"what's the difference between illegal gambling and state-sanctioned lotteries?" The lottery isn't really gambling... its more of a tax on people who can't do math. (I think there's a bumper sticker out there that says that).
Are people so lazy that they cannot get up off their arses to go to a voting center to vote?
Yes, actually. For presidential elections in the US there are only about 50% of all registered voters that acutally vote. Its significantly less for the other elections in this country. And that's just taking into account the people who got up off their arses to register.
One thing that internet voting will give us (not that I'm saying that its a good idea at this time) is the possibility for a larger percentage of people voting. I know I'd vote more often if I could do it from home or work, with little hyperlinks to candidate info, instead of going down to the voting booth and having no idea who half the candidates are.
I was suprised to see some facts and statistics in a Jon Katz article...
When reading this article I couldn't help but think about how these people chose these jobs. Any one of these "stressed out" individuals could find a less stressful workplace. It might mean a pay cut... it might mean moving to another part of the country, but if they're concerned enough about working long hours and being on call all the time then it might be worthwhile for them to look into those options.
The area I live in (DC area) is packed full of stressed out people... always on a business call on their cell phones, pagers going off, using a palm pilot or laptop in any spare time they have, and I've always felt that they do this to themselves. I've always managed to find a job that isn't stressful, and I've always managed to come up with vacation time, and I'm sure they could do the same.
Its all in line with freedom of speech. Its just some companies exercising their freedom to listen.
As long as yer not planning some crime against one of these companies, this could actually be a good thing. It might mean that the companies will actually pay attention to what their customers are saying.
Ok, you can drop all of the linux users out of the discussion (I think you're assuming that all of the slashdot readers are linux users, which isn't true) if you want to. Even though in yer mind the people developing linux aren't innovating, they still have a right to their opinion about microsoft's claims about their own innovations.
Besides, innovation isn't really something that costs money or even time really
That's not true. If you want to come up with some truely innovative ideas, then you need to hire the right people. You need to hire people who know what they're doing, you need to hire people who know what can be done, you need to hire people who can impliment all of these cutting edge "innovations." That costs money. That's why highly skilled intelligent people get paid more than the average joe, because they have these abilities that other people (including microsoft employees) lack.
I'll admit that linux users rant about MS the most... but what do you mean they contribute the least? The least compaired to who? There are lots of linux users who contribute free software to the community, yet there are very few windows users who contribute free software to anything. Even though there might be more people working on linux than there are working on windows, its not these people's job to work on linux... for most of them its what they do in their spare time.
It seems to me that the people developing linux software don't have the time to be as innovative as microsoft should be. Linux developers have a lot of work to do to get linux so that it can compete with a large commercially funded OS, and they're doing a good job with the limited time and resources they have.
Its a good thing I read your post... I didn't even realize this article was about linux.
You list 5 innovations, at least 3 of which are things with little impact on the world (besides giving people new toys to play with). I'd expect a company worth several hundred billions of dollars to be able to be more innovative than a free software project with $0 in funding.
You bring up some good points about laptops. I've been shopping around for a laptop recently, and after looking at the specs of many, they all seems to have hard drives slower than any desktop I've bought in the past 3 years. A 7200rpm drive would eat lots of power, but what's with the 13ms access times on those things? There's no point in having a blazing fast processor if you're not gonna be able to load data off the drive in a decent amount of time. Plus, the standard amount of RAM on some of these things is crazy. RAM is expensive too, but why buy a PIII with 32 or 64 megs?
If these processors will be significantly better than Intel with power consumption than I think its worth it. After all, you're not using a laptop for power, your using it because its portable.
Lets gather up some funds and have slashdot hire a detective to dig up a little more on microsoft (couldn't hurt). Or we could use the funds to hire a hit man and get bill out of our hair foreever...
In fact, some people who profess to be Christians, and many others of different beliefs, do indeed drink poison and live. Can you PROVE that these things are impossible? If you can't then you shouldn't make such strong statements.
