can become poor overnight, for any number of reasons. Don't pretend that there isn't a problem with poverty among the elderly. Social Security provides a very important safety net.
"If they want to save money, they should save it. If they don't, they should not be forced to (social security)."
And if someone should steal their money, will you pay their rent? People got wiped out by Enron. Twenty years ago it was the Savings and Loans. Brother Neil Bush just happened to be one of those scoundrels.
"By forcing people to save money in a government account, the governement is telling us that we don't know what is good for ourselves, and I (being amoung the minority of intelligent people) resent that."
Well, as one of the minority of intelligent people, you should have no problem overcoming the limitations put on you by the dumb people. If you're still college age, I don't think you've seen enough to know everything that's good for you.
"It's called a progressive tax system. Not only do they pay more taxes in terms of $$, they also pay a higher percentage [both per capita]."
You're simplifying it into a discussion of just income tax. Let's talk about capital gains taxes, estate taxes, investment credit loopholes, depreciation of luxury cars, yachts, etc. Leona Helmsley wasn't kidding when she said "taxes are for the little people".
"Would you say the services they receive [per capita] is higher than that of a $20,000 income family who pays no [income] taxes due to deductions??"
Good question. It's a tough thing to judge because services are rendered in so many ways. How about the compensation that was paid to families of 9/11 victims? How about expensive beachfront property that we end up paying for after a hurricane?
"Maybe you should look up the word arrogant*, because that statement implies that I am rich."
Fair enough, I forgot that I don't know who I'm arguing with.
"The fact is, I am a poor college student, my father's income is BELOW THE POVERTY LINE for our household size, and you have the gall to say that my opinions are biased by my situation?"
It just seems to me that you are advocating the position of a rich man.
"I did not say that the rich support everyone, or that I support anyone. What I said is that they pay disproportionate income taxes, which is true."
If that were true, I don't think so many wealthy politicians would be unwilling to show their tax returns.
"My father would be one of the one's benefitting by the money put in by rich people, if he chose to go on disability. But he refuses because he believes in earning one's living no matter how hard it is."
If he is able to earn his living, then strictly speaking, he isn't disabled. If he is disabled, then I would hope he would take advantage of the benefits the system has to offer.
"So, I should support the rich paying higher taxes, afterall it would make my life easier? Maybe I would support it, if I didn't have moral values to teach me otherwise."
You are supporting the rich paying lower taxes, making your life harder. That's what Bush has done. Since I don't support it, you have now labeled me immoral.
IMO, Ayn Rand's fiction bears little resemblance to actual life on Earth.
minimum wage ------------- "He doesn't even have the authority to change the minimum wage, that is set by..... Congress. Let's blame him anyways."
He's the top dog Republican. The house and the senate are controlled by Republicans.
social security --------------- "His plan does not decrease current social security, but rather supplemnents it on a VOLUNTARY BASIS. But, how will we ever achieve a true communist state if we allow people to choose for themselves?"
You seem to have no understanding of why we have a social security system. Volunteerism and communism have nothing to do with it.
tax cuts --------- "Rich people are people just like you and me. Why should they pay such a disproportionate amount of the tax revenue? They have more, and owe it to the rest of us, right?"
They do not pay a disproportionate amount of taxes. You're probably confusing "rich" with "middle class". Suggesting that the rich support everyone else is incredibly arrogant.
tort reform ----------- You mean like the people who were shot by a killer trained by Wal-Mart (through the sale of a video game)?"
No, I mean the people whose neighborhoods are being rained upon with sulphuric ash by dirty coal plants which are polluting more than ever due to rules changes by Bush.
patriot act ----------- "Once again, passed by the congress, would've been signed by Gore anyways."
In case you didn't know, Gore is trying to get the Patriot Act repealed. Bush is pushing to renew it.
bush sucks ---------- "This is true of ANY politician (even your beloved Stalin),"
Stop calling me a communist. Who do you think you are, Joe McCarthy?
"stop acting like it's exclusive to Bush and therefore makes him somehow worse than the others."
Take a good hard look at the man. Read about the business and politics of the Bush family. Study the VP and members of the cabinet. Consider the mistakes, the lies, the secrets. Yes, he is much worse than most others.
