I don't have schizophrenia, but I have had a serious mental illness since I was 19 years old (I'm now 35). I'm on medication for life and have had to modify my lifestyle to adapt to my limitations.
I'd recommend contacting your local mental health office. If your community doesn't have one, call one in the nearest large city and plan a visit. Both the person with a mental illness and family members need support. Find out all of the resources in your area and use them. Things like medication, group therapy, counselling, psychologists and psychistrists are all helpful. If you're part of a Church, you can find help there, however in my own experience charismatic churches (ie: Vineyard, Pentecostal, etc) can be counterproductive as there can be a bias that all mental illness is demon possession. Physical activity is also very helpful in coping with mental illness.
The main thing to realise is this: You Are _NOT_ alone! Give yourself, your sister and your family lots of time to learn about how to cope. Know that there are going to be some tough times ahead. Learn to talk about it with others around you that you trust, and you will be surprised how many people have mental illness. If you want, you can even email me directly here through slashdot, and I'd be more than willing to talk to you more.
There are no quick fixes, but treatments and knowledge in the area of mental illness is improving every year.
Eric Raymond best explains why the Star Wars prequels are failing in his description of computer systems:
There's a phenomenon we call second-systems syndrome, where you design an early system that does 80 percent of the job. It's fairly lightweight, and you notice all the things you should have done Then you go back for the second system, and often there's a tendency to go overboard to the point where it collapses under its own weight.
Episode's I and II is all about boring politics and unimaginative character origins. IV and V was all about Luke and Darth and their surrounding characters. If III is to survie, it's got to be more about the Star Wars characters and less about the Star Wars universe.
The whole idea of Windows Update is a joke. Using an unreliable and insecure network as the primary means of distributing security updates is simply idiotic. This is like asking people to walk through a minefield to get to a shelter.
And yet, people still want Windows. I work in a high-tech call center, and people still look at me with blank stares when I tell them I don't use Windows at all at home.
Q "What do you run for anti-virus?" A "Nothing. Linux isn't as succeptible to viruses"
Q "What about spyware?" A "Same thing. I don't run anti-spyware either because I don't get it. Oh, and I can update my computer without rebooting too"
I've even had a laptop running nothing but Slackware, and technical people _not_ believing that Windows wasn't somehow still on the machine! People just don't see computers with anything other than Windows. If computers = Windows, then how can people get sick of Windows and not be sick of computers? The fact is, Microsoft has done a brilliant job of equating computers with Windows, to the point where even most technical people don't see any other option.
I think my job as an Open Source advocate is to just let people see Linux run on a computer, and let them follow the inevitable logical conclusion themselves.
Intel next year will sell chips for both desktop and notebook computers that combine two microprocessors onto a single piece of silicon, "like putting two cylinders in a car instead of having one big cylinder," Nathan Brookwood, an analyst with Insight 64, said.
Or maybe Longhorn is so bloated, it needs it's own CPU just to sustain the operating system, and another processor to run programs.
1) All Patches and Fixes (a lot more than 10) 2) AVG Anti-virus 3) Ad-aware 4) Spybot 5) Mozilla 6) Winrar 7) MYOB (for business) 8) OpenOffice 9) Adobe Acrobat Reader 10) MS Money
I haven't had to do that in awhile because now I run Windows 2000 on top of Linux using VMWare. In fact, I didn't even need to install the first 4 items on my list last time around, because when I'm done, I just click "revert" and it goes back to the way it was.
For Linux I installed this (which was over 2 1/2 years ago):
1) vim 2) firefox 3) evolution 4) VMWare (to run Windows) 5) XMMS (WinAmp equivalent) 6) Ogle (to watch DVDs)
And that's it! Anything else I need I install when I need it by typing "apt-get install [app name]". I setup a server about 3 years ago seperate from my workstation which rsync's a copy of the i386 Debian distribution. Whenever I need to update my machine, I just type "apt-get update && apt-get upgrade" which in one shot checks my local mirror for updated packages, then upgrades everything. I've _never_ had to reboot my machine after an upgrade, and in over 2 years, I just don't have problems anymore, especially with Windows.
