I would argue a partial yes, and I'll explain why. In a classroom setting, the information is doled out in bite sized pieces, thus making it difficult to connect the dots and paint a complete picture. Anyone who is really interested in the subject usually does some study independent of what the class teaches. (In the old days this meant reading several information-dense books.)
However, what a classroom setting *can* give you is an educated individual's perspective on the events being studied. Assuming you have a good teacher, they can potentially help you connect dots that few other find on their own. Of course, since those same professor's opinions are usually available in written publications, it can be argued that even that advantage can be replaced.
Imagine a sickly spokesman saying "Well... we've got people who remove vandalism" - but well intended factual errors and typing mistakes (1952 and 1852 are very different!) are a lot harder to account for.
It's worth noting that traditional encyclopedias have had the same issue since their inception. Unintended errors are a fact of human life, yet it's common for the public to think that entity XYZ is immune to these things. The upside of Wikipedia is that the sheer amount of peer review helps catch these issues quickly. The downside is that the information is available prior to independent proofreading.
Sooo.... if you're relying on the information, it never hurts to cross-reference Wikipedia's sources.
They went to a University library and obtained help from a trained librarian. If the information was *really* obscure, then they would actually hire a trained librarian experienced in information retrieval.
One would think that the Internet would rid us of the need for professional/degreed librarians, but no so! Your average person does not have the skills necessary to dig up the true depth and breadth of information available on the internet. Librarians, OTOH, are trained to do such things. Not to mention that they won't limit their search to the internet. A lot of very old and/or priceless information is still stored in archives somewhere.
Library science is actually a very interesting field. As humans we've been trying to effectively organize our information for millennia. Yet every time there's a major breakthrough in information indexing, archiving, and retrieval, we eclipse it by creating new types of information at a rates unparalleled by past experiences.
I think the biggest question is, what is a human's capacity for handling this much info? Thanks to the internet, I can cram the equivalent of a year of study on WWII into about a week of off-hand research. At that rate, will we soon experience an information overload? What sort of psychological and physiological effects will it produce?
Indeed. According to the Wikipedia article, Nupedia was the original plan. It was going to be a truly professional construct similar to Britannica Online. Wikipedia was created as a way of collecting rough material for Nupedia, but the child ended up surpassing the parent in every way imaginable. Nupedia was then dismantled and effort was put into Wikipedia.
Despite all the anti-Wikipedia trolls, I think the results speak for themselves. Amazing bit of work.
Let's see... A player that costs more. Has a poor battery (in many units). Does not use the standard audio format. I can't really see the "outcompete" here. The only really thing that iTunes does is sell music at the price people are willing to pay - but only if you use an Apple or Microsoft product.
You sound like Taco. The iPod has been fairly successful in the market, and they didn't twist anyones arm to become successful. This is one of those times I suggest reflecting and reevaluating your position.
The U.S. didn't put up libraries to Carnegie. Carnegie funded the libraries with his money to get them started, then turned them over to the gov't to run as a public trust.
He built the first few libraries himself, but the majority were done through funds matching. i.e. Any funds that the local community/government was willing to put up for construction, he would match.
They will if the alternative is worse. Often when I go to the polls, my choice is between Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum. Regardless of who I choose, they are unacceptable.
Well then, all the more reason to run for office.:-)
But "good politian" often means "ineffective politian."
Love him or hate him, Ronald Regean was a "good politician" who did great things for this country. In modern history, I have found Tommy Thompson to be a "good politician" as well. Not to mention effective.
You assume that I WANT to deal with people. I'm a geek. 8-)
No, I'm assuming you want to change things enough to overcome your desire NOT to deal with people. If you're not willing to make that sacrifice, then your issue is not important enough.
Nope. PETA has no credibility with me. So I ignore them.
*shakes head* What are we EVER going to do with you people? Look at thing from a higher level. Let's say Burger King does something to make you mad. You then dig up something on Burger King's meat production and give it to PETA. PETA comes knocking on Burger King's door and causes no end of troubles. Next time Burger King listens to you instead of brushing you off.
In other words, nutcases like PETA are a political weapon.
>Did you see the back and forth protests about SCO? Who believes SCO anymore?
"Anymore"? Did anyone EVER believe them?
Didio, the Stock Exchange, the general media, managers who wanted protection against Linux lawsuits, etc, etc, etc. The world does not revolve around the geek opinion.
But you still need ALOT of people to make this work. In my experience, this simply doesn't work unless you can organize the boycott around the product's target audience.
Thanks to the power of the Internet combined with the power of the local media, you can do exactly that. Especially since things like Verizon WiFi service are targetted at you and I. Maybe someone in Philly should set up a webpage with Verizon's complaint number so they can tell them exactly what they think? (hint, hint)
Yes, it is. DRM gives the RIAA a warm fuzzy, but it also gives Apple a monopoly. Monopolies are anti-competition and, therefore, unamerican.
Monopolies are not unamerican. It merely means that someone got to the market first, or managed to outcompete their competitors by a wide margin. Now, Monopolies that abuse their power are unamerican. (Anyone remember that "steel guy" Andrew Carnegie? He was so horrible that he got the US to put libraries all over the place.)
