Why yes, yes it does make a difference. Get rid of the "already been done" jobs, and we have the ability to keep pushing ahead. Increase your productivity, your creativity, your skills, and you'll be fine.
Granted the Chinese government is oppressing its people and generally acting like a bad apple. And, like you, I don't know how performing filtering for a government really violates their Do No Evil principle.
However, what I'm not sure about is whether or not it's any of our business that the Chinese government wants to manipulate information. It's not ignorance, it's merely asking the question. If it turns out that yes, we really do want to help the Chinese become free, why are we not doing more politically to do so? But that gets wayyy off track.:)
Yeah, because drug prohibition, raising the drinking age to 21, strict DWI laws, making prostitution illegal and the "war on poverty" have made such astounding inroads in combating those social problems.
Hopefully you were joking.
Spam is absolutely technical. People are assholes whether or not they are spammers, telemarketers, or con men.
Just curious: What is it about ballots issued by a party that invades anyone's privacy? The fact that if I get "the Republican" ballot then everyone knows I'm voting Republican?
I think the original poster is (incorrectly?) referring to the "select 1 and only 1" system that we use now as "Australian" (though that sounds like a kind of wax treatment for hard to reach places).
No, the best hope for all 3rd parties is that Bush gets reelected. He'll continue to screw things up, badly, pushing more and more people to get angry about it.
Electing Kerry won't work: He'll still screw things up, at least as bad as Bush, but everyone will just think "Oh, it's the Democrats who've fucked it up. Let's give the Republicans a try again" in 2008.
No, it's best to have things get absolutely shitty, then have a bit of a mild revolution to REALLY change things.
Exactly: Private ownership is key. If the Sierra Club wants all the trees to be left alone for perpetuity, they should buy some.
And we aren't necessarily replacing all trees with tree farms. We are using less and less land for farming, and more "goes wild" every year.
We're still way ahead. Living in DC, I get a little 'down' now and then watching the sprawl expand. But drive an hour south and there's no sign of urban sprawl at all.
I think what I was suggesting was simply that audio is all about perception.
I, for one, can't figure out what people are talking about when they speak of "warmth" beyond what I do with an equalizer.
You start going on about even/odd distortion something-or-other, and I just glaze over. My perception of sound must be less acute than yours. Or I just don't care enough.
Oh wait, I figured it out.:) It's the music. Norwegian death metal = doesn't really matter what kind of speakers you have.:)
It's all psychological. Or settings. I've heard a few people say they didn't care for their CD systems' sound. Turns out, they aren't using their equalizers for anything.
Not true. Bias is fine, as long as it's identified or admitted to.
Why do you think so many newspapers around the land are known as "the Democrat"?
It's always been so.
I don't think there's too many people out there who don't realize Fox has a right-wing slant, compared to other news channels. The fact is, most people don't care! Or worse (for the lefties around), most people apparently have a right-wing slant, too!
You need to chill out a bit and enjoy your life more.
We're not overpopulating the world. It appears we'll max out by 2050 and then the population will start pulling back a bit.
As for "cutting down trees without replacing them", you're just plain wrong there man. In the US, there are more trees now than there were a hundred, or even 200 years ago.
Everything gets better as technology increases. We need less and less land to produce food for everyone.
So what we SHOULD do is push everywhere else in the world to increase their education and technology. Then the lower classes there will (just like we did 50, 75 years ago) realize they're getting jobbed and will step up and demand better conditions.
How best to do that? Investment in local economies.
Do 30 different world governments employ programmers who can understand this junk? What are they going to do with the code, exactly? How much money will be wasted around the world?
What a waste of time, but gotta give it to 'em, it's an interesting PR move.
You don't want to post on freaking slashdot using your real name? Shit like that just takes whatever point you were trying to make and buries it under the weight of your tin foil hat.
Good point, but there's hope: Lots of smaller towns now specialize in boutique shops. Individual shops are coming back, even in high density areas (or maybe especially in such places).
What I hope is that the big boxes remain for those who couldn't care less about service, but that the little shops can thrive. I think it can happen, I've seen it in my old home town.
You know what? For all your anti-libertarian fuming (the "bullshit" comment), I think you're spot on about the undue influence government has had on helping corporations become way too powerful.
Treating a corporation as an "individual" (!! Can you imagine such a thing?!?) is the biggest problem I have with our "free market" economy.
Get government out of it completely! The fake liability stuff of corporations is just as vile as a government feeling it has to "provide" jobs.