I know I've posted on this before here on/., but as long as we use those tools, we're going to have those problems. It's interesting that he doesn't have any examples of Java malware, for instance.
What are you incinuating, that operating systems should be written in Java?
That didn't take long
on
Paid To Spam
·
· Score: 1
I first read this article about 10 minutes ago. Checking back, I now see this at http://www.virtualmda.com/: Error Occurred While Processing Request Error Diagnostic Information An error has occurred. HTTP/1.0 404 Object Not Found
Note to self: Do not try and use Slashdot to gain publicity on what they perceive as negative activity. It ain't worth it!
Could've fought back, but you just helped them
on
Paid To Spam
·
· Score: 1
At Sendmails Corporation, we move the data that drives the Internet, delivering millions of emails daily for a large number of Small business and Fortune 1000 corporations. When you don't need your computers, we do. And, we're willing to pay you for them.
Way to go, guys. You just informed about 2 million readers about a way to make easy money. Even if a very small percentage of/. readers decide to run the client, I'm sure VirtualMDA will look back on this date favourably as the day their company soared to new heights.
Sometimes the way to fight people is to ignore them; you chose to give them front page exposure on the most read tech news site in the world. I'm sure there's a lot of handshaking and celebration in the VirtualMDA offices this morning. Maybe other companies will try and get a 'negative' story published on Slashdot as the way to grow their business.
Marketing Mantra: "There's no such thing as bad publicity"
Despite assertions made by Linux vendors, a Linux cluster is not a high performance computer, said Dr. Paul Terry, CTO of Cray Canada. "At best, clusters are a loose collection of unmanaged, individual, microprocessor-based computers."
I guess they're not happy about being only #19 on the Top 500 Supercomputer List. Linux is considered faster than they are according to the list.
The 'ol ad-hominem attack of "if you can't beat them ligitimately, attack them personally" just doesn't cut it Paul. Build a better computer.
Chief executives of U.S. corporations and their boards of directors should assume direct responsibility for securing their computer networks from worms, viruses and other attacks...
This is flat out impossible to achieve without Free and/or Open Source Software. For someone to assume responsibility for their software, they need to be able to proactively deal with defects.
How can this be done with closed-source software? It can't. Closed-source software (CSS) vendors assume no liability and no responsibility for the worthiness of their product. If I built a building and the building collapsed during an earthquake, the first question is "why did this happen?". The answer is to go back to the building's blueprints and inspect the design.
Only F/OSS accomodates this. Freedom and Responsibility are directly linked. If someone is responsible for something, they must have the freedom to be able to act upon it. There is no freedom with CSS.
It's the right size. It looks wrong because the top cap sitting in the front is not bolted to the top. If that were installed, it would pull the rack together and fit the hub.
It's just sitting in the corner of my lab because I needed a place to put it.
Since a standard rack is 42U high, I had it built to be 1/7th the height, or 7U.
Uhh....I mean 1/6th the size. It's a 7U rack, with the option of adding more 7U modules to expand it up higher to a full heigh of 42U (or I suppose even higher if you want:-)
Why rack mounted? Well, I want to save space and only have the bare minimum systems (no need for multiple CD-ROMS, monitors, no sound-cards, just lots of memory and HD space). I also will add to this in the future, so don't want to limit myself to just a few pcs on the system.
I had the same idea you did, except it was for small businesses who wanted to start with a small rack system, then add later.
So I had this built, a scalable rack. Since a standard rack is 42U high, I had it built to be 1/7th the height, or 7U. The piece sitting on the front is the cap for the rack top, and another 7U rack module is already installed, so the rack in the picture is 14U high (BTW, if anyone wants that synpotics 10Mb hub, they can have it for nothing...just gotta pay the shipping...it's heavy!)
Unfortunately, there's not a lot of interest in a scalable, modular rack system. So there my prototype sits in fire engine red looking very pretty, but no buyers.
If you own stock in a computer company, consider submitting a stockholder resolution encouraging the company to take responsibility for its products at the end of their useful lives. Companies are increasingly responsive to measures like these.
