Ok, so do you know when Mitnick's first conviction is? Do you know how many times he had been arrested, and spanning what length of time he was criminally active. That be broke parole? This isn't an isolated incident in the life of Kevin...it's, if you will, the straw that broke the camel's back (he even supposedly hacked into NORAD).
OTOH, I totally agree with you--it IS a travesty that those criminals get few years. I would throw away the key for them.
I can't 100% put my finger on what I didn't like or why, but I think it was the way faces are drawn. Really bothers me. I know that bothered me in FLCL.
I don't know what it is, but the style of the people--specifically the way their faces looked in both FLCL and Lain really bothered me. I really don't know why--I do tend to like a more cartoony style I guess--Mahoromatic's style I enjoyed a lot, Love Hina of course;) and Eva was good too. Cowboy Bebop I definitely appreciate, but it's not something I particularly like stylistically.
I haven't seen a lot of those series but one thing in my mind--I consider most of the Miyazaki works childrens. I also seem to be about the only person who didn't like Mononoke:)
As for some of those, like Kanon, I believe it was a bit racier in manga form.
You do a good list, though MOST of what you listed is not exactly what I would call mainstream (outside of jpn at least).
Another thing that strikes me (on an unrelated tangent), is that a lot of people seem to think that anime like DBZ, Pokemon, etc are driven solely be American idiots. But otoh, these series (some of them at least) have 100's of episodes and afaik are in Japanese first always--so they've got to be popular in japan too, not like all the anime that shows there is pure and good. It bothers me when there are people woh claim to like anything that is anime. That's like saying I like any American cartoon. Cowboy Bebop and Kanon are nothing alike--and neither of them are like Castle of Cagliostro. A lot of the people who claim to like all anime, imho, need to get over their japanese obession and realize that they just want to be counter-culture (less so today) or in with whatever group thinks anime is cool today (not saying this is you at all).
Another side note, what's your opinion of the artwork in Lain? I couldn't watch a single episode because I HATED the artwork. Really bothered me (I hated FLCL too).
Right good point, I wasn't thinking much of Trigun when I wrote my message.
That's the thing that gets me about a lot of anime though. Yes, Cowboy Bebop has great art, good storyline (honestly, I liked it while watching it, but now don't like much at all--didn't age well for me), GREAT music, yet it's got Faye too who imho is all about the T&A. And tell all the people who have Faye wallscrolls etc that it's not about the T&A;) (myself included)
What are some examples of anime that don't give fanservice? (not counting kids anime, ie pokemon, etc)
I'm just thinking of my favorite series...Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Kenshin, Love Hina;)
Of those the least fan service would be Kenshin (pretty rare), but all the others are full of it:)
I have to take issue that disney is crap too.
and if you think they don't churn out the merchandise, you'd be wise to check out sites that do japanese imports, or go to an anime store in the states even (there are a couple near me, not a big metropolis) and see the commercialized crap--it's worse in japan too from what I understand.
We are the smoke-free class of 2000 Two triple zero, everyone's a hero!
I remember reading a book in elementary school that said "In 10 years we will all have robot helpers, able to carry objects about the house for us" etc, and showed a picture of something that looked suspiciously like R2 D2:p
I hear this type of thought a lot, but is it really true? I've been logging some serious time with osx and the mouse drives me crazy--if I want to use it for any length of time I unplug my logitech 4 button + wheel mouse from my PC and hook it up to the mac.
I thought I wouldn't use the thumb+middle buttons incidentally, but copy+paste in windows just speeds me up so much. Likewise I find it difficult going back to a computer that doesn't have a wheelmouse.
A couple things--that's not a windows install, that's a windows install, get it up to date and customize it a good bit. Windows install itself has far fewer choices/points of screwing up than any *nix/*bsd install I've seen.
