The bottom line is this - making such divulgence of personal information compulsory. If it was voluntary that would be one thing, but each day we have to sacrifice more and more of our privacy and liberties in order to hold a job, make a living and not starve. I'm sorry but no one ever should be forced to obey a large system of rules and regulations just to stay alive - but thats how it is - and it tyranny pure and simple.
I personally find the whole idea de-testable. Essentially each day we become more and more a cog in a vast machine that we have less control over. A large system of corporations and governmental interests who are increasingly controlled by fewer and fewer people at the top, curcumventing the democratic process at every turn.
No one ever asked me if I like the drug laws, no one ever asked me if I wanted to live under a tryannical state where anyone now can be called a "enemy combatant", no one asked me if I thought it was ok to give my liberty for a small amount of illusionary safety. From my perspective I have been living in a totaltarian police state for a very long time.
His entire series of calculations are based on the observable universe, not the actual universe. We already know from Inflationary Theory, that the universe went through a rapid expansion phase resulting in a present day size of the universe at least 10^35 ly Radius!!! That being the case, his calculations are under-par by hundreds of orders of magnitude!! My calcularions suggest that the total number of computation the universe has made to be at the very minimum 10^400 operations.
I agree with you 100%. I have many such conversations like this one over the years about what I would do with a billion or 40 billion dollars. My answers are usually the same:
Space Migration - Reseach and Development of a cheap alternative space fleet. This would include research into stronger and lighter nanomaterials. The creation of a civilian space fleet where the cost per pound of going into orbit was reduced to less than $100/pound would be revolutionary. Once there, then massive amount of capital would be expended to mature the art of space-based material resouce extraction and manufacturing. Let the colonization of the Solar System Begin!!
Environmental Restoration - This is obviously a massive problem, but a good start would lots of money invested into alternative energy sources - solar, hydrogen, wind, bio-regeneration. I might consider buying a good chuck of the rain forests for preservation purposes.
I think those two would be great starts to spending $40 Billion. We all know of course that is not likely to happen with Microsoft at the reigns. They will use to increase their market share, buy politicians, and continue to create crappy software. Yawn.....Sad!!!!!!!!
It is thought. With a centrally dictacted file system, and the SSSCA we will have a totally centrally dictated control system on what we see, hear, buy and sell. They will control the vertical, the horizontal. They will control what I can copy and what I can produce. They will hold all the cards when it comes to information. They meaning the hegonomy of Microsoft, Hollywood and the Government.
Ok, perhaps we agree. The difference between institutionalized liberalism and conservatism is cosmetic at best, while they both promote a pastuerization of the mediascape.
The US media has been for a long time biased to the left
Really? Give me one example. Calling the media left is the great lie of the right. They figure if they keep calling the media liberal enough times people like you will believe it. Sure enough they were right (pun intended).
By calling the media liberal over and over again, what inevitably begins to happen is the media becomes more and more right than it already was in the first place. Now the media is nothing but a mouthpiece of the "evil" corporatized hegonomy. And with recent consolidation being made possible by Powell's son, this will only get worse.
ASk yourself this question, "If the media has been so liberal - where are all the pro-marijuanna commercials?".
There is one very large hole in your argument. The very nature of our current political apparatus makes it nearly impossible for the ordinary Joe to get involved in the Beltway. The nature of the Washington D.C. fitness landscape is that only the most ruthless, dictatorial and power-hungry survive. That means that the agenda's coming out of washington will strongly tend to be draconian, ruthless, and self-serving.
Its only a matter of time before emerging technologies like mass manufactures carbon nanotubes, and full-blow nanotechnology take ALL of us to the starts. Nasa can go eats its shorts.
I think it would be more appropriate and certainly more lucrative if the game and its underpinning were based on accelerating growth and profit. In other words is based on how the world really works. Why would anyone want to play a game where the end result was the majority looses? That's not capitalism, thats gambling - pure and simple.
It only ONE to pirate the file and VOILA!!- everyone in the world who wants a copy can get it!