"Bush does not set your salery or mine, our employers do."
He does many things which directly affect the salaries of millions of people. For one, not raising the minimum wage keeps many people below the poverty line. The percentage of poor people in this country is higher than it has ever been since the great depression. Taxation directly reduces a person's salary, but his tax breaks greatly favor the top few percent. His plan for Social Security will take retirement money away from people who were depending on it, who were promised it. The idea of pushing SS money to Wall Street where future Enrons and Worldcoms can steal it is outrageous.
"These things have NOTHING to do with him."
WAKE UP. We were running a surplus and paying off our national debt until Bush came into office and gave rich people a big tax break and started a bogus war.
He's making people sick with his overhaul of the clean air act while making it harder for them to get medical help. He'll make it nearly impossible for those injured by big business to hold them accountable.
He has made a mockery of our justice system with the Unpatriot Act. He let MS off the hook for major transgressions against free trade.
"valid arguement"
You can't even spell "argument", but that's no surprise since you are too naive to see how Bush's actions have directly and negatively affected the lives of millions of Americans.
Bush is not a public servant, he's a power broker as is the rest of his family and his administration.
If we hadn't caught this error, we might have thought that they had weapons of mass destruction and wasted a few hundred billion dollars in a crusade to kill tens of thousands of freeze-dried martians.
"will let you fight and die at 18, but wont let you drink till 21"
Before 1971, if you were a male U.S. citizen between 18 and 21, not only couldn't you drink, you couldn't vote. But you did stand a good chance of being drafted for service in Vietnam.
They eliminated the double-standard by lowering the voting age to 18. Some states, like Massachusetts also lowered the drinking age to 18. Of course, after the draft was repealed, so was the draft.
"A calendar seems pretty clearly not to be in google's long term strategy."
Inasumuch as it can cover the "when" part of any information, it fits right in. Think about being able to type in a few search terms and construct a timeline of relevant events.
How about combining it with their new mapping software and being able to scroll through the time dimension to see when and where things are happening?
Slashdot Mirror
I can't believe I threw up in front of Admiral Wormer.
All we need now is a way to make the windows wobble in phase.
10 gallon asshats?
You have an overly simplistic understanding of ownership and "LEGAL RIGHTS". You shout those words as though they were engraved in a stone tablet by a messenger of God. IP laws were created by imperfect men and women. Laws which do not serve public interest are bogus. It's important that people have an incentive to create copyable things, but it's disastrous when the past works of a few inhibit the future works of the many.
Just as we celebrate the disobedience of Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Robinhood, we love to see Jon J. sticking it to "the man". What we really need is an organized effort to massively distribute collections of works which, if not for the new mickey mouse laws, would be in the public domain.
Does information "want to be free"? Not in the sense that a child wants a new toy. But, like the energy it's composed of, information does radiate outward. The longer and farther it travels, the more universal its effects become, and the more futile it becomes to try to control it. Sounds echo thru the hills and travel on radio waves toward distant galaxies. What will the RIAA do about a bunch of little green creatures on Quidnark-37 illegaly twisting to Chubby Checker?
"I am working the grill today at McDonalds"
Not exactly a rare job.
"I hung up some napkins and drink covers to personalize my space."
Trying to ketchup to the pixar guys, eh?
"My boss is real mad"
Flipping mad?
"he lacks the creative spark that Steve Jobs has..."
Mustard been his training at Hamburger U. It seems you're in a pickle, but there's no need to get cheesed off. Grow some mcnuggets, take off the funny hat, and tell him you deserve a break today.
Hey moderators, the parent post may be funny, but it's not insightful. Who cares if there's no karma for humor?
"There was sod all wrong with the Firestone tyres. It was because the users had been told to run them at absurdly low pressures to try to minimise the risk of the vehicle flipping at low speed. Had the Explorer been built with a low enough centre of gravity (instead of being about as stable as an egg standing on its pointy end) the problem would not have occurred."
Congratulations on being one of the few people who saw through Ford's propaganda on this issue.
"You cannot blame MS for playing according to the rules"
They're not playing by the rules. They just try to slide as many things by as they can.
"nor can one blame the policticians for being accomodating and writing the rules to benefit such a generous contributor"
Really? It sounds like treason.