Also, last time I installed XP (this weekend incidentally) it was put in CD, reboot, format drive (it was already partitioned), install files, reboot, it installs more, username, passwords etc, reboot.
then just install XP service pack1 wich when I installed had all the critical updates.
like 90% of the steps you mentioned have direct equivalents in *nix/*bsd installs. Getting all the software up to date would probably take longer though! I also will say it takes me longer to get a *nix install customized the way I like it then it does in windows--more programs to set up is all.
Why is commercial UNIX a good thing? Why is UNIX a good thing anyway, compared to say, BeOS, Symbolics style OSes etc. I'd rather Apple hadn't made OS X really, it just dilutes the issues and is yet another proprietary OS, I mean, don't we have enough of them already?
Because those products had to sink enough time and development into something that (at least in the case of BeOS, and many of the other niche OS's) simply wasn't populr enoguh to support developers. Unix ISN'T perfect and as you say it is more rigid in structure that for instance BeOS. But for instance with OSX we suddenly have a unix with a decent user interface, nay, a great user interface, and a solid core--and a solid core that can run tons of preexisting software. I just don't see how this is a bad thing.
So let me get this straight. You haven't read the article, or read the guys justifications for what he's doing, yet you hope his project falls into oblivion because you don't see the point.
No, I was able to read one of the linked to article, namely the one talking about the Apple License. I simply wanted to clarify that I wasn't going to be like 99% of the slashdot population and just read the description and pretend to understand everything. The point--I hope it fails is that I'm not found of GPL zealots and I don't think pointless factionalizing is a good thing for the open source movement.
I don't see the point of FreeBSD. It's recreating UNIX but has opened itself up to commercial forks such as MacOS. What's the point? If they wanted to make a totally kickass OS, they could do a lot better by dropping UNIX and coming up with something truly original. If they wanted to fix the mess that's been made of the computing industry, letting anybody fork your code and close isn't the way to go about doing it.
Now I don't know about you, but I couldn't care less about UNIX. Sure, it's nice, I like the coloured directory listings, but you could conceivable argue that Windows was better engineered for instance. UNIX was great in its day, in 2002 it's merely average. Who gives a monkeys about UNIX, it doesn't matter. What does matter is who's in control of a technology as fundamental as computing. To me at any rate, that's a far bigger deal that what APIs are used to write apps.
Huh, I don't really know where this is coming from. Unix is hardly the same operating system that it was 20 years ago, it can improve too. I'm relatively new to the unix world (ie, I've been using linux/bsd/etc for around 5-6 years) and I can even think of several fairly major changes. I also think that the system itself is important--both kde and gnome are free, a difference largely of API--so if api isn't important, why are there still two project?
Next time, before you comment on another guys project, take the time to understand their perspective on things, otherwise you're no better than they are.
In my book being able to make a commercial unix is a good thing. You think Apple would have made OS X if they would have had to GPL the entire thing and Cocoa et al could be run for free on linux? I somehow doubt it.
Maybe you could answer then what the point of GNU-Darwin is, and why it's so important that they kame-kazi here?
Also let me put it this way...I understand (or rather, know) their stated reasons, but I fail to understand their motivations or what drives their actions, _and_ I see their actions as being non-constructive, and actually leading to further factionalization.
Right...even the BSD's use gcc and some other gnu software. It would be too ridiculous to start a bsd replacement for gcc, and the bsd's are pragmatic I would say.
I wonder if there was a bsd type license (let's just say it had a clause saying all derivates must be bsd--so it couldn't be made gpl) compiler that had reached the level of complexity of the gcc toolset, if gpl people would launch another project?
Preemptive clarification of my message--I say "they use BSD a lot" and by this I mean that they have borrowed code from the community a lot as well as releasing some code back in BSD form. I personally think it's a _great_ thing that Apple is able to do this--it lets Apple really focus on what they're good at, user interface and experience, while letting unix tech-heads etc worry about the guts.
Figured someone would criticize me on this point--I know they release their code in their own license.