The little guy is only going to get bigger.
on
Smalltime Wireless ISPs
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Ok, I'm going to break from the pack and say that we have not seen the end of the little guy. And by little, I mean every one of us - you, me, your nextdoor neighbor. The dot-com failure wasn't becuase of the technology, it was stupidity plain and simple. Their really is a new economy and it is going to change everything, depsite EVERYTHING you keep hearing to the contrary after the dot-com crash. The only reasons it crashed in the first place, is becuase what has always been obvious to me since the beginning of all this (pre-1994) is that the internet revolution isn't about the big guys - that is the who fricking point! It is about the little guy.
Think 802.11a, b, g, z? Everyone will have one on their house talking to everyone else on their houses. A wireless P2P 'gnutella', 'freenet' Neighboorhood LAN (NAN).
While the rest of the idiots continue to get more depressed at the the rediculous dot-com crash, I'm celebrating the birth of individuality that is emerging quietly between the cracks. Ha ha ha ha haaa!
Sooner or later more of our Technological systems will emulate nature. For those who haven't read Kevin Kelly's masterpeice - Out of Control should do so. Our tecnhological future will become more and more alive as time progresses.
Many years ago when I was in Aerospace Engineering School and inspired by the movie Blade Runner, I designed a steerting mechanism that would make flying VTOL easy for anyone already skilled at driving a car. Right now typical airplane flight is quite complicated. My design was based on the notion that compuational power would catch up by the time my design would be feasible. The idea is simple:
For turning left or right you simply turn the steering wheel - the appropriate roll, pitch and yaw are calculated by the onboard computer. To increase or decrease altitute simply move the steering wheel in or out. As for speed, the standard gas and break pedals would speed up or slow the vehical down. This all results in an incredibly easy and intuitive control of a VTOL vehical. Want to come to a stop 100 feet up and then slowly lower the vehical down? First apply the breaks. The VTOL aircraft then comes to a stop, hovering at 100 feet. To lower the car to the ground, simply push the steering wheel in. The speed of decent can controlled by the onboard computer to insure that proper decent velocity is maintained.
I think the screenshots are nice. But after more than 15 years, I still want to have TOTAL control over my desktop, including the option of finally getting away from SQUARE WINDOWS. To appeal to a wider audience lets start having the option of having circular, triangular, morphing windows.
Right on brother. If its one thing the American Power base ahs shown is a complete disregard for freedom and democracy that it hypocritically rhetorisizes about. Name one democratic government that the US has actually put in power? Chile? The Phillipines? Nicaragua? Panama? And not only are they going to put up greater walls between the US, Canada, and Mexico, they are going to put up even more walls to house the growing numbers of their own people that fall under their ever wideing definition of Terrorism.
You hit in on the mark. Beside the CIA was founded by ex-Nazi Gestapo! As the old saying goes, "our Germans our better than their Germans!". And yes Ashcroft has a striking resemblance to the Cancer Man - scary!
Wow an idealist! They do exist! Haven't you read history? Even recent American history? Or are you one of those guys who slept through class? Where do I begin? Lets look at some recent historical precedents to see where unchecked power gets abused.
1937: J. Edgar Hoover becomes head of the FBI. Within 25 years Hoover had so much dirt on everyone that even Presidents were afraid of him. Ever wonder why he stayed in power for over 30 years? J. Edgar Hoover ran this country for the entire period. He had more dirt on Kennedy alone to fill several books.
1950: Senator Joe McCarthy declares was on domestic communism. Over the next 5 years thousands, repeat thousands, of people were harrassed, intimidated, arrested, imprisoned and deported. In the entire time not one single communist was ever uncovered. Never mind that in a so-called free country we allegedly have the right to free speech, the press and assembly. Yet all these people were oppressed for exercising that very right.
1933: Hitler becomes Chancellor. Over the next 6 years he gains so much power, in large part by hunting down and executing anyone daring to disagree with him. This included hundreds of german students caught passing out anti-nazi flyers in libaries. They were arreseted and immediately shot! I don't have to remind you what happened next after he finished eliminating any remaining opposition do I?
Today: Congress hands the Executive branch the most power it has ever been given since the countries inception in 1776. The traditional balance of power that has up to this point kept the government in check is eliminated with the USA ACT, now giving the Executive Branch all the power it needs to fight domestic "terrorism" without Judicial oversight.
