Eisenhower once said: "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that everything we spend money on is a waste to those who have none.
Or is this solely a demonstration of power? A sort of an international dick-waving contest?
[[I could be wrong about my history here, but I believe the reason the US-Soviet space race was so important was to show the other side that they could send nukes across the globe without launching a manned bomber.]]
Think about it, NASA was largely developed by Wernher von Braun. The same man who brought us the V2 rocket. It is now said he built that rocket with the ideas of someday going to the moon. Either way, it is has been said that Hitler could have ruled the world with nukes and V2s.
Point: India has nukes. If they want to hold the world hostage or become a true nuclear power they need to be able to send rockets/missles around the globe.
At first it sounded good, but now it's somewhat scary. Dirty bombs don't scare me much, ICBMs... that is another story.
I never really mentioned that it targeted Blacks or other minorities, just that it targeted young people who may be valuable to all of us later in life.
Think about it. I'm a teenager, not from a well off family. I decide to experiment with pot, why not? Everyone else is drinking and partying, there must be something to it. I get caught because I'm young and stupid, I don't know the best way to keep it a secret. Now, even though I may be a Mensa member, I made a mistake and now I'm practically denied college based on my class.
Even though I may be able to crack problems facing the developers of quantum computing I'm stuck in the class level which uses drugs and alcohol the most. Because of a misdemeanor I've been sentenced to a life of menial work and society never benefits from the things I may be able to bring to it.
Another case, similar to the one mentioned could arise when parents have no where else to turn besides the police. Many people I know were "ratted" on by their own parents, simply because they thought the law would know best. Of course later on they were denied college grants. Where those people are now, I have no idea.
Even still, the problem arises when it comes to people who are older and have made mistakes early on in their lives. When it comes time to switch jobs I may need training I can't money that has already been collected from taxpayers for my betterment. What are my options? Sell drugs?
Of course, we still allow drunks and drug users become Presidents...
I'm sure this will be seen as "off topic" but I'm afraid the world will implode this election.
I'm afraid that both sides of these elections will try to cheat so much that the world won't be able to take it and the election itself will cause a war.
(Then again, if I lived in Florida and was turned away at the polls or something I would have picked up a firearm and returned...)
State law in Florida dictates that when a computer can't read a vote it must be viewed by a human to see if there was an attempt at a vote.
It's their law, they invited this problem. Pay no attention to the fact that in Tallahassee had computers on hand to test votes... an almost all white Tallahassee.
The problem also is that all the votes were never counted. It's not about a recount, it's about the first count, which never was finished.
A reporter for Knight Ridder said on C-Span that Bush won on accident, he is the accidental president because not all of Florida law was taken into account.
Anyways, "I think all this talk about legitimacy is way overblown"
I assumed that mlDonkey version you speak of is for Linux, but if not here goes:
Try Starz! on Demand, it's a subscription based service that lets you download hundreds of movies a month. Basically every movie shown on Starz is available for download. Plus you can watch Starz.
Bad thing: It uses Helix, RealPlayer's DRM technology and last time I checked wasn't available for Linux (hmmm... I wonder why). Requires substantial bandwidth. Can't keep the movies, they expire after 2 weeks.
Good thing: It's a good service, good movies and good quality too, at about 500 MB per movie. Good for someone like me who doesn't want to pay for cable or satellite, but will pay for a nice movies.
I used the trial and stuck with it because it allowed me to watch a movie a day, when I wanted to.
I think they are trying to say that they are free from your ISP, but that isn't true either.
It's a bad example, but my DSL ISPdid charge. They are now running a promotional offer though.
Thing is, you need to pay for "professional" installation to get 'free' which costs 100 bucks, and isn't needed. Now the DSL modem is USB compatible and comes with a step by step CD. They used to charge for installation of the AP and an equipment fee every month.
Dell buys parts from the lowest bidder. Ergo, they are the lowest quality. Therefore, you need a better monitor.
Rockhound (Steve Buscemi): You know we're sitting on four million pounds of fuel, one nuclear weapon and a thing that has 270,000 moving parts built by the lowest bidder. Makes you feel good, doesn't it?