Are you saying that Bin Laden is Jewish?
"Woah.. that was easy"
Yep, cut+paste. Try explaining how to save/convert that file in Windows using only a mouse.
I think you're right to a high degree. But he still needs congress to vote the stuff in, and some of those critters plan on running again.
"Yet you trust them with your money more than you trust yourself."
First of all, it's not just my money. Secondly, it's not a matter of trusting GW with the present system.
What matters is not letting him make changes whereby he can have control over the flow of trillions of dollars of investment and deficit spending.
The red-staters who put him back into office are the same people who depend most on Social Security. There's the disconnect.
Fortunately, there's evidence coming back from his roadshow that these people are starting to see the real GW, not the born-again-anti-gay-married-terrorist they voted for.
privatized social security is equivalent to no social security. Why does George Bush think it's a good idea for the government to entrust Wall Street with the responsibility for securing the social status of all Americans?
Is he...
a) too young to remember the 1929 crash?
b) too stupid to see what's going on around him?
c) just a puppet on a string?
d) a greedy mofo planning to cash in somehow?
e) a samsquamch?
Harvard President Lawrence Summers could not be reached for comment.
people get click happy and say the PC is frozen when Windows enters "trashing" mode
What is it trashing?
"apple hw, without max os x isn't a mac."
So all the macs they sold with MacOS 1-9 have turned into pumpkins?
Allow me to reverse troll. The 1984 machines were real macs, crash prone and overpriced. OS X is just another unix machine that favors eye candy over functionality.
"That doesn't change the fact that he can only sign what they put on his desk."
But you ignore the fact that he has great influence over what they bring him.
"I do understand how Social Security was MEANT to work. Furthermore, I DO believe it should be abolished."
I did too, once, and I'm still in favor of reforming the system, but not in the ways Bush is proposing. Allowing SS to be privatized means putting it in the hands of those who cannot be trusted to the degree necessary, wall street. It also means going trillions of dollars further in debt to continue paying benefits.
"Older people have been finding ways to support themselves for thousands of years."
People can become poor overnight, for any number of reasons. Don't pretend that there isn't a problem with poverty among the elderly. Social Security provides a very important safety net.
"If they want to save money, they should save it. If they don't, they should not be forced to (social security)."
And if someone should steal their money, will you pay their rent? People got wiped out by Enron. Twenty years ago it was the Savings and Loans. Brother Neil Bush just happened to be one of those scoundrels.
"By forcing people to save money in a government account, the governement is telling us that we don't know what is good for ourselves, and I (being amoung the minority of intelligent people) resent that."
Well, as one of the minority of intelligent people, you should have no problem overcoming the limitations put on you by the dumb people. If you're still college age, I don't think you've seen enough to know everything that's good for you.
"It's called a progressive tax system. Not only do they pay more taxes in terms of $$, they also pay a higher percentage [both per capita]."
You're simplifying it into a discussion of just income tax. Let's talk about capital gains taxes, estate taxes, investment credit loopholes, depreciation of luxury cars, yachts, etc. Leona Helmsley wasn't kidding when she said "taxes are for the little people".
"Would you say the services they receive [per capita] is higher than that of a $20,000 income family who pays no [income] taxes due to deductions??"
Good question. It's a tough thing to judge because services are rendered in so many ways. How about the compensation that was paid to families of 9/11 victims? How about expensive beachfront property that we end up paying for after a hurricane?
"Maybe you should look up the word arrogant*, because that statement implies that I am rich."
Fair enough, I forgot that I don't know who I'm arguing with.
"The fact is, I am a poor college student, my father's income is BELOW THE POVERTY LINE for our household size, and you have the gall to say that my opinions are biased by my situation?"
It just seems to me that you are advocating the position of a rich man.
"I did not say that the rich support everyone, or that I support anyone. What I said is that they pay disproportionate income taxes, which is true."
If that were true, I don't think so many wealthy politicians would be unwilling to show their tax returns.
"My father would be one of the one's benefitting by the money put in by rich people, if he chose to go on disability. But he refuses because he believes in earning one's living no matter how hard it is."
If he is able to earn his living, then strictly speaking, he isn't disabled. If he is disabled, then I would hope he would take advantage of the benefits the system has to offer.