Throw your iPod in the trash and buy a good MP3 player (like an Archos). Now, put all your legally purchased music on your new player.
I gave my wife a simple 32 meg MP3 player a couple of years ago. I used the LAME plugin for iTunes to transfer my music to MusicMatch so that she could listen to it. It wasn't that bothersome, and I recently bought her an iPod shuffle for her birthday. Let's just say that we are SO happy to finally get rid of MusicMatch.
>Shout louder.:-) Seriously. You need to make your voice heard.
Doesn't work unless it's an election year.
Bullocks. A mayor or council member who is unpopular with the local population isn't going to get reelected. They may not know your name if you're quiet and unassuming, but just try getting people mad at you. They'll know of you all right, and it's not a good thing.
>If you can't find any support from your neighbors, then maybe you should rethink your position for a moment. Why won't anyone else support you?
Because they know it's useless too.
They know it's useless to vote for their town government? Or that it's useless to give you vocal support in town meetings? Nonsense, I say! If you can't even get someone to say "I agree with you", then you need to recheck your position.
Translation: you become what you are fighting - a politian.
Welcome to reality. The trick is to be a *good* politician, not a bad one. If you really have a worthwhile greavance, it won't take much to get you where you need to go. The problem is when you're fighting a battle that has no support base. Then you have to resort to slimey politiking to achieve your goals. Again, check your position before you get too far. Reflection can reveal wonderous things.
However, I do see your point. But rememeber that techies rarely make good people-persons. And politians make their lives dealing with people.
There's always problems. People don't get things done by letting problems stop them. How much do you want something? Enough to overcome your poor "people" skills?
I'm smart (they pay me to be at work).
They pay monkeies too. With bananas. Make sure you're acting smart about your target and not just patting yourself on the back.
I'm organized (again, they pay me to be).
Yes, but will you be organized if no one pays you to be? No one pays you to boycott a company or run for office. You've got to do that on your own.
People are already hopping mad (as we can see here). So I'll ask again: give us some suggestions as to what we should do.
Hopping mad about what? Let's get some focus here. Who or what are we trying to change? Are people really hopping mad about it, or is there really just a vocal few? Are they mad enough to do something about it? If they aren't, are you smart enough and sure of your position enough to stoke the flames a bit? If they are, have you given t
Not bullshit. Their citizens don't go bankrupt because their bodies happened to be unfortunate enough to get cancer. Nor are they denied organ transplants because they're poor.
(sarcasm)No, their governments just seize the money they do have just because of their race or political stance. All while the US has programs independent of the government to help those in need.(/sarcasm)
I should know.
The part I left out of my original post was that I was born with a condition known as Tetrology of Follot (pronounced "Fa-loh"). I was an oddity, a condition that was very rarely seen in the medical profession. Correcting my heart condition would also have been very expensive if the doctor hadn't waved his cost and a childhood disease help organization step in to cover much of the cost. There are a lot of people I owe my very existence to, not the least of them a lot of people who were praying for me.
My end point is that the US bases its society on basic human decency and not on what the public infrastructure can provide. Our society works better than any others because of it, and all the other factors of our success flow from it.
I honestly don't care what the rest of the world is doing to "make themselves important". Neither should any other American. We've always worried about life, liberty, and happiness inside our borders and allow in anyone else who wants to join. If the rest of the world is becoming a better place, good for them. But America is and will continue to be a superpower as long as we are based on freedoms, decency, self-motivation, and a lot of help from above.
Our brain power has traditionally come from foreign countries like Germany, Japan, China and India,
Shh! You're giving away our secret of the melting pot!
three of which have much better social support than America
*cough*Bullshit*cough*
The immigrants who came to the US did so to be free to do what they wanted. No one hung a carrot out on a stick then forced them to work as slaves when they got here. They didn't have to build a great country, but they did anyway. And you know why they did it? Because they wanted to, and because they were inspired to do so by the Americans before them.
A lot of people have problems with Mexicans or Cubans entering the country. While I agree that we need to find better ways of controlling the flood (we can't support the influx of everyone at once), I say "let 'em come!" Immigration has always been good for this country! Not to mention that some of those Mexicans are pretty smart hombres.;-)
An average private school cost/year = $9000 - $14,000 (lets average this out to $11.5k)
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics.
I currently send my oldest son to private school, and I can say for a fact that some of the best ones don't cost anywhere near as much as you're quoting. This unlines the fact that my Mother was (and still is) a very smart woman. She did her best to drill the same sense into my head.
I'm not going to discuss her finances on a public forum, but let me just say that her relatives were never in a position to provide support. That's probably why she was always determined not to *be* poor no matter if she was poor or not. I'll let you ponder the meaning of that one on your own.
Someone give the guy some mod points. A +5 Informative or Insightful should do it. Even more importantly, PAY ATTENTION TO THIS MESSAGE. Washington may have been quiet, but he certainly didn't waste words when he spoke.