I don't want schools to become competitive to the point where they face closure for being 'bad'. I just wanted to point out that even with good results people aren't guranteed to keep their jobs.
No, I don't think the US is the first country to develop public schools, but those are the schools I'm concerned with (of course). Our history in public schools started as I said; they were founded after priciples developed at mental asylums. And that isn't my 'opinion' that is the opinion of Pedro Noguera of Harvard. And pretty much a fact. Schools main purpose is to keep the kids quiet so they can be 'learned on'. The second purpose of schools, during their founding years in New England, was to Americanize newly immigrated Europeans. This caused problems that still exist today. We pay too much attention to indoctrination and not enough attention to actual instruction.
Thinking of my local public schools I cringe when thinking about the administration. Not principles, but people that never set foot inside a school. They are bueracrats plain and simple. They mandate changes for classes they know nothing about and much of the class time after such a change is wasted on listening to teachers complain (even when I was in the third grade I heard these problems).
The board has caused so many problems that no one is willing to support them anymore. Levies are never passed because people have written them off. I understand that the bueracrats are needed but they need to change their tunes in order to get public support. For god sakes, people with kids in school even vote against levies because they never see the results. The money never makes it to the school.
Read the links posted in my original comment. You need to know that it's more complicated than it seems. NCLB has failed because there is no way it will work. It's Bush that supports closing 'failing' schools. Why bother fixing them.
I'm just ranting and not making sense so I'll stop.
Do you really want a system where 75% of all schools in the US shut down and where you have to constantly find a new school for your kids to go to?
No, I don't want that system. I support the public schools, I'm just pointing out their shortcomings. As I said, NCLB was supposed to fix this but has created overcrowding in "good" schools. This will of course lead to "good" schools becoming "bad" schools.
Matt Groening said it best... "school prepares you for life by teaching you to sit quietly at your desk doing exactly what you are told"
That is the problem too. David Tyack said "...urban education in the nineteenth century did more to industrialize humanity than to humanize industry". It's the idea of educational "institutions" that ruin our children's lives.
Catholic and other private schools get to cherry pick the best students. It's much easier to teach smart kids. No matter what your criterea is if a school can get to pick who goes and who does not they will always win against a school that has to take everybody.
Catholic schools can not "cherry pick" students based on their intelligence. They can remove them for bad behaviour, but not for being "dumb".
The problem in many public schools is deeper than being smart or stupid. Bad schools, meaning dirty, falling apart schools result in worse test grades. It's been proven over and over again.
Many times it has more to do with psychology than genius. Look at things such as Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Public schools, because of the way they were formed, barely meet the saftey need, and never the esteem need. Students, as the humans they are, are never "complete".
Public schools shouldn't be abandoned, but they need to be re-worked from the ground up. The people involved need to realize that the students are more the pupils and realize that they are human beings.
Now, how would you put the music out yourself? P2P? Brilliant! It's so easy to assume the moral high ground in jumping down P2P users throats, but it's actually a very useful thing to upcoming musicians.
Hmmm... I would argue however that the majority of people on P2P networks aren't downloading stuff that is new and unknown, they are downloading the known and overrated.
I/We lived with my gf's family members for a bit. They had a computer and the cousins and nephews came and used it all day and night. It was on a 3Mbs connection so they marvelled at their download speeds. Soon a junior highschooler came over and downloaded Ares.
What did he download with it?
Blockbuster movies: Torque, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Lord of The Rings (we had the DVD's in the SAME ROOM!), and "hit" music: Britney Spears, "50-cent", Eminem, Eminem, Eminem, and their ilk.
What happened? The lines were clogged constantly and the computer went down to computer viruses and spyware.
Sure, the fault is the users. No doubt that I've used a few networks to get Linux distributions (Gnutella, eDonkey) but most users are doing that. Ares isn't good for anything more than piracy, it's users all looking for Hollywood movies and RIAA protected acts. Same goes for Kazaa. Some networks are prone to be piracy only because of their userbase.
I'm not for shutting anything on the Internet down but I wasn't suprised when Napster was closed (made sense to me) and Kazaa should just silently die. For god sakes, Kazaa makes money off other people's copyrights (ads in the program). That is wrong.
