What's so hilarious is that to most of the commenters here, the Koch Brothers exemplify the absolute evil in the system whilst (and simultaneously) George Soros is merely 'doing the right thing' and 'helping people speak truth to power'.
One party is clearly the party of business, and business wields a lot of money. Hell, one whole tv network is dedicated to pushing their views.
The other party has draped themselves in the flag of victimhood, somehow managing to portray themselves as the oppressed when they a) are the majority, b) spent 57%(!) more in the last presidential election. They have a much smaller media network overtly supporting them, but 8-9/10 of general journalists sympathize and vote with this party.
In my view, BOTH parties are corrupt, nepotistic heads of the same beast. The idea that you support one side or the other is a Hobson's choice that keeps us running around the wheel, generating funds.
Next time someone from "the other party" pisses you off, think for a second if they weren't prompted to it by rabble rousers on their side SPECIFICALLY to make you angry. Ask any stage magician or pickpocket: controlling your attention is 90% of the trick.
As Ike mentioned in his speech widely remembered for the line 'military-industrial complex':
This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
....and the bit people don't seem to remember, nor take as seriously:
Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.
In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.
Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.
The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded.
Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientifictechnological elite.
The pernicious influence of this 'Federal technical complex' has led to an entire generation of scientists who believe that the only credible source of funding must be the federal government. It is absolutely certain that there are some HUGE projects that need the resources of government, no doubt. But you know what? Not every bloody thing *needs to be researched*, nor does that research need taxpayer dollars.
I know, the idea that research needs to demonstrably benefit the taxpayer to be federally funded sounds like an idea that would come from (shudder) Republicans, but when we're overspending our budget by 30%+ every year to the tune of nearly $1 trillion, we can't afford everything we want, only what we clearly need.
Let's say hypothetically a slashditor (let's call him "Supnezmas"), when not posting duplicate articles from 2 days before, has a major erection for some web commenter (let's call him "Notlesah, Ttenneb").
How could I edit my settings so that worthless shit articles from "Supnezmas" referencing this "Notlesah, Ttenneb" were somehow downrated to oblivion so I don't see them anymore, ever? Is there a filter I can apply?
Note however that I *entirely* agree with you. Is there a/. editor trying to build a buddy into a web celebrity? FWIW, I *still* don't really get why Ze Frank is a weblebrity, either. How does one make a living doing that?
Seriously, if the potential reward for crime is in the $million$, the odds of getting caught are probably low, and the punishment is a handful of years in prison - why would anyone NOT commit such a crime?
Most of the people I know work their lives as wage-slaves for 8+ hours a day, for decades, for a fraction of that (and what they get, a giant chunk goes to taxes).
I would also point out that the "US" - commonly condemned in such statistics - is probably the least homogenous country in the world. As such, it's probably useful to look at the state by state rankings, both positively and negatively: (ranked by deaths per 100k) 1. District of Columbia 30.8 http://www.city-data.com/forum...
Are all these faculty members likewise PERSONALLY *completely* divested from fossil fuels - ie no driving, bus riding, train riding, electricity from oil/coal/natgas sources, etc?
"The number of people who have actually paid, out of these 7 million, remains a closely-guarded secret."
Ooh, I know that one! I know! (raises hand and waves it furiously)
THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER...since Obamacare *guaranteed* payment to the insurers.
Awesome, so what was intended as a way to get insurance care to the needy, ends up being another exercise in wealth theft by the government, and redistribution to the massively profitable insurance companies.
I know a girl who worked for Deja Vu in the 1990s as a stripper, was invited on some sort of tour of Israel, and made just under $30,000 CASH in those 2 weeks dancing. (She said that she suspected there were several other girls who did some "extra" shifts (so to speak) that made significantly more than she did.)
I also know a shit-ton of programmers that would love to make $15,000 cash per week.
Let's change the context: If men are a genuine minority in the exotic dancing field (because there are far, far more female strippers than male) would you say that the industry is discriminatory, and that there should be subsidies for men who want to get into that field?
Personally, I'd say that's stupid.
I personally believe that Google can do what it wants with its money - if it wants more coders with tits for some reason, that's their choice. But let's not try to rationalize it away and say that it's not blatant gender discrimination. You may say it's entirely justified, but then be prepared for that same argument in reverse when people say that we can discriminate against women in firefighting or the military.
It's been a mantra of the Victim Lobby (ie the Left) since the 1960s that racism, sexism, etc are not absolute values, they're vectors, as such '-isms' can only come from a position of power.