Even the "unfaithful" can drink poison and live (alcohol's a poison, and plenty of people drink that)... now what about the other points he brought up? Lets see yer faithful ass get over there and move a mountain for us >:D
I'm sure he can't prove that those things are impossible, but at the same time I'm sure that no one can prove that they are possible (BTW, quoting the bible doesn't count as proof).
I think if you calm down a little bit we could have an intelligent discussion on the topic... if yer interested...
BTW - We have found evidence (but not proof) that dinosaurs existed, but there isn't even any evidence that people can do what was mentioned on faith alone.
And the lord did cometh down fromt he mountain, and he said unto his people "Thou shalt moderate down the unbelievers, for they shall have negative karma"
I'm experienced with unix and familiar with case-sensitivity.
slashdot != unix
I dunno if there was a flaw in the code or something before, but it appears to be(I just tried a few times) that slashdot's account names aren't case sensitive.
Weather a real jonkatz or not, he was defending JonKatz's work, and I can't let that go unchallenged.
What are you talking about? Every post I've read (well, besides the usual "f1rst p0st" type articles) have been useful comments about the article. You have to realize that people aren't commenting on the specifics of the article because its a big pile of steaming BS that means nothing to anyone who doesn't have their head up their ass.
I'm always struck at how many times JonKatz posts one of these articles and pretends he has any idea what he's talking about.
JonKatz coins another 21st century internet phrase!
Next article: "Open vs. closed e-fibbing. Has the open e-fibbing community destroyed our need to lie to each other in person?"
But seriously Jon, I read this article, and I've got to say it sets new standards in crappy. Lemme tell ya. It seems all my posts on slashdot these days are about how bad yer articles are. I think its because the rest of the authors are good writers.....
Slashdot Mirror
"what's the difference between illegal gambling and state-sanctioned lotteries?" The lottery isn't really gambling... its more of a tax on people who can't do math. (I think there's a bumper sticker out there that says that).
Are people so lazy that they cannot get up off their arses to go to a voting center to vote?
Yes, actually. For presidential elections in the US there are only about 50% of all registered voters that acutally vote. Its significantly less for the other elections in this country. And that's just taking into account the people who got up off their arses to register.
One thing that internet voting will give us (not that I'm saying that its a good idea at this time) is the possibility for a larger percentage of people voting. I know I'd vote more often if I could do it from home or work, with little hyperlinks to candidate info, instead of going down to the voting booth and having no idea who half the candidates are.
Nope, they both claimed to have innovated space flight, but everyone believed Bill Gates and laughed at Al Gore...
Now the FBI can read all my spam... god knows I don't wanna read that crap.
I was suprised to see some facts and statistics in a Jon Katz article...
When reading this article I couldn't help but think about how these people chose these jobs. Any one of these "stressed out" individuals could find a less stressful workplace. It might mean a pay cut... it might mean moving to another part of the country, but if they're concerned enough about working long hours and being on call all the time then it might be worthwhile for them to look into those options.
The area I live in (DC area) is packed full of stressed out people... always on a business call on their cell phones, pagers going off, using a palm pilot or laptop in any spare time they have, and I've always felt that they do this to themselves. I've always managed to find a job that isn't stressful, and I've always managed to come up with vacation time, and I'm sure they could do the same.
Well, you gotta remember... microsoft "innovated" space flight.
Because a classic will always be a classic.
Its all in line with freedom of speech. Its just some companies exercising their freedom to listen.
As long as yer not planning some crime against one of these companies, this could actually be a good thing. It might mean that the companies will actually pay attention to what their customers are saying.
Ok, you can drop all of the linux users out of the discussion (I think you're assuming that all of the slashdot readers are linux users, which isn't true) if you want to. Even though in yer mind the people developing linux aren't innovating, they still have a right to their opinion about microsoft's claims about their own innovations.
Besides, innovation isn't really something that costs money or even time really
That's not true. If you want to come up with some truely innovative ideas, then you need to hire the right people. You need to hire people who know what they're doing, you need to hire people who know what can be done, you need to hire people who can impliment all of these cutting edge "innovations." That costs money. That's why highly skilled intelligent people get paid more than the average joe, because they have these abilities that other people (including microsoft employees) lack.