I couldn't get to the MacSlash article but I have to question the motivations of these GPL people. They say that Apple doesn't seem to be properly embracing GPL. Well that was never apple's motivation! They have been using the BSD license, and they use it a lot!! They both employ prominent members of the BSD community and have given back to the community in code as well.
I have to say I don't even understand the purpose of darwin-x86 myself. It seems like stupid factionalization again. If you want to run BSD and x86, run FreeBSD. If you want to run a secure server or a routing box, etc, go for OpenBSD. If you want to run on anything else, go for NetBSD. And if you want to run OSX...darwin! As it comes closer and closer into synch with FreeBSD, I just don't see the point.
I quite frankly hope that the gnu-darwin project falls into oblivion.
Please, they do romanticize his fuedal/fascist world of eugenics. The best individuals are determined by a "council" based upon certain genetic criteria. God help the poor slob who doesn't fit the mold....
And the system is oft criticized too! It for instance was shown as keeping people down and an utter failure in Sundiver. I'm not really sure how that is feudal, facist by a stretch, but in any case, it's not romanticized, but instead, criticized.
Yes the humans do go out exploring to verify knowledge, but they have NO choice but to play by the galactic rules.
Right, they have no _choice_. They are forced down by the corrupt and stagnant feudal elite. And they do get around it to! Dolphins and Chims may show protocol around othe senior races, but are just as likely to be insulting a human at any other time., What about the illegal uplift station for gorillas? Their completely unorthodox approach to everything--humans HAVE to play along with the rules to a degree as you say, but it rankles and burns, and shows the inefficiencies of the system.
They sell the gorilla's into slavery to save their skins. The use the selfsame fuedal rules to save themselves in the war against the bird people (sorry forget the races name at the moment) using the protection of the library etc when it is convenient.
They didn't sell the gorillas. The gorillas CHOSE the Thennanin (sp?) in the Uplift ceremony. Despite however boring and dull and traditionalist, they are good with client species.
They cover up the mass extinctions caused by man which in and of itself would doom humanity according to the galactic rules.
Not sure I see the correlation here? Sure, they hid past evidence and old shames..feudal or facist though?
Interesting point...If the uplift books in any way romanticized a feudal/facist world. I'd hate to give out any spoilers, because these books are GREAT (Really should read them!) but the point of the books is pretty much the opposite of feudal/facist.
I'm sorry Ashish, I didn't mean to offend, or to cast slight on your country, but otoh, I've just had a class on this topic and have personally met among others Mr Vijayanunni, Senior IAS officer and Census Commissioner and I do feel fine in saying that in many ways the education system in India has been a failure--for instance on the issue of mass literacy. Countries like China have done a much better job of closing the literacy gap between male and female for instance. There is also the issue of government corruption that is a huge problem.
It's also very true that India produces a great many very intelligent and very qualified people. I had an upper level CS Architecture class and of ~25 ppl in the class, about 2/3 were Indian. I wonder how many attended private institutions in India.
I don't mean to slight you in any way or India.
I wish you well, I hope to visit India again someday, I loved Delhi.
Yes as a matter of fact I did, but I totally fail to see the relevance. The NSA makes their own brand of Linux and funds BSD development--does that make the US "lean towards linux" ?
The education system in India is largely a joke. WEll that's not fair, but let's just say it's one of the worst in the world. Some places such as Bihar and Orissa have literacy rates around 30% and you think some memo about linux in schools is gonna make a difference?
I'll tell you what matters--what people learn. And many Indians come from long lines of merchant families that know how to play the game. Ever met a Patel or Gupta? Chances are that they or their (recent) ancestors are in business somewhow. All one needs to do is look at the number of South Asian employees in the US and see what they're here for--Open sourec linux jobs, or jobs writing MS or other windows/mac/etc software?
I liek to think you are right, and that most people DO buy CD's after hearing mp3s. I always try to buy CD's of mp3s that I like (especially smaller bands). But I'm at college right now and honestly I think we are in the minority. Just the other day I was asking a friend what CD a certain mp3 was on (Jump Little Children if you're interested) and their response was "No idea, I unfortunately got into them when Napster was around".. and this is a band she really likes.