How does the poster come close to vindicating those who dealt with the Third Reich?
The companies that dealt with them, first off, are still around. Ford is a good example. But in reality their dealings with Nazi Germany were okay until we were at war with them. I know, I know. I hate Nazis too, and I'm jewish... but telling a company not to do business in a certain country because their "evil" isn't good enough.
If that was the case we wouldn't have trade deficit. We import more stuff from China than anywhere else I believe. If being "evil" was a good reason not to do business with someone why do we deal with the Saudi's so much? They are "evil" to the 3rd degree and even have U.S. citizens in custody (custody which usually ends in 0 trial and 1 beheading + torture).
To think that Google is supposed to bring democracy to China is ridiculous. Sure, they had a big IPO, but they are not close to China's size and I don't think have nukes... as China does.
Let's quit acting like Google is responsible for "Communism" in China. If you really want to do something write your President, or Senator. Write the U.N., which counts them among legitimate regimes. Do something worthwhile.
Google may "censor" results and all, but something makes me think that they will stay one step ahead of the Chinese government regardless. They are, after all smarter. (But really, what does Google gain from a Chinese overthrow?)
To be serious, there was a story on/. before that point out that certain laws have been copyright'n.
The case in question was a city (I believe) that hired some lawyers to write the law for them. Afterward people were getting cease and desist letters from the lawyers.
Okay, found the/. article here: Is Law Copyrighted? It was a building code posted on the web.
I've been in the same place as you. I've sent homework to my hotmail account, from my hotmail account, expecting to print it at school. I almost failed that class.
I believe most of the money that you are talking about ("all resources don't remotely add up to our tax dollars") goes to administration. You know, the people that don't belong there.
Really, the problem with public schools and our tax money is that the school don't have to be competitive in the marketplace. No matter what the results, voters choose who runs the school board. Failed leaders get re-elected based on their name recognition and advertising spending, successful leaders are ofter pushed out no matter what. On the otherhand if someone raises through the ranks and changes schools, and they aren't liked by the schoolboard then they also hit the streets.
A good example is El Paso's Yselta school district. It's one of the countries poorest schools and one man Anthony Trujullo raised test scores to some of the highest in the country. Parents were happy with the change but he was fired by the board 4 to 3. One of his supporters said it was politics, and they fired him based on no more than "a personal dislike by four members".
There is no 'market check', if you want to call it that and no competition for funds. Not that I'm for starving bad schools to death, but it makes you wonder. There is no incentive to actually make the schools better.
Many times, the failures of the public school system in America is deeper than it looks. Take school violence for example. I had to do a report for school with 4 others. When I suggested that violence had nothing to do with video games or TV people looked at me with awe. For more into that subject, read Preventing Violence in Schools Through the Production of Docile Bodies by Pedro Noguera (PhD). Good read, I promise. It basically says the failure of the public schools in general is based in the founding years and how they were formed after mental asylums and prison...
We all have to be educated in these areas in order to exact change. Better public schools are our way to make this country better for all, it's the first line of defense (IMHO).
It would be in the U.S. news but the findings were immediatly copyrighted and any posting of the results are illegal and any news agencies reporting on this story will be fined $500,000.
No news on whether BBC executives will be extradited due to their crimes against humanity or not. The RIAA has already donated lawyers to the judge involved saying that his rights to hold intellectual property are being violated. WIPO is also on the case.
If the unemployment numbers are high that means there are many people out of work. Well? There are obviously jobs out there... an abundance of them right?
Slashdot Mirror
Good point...
(Wasting karma here)
Eisenhower once said:
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that everything we spend money on is a waste to those who have none.
okay
Seriously, tort reform is a pipe dream like privatizing Social Security.
I see it as a non-issue because I won't see change in my lifetime.
Or is this solely a demonstration of power? A sort of an international dick-waving contest?
[[I could be wrong about my history here, but I believe the reason the US-Soviet space race was so important was to show the other side that they could send nukes across the globe without launching a manned bomber.]]
Think about it, NASA was largely developed by Wernher von Braun. The same man who brought us the V2 rocket. It is now said he built that rocket with the ideas of someday going to the moon. Either way, it is has been said that Hitler could have ruled the world with nukes and V2s.