So if a white man fires a black man, that could be (and probably is, according to dogma) racism. If a black man fires a white man, that cannot be racism because the black man is not contextually, culturally, or historically empowered; anything he does to the white man is so far outweighed by the evils done to him, it's at the very least justifiable and in no way racist (regardless if, for example, the white man and black man both immigrated to the US in 1994; the logic is that regardless of either individual or family lines' lack of participation in actual slavery or Jim Crow era racism, we're talking about a cultural preponderance of racism, which impacts all people of color regardless).
"BASIC Computer Games From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia BASIC Computer Games Author David H. Ahl Subject Computer programming Publication date 1973 BASIC Computer Games (1973, 1978, 2010) is a compilation of type-in computer games in the BASIC programming language collected by David H. Ahl. Some of the games were written or modified by Ahl as well. It was the first million-selling computer book.[1]
The first edition of the book, released in 1973, contained 101 games that had been collected from a newsletter Ahl wrote for DEC's education department. Many of these games had originally been written on different platforms and then ported to DEC machines. These were easy enough to port to other popular platforms of the era, and many of the games re-appeared on other popular systems like the Data General Nova and HP 2100 series.
Copies of the original collection were still widely available when the first hobbyist microcomputers started appearing in 1975, and it became quite popular with these owners. The release of the "1977 Trinity" machines (Apple II, Commodore PET and TRS-80) was soon followed by a great many new competing microcomputer platforms featuring BASIC, along with the userbase to go with them, and demand for the book led to a second edition in 1978. Sales remained strong for years, and spawned similar collections in More Basic Computer Games (1979), and Big Computer Games (1984) and Basic Computer Adventures (1984).
The BASIC Computer Games are playable under the relatively obscure Microsoft Small Basic development environment for kids.[2] Computer Science for Kids has released a 2010 Small Basic Edition of the classic Basic Computer Games book called Basic Computers Games: Small Basic Edition.[3]
The programs can also be run on a modern Microsoft Windows machine (32-bit only) by downloading the GW-BASIC interpreter.[4]" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASIC_Computer_Games)
I remember hammering in just about every game listed in the 1978 book. It really was fun as a 5th grader to puzzle through why these lines of text resulted in a computer doing stuff.
Really, most of us carry a computer in our pocket 99.9% of the time that dwarfs the entire Apollo space program, and nobody can figure out how to remotely control a plethora of network media devices in 2014?
EDIT: just a note, sure, they'll have end-of-support life issues, but if they ever reach a point where that's a serious problem, they're all going to move to linux anyway.
I'm uninterested in buying another license or 3 for antiquated hardware running a Minecraft server or a fileserver.
Plus, if I wanted to run win7, I'd have to (at least) double their RAM, and still expect pokey performance.
I really don't understand why the whole blogosphere is getting on the "let's all make sure we pay microsoft again for the new version of something that works perfectly well" bandwagon. I like Win7 a lot, on my new machines. That doesn't mean, ipso facto, that I want to upgrade all the old crap that I use and serves their functions perfectly well.
If you take every piece of advice you see on the internet at face value without filtering preemptively what's worth listening to to at least some degree, you have a lot more time than I do.
"argStyopa tells me that it's important that I eat feces for better skin, brain, and muscle growth and that there are NO unpleasant side effects aside from a trivial taste/smell issue"
Great. So that means you're going to put up a site that does so?
No?
Because on second thought, you realized that not only coding, but TRACKING municipal law changes in every bloody city, every state, all across the country would quickly become a full time job.
Oh, and the Beware of Dog problem: the moment you claim to pay attention to legalities, you open yourself up to ceaseless lawsuits because you missed a state regulatory change applicable only to rented properties by Asian-American landlords who also reside in Bumfuck, KS.
Slashdot Mirror
What's so hilarious is that to most of the commenters here, the Koch Brothers exemplify the absolute evil in the system whilst (and simultaneously) George Soros is merely 'doing the right thing' and 'helping people speak truth to power'.
One party is clearly the party of business, and business wields a lot of money. Hell, one whole tv network is dedicated to pushing their views.
The other party has draped themselves in the flag of victimhood, somehow managing to portray themselves as the oppressed when they a) are the majority, b) spent 57%(!) more in the last presidential election. They have a much smaller media network overtly supporting them, but 8-9/10 of general journalists sympathize and vote with this party.