YOU look to see where something is made. I do. But most people don't.
You make it sound as though the Big Boxes are pushing their wares on unsuspecting consumers, but that's obviously not the case. Most consumers DO prefer the faceless Big Box, sorry to say.
That's why the local shops have gone out of business.
People vote with their wallets and everyone sees price over wages. It will always be that way.
Outstanding and insightful. Sorry I can't reply to disagree because I'm now a fan.
Seriously, though, you've helped to educate me on some of the finer points of "reduced-regulation accounting", for lack a better term. Do you write professionally?
You're a fool (and a presumtuous one at that. "They", indeed) if you think the libertarian position leads logically to "thugs coming by your house demanding protection money".
You should read a few libertarian publications and learn something before dismissing them out of hand.
There's nothing in the libertarian philosophy that prevents a government from stopping the abuses you describe: It's quite clear that people must be protected from other people. The Federal government is doing far too much more than that now, of course.
Obviously you'll have a number of hard-core libertarians who are more like anarchists than anything. But you'll find wackos in every party. I'm not sure why you think the libertarian thinkers are more wacko than the rest.
Finally, a libertarian leader would never get all his "dreams" passed. But whose to say leaning that way wouldn't help? Start somewhere, work towards freedom.
You're right, don't worry about it.:) Someday you'll make money too...
I'm not sure what you're talking about with "value added tax". The VAT is essentially a form of sales tax. I'm not familiar with what you're describing.
The reason lawyers don't pay much in taxes is simple: They set up a corporation in their own name. They pay themselves a small salary, and then their corporation pays them huge dividends. The trick? Dividends are not taxed for social security or medicare. That's something like 12.5% right there.
By the way, I believe anyone could set themselves up as a corporation.
Slashdot Mirror
Why yes, yes it does make a difference. Get rid of the "already been done" jobs, and we have the ability to keep pushing ahead. Increase your productivity, your creativity, your skills, and you'll be fine.
:)
In a macro-economic sense of course.
Granted the Chinese government is oppressing its people and generally acting like a bad apple. And, like you, I don't know how performing filtering for a government really violates their Do No Evil principle.
:)
However, what I'm not sure about is whether or not it's any of our business that the Chinese government wants to manipulate information. It's not ignorance, it's merely asking the question. If it turns out that yes, we really do want to help the Chinese become free, why are we not doing more politically to do so? But that gets wayyy off track.
Really funny considering your horrid misuse of "loose".
Nothing funnier than a grammar nazi who fucks up.
Yeah, because drug prohibition, raising the drinking age to 21, strict DWI laws, making prostitution illegal and the "war on poverty" have made such astounding inroads in combating those social problems.
Hopefully you were joking.
Spam is absolutely technical. People are assholes whether or not they are spammers, telemarketers, or con men.
Sorry, I don't see how China's relations with its citizens is any of Google's concerns, really.
If they want to return results differently based on where you are, does it really matter?
???
Do you think that the LP ISN'T trying to get elected at the local level?? They've already won hundreds of "grass-roots" elections.
Just curious: What is it about ballots issued by a party that invades anyone's privacy? The fact that if I get "the Republican" ballot then everyone knows I'm voting Republican?
I think the original poster is (incorrectly?) referring to the "select 1 and only 1" system that we use now as "Australian" (though that sounds like a kind of wax treatment for hard to reach places).
No, the best hope for all 3rd parties is that Bush gets reelected. He'll continue to screw things up, badly, pushing more and more people to get angry about it.
Electing Kerry won't work: He'll still screw things up, at least as bad as Bush, but everyone will just think "Oh, it's the Democrats who've fucked it up. Let's give the Republicans a try again" in 2008.
No, it's best to have things get absolutely shitty, then have a bit of a mild revolution to REALLY change things.
It almost worked for Perot in 92. Think about it.
Exactly: Private ownership is key. If the Sierra Club wants all the trees to be left alone for perpetuity, they should buy some.
And we aren't necessarily replacing all trees with tree farms. We are using less and less land for farming, and more "goes wild" every year.
We're still way ahead. Living in DC, I get a little 'down' now and then watching the sprawl expand. But drive an hour south and there's no sign of urban sprawl at all.
I think what I was suggesting was simply that audio is all about perception.
:) It's the music. Norwegian death metal = doesn't really matter what kind of speakers you have. :)
I, for one, can't figure out what people are talking about when they speak of "warmth" beyond what I do with an equalizer.