Point: India has nukes. If they want to hold the world hostage or become a true nuclear power they need to be able to send rockets/missles around the globe.
At first it sounded good, but now it's somewhat scary. Dirty bombs don't scare me much, ICBMs... that is another story.
I once wrote my congressmen (Steve "Combover" Chabot) about this same issue.
I never really mentioned that it targeted Blacks or other minorities, just that it targeted young people who may be valuable to all of us later in life.
Think about it. I'm a teenager, not from a well off family. I decide to experiment with pot, why not? Everyone else is drinking and partying, there must be something to it. I get caught because I'm young and stupid, I don't know the best way to keep it a secret. Now, even though I may be a Mensa member, I made a mistake and now I'm practically denied college based on my class.
Even though I may be able to crack problems facing the developers of quantum computing I'm stuck in the class level which uses drugs and alcohol the most. Because of a misdemeanor I've been sentenced to a life of menial work and society never benefits from the things I may be able to bring to it.
Another case, similar to the one mentioned could arise when parents have no where else to turn besides the police. Many people I know were "ratted" on by their own parents, simply because they thought the law would know best. Of course later on they were denied college grants. Where those people are now, I have no idea.
Even still, the problem arises when it comes to people who are older and have made mistakes early on in their lives. When it comes time to switch jobs I may need training I can't money that has already been collected from taxpayers for my betterment. What are my options? Sell drugs?
Of course, we still allow drunks and drug users become Presidents...
I'm sure this will be seen as "off topic" but I'm afraid the world will implode this election.
I'm afraid that both sides of these elections will try to cheat so much that the world won't be able to take it and the election itself will cause a war.
(Then again, if I lived in Florida and was turned away at the polls or something I would have picked up a firearm and returned...)
Ooops, I believe the service is about $14/month.
Pretty good deal compared to the others because you can easily watch more than 14 movies in a month.
In my first few days I watched about 5 or 6 movies.
This is not about hanging chads.
But it is about hanging chads.
State law in Florida dictates that when a computer can't read a vote it must be viewed by a human to see if there was an attempt at a vote.
It's their law, they invited this problem. Pay no attention to the fact that in Tallahassee had computers on hand to test votes... an almost all white Tallahassee.
The problem also is that all the votes were never counted. It's not about a recount, it's about the first count, which never was finished.
A reporter for Knight Ridder said on C-Span that Bush won on accident, he is the accidental president because not all of Florida law was taken into account.
Anyways, "I think all this talk about legitimacy is way overblown"
I assumed that mlDonkey version you speak of is for Linux, but if not here goes:
Try Starz! on Demand, it's a subscription based service that lets you download hundreds of movies a month. Basically every movie shown on Starz is available for download. Plus you can watch Starz.
Bad thing: It uses Helix, RealPlayer's DRM technology and last time I checked wasn't available for Linux (hmmm... I wonder why). Requires substantial bandwidth. Can't keep the movies, they expire after 2 weeks.
Good thing: It's a good service, good movies and good quality too, at about 500 MB per movie. Good for someone like me who doesn't want to pay for cable or satellite, but will pay for a nice movies.
I used the trial and stuck with it because it allowed me to watch a movie a day, when I wanted to.
I think they are trying to say that they are free from your ISP, but that isn't true either.
It's a bad example, but my DSL ISP did charge. They are now running a promotional offer though.
Thing is, you need to pay for "professional" installation to get 'free' which costs 100 bucks, and isn't needed. Now the DSL modem is USB compatible and comes with a step by step CD. They used to charge for installation of the AP and an equipment fee every month.
Dell buys parts from the lowest bidder. Ergo, they are the lowest quality. Therefore, you need a better monitor.
Rockhound (Steve Buscemi): You know we're sitting on four million pounds of fuel, one nuclear weapon and a thing that has 270,000 moving parts built by the lowest bidder. Makes you feel good, doesn't it?
(From Armageddon, "worst movie ever")
No, no no.
I don't want schools to become competitive to the point where they face closure for being 'bad'. I just wanted to point out that even with good results people aren't guranteed to keep their jobs.