In my view, BOTH parties are corrupt, nepotistic heads of the same beast. The idea that you support one side or the other is a Hobson's choice that keeps us running around the wheel, generating funds.
Next time someone from "the other party" pisses you off, think for a second if they weren't prompted to it by rabble rousers on their side SPECIFICALLY to make you angry. Ask any stage magician or pickpocket: controlling your attention is 90% of the trick.
And the likelihood of such a vote is ABOUT THE SAME as the odds of TX actually voting to join Mexico.
TX would go independent about 1000x more than join Mexico.
As Ike mentioned in his speech widely remembered for the line 'military-industrial complex':
The pernicious influence of this 'Federal technical complex' has led to an entire generation of scientists who believe that the only credible source of funding must be the federal government.
It is absolutely certain that there are some HUGE projects that need the resources of government, no doubt. But you know what? Not every bloody thing *needs to be researched*, nor does that research need taxpayer dollars.
I know, the idea that research needs to demonstrably benefit the taxpayer to be federally funded sounds like an idea that would come from (shudder) Republicans, but when we're overspending our budget by 30%+ every year to the tune of nearly $1 trillion, we can't afford everything we want, only what we clearly need.
Bennnet? Why not just post under your own name?
...you need to choose your relatives more carefully.
Let's say hypothetically a slashditor (let's call him "Supnezmas"), when not posting duplicate articles from 2 days before, has a major erection for some web commenter (let's call him "Notlesah, Ttenneb").
How could I edit my settings so that worthless shit articles from "Supnezmas" referencing this "Notlesah, Ttenneb" were somehow downrated to oblivion so I don't see them anymore, ever? Is there a filter I can apply?
Can I "foe" an editor based on context?
I'd like to know who the flip is XanC, since you asked the SAME question I did, and I got -1,Troll while you got +5 Insightful?
http://slashdot.org/comments.p...
Note however that I *entirely* agree with you. /. editor trying to build a buddy into a web celebrity?
Is there a
FWIW, I *still* don't really get why Ze Frank is a weblebrity, either. How does one make a living doing that?
Seriously, your answer to crime is "people should be moral people"?
Wow, no wonder it's working so well.
If not, throw them into a wood chipper.
Seriously, if the potential reward for crime is in the $million$, the odds of getting caught are probably low, and the punishment is a handful of years in prison - why would anyone NOT commit such a crime?
Most of the people I know work their lives as wage-slaves for 8+ hours a day, for decades, for a fraction of that (and what they get, a giant chunk goes to taxes).
..."examine historical temperature data going back 500 years"
Because "climate cycles" are never more than 500 years long? Seriously?
I would also point out that the "US" - commonly condemned in such statistics - is probably the least homogenous country in the world. As such, it's probably useful to look at the state by state rankings, both positively and negatively:
(ranked by deaths per 100k)
1. District of Columbia 30.8 http://www.city-data.com/forum...
Are all these faculty members likewise PERSONALLY *completely* divested from fossil fuels - ie no driving, bus riding, train riding, electricity from oil/coal/natgas sources, etc?
Because otherwise they're pretty much hypocrites.
"The number of people who have actually paid, out of these 7 million, remains a closely-guarded secret."
Ooh, I know that one! I know! (raises hand and waves it furiously)
THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER...since Obamacare *guaranteed* payment to the insurers.
Awesome, so what was intended as a way to get insurance care to the needy, ends up being another exercise in wealth theft by the government, and redistribution to the massively profitable insurance companies.
Almost like it was a scam from the fucking start.
That's the Open Minded Liberals you're talking about, right?
I know a girl who worked for Deja Vu in the 1990s as a stripper, was invited on some sort of tour of Israel, and made just under $30,000 CASH in those 2 weeks dancing.
(She said that she suspected there were several other girls who did some "extra" shifts (so to speak) that made significantly more than she did.)
I also know a shit-ton of programmers that would love to make $15,000 cash per week.
Is that "significant enough" wages?
Let's change the context:
If men are a genuine minority in the exotic dancing field (because there are far, far more female strippers than male) would you say that the industry is discriminatory, and that there should be subsidies for men who want to get into that field?
Personally, I'd say that's stupid.
I personally believe that Google can do what it wants with its money - if it wants more coders with tits for some reason, that's their choice. But let's not try to rationalize it away and say that it's not blatant gender discrimination. You may say it's entirely justified, but then be prepared for that same argument in reverse when people say that we can discriminate against women in firefighting or the military.