You start going on about even/odd distortion something-or-other, and I just glaze over. My perception of sound must be less acute than yours. Or I just don't care enough.
Oh wait, I figured it out.
It's all psychological. Or settings. I've heard a few people say they didn't care for their CD systems' sound. Turns out, they aren't using their equalizers for anything.
Turn up the bass, and poof, sounds warmer.
Not true. Bias is fine, as long as it's identified or admitted to.
Why do you think so many newspapers around the land are known as "the Democrat"?
It's always been so.
I don't think there's too many people out there who don't realize Fox has a right-wing slant, compared to other news channels. The fact is, most people don't care! Or worse (for the lefties around), most people apparently have a right-wing slant, too!
You need to chill out a bit and enjoy your life more.
We're not overpopulating the world. It appears we'll max out by 2050 and then the population will start pulling back a bit.
As for "cutting down trees without replacing them", you're just plain wrong there man. In the US, there are more trees now than there were a hundred, or even 200 years ago.
Everything gets better as technology increases. We need less and less land to produce food for everyone.
So what we SHOULD do is push everywhere else in the world to increase their education and technology. Then the lower classes there will (just like we did 50, 75 years ago) realize they're getting jobbed and will step up and demand better conditions.
How best to do that? Investment in local economies.
Do 30 different world governments employ programmers who can understand this junk? What are they going to do with the code, exactly? How much money will be wasted around the world?
What a waste of time, but gotta give it to 'em, it's an interesting PR move.
Holy shit, you need to cut down on the coffee dude.
Your nonsense about being unemployed makes me want to tell you to go ahead and start shouting. It'll just tell more people how nuts you are.
Oh get real.
You don't want to post on freaking slashdot using your real name? Shit like that just takes whatever point you were trying to make and buries it under the weight of your tin foil hat.
Good point, but there's hope: Lots of smaller towns now specialize in boutique shops. Individual shops are coming back, even in high density areas (or maybe especially in such places).
What I hope is that the big boxes remain for those who couldn't care less about service, but that the little shops can thrive. I think it can happen, I've seen it in my old home town.
You know what? For all your anti-libertarian fuming (the "bullshit" comment), I think you're spot on about the undue influence government has had on helping corporations become way too powerful.
Treating a corporation as an "individual" (!! Can you imagine such a thing?!?) is the biggest problem I have with our "free market" economy.
Get government out of it completely! The fake liability stuff of corporations is just as vile as a government feeling it has to "provide" jobs.
Well damn bro, guess you might as well kill yourself and get it over with.
YOU look to see where something is made. I do. But most people don't.
You make it sound as though the Big Boxes are pushing their wares on unsuspecting consumers, but that's obviously not the case. Most consumers DO prefer the faceless Big Box, sorry to say.
That's why the local shops have gone out of business.
People vote with their wallets and everyone sees price over wages. It will always be that way.
"they cannot provide jobs for millions of underemployed persons."
Can someone explain to me exactly why it's the government's function to "provide" me with a job?
No, seriously.
Ass :)
Outstanding and insightful. Sorry I can't reply to disagree because I'm now a fan.
Seriously, though, you've helped to educate me on some of the finer points of "reduced-regulation accounting", for lack a better term. Do you write professionally?
You're a fool (and a presumtuous one at that. "They", indeed) if you think the libertarian position leads logically to "thugs coming by your house demanding protection money".
You should read a few libertarian publications and learn something before dismissing them out of hand.
There's nothing in the libertarian philosophy that prevents a government from stopping the abuses you describe: It's quite clear that people must be protected from other people. The Federal government is doing far too much more than that now, of course.
Obviously you'll have a number of hard-core libertarians who are more like anarchists than anything. But you'll find wackos in every party. I'm not sure why you think the libertarian thinkers are more wacko than the rest.
Finally, a libertarian leader would never get all his "dreams" passed. But whose to say leaning that way wouldn't help? Start somewhere, work towards freedom.
You're right, don't worry about it. :) Someday you'll make money too...
I'm not sure what you're talking about with "value added tax". The VAT is essentially a form of sales tax. I'm not familiar with what you're describing.
The reason lawyers don't pay much in taxes is simple: They set up a corporation in their own name. They pay themselves a small salary, and then their corporation pays them huge dividends. The trick? Dividends are not taxed for social security or medicare. That's something like 12.5% right there.
By the way, I believe anyone could set themselves up as a corporation.
The tax system is disgusting.