Indeed it is. You sir, need to settle down and pay attention. The post you responded to was a 100% American focused response. As a result, the whole of your rant is completely out of place.
If you want to argue the "Communist-like" point, please ensure that you read and respond to the correct post. I am going to stress *read*, because you may note that I didn't put down the European system. I merely stated that the US is based on a different governmental and social structure, and thus what is right for Europe is not right for the US.
Good day to you sir, and I hope you get it all sorted out.
Geez, don't you people ever stop? Let me spell it out for you:
- This is the point over here. - This is you over there. - This is the point going right past you. - This is you beating the living daylights out of a horse that's been dead since time began.
The fact that you think either candidate can be described as the "best" leads me to believe that you don't really understand the question.
And your response leads me to believe that you're a typical raving Slashdotter. The world doesn't change to work the way you want it to just because you say so.
You may be interested in knowing that while the US was always a two party system, it hasn't always been the same two parties. Since it's inception, the US has undergone several major party shifts. Now if Libratarean, Green, or some other party really was the way to go, then there would be another party shift. But there hasn't been a major party shift. Wonder why that is...
Uh huh. Worked real good last September, didn't it?
It did. It was a close one for awhile, but we did manage to make sure that the best of the two candidates got into the White House.
Actually, I was amazed at the Democrat's poor showing. I mean, with Dean being the best they had, is it really any wonder that Kerry managed to steal the limelight (and lose)?
I work for a coop and its very different than a corporation. Our customers are not schmozed and unatainable promises are generally not made. There is no rush to relase prodcuts to market that arent ready. The customer is told what exactly to expect and they are free company memos at any time. No secrets, no rich execs, no BS.
What you're describing is just another form of competition. There's nothing stopping a corporation from competing the same way, and once upon a time many did. But today's execs are very focused on extracting the dollar from the company and not on gaining customers.
With this relationship they have a lot more trust. Its kind of like a self serving government without broad sweeping power. Its hard to describe but its a great place to work and a great place to buy prodcuts and services.
I know, I used to work for one. That's why I know as much as I do about them.:-)
And I always thought that the Manchester Mk. 1 (the world's first stored-program computer) was built in England. Oh. It was.
You know, I'm getting really tired of these "let's put words in your mouth and then disprove them" assinine posts. Digital Subscriber Lines and many other forms of broadband originated in the states. So is it any wonder that the states started from Number 1?
Is that hard to understand and/or comprehend? No. But facts do so get in the way of a good flame war.:-/
Boycotts are useless for this. We are talking about a huge company here. We can stop buying their product and they won't even notice.
Sure they will. Just focus your efforts. e.g. Instead of boycotting the company as a whole, boycott the services that are involved with what you have a problem with. (e.g. Get Verizon phone service, but boycott their DSL because of the new law.) Organize this boycott, contact local and national news sources about it, and just generally get the word out. If you can stop a single product, the company WILL take notice.
Why would I want to reward a company for pushing DRM and a proprietary reader? iTunes is unamerican and should be avoided.
No, it's not. The DRM is there to make the music companies feel all warm and fuzzy. I've never had it interfere with what I actually want to do with the music. The problem here is that you're equating DRM == EVIL, which isn't always true.
[The town council] listen about as well as our congress-critters.
Shout louder.:-) Seriously. You need to make your voice heard. If you can't find any support from your neighbors, then maybe you should rethink your position for a moment. Why won't anyone else support you? (Hint: See iTunes above.)
Seeing as now I am not independantly wealthy, running for office is pretty much suicide.
Nonsense. It doesn't take that much money to run locally. That will give you some influence over your area (and the town council). With the experience you gain in the process (and local support) you should have little trouble working your way up to the state level. Even rich people use donations to make it in the political arena.
My butt is now down to a size 42 and will be a size 38 by the end of the Summer and I've worked hard to make it so.
Good for you! I know how difficult it can be. I've been fighting with a paunch for the last few years, and sometimes it feels like an uphill battle.
If you're so smart, give us some suggestions as to what we should do.
Get Smart, get organized, and get people hopping mad. The latter point is the key to making most of the suggestions work.:-)
The very idea that families living in inner city poverty, in housing projects, can suddenly upsticks and relocate to a more affluent area. Jesus, are you really that out of touch with reality.
Funny, because THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT MY MOTHER DID. Asshole.
Why don't you get off your God Damn high horse and help people help themselves instead of putting them down?
Trouble is, if I'm poor and uneducated, or a lone parent, or me and my partner both have to work dead-end jobs to make ends meet.
1. If you're poor and uneducated, what are you doing to change the situation? Are you educating yourself using the millions of programs and libraries that exist for that purpose? Are you making your kids take advantage of everything they can so that they can excel despite your poverty situaion?
2. Have you considered moving into a different situation where both you and your spouse don't have to work? Most home schoolers come out of rural areas where cost of living isn't as high. i.e. A single income of $30,000-$50,000 per year goes a lot farther than a dual income of $60,000-$100,000 does in the city.