No, I don't think the US is the first country to develop public schools, but those are the schools I'm concerned with (of course). Our history in public schools started as I said; they were founded after priciples developed at mental asylums. And that isn't my 'opinion' that is the opinion of Pedro Noguera of Harvard. And pretty much a fact. Schools main purpose is to keep the kids quiet so they can be 'learned on'. The second purpose of schools, during their founding years in New England, was to Americanize newly immigrated Europeans. This caused problems that still exist today. We pay too much attention to indoctrination and not enough attention to actual instruction.
Thinking of my local public schools I cringe when thinking about the administration. Not principles, but people that never set foot inside a school. They are bueracrats plain and simple. They mandate changes for classes they know nothing about and much of the class time after such a change is wasted on listening to teachers complain (even when I was in the third grade I heard these problems).
The board has caused so many problems that no one is willing to support them anymore. Levies are never passed because people have written them off. I understand that the bueracrats are needed but they need to change their tunes in order to get public support. For god sakes, people with kids in school even vote against levies because they never see the results. The money never makes it to the school.
Read the links posted in my original comment. You need to know that it's more complicated than it seems. NCLB has failed because there is no way it will work. It's Bush that supports closing 'failing' schools. Why bother fixing them.
I'm just ranting and not making sense so I'll stop.
Do you really want a system where 75% of all schools in the US shut down and where you have to constantly find a new school for your kids to go to?
No, I don't want that system. I support the public schools, I'm just pointing out their shortcomings. As I said, NCLB was supposed to fix this but has created overcrowding in "good" schools. This will of course lead to "good" schools becoming "bad" schools.
Matt Groening said it best... "school prepares you for life by teaching you to sit quietly at your desk doing exactly what you are told"
That is the problem too. David Tyack said "...urban education in the nineteenth century did more to industrialize humanity than to humanize industry". It's the idea of educational "institutions" that ruin our children's lives.
I always wanted to make this bumper sticker for Florida Democrats:
Catholic and other private schools get to cherry pick the best students. It's much easier to teach smart kids.
No matter what your criterea is if a school can get to pick who goes and who does not they will always win against a school that has to take everybody.
Catholic schools can not "cherry pick" students based on their intelligence. They can remove them for bad behaviour, but not for being "dumb".
The problem in many public schools is deeper than being smart or stupid. Bad schools, meaning dirty, falling apart schools result in worse test grades. It's been proven over and over again.
Many times it has more to do with psychology than genius. Look at things such as Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Public schools, because of the way they were formed, barely meet the saftey need, and never the esteem need. Students, as the humans they are, are never "complete".
Public schools shouldn't be abandoned, but they need to be re-worked from the ground up. The people involved need to realize that the students are more the pupils and realize that they are human beings.
Now, how would you put the music out yourself? P2P? Brilliant! It's so easy to assume the moral high ground in jumping down P2P users throats, but it's actually a very useful thing to upcoming musicians.
Hmmm... I would argue however that the majority of people on P2P networks aren't downloading stuff that is new and unknown, they are downloading the known and overrated.
I/We lived with my gf's family members for a bit. They had a computer and the cousins and nephews came and used it all day and night. It was on a 3Mbs connection so they marvelled at their download speeds. Soon a junior highschooler came over and downloaded Ares.
What did he download with it?
Blockbuster movies: Torque, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Lord of The Rings (we had the DVD's in the SAME ROOM!), and "hit" music: Britney Spears, "50-cent", Eminem, Eminem, Eminem, and their ilk.
What happened? The lines were clogged constantly and the computer went down to computer viruses and spyware.
Sure, the fault is the users. No doubt that I've used a few networks to get Linux distributions (Gnutella, eDonkey) but most users are doing that. Ares isn't good for anything more than piracy, it's users all looking for Hollywood movies and RIAA protected acts. Same goes for Kazaa. Some networks are prone to be piracy only because of their userbase.
I'm not for shutting anything on the Internet down but I wasn't suprised when Napster was closed (made sense to me) and Kazaa should just silently die. For god sakes, Kazaa makes money off other people's copyrights (ads in the program). That is wrong.