So ask yourself this. If the governments fight against terrorism is a just cause, then why does it need to eliminate parts of the constitution and the normal checks and balances to pull it off? One Answer: Because its real agenda has nothing to do fighting real terrorism. Now they have the power to eliminate any remaining dissent against their power base. A powerbase that gained power suspiciously if not downright illiginately. If Bush really had won the election, then why did the New York Times decide to *not* publish its poll findings? Becasue Gore actually won. We have an illigimate president in power who in less than a year has managed to take us headlong into war that may erupt into WWIII and the effective elimination of Constitution protections to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Now they have the freedom to compile complete dossiers on everyone. Ever subscribed to 2600 magazine? Ever got a catalog from Loompanics? Ever baught a "alternative" book from Amazon? Are you a registered Libertarian? Are you a member of the Green Party? If so you have now been targeted. Lets just hope they don't try to paint you as a "suspected terrorist". Even the most harmless acts of computer intrusion could give you life in imprisonment - LIFE!
Assuming soneone manages to challenge these new laws in court, don't you think these anti-democratic croonies running our country will the case to get anywhere? Give me a break! They will harrass, intimidate, incarcerate anyone they deem a "threat" to National Security - read Threat to their power. This is a classic power play people! The most sinister one ever carried out in History. Assuming we make it through this - this will time will go down as one of the darkets in human history. Chinese curses indeed! History has repeatedly shown that once the balance of power is tipped too far in one direction (as it is with the USA ACT) it is never regained, excpet with the downfall of the regime itself - coup's, revolution or internal decay. Either way we are now in for a very long, dark and opressive time in this country. If you had any doubt before - We are now living in a Totaltarian Police State. Who is going to save us? The Russians? The Chineese? The Canadians?
Bullsh*t. Up to this point I have always admired Senator Leahy, but he still voted for this bill. He not only sold out, he sold out the very freedom that has made this country great. So now the real question has to be asked - What the hell are we fighting for!?.
My father who survived Eiwa Jima and who died this May of pancreatic cancer is turning in his grave because the freedoms he fought so hard to defend in WWII have now been toppled by a cowardly politic.
You are absolutely right. The parallels between WTC and the Bush Administrations Rise in Power parallels Hitlers rise in power almost exactly. In Hitlers case there was also acts of terrorism right before his ascendency into supreme power. In Hitlers case the bombing of the (Reitzkrag?) was actually done by his own goon squad. This bombing was then used as justification for a drmatic increase in Law and Order and that Hitler and his Nazi Party was exactly the ones to bring it. And boy did they ever - ushering in the most deadly and brutal facist dictorship in history.
Slashdot Mirror
The bottom line is this - making such divulgence of personal information compulsory. If it was voluntary that would be one thing, but each day we have to sacrifice more and more of our privacy and liberties in order to hold a job, make a living and not starve. I'm sorry but no one ever should be forced to obey a large system of rules and regulations just to stay alive - but thats how it is - and it tyranny pure and simple.
I personally find the whole idea de-testable. Essentially each day we become more and more a cog in a vast machine that we have less control over. A large system of corporations and governmental interests who are increasingly controlled by fewer and fewer people at the top, curcumventing the democratic process at every turn.
No one ever asked me if I like the drug laws, no one ever asked me if I wanted to live under a tryannical state where anyone now can be called a "enemy combatant", no one asked me if I thought it was ok to give my liberty for a small amount of illusionary safety. From my perspective I have been living in a totaltarian police state for a very long time.
His entire series of calculations are based on the observable universe, not the actual universe. We already know from Inflationary Theory, that the universe went through a rapid expansion phase resulting in a present day size of the universe at least 10^35 ly Radius!!! That being the case, his calculations are under-par by hundreds of orders of magnitude!! My calcularions suggest that the total number of computation the universe has made to be at the very minimum 10^400 operations.
Space Migration - Reseach and Development of a cheap alternative space fleet. This would include research into stronger and lighter nanomaterials. The creation of a civilian space fleet where the cost per pound of going into orbit was reduced to less than $100/pound would be revolutionary. Once there, then massive amount of capital would be expended to mature the art of space-based material resouce extraction and manufacturing. Let the colonization of the Solar System Begin!!