"So, I should support the rich paying higher taxes, afterall it would make my life easier? Maybe I would support it, if I didn't have moral values to teach me otherwise."
You are supporting the rich paying lower taxes, making your life harder. That's what Bush has done. Since I don't support it, you have now labeled me immoral.
IMO, Ayn Rand's fiction bears little resemblance to actual life on Earth.
minimum wage ..... Congress. Let's blame him anyways."
-------------
"He doesn't even have the authority to change the minimum wage, that is set by
He's the top dog Republican. The house and the senate are controlled by Republicans.
social security
---------------
"His plan does not decrease current social security, but rather supplemnents it on a VOLUNTARY BASIS. But, how will we ever achieve a true communist state if we allow people to choose for themselves?"
You seem to have no understanding of why we have a social security system. Volunteerism and communism have nothing to do with it.
tax cuts
---------
"Rich people are people just like you and me. Why should they pay such a disproportionate amount of the tax revenue? They have more, and owe it to the rest of us, right?"
They do not pay a disproportionate amount of taxes. You're probably confusing "rich" with "middle class". Suggesting that the rich support everyone else is incredibly arrogant.
tort reform
-----------
You mean like the people who were shot by a killer trained by Wal-Mart (through the sale of a video game)?"
No, I mean the people whose neighborhoods are being rained upon with sulphuric ash by dirty coal plants which are polluting more than ever due to rules changes by Bush.
patriot act
-----------
"Once again, passed by the congress, would've been signed by Gore anyways."
In case you didn't know, Gore is trying to get the Patriot Act repealed. Bush is pushing to renew it.
bush sucks
----------
"This is true of ANY politician (even your beloved Stalin),"
Stop calling me a communist. Who do you think you are, Joe McCarthy?
"stop acting like it's exclusive to Bush and therefore makes him somehow worse than the others."
Take a good hard look at the man. Read about the business and politics of the Bush family. Study the VP and members of the cabinet. Consider the mistakes, the lies, the secrets. Yes, he is much worse than most others.
"Bush does not set your salery or mine, our employers do."
He does many things which directly affect the salaries of millions of people. For one, not raising the minimum wage keeps many people below the poverty line. The percentage of poor people in this country is higher than it has ever been since the great depression. Taxation directly reduces a person's salary, but his tax breaks greatly favor the top few percent. His plan for Social Security will take retirement money away from people who were depending on it, who were promised it. The idea of pushing SS money to Wall Street where future Enrons and Worldcoms can steal it is outrageous.
"These things have NOTHING to do with him."
WAKE UP. We were running a surplus and paying off our national debt until Bush came into office and gave rich people a big tax break and started a bogus war.
He's making people sick with his overhaul of the clean air act while making it harder for them to get medical help. He'll make it nearly impossible for those injured by big business to hold them accountable.
He has made a mockery of our justice system with the Unpatriot Act. He let MS off the hook for major transgressions against free trade.
"valid arguement"
You can't even spell "argument", but that's no surprise since you are too naive to see how Bush's actions have directly and negatively affected the lives of millions of Americans.
Bush is not a public servant, he's a power broker as is the rest of his family and his administration.
Rectal thermometers are all designed the same, but they must be shoved up a known asshole to be considered reliable.
Karma, whats that?
If we hadn't caught this error, we might have thought that they had weapons of mass destruction and wasted a few hundred billion dollars in a crusade to kill tens of thousands of freeze-dried martians.
"will let you fight and die at 18, but wont let you drink till 21"
Before 1971, if you were a male U.S. citizen between 18 and 21, not only couldn't you drink, you couldn't vote. But you did stand a good chance of being drafted for service in Vietnam.
They eliminated the double-standard by lowering the voting age to 18. Some states, like Massachusetts also lowered the drinking age to 18. Of course, after the draft was repealed, so was the draft.
"Microsoft didn't build america"
Microsoft bilked America.
"the other redundant and repetitive poster"
I feel your pain.
"A calendar seems pretty clearly not to be in google's long term strategy."
Inasumuch as it can cover the "when" part of any information, it fits right in. Think about being able to type in a few search terms and construct a timeline of relevant events.
How about combining it with their new mapping software and being able to scroll through the time dimension to see when and where things are happening?