I looked up some stats http://www.bizstats.com/numbercorps9697.htm
That page states that there were under 5 million corporations in 1997. Interesting break downs too.
AS for your statement that the wealth is in the hands of the few? If by that you mean that those who are at the VERY top are VERY rich yes it's true. That hardly means that everyone else is languishing in poverty. I think an interesting thing would be to take like the 50 best colleges in the US and do an income break down of the students (I say 50 best because I'm assuming that many of those 50 best will also be in the 50 most expensive) and their families. I personally would be interested in seeing the average purchasing parity power in a comparison between people in the US.
I voted and I'm not related in any way to big business, AND I'm here on slashdot, so I like to think I get both sides of the opinion spectrum:)
you say something about 200 million big businesses? Given that there are less than 400million people in the us, I'm guessing there can't possibly be 200million big businesses, so I'm not really sure what that meant. sorry, what did you mean?
Campaign finance and free speech not elected? I refer you to the other response in this thread he did an excellent job of explaining how intimately the two are linked.
I think you misunderstand why Republicans always get better voter turnout than democrats. Democrats are largely a party without aim now--see re nov elections. They are essentially becoming a patchwork of too many different disparate groups. The same thing is happening to republicans, but to a much less greater extent.
as for one person one vote, I don't understand your point? A corporation doesn't HAVE a vote. All it can do is try to protect itself from the government by lobbying. Why should a corporation NOT be allowed to try to protect its interests?
Finally you say I sound like Rush Limbaugh for my rant? What's my rant? I merely listed facts. I didn't really offer ANY opinion.
Slashdot Mirror
Ok, so do you know when Mitnick's first conviction is? Do you know how many times he had been arrested, and spanning what length of time he was criminally active. That be broke parole? This isn't an isolated incident in the life of Kevin...it's, if you will, the straw that broke the camel's back (he even supposedly hacked into NORAD).
OTOH, I totally agree with you--it IS a travesty that those criminals get few years. I would throw away the key for them.
hahahahahaha. It was all a set up for the government to make an example out of someone? Do you know what he did??
I can't 100% put my finger on what I didn't like or why, but I think it was the way faces are drawn. Really bothers me. I know that bothered me in FLCL.
I don't know what it is, but the style of the people--specifically the way their faces looked in both FLCL and Lain really bothered me. I really don't know why--I do tend to like a more cartoony style I guess--Mahoromatic's style I enjoyed a lot, Love Hina of course ;) and Eva was good too. Cowboy Bebop I definitely appreciate, but it's not something I particularly like stylistically.
cheers
Yeah, I saw it. I had indeed gotten it mixed up thinking it was a H-manga rather than an H-sim. You're right though.
I haven't seen a lot of those series but one thing in my mind--I consider most of the Miyazaki works childrens. I also seem to be about the only person who didn't like Mononoke :)
:p
As for some of those, like Kanon, I believe it was a bit racier in manga form.
You do a good list, though MOST of what you listed is not exactly what I would call mainstream (outside of jpn at least).
Another thing that strikes me (on an unrelated tangent), is that a lot of people seem to think that anime like DBZ, Pokemon, etc are driven solely be American idiots. But otoh, these series (some of them at least) have 100's of episodes and afaik are in Japanese first always--so they've got to be popular in japan too, not like all the anime that shows there is pure and good. It bothers me when there are people woh claim to like anything that is anime. That's like saying I like any American cartoon. Cowboy Bebop and Kanon are nothing alike--and neither of them are like Castle of Cagliostro. A lot of the people who claim to like all anime, imho, need to get over their japanese obession and realize that they just want to be counter-culture (less so today) or in with whatever group thinks anime is cool today (not saying this is you at all).
Another side note, what's your opinion of the artwork in Lain? I couldn't watch a single episode because I HATED the artwork. Really bothered me (I hated FLCL too).
thanks sorry for rambling
Right good point, I wasn't thinking much of Trigun when I wrote my message.