How does the poster come close to vindicating those who dealt with the Third Reich?
The companies that dealt with them, first off, are still around. Ford is a good example. But in reality their dealings with Nazi Germany were okay until we were at war with them. I know, I know. I hate Nazis too, and I'm jewish... but telling a company not to do business in a certain country because their "evil" isn't good enough.
If that was the case we wouldn't have trade deficit. We import more stuff from China than anywhere else I believe. If being "evil" was a good reason not to do business with someone why do we deal with the Saudi's so much? They are "evil" to the 3rd degree and even have U.S. citizens in custody (custody which usually ends in 0 trial and 1 beheading + torture).
To think that Google is supposed to bring democracy to China is ridiculous. Sure, they had a big IPO, but they are not close to China's size and I don't think have nukes... as China does.
Let's quit acting like Google is responsible for "Communism" in China. If you really want to do something write your President, or Senator. Write the U.N., which counts them among legitimate regimes. Do something worthwhile.
Google may "censor" results and all, but something makes me think that they will stay one step ahead of the Chinese government regardless. They are, after all smarter. (But really, what does Google gain from a Chinese overthrow?)
What is this parrot going to tell me that Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and FOX News hasn't already parroted to me already?
BUT!!!!
/. before that point out that certain laws have been copyright'n.
/. article here: Is Law Copyrighted? It was a building code posted on the web.
To be serious, there was a story on
The case in question was a city (I believe) that hired some lawyers to write the law for them. Afterward people were getting cease and desist letters from the lawyers.
Okay, found the
No joke, their service sucks that much.
With so much free e-mail, and good domains at that, why go hotmail?
I've been in the same place as you. I've sent homework to my hotmail account, from my hotmail account, expecting to print it at school. I almost failed that class.
And not one "Imagine A Beowulf Cluster Of These..." jokes was modded up?
What is wrong. If it ever applies, it's now.
I believe most of the money that you are talking about ("all resources don't remotely add up to our tax dollars") goes to administration. You know, the people that don't belong there.
Really, the problem with public schools and our tax money is that the school don't have to be competitive in the marketplace. No matter what the results, voters choose who runs the school board. Failed leaders get re-elected based on their name recognition and advertising spending, successful leaders are ofter pushed out no matter what. On the otherhand if someone raises through the ranks and changes schools, and they aren't liked by the schoolboard then they also hit the streets.
A good example is El Paso's Yselta school district. It's one of the countries poorest schools and one man Anthony Trujullo raised test scores to some of the highest in the country. Parents were happy with the change but he was fired by the board 4 to 3. One of his supporters said it was politics, and they fired him based on no more than "a personal dislike by four members".
There is no 'market check', if you want to call it that and no competition for funds. Not that I'm for starving bad schools to death, but it makes you wonder. There is no incentive to actually make the schools better.
"No Child Left Behind" was supposed to fix this, but it has by and large failed. That isn't just my opinion. (See this NYT Article, reg required... basically there isn't room in "better" schools for those wishing to switch from "bad" schools, a provision of NCLB.)
Many times, the failures of the public school system in America is deeper than it looks. Take school violence for example. I had to do a report for school with 4 others. When I suggested that violence had nothing to do with video games or TV people looked at me with awe. For more into that subject, read Preventing Violence in Schools Through the Production of Docile Bodies by Pedro Noguera (PhD). Good read, I promise. It basically says the failure of the public schools in general is based in the founding years and how they were formed after mental asylums and prison...
We all have to be educated in these areas in order to exact change. Better public schools are our way to make this country better for all, it's the first line of defense (IMHO).
I'm just going to go back to a pager...
It would be in the U.S. news but the findings were immediatly copyrighted and any posting of the results are illegal and any news agencies reporting on this story will be fined $500,000.
No news on whether BBC executives will be extradited due to their crimes against humanity or not. The RIAA has already donated lawyers to the judge involved saying that his rights to hold intellectual property are being violated. WIPO is also on the case.
I like to put this spin on it....
If the unemployment numbers are high that means there are many people out of work. Well? There are obviously jobs out there... an abundance of them right?
Bush will be saying this next.