It's been a mantra of the Victim Lobby (ie the Left) since the 1960s that racism, sexism, etc are not absolute values, they're vectors, as such '-isms' can only come from a position of power.
So if a white man fires a black man, that could be (and probably is, according to dogma) racism.
If a black man fires a white man, that cannot be racism because the black man is not contextually, culturally, or historically empowered; anything he does to the white man is so far outweighed by the evils done to him, it's at the very least justifiable and in no way racist (regardless if, for example, the white man and black man both immigrated to the US in 1994; the logic is that regardless of either individual or family lines' lack of participation in actual slavery or Jim Crow era racism, we're talking about a cultural preponderance of racism, which impacts all people of color regardless).
Same with gender.
"But, seeing as she stomped my heart flat, I can say this without fear of reprisal..."
I'm pretty sure if she was deaf, you could say whatever you wanted without fear of reprisal, just face away from her.
http://www.vintage-basic.net/g...
"BASIC Computer Games
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
BASIC Computer Games
Author David H. Ahl
Subject Computer programming
Publication date
1973
BASIC Computer Games (1973, 1978, 2010) is a compilation of type-in computer games in the BASIC programming language collected by David H. Ahl. Some of the games were written or modified by Ahl as well. It was the first million-selling computer book.[1]
The first edition of the book, released in 1973, contained 101 games that had been collected from a newsletter Ahl wrote for DEC's education department. Many of these games had originally been written on different platforms and then ported to DEC machines. These were easy enough to port to other popular platforms of the era, and many of the games re-appeared on other popular systems like the Data General Nova and HP 2100 series.
Copies of the original collection were still widely available when the first hobbyist microcomputers started appearing in 1975, and it became quite popular with these owners. The release of the "1977 Trinity" machines (Apple II, Commodore PET and TRS-80) was soon followed by a great many new competing microcomputer platforms featuring BASIC, along with the userbase to go with them, and demand for the book led to a second edition in 1978. Sales remained strong for years, and spawned similar collections in More Basic Computer Games (1979), and Big Computer Games (1984) and Basic Computer Adventures (1984).
The BASIC Computer Games are playable under the relatively obscure Microsoft Small Basic development environment for kids.[2] Computer Science for Kids has released a 2010 Small Basic Edition of the classic Basic Computer Games book called Basic Computers Games: Small Basic Edition.[3]
The programs can also be run on a modern Microsoft Windows machine (32-bit only) by downloading the GW-BASIC interpreter.[4]"
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASIC_Computer_Games)
http://www.atariarchives.org/b...
I remember hammering in just about every game listed in the 1978 book. It really was fun as a 5th grader to puzzle through why these lines of text resulted in a computer doing stuff.
I'm sure it's coincidental that "M$" likewise suggests Microsoft's financial rapacity, of course.
Really, most of us carry a computer in our pocket 99.9% of the time that dwarfs the entire Apollo space program, and nobody can figure out how to remotely control a plethora of network media devices in 2014?
Seriously?
EDIT: just a note, sure, they'll have end-of-support life issues, but if they ever reach a point where that's a serious problem, they're all going to move to linux anyway.
And frankly no, I'm not fired up to change them.
I'm uninterested in buying another license or 3 for antiquated hardware running a Minecraft server or a fileserver.
Plus, if I wanted to run win7, I'd have to (at least) double their RAM, and still expect pokey performance.
I really don't understand why the whole blogosphere is getting on the "let's all make sure we pay microsoft again for the new version of something that works perfectly well" bandwagon.
I like Win7 a lot, on my new machines.
That doesn't mean, ipso facto, that I want to upgrade all the old crap that I use and serves their functions perfectly well.
If you take every piece of advice you see on the internet at face value without filtering preemptively what's worth listening to to at least some degree, you have a lot more time than I do.
"argStyopa tells me that it's important that I eat feces for better skin, brain, and muscle growth and that there are NO unpleasant side effects aside from a trivial taste/smell issue"
Going to take that seriously? Why not?
Great. So that means you're going to put up a site that does so?
No?
Because on second thought, you realized that not only coding, but TRACKING municipal law changes in every bloody city, every state, all across the country would quickly become a full time job.
Oh, and the Beware of Dog problem: the moment you claim to pay attention to legalities, you open yourself up to ceaseless lawsuits because you missed a state regulatory change applicable only to rented properties by Asian-American landlords who also reside in Bumfuck, KS.