;) (myself included)
That's the thing that gets me about a lot of anime though. Yes, Cowboy Bebop has great art, good storyline (honestly, I liked it while watching it, but now don't like much at all--didn't age well for me), GREAT music, yet it's got Faye too who imho is all about the T&A. And tell all the people who have Faye wallscrolls etc that it's not about the T&A
What are some examples of anime that don't give fanservice? (not counting kids anime, ie pokemon, etc)
;)
:)
I'm just thinking of my favorite series...Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Kenshin, Love Hina
Of those the least fan service would be Kenshin (pretty rare), but all the others are full of it
I have to take issue that disney is crap too.
and if you think they don't churn out the merchandise, you'd be wise to check out sites that do japanese imports, or go to an anime store in the states even (there are a couple near me, not a big metropolis) and see the commercialized crap--it's worse in japan too from what I understand.
Word up class of 2000 mate!
:p
We are the smoke-free class of 2000
Two triple zero, everyone's a hero!
I remember reading a book in elementary school that said "In 10 years we will all have robot helpers, able to carry objects about the house for us" etc, and showed a picture of something that looked suspiciously like R2 D2
I hear this type of thought a lot, but is it really true? I've been logging some serious time with osx and the mouse drives me crazy--if I want to use it for any length of time I unplug my logitech 4 button + wheel mouse from my PC and hook it up to the mac.
I thought I wouldn't use the thumb+middle buttons incidentally, but copy+paste in windows just speeds me up so much. Likewise I find it difficult going back to a computer that doesn't have a wheelmouse.
I must have missed that--perhaps you could point out the bad things in the EULA to me?
A couple things--that's not a windows install, that's a windows install, get it up to date and customize it a good bit. Windows install itself has far fewer choices/points of screwing up than any *nix/*bsd install I've seen.
Also, last time I installed XP (this weekend incidentally) it was put in CD, reboot, format drive (it was already partitioned), install files, reboot, it installs more, username, passwords etc, reboot.
then just install XP service pack1 wich when I installed had all the critical updates.
like 90% of the steps you mentioned have direct equivalents in *nix/*bsd installs. Getting all the software up to date would probably take longer though! I also will say it takes me longer to get a *nix install customized the way I like it then it does in windows--more programs to set up is all.
Why is commercial UNIX a good thing? Why is UNIX a good thing anyway, compared to say, BeOS, Symbolics style OSes etc. I'd rather Apple hadn't made OS X really, it just dilutes the issues and is yet another proprietary OS, I mean, don't we have enough of them already?
Because those products had to sink enough time and development into something that (at least in the case of BeOS, and many of the other niche OS's) simply wasn't populr enoguh to support developers. Unix ISN'T perfect and as you say it is more rigid in structure that for instance BeOS. But for instance with OSX we suddenly have a unix with a decent user interface, nay, a great user interface, and a solid core--and a solid core that can run tons of preexisting software. I just don't see how this is a bad thing.
So let me get this straight. You haven't read the article, or read the guys justifications for what he's doing, yet you hope his project falls into oblivion because you don't see the point.
No, I was able to read one of the linked to article, namely the one talking about the Apple License. I simply wanted to clarify that I wasn't going to be like 99% of the slashdot population and just read the description and pretend to understand everything. The point--I hope it fails is that I'm not found of GPL zealots and I don't think pointless factionalizing is a good thing for the open source movement.
I don't see the point of FreeBSD. It's recreating UNIX but has opened itself up to commercial forks such as MacOS. What's the point? If they wanted to make a totally kickass OS, they could do a lot better by dropping UNIX and coming up with something truly original. If they wanted to fix the mess that's been made of the computing industry, letting anybody fork your code and close isn't the way to go about doing it.