Environmental Restoration - This is obviously a massive problem, but a good start would lots of money invested into alternative energy sources - solar, hydrogen, wind, bio-regeneration. I might consider buying a good chuck of the rain forests for preservation purposes.
I think those two would be great starts to spending $40 Billion. We all know of course that is not likely to happen with Microsoft at the reigns. They will use to increase their market share, buy politicians, and continue to create crappy software. Yawn.....Sad!!!!!!!!
It is thought. With a centrally dictacted file system, and the SSSCA we will have a totally centrally dictated control system on what we see, hear, buy and sell. They will control the vertical, the horizontal. They will control what I can copy and what I can produce. They will hold all the cards when it comes to information. They meaning the hegonomy of Microsoft, Hollywood and the Government.
Ok, perhaps we agree. The difference between institutionalized liberalism and conservatism is cosmetic at best, while they both promote a pastuerization of the mediascape.
Cheers.
The US media has been for a long time biased to the left
Really? Give me one example. Calling the media left is the great lie of the right. They figure if they keep calling the media liberal enough times people like you will believe it. Sure enough they were right (pun intended).
By calling the media liberal over and over again, what inevitably begins to happen is the media becomes more and more right than it already was in the first place. Now the media is nothing but a mouthpiece of the "evil" corporatized hegonomy. And with recent consolidation being made possible by Powell's son, this will only get worse.
ASk yourself this question, "If the media has been so liberal - where are all the pro-marijuanna commercials?".
Protozoa Major! That is exactly the very first thing I though of when I heard this.
There is one very large hole in your argument. The very nature of our current political apparatus makes it nearly impossible for the ordinary Joe to get involved in the Beltway. The nature of the Washington D.C. fitness landscape is that only the most ruthless, dictatorial and power-hungry survive. That means that the agenda's coming out of washington will strongly tend to be draconian, ruthless, and self-serving.
This is the same company. Their long-term goal is to be the premier provider for displays for virtual and especially augmented reality systems.
Its only a matter of time before emerging technologies like mass manufactures carbon nanotubes, and full-blow nanotechnology take ALL of us to the starts. Nasa can go eats its shorts.
You wrote:
Because there would be no incentive.
If this true, then me then why the overwhelming majority of material on the internet actually wroth reading was put up there for FREE?
It only ONE to pirate the file and VOILA!!- everyone in the world who wants a copy can get it!
Ok, I'm going to break from the pack and say that we have not seen the end of the little guy. And by little, I mean every one of us - you, me, your nextdoor neighbor. The dot-com failure wasn't becuase of the technology, it was stupidity plain and simple. Their really is a new economy and it is going to change everything, depsite EVERYTHING you keep hearing to the contrary after the dot-com crash. The only reasons it crashed in the first place, is becuase what has always been obvious to me since the beginning of all this (pre-1994) is that the internet revolution isn't about the big guys - that is the who fricking point! It is about the little guy.
Think 802.11a, b, g, z? Everyone will have one on their house talking to everyone else on their houses. A wireless P2P 'gnutella', 'freenet' Neighboorhood LAN (NAN).
While the rest of the idiots continue to get more depressed at the the rediculous dot-com crash, I'm celebrating the birth of individuality that is emerging quietly between the cracks. Ha ha ha ha haaa!
Sooner or later more of our Technological systems will emulate nature. For those who haven't read Kevin Kelly's masterpeice - Out of Control should do so. Our tecnhological future will become more and more alive as time progresses.
For turning left or right you simply turn the steering wheel - the appropriate roll, pitch and yaw are calculated by the onboard computer. To increase or decrease altitute simply move the steering wheel in or out. As for speed, the standard gas and break pedals would speed up or slow the vehical down. This all results in an incredibly easy and intuitive control of a VTOL vehical. Want to come to a stop 100 feet up and then slowly lower the vehical down? First apply the breaks. The VTOL aircraft then comes to a stop, hovering at 100 feet. To lower the car to the ground, simply push the steering wheel in. The speed of decent can controlled by the onboard computer to insure that proper decent velocity is maintained.