3. Lone parents are the biggest issue. But one does have to question as to how they became lone parents. If your spouse is deceased (the most tragic situation), then you probably have money from insurance and/or social security (one of the few positive uses of the program) to help cover things like private education. If you're divorced, make sure you get your alimony. If you're just plain a single parent, then you kind of created a situation for yourself, didn't you.
It's the land of opportunity, not the land of a free ride.
And before you get all high and mighty in responding, consider this: I came from a poor family, lost my father to cancer when I was five, and my mother *STILL* sent me to private school before moving to Wisconsin and home schooling me. So don't you dare get self-righteous on behalf of those "poor people", because you probably don't know the first thing about them.
Oh yes. 100% true. Especially when you ignore the part about being able to do something about it. If you don't want to fix things, that's your problem, not a problem with the Co-Op model. But in that case you should stop whining because you've already given up.
When the cable company decided they wanted to offer 1 megabit cable access, the county shut them down and refused to allow them to offer the service.
If I were part of that coop, I'd take class-action legal action against the county. Just because the county does something doesn't mean that they have a legal right to do it. (e.g. Dailey tearing up the Meigs Field Airport in Chicago.)
Then you believe that Western Europe is communist as well?
Actually, I said "communist-like". And yes, Europe has taken that path. While it generally works pretty well for most Europeans, it is a different system than the US is founded upon.
And then there is US "education"...
Indeed. Public education sucks, but note how popular home schooling has become. Also note the counter-intuitive state of how well educated home schoolers generally are. (It's very rare for a public schooler to get a perfect ACT score, but very common for home schoolers.) Europe may have a better "system", but it's still a system. The US has always maintained their lead in the world by saying "to hell with the system, I'm going to be more than I'm told I can be." And that's exactly what they do.
Now if we could only collapse the damn social support system here in the US, we might be able to regain some of the brains and brawn we've been losing.
and the knowledge that while it's a co-op I have no other choice but to be a part of it.
Strictly speaking, that's not true. Co-Ops have to compete in the market just like everyone else. (Unlike direct government services.) The real reason why you don't have a choice is that utilities tend to be monopolies, period.
You might want to talk to someone in your town government about what you and your neighbords can do to improve your services. You may actually have some control over the company and not even know it.:-)
I'll probably get modded down for saying this, but what are you doing to fix the situation? Yeah, you're bitching about it on a public forum and whining about how America is "going down the tubes". It's all the fault of those evil companies, blah, blah, blah.
Yet how many of you are writing your Congress Critters or your State Senate Critters? How many of you are organizing petitions and boycotts against companies who push this sort of nonsense? How many of you are *rewarding* companies who do the right thing? (e.g. iTunes) How many of you attend town meetings to give your opinion? How many of you found co-ops to cover the gaps? How many of you vote? How many of you run for office? How many of you do *anything* other than sit on your size 53 butts and complain about the situation?!?
I realize that you can't do everything I've mentioned above, but even a small fraction of "doing your part" adds up on a national level. And just think, since so many other people are sitting on their butts, you have a real opportunity to have your voice heard! Yes, it takes work, it takes perserverance, and it takes a willingness to do what needs to be done. But isn't that what America is founded on? Always doing what's too hard for others? Taking in the refugies who are willing to give up everything they have just for a chance to build their own lives the way they want them?
Today, monthly broadband packages offered by the national carriers hover above $50, barring access to millions of Americans who can't afford the sticker price. Cities and towns across the country have taken up the task of building a cheaper alternative -- often choosing easy-to-build wireless mesh networks -- to bridge the gap that has kept many on the darker side of the digital divide.
Telecommunications giants have mobilized a well-funded army of coin-operated think tanks, pliant legislators and lazy journalists to protect their Internet fiefdoms from these municipal internet initiatives, painting them as an affront to American innovation and free enterprise.
While I don't agree with the laws that are being passed against broadband, I would like to point out that most states have a type of business specifically designed for the common good while simultaneously keeping the government (and stupid laws) out of it: Cooperatives.
CO-OPs are designed to be businesses by the people, for the people, without engaging in the communist-like practice of merging everything under the government's umbrella. A lot of towns in my home state (Wisconsin) have banded together into CO-OPs to provide local utility services. Thanks to their efforts, I had DSL access long before Comcast stopped breaking their promises, and long before many city dwealers had the same services. So if your state passes an idiot law, see if you and your neighbors can do something about it on a local level. It might piss off Verizon and SBC, but that's just too bad, isn't it?
Meanwhile, the United States has slid from first to thirteenth place in national broadband penetration, falling behind South Korea, Japan and Canada, where effective private-public sector initiatives have paved over the digital divide, allowing more citizens to reap the economic benefits of the open information era at a fraction of the costs we take for granted.
This isn't really surprising. The tech started here in the US, so that made us #1. But the rural spread of our population makes market penetration quite difficult, thus resulting in countries with higher population densities pulling ahead. As Mark Twain once said, "There are lies, damn lies, and statistics."
Slashdot Mirror
But is it really equivalent?