Now I don't know about you, but I couldn't care less about UNIX. Sure, it's nice, I like the coloured directory listings, but you could conceivable argue that Windows was better engineered for instance. UNIX was great in its day, in 2002 it's merely average. Who gives a monkeys about UNIX, it doesn't matter. What does matter is who's in control of a technology as fundamental as computing. To me at any rate, that's a far bigger deal that what APIs are used to write apps.
Huh, I don't really know where this is coming from. Unix is hardly the same operating system that it was 20 years ago, it can improve too. I'm relatively new to the unix world (ie, I've been using linux/bsd/etc for around 5-6 years) and I can even think of several fairly major changes. I also think that the system itself is important--both kde and gnome are free, a difference largely of API--so if api isn't important, why are there still two project?
Next time, before you comment on another guys project, take the time to understand their perspective on things, otherwise you're no better than they are.
In my book being able to make a commercial unix is a good thing. You think Apple would have made OS X if they would have had to GPL the entire thing and Cocoa et al could be run for free on linux? I somehow doubt it.
Maybe you could answer then what the point of GNU-Darwin is, and why it's so important that they kame-kazi here?
Also let me put it this way...I understand (or rather, know) their stated reasons, but I fail to understand their motivations or what drives their actions, _and_ I see their actions as being non-constructive, and actually leading to further factionalization.
Right...even the BSD's use gcc and some other gnu software. It would be too ridiculous to start a bsd replacement for gcc, and the bsd's are pragmatic I would say.
I wonder if there was a bsd type license (let's just say it had a clause saying all derivates must be bsd--so it couldn't be made gpl) compiler that had reached the level of complexity of the gcc toolset, if gpl people would launch another project?
Preemptive clarification of my message--I say "they use BSD a lot" and by this I mean that they have borrowed code from the community a lot as well as releasing some code back in BSD form. I personally think it's a _great_ thing that Apple is able to do this--it lets Apple really focus on what they're good at, user interface and experience, while letting unix tech-heads etc worry about the guts.
Figured someone would criticize me on this point--I know they release their code in their own license.
I couldn't get to the MacSlash article but I have to question the motivations of these GPL people. They say that Apple doesn't seem to be properly embracing GPL. Well that was never apple's motivation! They have been using the BSD license, and they use it a lot!! They both employ prominent members of the BSD community and have given back to the community in code as well.
I have to say I don't even understand the purpose of darwin-x86 myself. It seems like stupid factionalization again. If you want to run BSD and x86, run FreeBSD. If you want to run a secure server or a routing box, etc, go for OpenBSD. If you want to run on anything else, go for NetBSD. And if you want to run OSX...darwin! As it comes closer and closer into synch with FreeBSD, I just don't see the point.
I quite frankly hope that the gnu-darwin project falls into oblivion.
Please, they do romanticize his fuedal/fascist world of eugenics. The best individuals are determined by a "council" based upon certain genetic criteria. God help the poor slob who doesn't fit the mold....
And the system is oft criticized too! It for instance was shown as keeping people down and an utter failure in Sundiver. I'm not really sure how that is feudal, facist by a stretch, but in any case, it's not romanticized, but instead, criticized.
Yes the humans do go out exploring to verify
knowledge, but they have NO choice but to play by the galactic rules.
Right, they have no _choice_. They are forced down by the corrupt and stagnant feudal elite. And they do get around it to! Dolphins and Chims may show protocol around othe senior races, but are just as likely to be insulting a human at any other time., What about the illegal uplift station for gorillas? Their completely unorthodox approach to everything--humans HAVE to play along with the rules to a degree as you say, but it rankles and burns, and shows the inefficiencies of the system.
They sell the gorilla's into slavery to save their
skins. The use the selfsame fuedal rules to save themselves in the war against the bird people (sorry forget the races name at the moment) using
the protection of the library etc when it is convenient.
They didn't sell the gorillas. The gorillas CHOSE the Thennanin (sp?) in the Uplift ceremony. Despite however boring and dull and traditionalist, they are good with client species.
They cover up the mass extinctions caused by man which in and of itself would doom humanity according to the galactic rules.
