Michael Moore is not smart, or clever, or insightful. He's a troll with a 16mm camera. You can rely on the fact that anything he says is a) inflammatory and b) wrong.
America is rich because it has enormous amounts of incredibly fertile soil, crazy amounts of natural resources, and a lot of smart, well educated people (and Michael Moore, but there's an exception to every rule). Slavery from 150 years ago is not on that list.
"buy an MP3 CD player" is not a brilliant technical insight there, Sparky.
Millions of people HAVE bought iPods, and think they're worth every penny. You have a different opinion, and that's just dandy. It's just not an opinion that is of any value or insight to anybody else.
I'd rather be Steve Jobs than Bill Gates any day. Both of them are megalomaniacal freaks, but at least Jobs' design philosophy makes products people actually enjoy using.
Richest man in the world? Sure, that'd be great, but not if I had to sell my integrity to do it. That's what Gates has done, time and again. I wouldn't make the same choices he did.
And, I think it's super-important to state baldly:
Suspected terrorists are ENTITLED to these civil liberties. I don't care where we found them (Afghan sheep fields or Boston, MA), they are human and are entitled to human rights.
I think too many people think that Constitutional liberties apply only to American citizens. The Constitution enumerates restrictions on the US Government, enjoining it from infringing on liberties that were "endowed by our Creator".
I think Mr. Dinh totally fails to understand this.
If indeed that is your fear or that is your perception then engage in the democratic process. Back up your argument, back up your belief with facts, marshal evidence in order to convince those who are engaged in the process of governance.
Yeah, I think we should have a long, detailed discussion about whether we should keep around that pesky writ of habeas corpus, and the right to confront your accuser, and the right to examine the evidence against you. I think all those liberties aren't really essential, but should only be granted when it's convenient for law enforcement.
Oh wait, when I put down my CRACK PIPE, that doesn't sound like nearly as good of an idea.
I thought Ashcroft was bad, but this guy has dronk the Kool-Aid.
There is no question that the last 28 months of peace in America, where not another life has been lost on American soil to terrorism, would have been much more difficult without the USA Patriot Act.
I think that somebody who doesn't understand the distinction between correlation and causation has no business whatsoever rewriting the Constitution.
Seems like if you pay a bit of attention, Apple releases a product and then revs it in around six months (the speed-bump). Sometimes they rev it again, sometimes they replace it. Nothing too terribly confusing.
And as far as processor generations, well, there was a G3, and, um, a G4. And a G5. Not too bewildering.
I don't remember any Macs that supported VGA or DVI out of the box, except for some that had an upgraded video card. All the Powerbooks will support all those video types through the little dongle connector.
I really fail to understand how Apple's product lineup is more complicated than, say, Dell's (with their bewildering array of laptops all called the "Inspiron").
Only idiots type file names. Even if you're using a terminal, type completion works pretty darn good.
A file without an extension is missing a redundant throwback to old operating systems. Changing the extension doesn't change the file's data, and it is therefore unnecessary.
An imported CD has no more value than a grey-market one, yet costs 2-3x as much. Square has already decided that they don't want my money. They don'w want my custom. They have told me to screw off.
I don't see anything at all wrong with paying somebody a reasonable fee to get the music I want. I don't care if it's Square or somebody else.
The situation with Macross toys is exactly the same. There's a firm called Big West that has embargoed the United States access to the Macross toys, because they own the copyright on those toy designs. For many, many years, you were not allowed to buy these toys in America, because Big West wouldn't produce any, and wouldn't allow anybody else to import them into the US. I bought a few imports, because I thought they were cool. Am I stealing from Big West, because I'm illegally obtaining their intellectual property? No. Big West needs to shit or get off the pot. I believe that if they're not selling a product, they have no business preventing me from accessing another product that they do not sanction.
I think the cost of piracy is wildly overrated buy business. I don't believe it's nearly as costly as they would have us believe.
I think that the case is even clearer with imports (where I'd be delighted to pay for legit product, if it were available).
You are welcome to your opinion. I do not share it.
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I'm an engineer, and I think MacOS X is teh roolz.
Good engineering means good understanding of human factors. That's one reason that there are very, very, very few good software engineers.
Somebody better tell the zaibatsu.
I want you to try to remember something.
Michael Moore is not smart, or clever, or insightful. He's a troll with a 16mm camera. You can rely on the fact that anything he says is a) inflammatory and b) wrong.
America is rich because it has enormous amounts of incredibly fertile soil, crazy amounts of natural resources, and a lot of smart, well educated people (and Michael Moore, but there's an exception to every rule). Slavery from 150 years ago is not on that list.
Having said that, "Go Japan!" Stick it to MS.
Anti-monopoly legislation costs me less liberty than the monopolies left unfettered would.
Just ask anybody who's lived in a company town.
Monopolies break the free market. If you think otherwise, you are a poor student of history. Or an objectivist. Which is often the same thing.
"buy an MP3 CD player" is not a brilliant technical insight there, Sparky.
Millions of people HAVE bought iPods, and think they're worth every penny. You have a different opinion, and that's just dandy. It's just not an opinion that is of any value or insight to anybody else.