I would argue a partial yes, and I'll explain why. In a classroom setting, the information is doled out in bite sized pieces, thus making it difficult to connect the dots and paint a complete picture. Anyone who is really interested in the subject usually does some study independent of what the class teaches. (In the old days this meant reading several information-dense books.)
However, what a classroom setting *can* give you is an educated individual's perspective on the events being studied. Assuming you have a good teacher, they can potentially help you connect dots that few other find on their own. Of course, since those same professor's opinions are usually available in written publications, it can be argued that even that advantage can be replaced.
Imagine a sickly spokesman saying "Well... we've got people who remove vandalism" - but well intended factual errors and typing mistakes (1952 and 1852 are very different!) are a lot harder to account for.
It's worth noting that traditional encyclopedias have had the same issue since their inception. Unintended errors are a fact of human life, yet it's common for the public to think that entity XYZ is immune to these things. The upside of Wikipedia is that the sheer amount of peer review helps catch these issues quickly. The downside is that the information is available prior to independent proofreading.
Sooo.... if you're relying on the information, it never hurts to cross-reference Wikipedia's sources.
What did people do to obtain obscure information?
They went to a University library and obtained help from a trained librarian. If the information was *really* obscure, then they would actually hire a trained librarian experienced in information retrieval.
One would think that the Internet would rid us of the need for professional/degreed librarians, but no so! Your average person does not have the skills necessary to dig up the true depth and breadth of information available on the internet. Librarians, OTOH, are trained to do such things. Not to mention that they won't limit their search to the internet. A lot of very old and/or priceless information is still stored in archives somewhere.
Library science is actually a very interesting field. As humans we've been trying to effectively organize our information for millennia. Yet every time there's a major breakthrough in information indexing, archiving, and retrieval, we eclipse it by creating new types of information at a rates unparalleled by past experiences.
I think the biggest question is, what is a human's capacity for handling this much info? Thanks to the internet, I can cram the equivalent of a year of study on WWII into about a week of off-hand research. At that rate, will we soon experience an information overload? What sort of psychological and physiological effects will it produce?
There was life before Wikipedia?
Indeed. According to the Wikipedia article, Nupedia was the original plan. It was going to be a truly professional construct similar to Britannica Online. Wikipedia was created as a way of collecting rough material for Nupedia, but the child ended up surpassing the parent in every way imaginable. Nupedia was then dismantled and effort was put into Wikipedia.
Despite all the anti-Wikipedia trolls, I think the results speak for themselves. Amazing bit of work.
Let's see... A player that costs more. Has a poor battery (in many units). Does not use the standard audio format. I can't really see the "outcompete" here. The only really thing that iTunes does is sell music at the price people are willing to pay - but only if you use an Apple or Microsoft product.
:-)
You sound like Taco. The iPod has been fairly successful in the market, and they didn't twist anyones arm to become successful. This is one of those times I suggest reflecting and reevaluating your position.
The U.S. didn't put up libraries to Carnegie. Carnegie funded the libraries with his money to get them started, then turned them over to the gov't to run as a public trust.
He built the first few libraries himself, but the majority were done through funds matching. i.e. Any funds that the local community/government was willing to put up for construction, he would match.
They will if the alternative is worse. Often when I go to the polls, my choice is between Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum. Regardless of who I choose, they are unacceptable.
Well then, all the more reason to run for office.
But "good politian" often means "ineffective politian."
Love him or hate him, Ronald Regean was a "good politician" who did great things for this country. In modern history, I have found Tommy Thompson to be a "good politician" as well. Not to mention effective.
You assume that I WANT to deal with people. I'm a geek. 8-)
No, I'm assuming you want to change things enough to overcome your desire NOT to deal with people. If you're not willing to make that sacrifice, then your issue is not important enough.
Nope. PETA has no credibility with me. So I ignore them.
*shakes head* What are we EVER going to do with you people? Look at thing from a higher level. Let's say Burger King does something to make you mad. You then dig up something on Burger King's meat production and give it to PETA. PETA comes knocking on Burger King's door and causes no end of troubles. Next time Burger King listens to you instead of brushing you off.
In other words, nutcases like PETA are a political weapon.
>Did you see the back and forth protests about SCO? Who believes SCO anymore?
"Anymore"? Did anyone EVER believe them?
Didio, the Stock Exchange, the general media, managers who wanted protection against Linux lawsuits, etc, etc, etc. The world does not revolve around the geek opinion.
But you still need ALOT of people to make this work. In my experience, this simply doesn't work unless you can organize the boycott around the product's target audience.
:-) Seriously. You need to make your voice heard.
Thanks to the power of the Internet combined with the power of the local media, you can do exactly that. Especially since things like Verizon WiFi service are targetted at you and I. Maybe someone in Philly should set up a webpage with Verizon's complaint number so they can tell them exactly what they think? (hint, hint)
Yes, it is. DRM gives the RIAA a warm fuzzy, but it also gives Apple a monopoly. Monopolies are anti-competition and, therefore, unamerican.