Dear Mr. Gates & Mr. Ballmer,
Please stop generating bloated software that requires ridiculous computing power to perform basic tasks such as word processing, email and spreadsheet analysis. Your actions are causing widespread damage to the environment, as users are forced to buy new machines to keep up with your latest service pack's requirements.
In the meantime, our company will be switching to Linux and Open Office. It runs just fine on our older Pentium II's and III's.
Someone should really point this out to Steve. I think using this type on installation on Macs would increase useability by leaps and bounds.
Isn't that what the original Mac did? Rox is a giant step backwards, back the way software _used_ to work...
...but it's a step in the right direction! The reason for installing programs was to take advantage of shared libraries (DLL's,.SO's, etc) to save on hard drive space due to the growing bloat of software programs.
Hard drive isn't at a premium anymore, so maybe it's time to go back to the way things were. Shares libraries were perhaps a necessary idea to move computing forward, but now it's time to step back and realise they were a bad idea.
It proposes that every computer be installed with an OP Client which would allow law enforcement ('Good guys.') and copyright holders (RIAA, MPAA) to remotely destroy the computer of any user who has been involved in copyright infringement ('evil-doer').
For those of you new to slashdot, April 1st is normally a "non-stuff that matters" day around here. Today is all about nerds playing jokes on the uninformed.
My favorite joke was the Parrot Prank which involved everyone's favourite publisher O'Reilly. That one even took me in for about a day. Anyone else have a favourite?
I understand that content is more important than the presentation, but it can't hurt to improve both.
Techs are notoriously for slamming style over substance. To me it's like asking what's more important, breathing or eating? The answer is both.
Yes, beautifully displayed text with bad content is junk, but a lot of people are more prone to believe pretty junk than ugly genius.
First, make it right. Then make it look good. Then go back and make it more right. I used to be of the addage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", but now I think "if it ain't broke, fix it again!" There's always room for improvement.
This 0.1 version of the Cobind Desktop is an alpha release. That means that it has only been tested on a limited number of different hardware platforms and peripherals.
It seems there's a lot of "news" lately around software that's alpha and even pre-alpha. Maybe folks should remember that Linus never pushed Linux, it grew as small, incremental improvements were made.
It's easy to make a lot of noise about software you're going to write. It's a lot harder to be quiet and write software that will someday make a lot of noise.
I could handle all RUSH all the time, but who else is there? Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, Anne Murray, Celine Dion? That's probably why most of the Canadian population lives close to the US border - to pick up US radio!
Oh come one now! How about Barenaked Ladies, Nelly Furtado, Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlan, Nickelback, Alanis Morissette, The Tea Party, Matthew Good Band , Moist, Our Lady Peace, Sloan, The Tragically Hip, Treblecharger and of course Shania Twain? If you haven't heard all of 'em, fire up Kazaa and start listening.
Or what about actors? You know, Dan Aykroyd, Jim Carrey, Tommy Chong (of CHeech and Chong), Michael J. Fox, Brendan Fraser, Matt Frewer, Howie Mandel, Rick Moranis, Mike Myers, Leslie Nielsen, Matthew Perry, Jason Priestley, Keanu Reeves, Martin Short, Donald Sutherland and his son Kiefer Sutherland? Canadians do have some talent to offer.
Oh...except sorry about William Shatner. He's Canadian, but we don't want him back.
"I go down to buy a loaf of bread. I don't have to buy broccoli and milk to go with it." Bottom line is, cable companies have a government-authorized monopoly, so maybe they need to recieve government-mandated "innovation." Why should I pay for 15 non-English channels?"
As a Canadian, we're used to this sort of socialism (NB: Socialism != Fascism != Communism). Many french and other non-english channels cannot survive in the market without being subsidized. Take our music industry for example. If you want to run a radio station here, you must play a certain percentage of Canadian artists so that US artists do not swamp out our industryt altogether.
All in all, I think forcing people to pay for a small percentage is a good thing, but then again what do I know? I'm just a brain-washed Canadian.