I'd rather be Steve Jobs than Bill Gates any day. Both of them are megalomaniacal freaks, but at least Jobs' design philosophy makes products people actually enjoy using.
Richest man in the world? Sure, that'd be great, but not if I had to sell my integrity to do it. That's what Gates has done, time and again. I wouldn't make the same choices he did.
er, sometimes having marketshare doesn't mean anything. Is IE better than Netscape because it has a bigger marketshare?
And nowadays, Opera, Mozilla, etc are all READY FOR ANYBODY WHO WANTS TO DOWNLOAD THEM, and marketshare means FUCK-ALL.
Same with Google. I don't care what MS produces, because I'll happily ignore it and use something else.
You didn't get the reference. Dumbass.
Yet another person who's not going to buy an iPod.
You have the rest of us confused with people who care.
You're not going to buy an iPod, and you think they're too expensive. Thanks for sharing. Nobody cares.
"It is a valid strategy to buy out the small competition"
Er, sounds like an anti-competitve strategy for me. Is that good for consumers? NO. It's good for EA's bottom line.
Because any time your political opponents do something that shouldn't be illegal but is, that's a win for democracy!
Right.
Measure what? The amount of additional power I concede to the state so that they can "protect me" from terrorists?
Zero. Not any. None. I am much less worried about terrorists than I am about state tyranny.
I'm trying to remember the last time my seatbelt infringed on my liberty.
Oh wait, it never did.
And, if we're going to quote, let's do it right.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
That's what Franklin said, and what you do not understand.
And, I think it's super-important to state baldly:
Suspected terrorists are ENTITLED to these civil liberties. I don't care where we found them (Afghan sheep fields or Boston, MA), they are human and are entitled to human rights.
I think too many people think that Constitutional liberties apply only to American citizens. The Constitution enumerates restrictions on the US Government, enjoining it from infringing on liberties that were "endowed by our Creator".
I think Mr. Dinh totally fails to understand this.
Yeah, I think we should have a long, detailed discussion about whether we should keep around that pesky writ of habeas corpus, and the right to confront your accuser, and the right to examine the evidence against you. I think all those liberties aren't really essential, but should only be granted when it's convenient for law enforcement.
Oh wait, when I put down my CRACK PIPE, that doesn't sound like nearly as good of an idea.
I thought Ashcroft was bad, but this guy has dronk the Kool-Aid.
I think that somebody who doesn't understand the distinction between correlation and causation has no business whatsoever rewriting the Constitution.
Yeah. We'll fire the US Army. Great idea. Can I vote for you for President?
Seems like if you pay a bit of attention, Apple releases a product and then revs it in around six months (the speed-bump). Sometimes they rev it again, sometimes they replace it. Nothing too terribly confusing.
And as far as processor generations, well, there was a G3, and, um, a G4. And a G5. Not too bewildering.
I don't remember any Macs that supported VGA or DVI out of the box, except for some that had an upgraded video card. All the Powerbooks will support all those video types through the little dongle connector.
I really fail to understand how Apple's product lineup is more complicated than, say, Dell's (with their bewildering array of laptops all called the "Inspiron").
You mean that there's always going to be a better/faster/cheaper computer coming out in the next few months? SOMEBODY STOP THE MADNESS!
Like what? Where are the fun, cool, fun, innovative, fun, well-designed, FUN small-title games? I really want some.
But I don't think they exist.
I worked at Origin for a couple years. I was crushed when I was laid off, but I'm not sure it wasn't good for me in the long run.
Only idiots type file names. Even if you're using a terminal, type completion works pretty darn good.
A file without an extension is missing a redundant throwback to old operating systems. Changing the extension doesn't change the file's data, and it is therefore unnecessary.
You get all the bad guys to agree, and I'll say that your timeout is a good idea.
Here in the real world, we'll go on developing the systems that we percieve are necessary to our national defense.
Note: Mr. Rumsfeld, this does not include a missile defense shield.
Sure would be nice if the Air Force would allow the Army to operate them.
Why is it the engineers' fault? They designed the aircraft they were told to design. It works as advertised. They did their job.
You mean like the one that got struck down by the Massachusetts Supreme Court?
The homophobe amendment to the Constitution won't happen. That situation is well in hand.
A Ferrari has more value than a Ford.
An imported CD has no more value than a grey-market one, yet costs 2-3x as much. Square has already decided that they don't want my money. They don'w want my custom. They have told me to screw off.
I don't see anything at all wrong with paying somebody a reasonable fee to get the music I want. I don't care if it's Square or somebody else.
The situation with Macross toys is exactly the same. There's a firm called Big West that has embargoed the United States access to the Macross toys, because they own the copyright on those toy designs. For many, many years, you were not allowed to buy these toys in America, because Big West wouldn't produce any, and wouldn't allow anybody else to import them into the US. I bought a few imports, because I thought they were cool. Am I stealing from Big West, because I'm illegally obtaining their intellectual property? No. Big West needs to shit or get off the pot. I believe that if they're not selling a product, they have no business preventing me from accessing another product that they do not sanction.
I think the cost of piracy is wildly overrated buy business. I don't believe it's nearly as costly as they would have us believe.
I think that the case is even clearer with imports (where I'd be delighted to pay for legit product, if it were available).
You are welcome to your opinion. I do not share it.