Monopolies are not unamerican. It merely means that someone got to the market first, or managed to outcompete their competitors by a wide margin. Now, Monopolies that abuse their power are unamerican. (Anyone remember that "steel guy" Andrew Carnegie? He was so horrible that he got the US to put libraries all over the place.)
Throw your iPod in the trash and buy a good MP3 player (like an Archos). Now, put all your legally purchased music on your new player.
I gave my wife a simple 32 meg MP3 player a couple of years ago. I used the LAME plugin for iTunes to transfer my music to MusicMatch so that she could listen to it. It wasn't that bothersome, and I recently bought her an iPod shuffle for her birthday. Let's just say that we are SO happy to finally get rid of MusicMatch.
>Shout louder.
Doesn't work unless it's an election year.
Bullocks. A mayor or council member who is unpopular with the local population isn't going to get reelected. They may not know your name if you're quiet and unassuming, but just try getting people mad at you. They'll know of you all right, and it's not a good thing.
>If you can't find any support from your neighbors, then maybe you should rethink your position for a moment. Why won't anyone else support you?
Because they know it's useless too.
They know it's useless to vote for their town government? Or that it's useless to give you vocal support in town meetings? Nonsense, I say! If you can't even get someone to say "I agree with you", then you need to recheck your position.
Translation: you become what you are fighting - a politian.
Welcome to reality. The trick is to be a *good* politician, not a bad one. If you really have a worthwhile greavance, it won't take much to get you where you need to go. The problem is when you're fighting a battle that has no support base. Then you have to resort to slimey politiking to achieve your goals. Again, check your position before you get too far. Reflection can reveal wonderous things.
However, I do see your point. But rememeber that techies rarely make good people-persons. And politians make their lives dealing with people.
There's always problems. People don't get things done by letting problems stop them. How much do you want something? Enough to overcome your poor "people" skills?
I'm smart (they pay me to be at work).
They pay monkeies too. With bananas. Make sure you're acting smart about your target and not just patting yourself on the back.
I'm organized (again, they pay me to be).
Yes, but will you be organized if no one pays you to be? No one pays you to boycott a company or run for office. You've got to do that on your own.
People are already hopping mad (as we can see here). So I'll ask again: give us some suggestions as to what we should do.
Hopping mad about what? Let's get some focus here. Who or what are we trying to change? Are people really hopping mad about it, or is there really just a vocal few? Are they mad enough to do something about it? If they aren't, are you smart enough and sure of your position enough to stoke the flames a bit? If they are, have you given t
Not bullshit. Their citizens don't go bankrupt because their bodies happened to be unfortunate enough to get cancer. Nor are they denied organ transplants because they're poor.
(sarcasm)No, their governments just seize the money they do have just because of their race or political stance. All while the US has programs independent of the government to help those in need.(/sarcasm)
I should know.
The part I left out of my original post was that I was born with a condition known as Tetrology of Follot (pronounced "Fa-loh"). I was an oddity, a condition that was very rarely seen in the medical profession. Correcting my heart condition would also have been very expensive if the doctor hadn't waved his cost and a childhood disease help organization step in to cover much of the cost. There are a lot of people I owe my very existence to, not the least of them a lot of people who were praying for me.
My end point is that the US bases its society on basic human decency and not on what the public infrastructure can provide. Our society works better than any others because of it, and all the other factors of our success flow from it.
I honestly don't care what the rest of the world is doing to "make themselves important". Neither should any other American. We've always worried about life, liberty, and happiness inside our borders and allow in anyone else who wants to join. If the rest of the world is becoming a better place, good for them. But America is and will continue to be a superpower as long as we are based on freedoms, decency, self-motivation, and a lot of help from above.
Our brain power has traditionally come from foreign countries like Germany, Japan, China and India,
;-)
Shh! You're giving away our secret of the melting pot!
three of which have much better social support than America
*cough*Bullshit*cough*
The immigrants who came to the US did so to be free to do what they wanted. No one hung a carrot out on a stick then forced them to work as slaves when they got here. They didn't have to build a great country, but they did anyway. And you know why they did it? Because they wanted to, and because they were inspired to do so by the Americans before them.
A lot of people have problems with Mexicans or Cubans entering the country. While I agree that we need to find better ways of controlling the flood (we can't support the influx of everyone at once), I say "let 'em come!" Immigration has always been good for this country! Not to mention that some of those Mexicans are pretty smart hombres.
An average private school cost/year = $9000 - $14,000 (lets average this out to $11.5k)
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics.
I currently send my oldest son to private school, and I can say for a fact that some of the best ones don't cost anywhere near as much as you're quoting. This unlines the fact that my Mother was (and still is) a very smart woman. She did her best to drill the same sense into my head.
I'm not going to discuss her finances on a public forum, but let me just say that her relatives were never in a position to provide support. That's probably why she was always determined not to *be* poor no matter if she was poor or not. I'll let you ponder the meaning of that one on your own.
Someone give the guy some mod points. A +5 Informative or Insightful should do it. Even more importantly, PAY ATTENTION TO THIS MESSAGE. Washington may have been quiet, but he certainly didn't waste words when he spoke.
:-)
Thank you for posting this.