Gee, this Fundrace thing is fun...and kinda scary. Especially if you normally don't want people to know your home address. Here's some of the giving habits of our favorite cast of characters:
It talks about how the ratio of original titles to sequels is dropping dramatically
This is no different than the movie industry. It seems to me that creative people begin things like movies, games, programs, etc. When the public responds and money gets involved, people with talent get relegated to the background and 'executives' and 'CEOs' take the helm. Since their only interest is money, it makes sense that they follow what has already been successful, hoping to cash in.
What's needed is to teach negotiating at the high school level (it's not even taught in most business schools!) That way, talented people can learn to lead themselves.
This is the kind of thing that Frank Zappa warned us was going to happen. Sure, we say it all the time, "Corporations are running the country," meaning that corporations have undue influence over lawmakers; but it's getting to the point that we're going to have to find a stronger statement...
Take a look at The Corporation as a stronger statement. Here's the synopsis:
"Considering the odd legal fiction that deems a corporation a "person" in the eyes of the law, the feature documentary employs a checklist, based on actual diagnostic criteria of the World Health Organization and DSM IV, the standard tool of psychiatrists and psychologists. What emerges is a disturbing diagnosis.
Self-interested, amoral, callous and deceitful, a corporation's operational principles make it anti-social. It breaches social and legal standards to get its way even while it mimics the human qualities of empathy, caring and altruism. It suffers no guilt. Diagnosis: the institutional embodiment of laissez-faire capitalism fully meets the diagnostic criteria of a psychopath."
Bill Gates might not be psychotic, but his "person" the Microsoft Corporation is a psychopath if there ever was one. Add also the RIAA, MPAA, SCO...psychopath, psychopath, psychopath.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't have schizophrenia, but I have had a serious mental illness since I was 19 years old (I'm now 35). I'm on medication for life and have had to modify my lifestyle to adapt to my limitations.
I'd recommend contacting your local mental health office. If your community doesn't have one, call one in the nearest large city and plan a visit. Both the person with a mental illness and family members need support. Find out all of the resources in your area and use them. Things like medication, group therapy, counselling, psychologists and psychistrists are all helpful. If you're part of a Church, you can find help there, however in my own experience charismatic churches (ie: Vineyard, Pentecostal, etc) can be counterproductive as there can be a bias that all mental illness is demon possession. Physical activity is also very helpful in coping with mental illness.
The main thing to realise is this: You Are _NOT_ alone! Give yourself, your sister and your family lots of time to learn about how to cope. Know that there are going to be some tough times ahead. Learn to talk about it with others around you that you trust, and you will be surprised how many people have mental illness. If you want, you can even email me directly here through slashdot, and I'd be more than willing to talk to you more.
There are no quick fixes, but treatments and knowledge in the area of mental illness is improving every year.
Eric Raymond best explains why the Star Wars prequels are failing in his description of computer systems:
There's a phenomenon we call second-systems syndrome, where you design an early system that does 80 percent of the job. It's fairly lightweight, and you notice all the things you should have done Then you go back for the second system, and often there's a tendency to go overboard to the point where it collapses under its own weight.
Episode's I and II is all about boring politics and unimaginative character origins. IV and V was all about Luke and Darth and their surrounding characters. If III is to survie, it's got to be more about the Star Wars characters and less about the Star Wars universe.
The whole idea of Windows Update is a joke. Using an unreliable and insecure network as the primary means of distributing security updates is simply idiotic. This is like asking people to walk through a minefield to get to a shelter.
And yet, people still want Windows. I work in a high-tech call center, and people still look at me with blank stares when I tell them I don't use Windows at all at home.
Q "What do you run for anti-virus?"
A "Nothing. Linux isn't as succeptible to viruses"
Q "What about spyware?"
A "Same thing. I don't run anti-spyware either because I don't get it. Oh, and I can update my computer without rebooting too"
I've even had a laptop running nothing but Slackware, and technical people _not_ believing that Windows wasn't somehow still on the machine! People just don't see computers with anything other than Windows. If computers = Windows, then how can people get sick of Windows and not be sick of computers? The fact is, Microsoft has done a brilliant job of equating computers with Windows, to the point where even most technical people don't see any other option.