Actually, 5 or even 3 innovations is 5 or 3 more than zero. With the amount of money available 5 or 3 seems almost infinitly small...
I'll admit that linux users rant about MS the most... but what do you mean they contribute the least? The least compaired to who? There are lots of linux users who contribute free software to the community, yet there are very few windows users who contribute free software to anything. Even though there might be more people working on linux than there are working on windows, its not these people's job to work on linux... for most of them its what they do in their spare time.
It seems to me that the people developing linux software don't have the time to be as innovative as microsoft should be. Linux developers have a lot of work to do to get linux so that it can compete with a large commercially funded OS, and they're doing a good job with the limited time and resources they have.
Its a good thing I read your post... I didn't even realize this article was about linux.
You list 5 innovations, at least 3 of which are things with little impact on the world (besides giving people new toys to play with). I'd expect a company worth several hundred billions of dollars to be able to be more innovative than a free software project with $0 in funding.
What's a nice girl like this doing in a booth like that?
Maybe if Microsoft gains the "freedom to innovate" they'll start innovating...
$1000 US (that would be about $1000 US)
Here is the link to the previous (nearly identical) post on Slashdot from a few minutes ago.
I thought all these jackasses yacking away on their cell phone was bad enough, now they're gonna be using 16 phones at once...
You bring up some good points about laptops. I've been shopping around for a laptop recently, and after looking at the specs of many, they all seems to have hard drives slower than any desktop I've bought in the past 3 years. A 7200rpm drive would eat lots of power, but what's with the 13ms access times on those things? There's no point in having a blazing fast processor if you're not gonna be able to load data off the drive in a decent amount of time. Plus, the standard amount of RAM on some of these things is crazy. RAM is expensive too, but why buy a PIII with 32 or 64 megs?
If these processors will be significantly better than Intel with power consumption than I think its worth it. After all, you're not using a laptop for power, your using it because its portable.
Trying to appeal to the kids will always ruin a movie series
Call me crazy, but isn't that was a children's movie should be doing?
Lets gather up some funds and have slashdot hire a detective to dig up a little more on microsoft (couldn't hurt). Or we could use the funds to hire a hit man and get bill out of our hair foreever...
In fact, some people who profess to be Christians, and many others of different beliefs, do indeed drink poison and live. Can you PROVE that these things are impossible? If you can't then you shouldn't make such strong statements.
Even the "unfaithful" can drink poison and live (alcohol's a poison, and plenty of people drink that)... now what about the other points he brought up? Lets see yer faithful ass get over there and move a mountain for us >:D
I'm sure he can't prove that those things are impossible, but at the same time I'm sure that no one can prove that they are possible (BTW, quoting the bible doesn't count as proof).
I think if you calm down a little bit we could have an intelligent discussion on the topic... if yer interested...
BTW - We have found evidence (but not proof) that dinosaurs existed, but there isn't even any evidence that people can do what was mentioned on faith alone.
And the lord did cometh down fromt he mountain, and he said unto his people "Thou shalt moderate down the unbelievers, for they shall have negative karma"
Amen
I'm experienced with unix and familiar with case-sensitivity.
slashdot != unix
I dunno if there was a flaw in the code or something before, but it appears to be(I just tried a few times) that slashdot's account names aren't case sensitive.
Weather a real jonkatz or not, he was defending JonKatz's work, and I can't let that go unchallenged.
What are you talking about? Every post I've read (well, besides the usual "f1rst p0st" type articles) have been useful comments about the article. You have to realize that people aren't commenting on the specifics of the article because its a big pile of steaming BS that means nothing to anyone who doesn't have their head up their ass.
I'm always struck at how many times JonKatz posts one of these articles and pretends he has any idea what he's talking about.
"Is e-fibbing a sin?"
JonKatz coins another 21st century internet phrase!
Next article: "Open vs. closed e-fibbing. Has the open e-fibbing community destroyed our need to lie to each other in person?"
But seriously Jon, I read this article, and I've got to say it sets new standards in crappy. Lemme tell ya. It seems all my posts on slashdot these days are about how bad yer articles are. I think its because the rest of the authors are good writers.....