Anyway, this is becoming an idealist rant.
Indeed it is. You sir, need to settle down and pay attention. The post you responded to was a 100% American focused response. As a result, the whole of your rant is completely out of place.
If you want to argue the "Communist-like" point, please ensure that you read and respond to the correct post. I am going to stress *read*, because you may note that I didn't put down the European system. I merely stated that the US is based on a different governmental and social structure, and thus what is right for Europe is not right for the US.
Good day to you sir, and I hope you get it all sorted out.
Geez, don't you people ever stop? Let me spell it out for you:
- This is the point over here.
- This is you over there.
- This is the point going right past you.
- This is you beating the living daylights out of a horse that's been dead since time began.
The fact that you think either candidate can be described as the "best" leads me to believe that you don't really understand the question.
And your response leads me to believe that you're a typical raving Slashdotter. The world doesn't change to work the way you want it to just because you say so.
You may be interested in knowing that while the US was always a two party system, it hasn't always been the same two parties. Since it's inception, the US has undergone several major party shifts. Now if Libratarean, Green, or some other party really was the way to go, then there would be another party shift. But there hasn't been a major party shift. Wonder why that is...
Uh huh. Worked real good last September, didn't it?
It did. It was a close one for awhile, but we did manage to make sure that the best of the two candidates got into the White House.
Actually, I was amazed at the Democrat's poor showing. I mean, with Dean being the best they had, is it really any wonder that Kerry managed to steal the limelight (and lose)?
I work for a coop and its very different than a corporation. Our customers are not schmozed and unatainable promises are generally not made. There is no rush to relase prodcuts to market that arent ready. The customer is told what exactly to expect and they are free company memos at any time. No secrets, no rich execs, no BS.
:-)
What you're describing is just another form of competition. There's nothing stopping a corporation from competing the same way, and once upon a time many did. But today's execs are very focused on extracting the dollar from the company and not on gaining customers.
With this relationship they have a lot more trust. Its kind of like a self serving government without broad sweeping power. Its hard to describe but its a great place to work and a great place to buy prodcuts and services.
I know, I used to work for one. That's why I know as much as I do about them.
And I always thought that the Manchester Mk. 1 (the world's first stored-program computer) was built in England. Oh. It was.
:-/
You know, I'm getting really tired of these "let's put words in your mouth and then disprove them" assinine posts. Digital Subscriber Lines and many other forms of broadband originated in the states. So is it any wonder that the states started from Number 1?
Is that hard to understand and/or comprehend? No. But facts do so get in the way of a good flame war.
Boycotts are useless for this. We are talking about a huge company here. We can stop buying their product and they won't even notice.
:-) Seriously. You need to make your voice heard. If you can't find any support from your neighbors, then maybe you should rethink your position for a moment. Why won't anyone else support you? (Hint: See iTunes above.)
:-)
Sure they will. Just focus your efforts. e.g. Instead of boycotting the company as a whole, boycott the services that are involved with what you have a problem with. (e.g. Get Verizon phone service, but boycott their DSL because of the new law.) Organize this boycott, contact local and national news sources about it, and just generally get the word out. If you can stop a single product, the company WILL take notice.
Why would I want to reward a company for pushing DRM and a proprietary reader? iTunes is unamerican and should be avoided.
No, it's not. The DRM is there to make the music companies feel all warm and fuzzy. I've never had it interfere with what I actually want to do with the music. The problem here is that you're equating DRM == EVIL, which isn't always true.
[The town council] listen about as well as our congress-critters.
Shout louder.
Seeing as now I am not independantly wealthy, running for office is pretty much suicide.
Nonsense. It doesn't take that much money to run locally. That will give you some influence over your area (and the town council). With the experience you gain in the process (and local support) you should have little trouble working your way up to the state level. Even rich people use donations to make it in the political arena.
My butt is now down to a size 42 and will be a size 38 by the end of the Summer and I've worked hard to make it so.
Good for you! I know how difficult it can be. I've been fighting with a paunch for the last few years, and sometimes it feels like an uphill battle.
If you're so smart, give us some suggestions as to what we should do.
Get Smart, get organized, and get people hopping mad. The latter point is the key to making most of the suggestions work.
The very idea that families living in inner city poverty, in housing projects, can suddenly upsticks and relocate to a more affluent area. Jesus, are you really that out of touch with reality.
Funny, because THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT MY MOTHER DID. Asshole.
Why don't you get off your God Damn high horse and help people help themselves instead of putting them down?
Trouble is, if I'm poor and uneducated, or a lone parent, or me and my partner both have to work dead-end jobs to make ends meet.
1. If you're poor and uneducated, what are you doing to change the situation? Are you educating yourself using the millions of programs and libraries that exist for that purpose? Are you making your kids take advantage of everything they can so that they can excel despite your poverty situaion?
2. Have you considered moving into a different situation where both you and your spouse don't have to work? Most home schoolers come out of rural areas where cost of living isn't as high. i.e. A single income of $30,000-$50,000 per year goes a lot farther than a dual income of $60,000-$100,000 does in the city.