I think my job as an Open Source advocate is to just let people see Linux run on a computer, and let them follow the inevitable logical conclusion themselves.
Intel next year will sell chips for both desktop and notebook computers that combine two microprocessors onto a single piece of silicon, "like putting two cylinders in a car instead of having one big cylinder," Nathan Brookwood, an analyst with Insight 64, said.
Or maybe Longhorn is so bloated, it needs it's own CPU just to sustain the operating system, and another processor to run programs.
Let's see if Bill Gates will make a matching donation to charity, just like his billionaire pal Mark Cuban does.
"Prefer loss to the wealth of dishonest gain; the former vexes you for a time; the latter will bring you lasting remorse."
On Windows it used to be:
1) All Patches and Fixes (a lot more than 10)
2) AVG Anti-virus
3) Ad-aware
4) Spybot
5) Mozilla
6) Winrar
7) MYOB (for business)
8) OpenOffice
9) Adobe Acrobat Reader
10) MS Money
I haven't had to do that in awhile because now I run Windows 2000 on top of Linux using VMWare. In fact, I didn't even need to install the first 4 items on my list last time around, because when I'm done, I just click "revert" and it goes back to the way it was.
For Linux I installed this (which was over 2 1/2 years ago):
1) vim
2) firefox
3) evolution
4) VMWare (to run Windows)
5) XMMS (WinAmp equivalent)
6) Ogle (to watch DVDs)
And that's it! Anything else I need I install when I need it by typing "apt-get install [app name]". I setup a server about 3 years ago seperate from my workstation which rsync's a copy of the i386 Debian distribution. Whenever I need to update my machine, I just type "apt-get update && apt-get upgrade" which in one shot checks my local mirror for updated packages, then upgrades everything. I've _never_ had to reboot my machine after an upgrade, and in over 2 years, I just don't have problems anymore, especially with Windows.
I know I've posted on this before here on /., but as long as we use those tools, we're going to have those problems. It's interesting that he doesn't have any examples of Java malware, for instance.
What are you incinuating, that operating systems should be written in Java?
I first read this article about 10 minutes ago. Checking back, I now see this at http://www.virtualmda.com/:
Error Occurred While Processing Request
Error Diagnostic Information
An error has occurred.
HTTP/1.0 404 Object Not Found
Note to self: Do not try and use Slashdot to gain publicity on what they perceive as negative activity. It ain't worth it!
At Sendmails Corporation, we move the data that drives the Internet, delivering millions of emails daily for a large number of Small business and Fortune 1000 corporations. When you don't need your computers, we do. And, we're willing to pay you for them.
/. readers decide to run the client, I'm sure VirtualMDA will look back on this date favourably as the day their company soared to new heights.
Way to go, guys. You just informed about 2 million readers about a way to make easy money. Even if a very small percentage of
Sometimes the way to fight people is to ignore them; you chose to give them front page exposure on the most read tech news site in the world. I'm sure there's a lot of handshaking and celebration in the VirtualMDA offices this morning. Maybe other companies will try and get a 'negative' story published on Slashdot as the way to grow their business.
Marketing Mantra: "There's no such thing as bad publicity"
Despite assertions made by Linux vendors, a Linux cluster is not a high performance computer, said Dr. Paul Terry, CTO of Cray Canada. "At best, clusters are a loose collection of unmanaged, individual, microprocessor-based computers."
I guess they're not happy about being only #19 on the Top 500 Supercomputer List. Linux is considered faster than they are according to the list.
The 'ol ad-hominem attack of "if you can't beat them ligitimately, attack them personally" just doesn't cut it Paul. Build a better computer.
Chief executives of U.S. corporations and their boards of directors should assume direct responsibility for securing their computer networks from worms, viruses and other attacks...
This is flat out impossible to achieve without Free and/or Open Source Software. For someone to assume responsibility for their software, they need to be able to proactively deal with defects.