I think the screenshots are nice. But after more than 15 years, I still want to have TOTAL control over my desktop, including the option of finally getting away from SQUARE WINDOWS. To appeal to a wider audience lets start having the option of having circular, triangular, morphing windows.
Bravo! Could not have said it better myself
Right on brother. If its one thing the American Power base ahs shown is a complete disregard for freedom and democracy that it hypocritically rhetorisizes about. Name one democratic government that the US has actually put in power? Chile? The Phillipines? Nicaragua? Panama? And not only are they going to put up greater walls between the US, Canada, and Mexico, they are going to put up even more walls to house the growing numbers of their own people that fall under their ever wideing definition of Terrorism.
I couldn't have said it better myself. Too bad I didn't read your post before posting my own long rant on the same topic at the top of this story.
You hit in on the mark. Beside the CIA was founded by ex-Nazi Gestapo! As the old saying goes, "our Germans our better than their Germans!". And yes Ashcroft has a striking resemblance to the Cancer Man - scary!
1937: J. Edgar Hoover becomes head of the FBI. Within 25 years Hoover had so much dirt on everyone that even Presidents were afraid of him. Ever wonder why he stayed in power for over 30 years? J. Edgar Hoover ran this country for the entire period. He had more dirt on Kennedy alone to fill several books.
1950: Senator Joe McCarthy declares was on domestic communism. Over the next 5 years thousands, repeat thousands, of people were harrassed, intimidated, arrested, imprisoned and deported. In the entire time not one single communist was ever uncovered. Never mind that in a so-called free country we allegedly have the right to free speech, the press and assembly. Yet all these people were oppressed for exercising that very right.
1933: Hitler becomes Chancellor. Over the next 6 years he gains so much power, in large part by hunting down and executing anyone daring to disagree with him. This included hundreds of german students caught passing out anti-nazi flyers in libaries. They were arreseted and immediately shot! I don't have to remind you what happened next after he finished eliminating any remaining opposition do I?
Today: Congress hands the Executive branch the most power it has ever been given since the countries inception in 1776. The traditional balance of power that has up to this point kept the government in check is eliminated with the USA ACT, now giving the Executive Branch all the power it needs to fight domestic "terrorism" without Judicial oversight.
So ask yourself this. If the governments fight against terrorism is a just cause, then why does it need to eliminate parts of the constitution and the normal checks and balances to pull it off? One Answer: Because its real agenda has nothing to do fighting real terrorism. Now they have the power to eliminate any remaining dissent against their power base. A powerbase that gained power suspiciously if not downright illiginately. If Bush really had won the election, then why did the New York Times decide to *not* publish its poll findings? Becasue Gore actually won. We have an illigimate president in power who in less than a year has managed to take us headlong into war that may erupt into WWIII and the effective elimination of Constitution protections to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Now they have the freedom to compile complete dossiers on everyone. Ever subscribed to 2600 magazine? Ever got a catalog from Loompanics? Ever baught a "alternative" book from Amazon? Are you a registered Libertarian? Are you a member of the Green Party? If so you have now been targeted. Lets just hope they don't try to paint you as a "suspected terrorist". Even the most harmless acts of computer intrusion could give you life in imprisonment - LIFE!
Assuming soneone manages to challenge these new laws in court, don't you think these anti-democratic croonies running our country will the case to get anywhere? Give me a break! They will harrass, intimidate, incarcerate anyone they deem a "threat" to National Security - read Threat to their power. This is a classic power play people! The most sinister one ever carried out in History. Assuming we make it through this - this will time will go down as one of the darkets in human history. Chinese curses indeed! History has repeatedly shown that once the balance of power is tipped too far in one direction (as it is with the USA ACT) it is never regained, excpet with the downfall of the regime itself - coup's, revolution or internal decay. Either way we are now in for a very long, dark and opressive time in this country. If you had any doubt before - We are now living in a Totaltarian Police State. Who is going to save us? The Russians? The Chineese? The Canadians?
My father who survived Eiwa Jima and who died this May of pancreatic cancer is turning in his grave because the freedoms he fought so hard to defend in WWII have now been toppled by a cowardly politic.
God Bless America = Heil to the Fatherland.
Support our President = Heil Hitler.
War on Terrorism = End of Freedom
Welcome to the
Facist States of America