3. Lone parents are the biggest issue. But one does have to question as to how they became lone parents. If your spouse is deceased (the most tragic situation), then you probably have money from insurance and/or social security (one of the few positive uses of the program) to help cover things like private education. If you're divorced, make sure you get your alimony. If you're just plain a single parent, then you kind of created a situation for yourself, didn't you.
It's the land of opportunity, not the land of a free ride.
And before you get all high and mighty in responding, consider this: I came from a poor family, lost my father to cancer when I was five, and my mother *STILL* sent me to private school before moving to Wisconsin and home schooling me. So don't you dare get self-righteous on behalf of those "poor people", because you probably don't know the first thing about them.
Then my statement is 100% true.
Oh yes. 100% true. Especially when you ignore the part about being able to do something about it. If you don't want to fix things, that's your problem, not a problem with the Co-Op model. But in that case you should stop whining because you've already given up.
When the cable company decided they wanted to offer 1 megabit cable access, the county shut them down and refused to allow them to offer the service.
If I were part of that coop, I'd take class-action legal action against the county. Just because the county does something doesn't mean that they have a legal right to do it. (e.g. Dailey tearing up the Meigs Field Airport in Chicago.)
Then you believe that Western Europe is communist as well?
Actually, I said "communist-like". And yes, Europe has taken that path. While it generally works pretty well for most Europeans, it is a different system than the US is founded upon.
And then there is US "education"...
Indeed. Public education sucks, but note how popular home schooling has become. Also note the counter-intuitive state of how well educated home schoolers generally are. (It's very rare for a public schooler to get a perfect ACT score, but very common for home schoolers.) Europe may have a better "system", but it's still a system. The US has always maintained their lead in the world by saying "to hell with the system, I'm going to be more than I'm told I can be." And that's exactly what they do.
Now if we could only collapse the damn social support system here in the US, we might be able to regain some of the brains and brawn we've been losing.
and the knowledge that while it's a co-op I have no other choice but to be a part of it.
:-)
Strictly speaking, that's not true. Co-Ops have to compete in the market just like everyone else. (Unlike direct government services.) The real reason why you don't have a choice is that utilities tend to be monopolies, period.
You might want to talk to someone in your town government about what you and your neighbords can do to improve your services. You may actually have some control over the company and not even know it.
I'll probably get modded down for saying this, but what are you doing to fix the situation? Yeah, you're bitching about it on a public forum and whining about how America is "going down the tubes". It's all the fault of those evil companies, blah, blah, blah.
Yet how many of you are writing your Congress Critters or your State Senate Critters? How many of you are organizing petitions and boycotts against companies who push this sort of nonsense? How many of you are *rewarding* companies who do the right thing? (e.g. iTunes) How many of you attend town meetings to give your opinion? How many of you found co-ops to cover the gaps? How many of you vote? How many of you run for office? How many of you do *anything* other than sit on your size 53 butts and complain about the situation?!?
I realize that you can't do everything I've mentioned above, but even a small fraction of "doing your part" adds up on a national level. And just think, since so many other people are sitting on their butts, you have a real opportunity to have your voice heard! Yes, it takes work, it takes perserverance, and it takes a willingness to do what needs to be done. But isn't that what America is founded on? Always doing what's too hard for others? Taking in the refugies who are willing to give up everything they have just for a chance to build their own lives the way they want them?
Be an American. Do your part.
Today, monthly broadband packages offered by the national carriers hover above $50, barring access to millions of Americans who can't afford the sticker price. Cities and towns across the country have taken up the task of building a cheaper alternative -- often choosing easy-to-build wireless mesh networks -- to bridge the gap that has kept many on the darker side of the digital divide.
Telecommunications giants have mobilized a well-funded army of coin-operated think tanks, pliant legislators and lazy journalists to protect their Internet fiefdoms from these municipal internet initiatives, painting them as an affront to American innovation and free enterprise.
While I don't agree with the laws that are being passed against broadband, I would like to point out that most states have a type of business specifically designed for the common good while simultaneously keeping the government (and stupid laws) out of it: Cooperatives.
CO-OPs are designed to be businesses by the people, for the people, without engaging in the communist-like practice of merging everything under the government's umbrella. A lot of towns in my home state (Wisconsin) have banded together into CO-OPs to provide local utility services. Thanks to their efforts, I had DSL access long before Comcast stopped breaking their promises, and long before many city dwealers had the same services. So if your state passes an idiot law, see if you and your neighbors can do something about it on a local level. It might piss off Verizon and SBC, but that's just too bad, isn't it?
Meanwhile, the United States has slid from first to thirteenth place in national broadband penetration, falling behind South Korea, Japan and Canada, where effective private-public sector initiatives have paved over the digital divide, allowing more citizens to reap the economic benefits of the open information era at a fraction of the costs we take for granted.
This isn't really surprising. The tech started here in the US, so that made us #1. But the rural spread of our population makes market penetration quite difficult, thus resulting in countries with higher population densities pulling ahead. As Mark Twain once said, "There are lies, damn lies, and statistics."