Not sure I see the correlation here? Sure, they hid past evidence and old shames..feudal or facist though?
Interesting point...If the uplift books in any way romanticized a feudal/facist world. I'd hate to give out any spoilers, because these books are GREAT (Really should read them!) but the point of the books is pretty much the opposite of feudal/facist.
I'm sorry Ashish, I didn't mean to offend, or to cast slight on your country, but otoh, I've just had a class on this topic and have personally met among others Mr Vijayanunni, Senior IAS officer and Census Commissioner and I do feel fine in saying that in many ways the education system in India has been a failure--for instance on the issue of mass literacy. Countries like China have done a much better job of closing the literacy gap between male and female for instance. There is also the issue of government corruption that is a huge problem.
It's also very true that India produces a great many very intelligent and very qualified people. I had an upper level CS Architecture class and of ~25 ppl in the class, about 2/3 were Indian. I wonder how many attended private institutions in India.
I don't mean to slight you in any way or India.
I wish you well, I hope to visit India again someday, I loved Delhi.
Danyavad
Scott
Yes as a matter of fact I did, but I totally fail to see the relevance. The NSA makes their own brand of Linux and funds BSD development--does that make the US "lean towards linux" ?
The education system in India is largely a joke. WEll that's not fair, but let's just say it's one of the worst in the world. Some places such as Bihar and Orissa have literacy rates around 30% and you think some memo about linux in schools is gonna make a difference?
I'll tell you what matters--what people learn. And many Indians come from long lines of merchant families that know how to play the game. Ever met a Patel or Gupta? Chances are that they or their (recent) ancestors are in business somewhow. All one needs to do is look at the number of South Asian employees in the US and see what they're here for--Open sourec linux jobs, or jobs writing MS or other windows/mac/etc software?
What leads you to believe that they're leaning towards linux?
Last time I was in India (~2,3 years ago) there were by far more signs up in Bombay about C# courses than anything else.
I liek to think you are right, and that most people DO buy CD's after hearing mp3s. I always try to buy CD's of mp3s that I like (especially smaller bands). But I'm at college right now and honestly I think we are in the minority. Just the other day I was asking a friend what CD a certain mp3 was on (Jump Little Children if you're interested) and their response was "No idea, I unfortunately got into them when Napster was around" .. and this is a band she really likes.
:)
So in conclusion, anecdotal evidence sucks
I looked up some stats http://www.bizstats.com/numbercorps9697.htm
That page states that there were under 5 million corporations in 1997. Interesting break downs too.
AS for your statement that the wealth is in the hands of the few? If by that you mean that those who are at the VERY top are VERY rich yes it's true. That hardly means that everyone else is languishing in poverty. I think an interesting thing would be to take like the 50 best colleges in the US and do an income break down of the students (I say 50 best because I'm assuming that many of those 50 best will also be in the 50 most expensive) and their families. I personally would be interested in seeing the average purchasing parity power in a comparison between people in the US.
I voted and I'm not related in any way to big business, AND I'm here on slashdot, so I like to think I get both sides of the opinion spectrum :)
you say something about 200 million big businesses? Given that there are less than 400million people in the us, I'm guessing there can't possibly be 200million big businesses, so I'm not really sure what that meant. sorry, what did you mean?
Campaign finance and free speech not elected? I refer you to the other response in this thread he did an excellent job of explaining how intimately the two are linked.
I think you misunderstand why Republicans always get better voter turnout than democrats. Democrats are largely a party without aim now--see re nov elections. They are essentially becoming a patchwork of too many different disparate groups. The same thing is happening to republicans, but to a much less greater extent.
as for one person one vote, I don't understand your point? A corporation doesn't HAVE a vote. All it can do is try to protect itself from the government by lobbying. Why should a corporation NOT be allowed to try to protect its interests?
Finally you say I sound like Rush Limbaugh for my rant? What's my rant? I merely listed facts. I didn't really offer ANY opinion.