How can this be done with closed-source software? It can't. Closed-source software (CSS) vendors assume no liability and no responsibility for the worthiness of their product. If I built a building and the building collapsed during an earthquake, the first question is "why did this happen?". The answer is to go back to the building's blueprints and inspect the design.
Only F/OSS accomodates this. Freedom and Responsibility are directly linked. If someone is responsible for something, they must have the freedom to be able to act upon it. There is no freedom with CSS.
It's the right size. It looks wrong because the top cap sitting in the front is not bolted to the top. If that were installed, it would pull the rack together and fit the hub.
It's just sitting in the corner of my lab because I needed a place to put it.
Since a standard rack is 42U high, I had it built to be 1/7th the height, or 7U.
:-)
Uhh....I mean 1/6th the size. It's a 7U rack, with the option of adding more 7U modules to expand it up higher to a full heigh of 42U (or I suppose even higher if you want
Why rack mounted? Well, I want to save space and only have the bare minimum systems (no need for multiple CD-ROMS, monitors, no sound-cards, just lots of memory and HD space). I also will add to this in the future, so don't want to limit myself to just a few pcs on the system.
I had the same idea you did, except it was for small businesses who wanted to start with a small rack system, then add later.
So I had this built, a scalable rack. Since a standard rack is 42U high, I had it built to be 1/7th the height, or 7U. The piece sitting on the front is the cap for the rack top, and another 7U rack module is already installed, so the rack in the picture is 14U high (BTW, if anyone wants that synpotics 10Mb hub, they can have it for nothing...just gotta pay the shipping...it's heavy!)
Unfortunately, there's not a lot of interest in a scalable, modular rack system. So there my prototype sits in fire engine red looking very pretty, but no buyers.
If you own stock in a computer company, consider submitting a stockholder resolution encouraging the company to take responsibility for its products at the end of their useful lives. Companies are increasingly responsive to measures like these.
Dear Mr. Gates & Mr. Ballmer,
Please stop generating bloated software that requires ridiculous computing power to perform basic tasks such as word processing, email and spreadsheet analysis. Your actions are causing widespread damage to the environment, as users are forced to buy new machines to keep up with your latest service pack's requirements.
In the meantime, our company will be switching to Linux and Open Office. It runs just fine on our older Pentium II's and III's.
Thank You,
Your Shareholders
Someone should really point this out to Steve. I think using this type on installation on Macs would increase useability by leaps and bounds.
...but it's a step in the right direction! The reason for installing programs was to take advantage of shared libraries (DLL's, .SO's, etc) to save on hard drive space due to the growing bloat of software programs.
Isn't that what the original Mac did? Rox is a giant step backwards, back the way software _used_ to work...
Hard drive isn't at a premium anymore, so maybe it's time to go back to the way things were. Shares libraries were perhaps a necessary idea to move computing forward, but now it's time to step back and realise they were a bad idea.
Wow! Rox sounds great. Lemme try...
# apt-get install rox
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
E: Couldn't find package rox
#
Mmm...not available for Debian yet. Oh well, let me know when it's ready.
It proposes that every computer be installed with an OP Client which would allow law enforcement ('Good guys.') and copyright holders (RIAA, MPAA) to remotely destroy the computer of any user who has been involved in copyright infringement ('evil-doer').
For those of you new to slashdot, April 1st is normally a "non-stuff that matters" day around here. Today is all about nerds playing jokes on the uninformed.
My favorite joke was the Parrot Prank which involved everyone's favourite publisher O'Reilly. That one even took me in for about a day. Anyone else have a favourite?
I understand that content is more important than the presentation, but it can't hurt to improve both.
Techs are notoriously for slamming style over substance. To me it's like asking what's more important, breathing or eating? The answer is both.
Yes, beautifully displayed text with bad content is junk, but a lot of people are more prone to believe pretty junk than ugly genius.
First, make it right. Then make it look good. Then go back and make it more right. I used to be of the addage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", but now I think "if it ain't broke, fix it again!" There's always room for improvement.
This 0.1 version of the Cobind Desktop is an alpha release. That means that it has only been tested on a limited number of different hardware platforms and peripherals.
It seems there's a lot of "news" lately around software that's alpha and even pre-alpha. Maybe folks should remember that Linus never pushed Linux, it grew as small, incremental improvements were made.
It's easy to make a lot of noise about software you're going to write. It's a lot harder to be quiet and write software that will someday make a lot of noise.
I could handle all RUSH all the time, but who else is there? Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, Anne Murray, Celine Dion? That's probably why most of the Canadian population lives close to the US border - to pick up US radio!
Oh come one now! How about Barenaked Ladies, Nelly Furtado, Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlan, Nickelback, Alanis Morissette, The Tea Party, Matthew Good Band , Moist, Our Lady Peace, Sloan, The Tragically Hip, Treblecharger and of course Shania Twain? If you haven't heard all of 'em, fire up Kazaa and start listening.
Or what about actors? You know, Dan Aykroyd, Jim Carrey, Tommy Chong (of CHeech and Chong), Michael J. Fox, Brendan Fraser, Matt Frewer, Howie Mandel, Rick Moranis, Mike Myers, Leslie Nielsen, Matthew Perry, Jason Priestley, Keanu Reeves, Martin Short, Donald Sutherland and his son Kiefer Sutherland? Canadians do have some talent to offer.
Oh...except sorry about William Shatner. He's Canadian, but we don't want him back.
"I go down to buy a loaf of bread. I don't have to buy broccoli and milk to go with it." Bottom line is, cable companies have a government-authorized monopoly, so maybe they need to recieve government-mandated "innovation." Why should I pay for 15 non-English channels?"
As a Canadian, we're used to this sort of socialism (NB: Socialism != Fascism != Communism). Many french and other non-english channels cannot survive in the market without being subsidized. Take our music industry for example. If you want to run a radio station here, you must play a certain percentage of Canadian artists so that US artists do not swamp out our industryt altogether.
All in all, I think forcing people to pay for a small percentage is a good thing, but then again what do I know? I'm just a brain-washed Canadian.
Gee, this Fundrace thing is fun...and kinda scary. Especially if you normally don't want people to know your home address. Here's some of the giving habits of our favorite cast of characters:
Bill Gates - CEO Microsoft - Republican
Steve Ballmer - President Microsoft - Republican
Hilary Rosen - Consultant & President RIAA - Democrat
Jack Valenti - President MPAA - Democrat
Darl McBride - President SCO Group - Thankless Bastard
It talks about how the ratio of original titles to sequels is dropping dramatically
This is no different than the movie industry. It seems to me that creative people begin things like movies, games, programs, etc. When the public responds and money gets involved, people with talent get relegated to the background and 'executives' and 'CEOs' take the helm. Since their only interest is money, it makes sense that they follow what has already been successful, hoping to cash in.
What's needed is to teach negotiating at the high school level (it's not even taught in most business schools!) That way, talented people can learn to lead themselves.
This is the kind of thing that Frank Zappa warned us was going to happen. Sure, we say it all the time, "Corporations are running the country," meaning that corporations have undue influence over lawmakers; but it's getting to the point that we're going to have to find a stronger statement...
."
Take a look at The Corporation as a stronger statement. Here's the synopsis:
"Considering the odd legal fiction that deems a corporation a "person" in the eyes of the law, the feature documentary employs a checklist, based on actual diagnostic criteria of the World Health Organization and DSM IV, the standard tool of psychiatrists and psychologists. What emerges is a disturbing diagnosis.
Self-interested, amoral, callous and deceitful, a corporation's operational principles make it anti-social. It breaches social and legal standards to get its way even while it mimics the human qualities of empathy, caring and altruism. It suffers no guilt. Diagnosis: the institutional embodiment of laissez-faire capitalism fully meets the diagnostic criteria of a psychopath
Bill Gates might not be psychotic, but his "person" the Microsoft Corporation is a psychopath if there ever was one. Add also the RIAA, MPAA, SCO...psychopath, psychopath, psychopath.