...we should not be satisfied until everyone is living a standard like we are, if not better.
I think you missed what I said. I meant that people the whole world over need to live better. I don't disagree with your points. Nor am I some kook lefty. If I was a kook lefty, I would assume that everyone around me is not as eduated, blindingly noble, and clued in as I AM. I don't believe that at all.
I beleive we should never be satisfied with other people in terrible poverty. Just like the USA is never satisfied with a country until elections occur. As for the Chinese people... MORE POWER TO THEM. As for the Chinese government... screw them. If that make me a lefty, then you really need to establish a difference between what a lefty and a hardcore, freedom nut righty like me really thinks. Cuz it ain't the same.
Also, food aid is usually a UN situation, the last time I checked. Those derelict-duty model-humpers in the UN can't keep their own countries in check, and then try to pass legislation that is biased against those that can.
Oh, and if your nation has a name that has not changed since the time before the bible, Torah, or the al'Quaran, perhaps you need to be taken off of the "developing countries list." That isn't development, its retardation.
I doubt that China will let freedom of speech reign supreme. Does anyone think these people want to make anything but crap wages their whole lives? Give them a better life, and you'll have the whole system collapse when they want something more for themselves.
Yes, I know the counterargument about this one. Heard it a lot. "Blah blah best wages they ever had blah blah." So here is my response.
Don't you want to make better wages right now? Doesn't everyone? What if they want to unionize? What if they want to speak out against unfair working conditions? What if the corporation is going to have unsanitary and toxic byproducts spilling out all over China...
No wait. We know that one already. Pollute away. Happens everywhere in starting industry. As long as the PRoC gets a little profit, its all good.
I am not saying that it isn't good for the Chinese people that they are getting manufacturing jobs. I am saying that we should excourage them to be as free and open with their work as everyone else. That we should not be satisfied until everyone is livign a standard liek we are, if not better.
Honestly, I really hate the idea that just because a bunch of people live under a jackboot thug regime, it means that they we somehow desrve to be better off and recieve the fruits of exploitation.
Now I don't want to jog anyone's memory here, but the last time we had people that wanted to "drop out of the system" was around the 1860s was it not?
Someone please jog my memory about how that plan worked out... I can't remember.
Also, if you want to turn a portion of the US into a "federal free zone" then you will become the new federal crimes enterprise zone and also the federal fugitives haven zone as well, leaving you with a federal crime problem that no one (especially the ones that don't want to *gasp* PAY for a non-regulated police force) to mop up all of the immoral acts that no one is enforcing.
Honestly, just move to the country people. If you mind your own business, most people will leave you alone. But honestly, if this is about the fact that you want to smoke weed, have an issue with pre-ban magazines on assault rifles, or generally just don't want to pay taxes, then I would suggest moving to Afghanistan. You can pretty much do what you want to there. Y'know.
Keep in mind that lawlessness is a great idea. But only if you're paranoid, self-sufficient, unfriendly, armed to the teeth, healthy enough and disciplined enough to not need high technology, and and don't mind losing a child or two to the occasional resource raid.
At 146, you're never going to find an intellectual mate. I remember that less than 2% of the population is over 120. I usually test at the 130 range. You probably represent about.02% of the population. SO HERE IS MY ADVICE TO YOU, as I am a happily married man... and it is all good for me.
Your biological urges will tell you to BREED UP. Your mental mind will tell you that breeding up means that you need to find someone that can hold a conversation on your level with. There is the rub. You will never find an intellectual equal. More than likely you never have felt that you have ever been fully challenged with an intellectual equal. So don't expect to find a woman with those qualities either. It is a goose chase. Besides, women don't run that way. You're trying to spawn like salmon instead of human.
Give it up. I did and won. I never found a girl that dazzled me mentally. So I cleaned up, kept my head up and found the female equivalent. A "GO GETTER." She is a beautiful, motivated, big breasted veterinarian who is fascinated by my thoughts. Keep this in mind: there will be nothing EVER that people can do to address your fundamental difference in thinking... and a woman will not change that either. If you are a 146, you might never, EVER find a peer in this world. Much less a female one, because women's intellegence does not manifest itself well by men's standards.
You will have to accept that in this lifetime, you will never be like them. SO DON'T. Your mind will always be alien to them. Just hunt out characteristics that makes your ideal, NON-SUPERHUMAN BRAINED WOMAN, and I will guarantee that love will pursue immediately. Besides, she (the one that you will find sooner or later) is not looking around thinking, "Gee, I need the smartest man I can get my hands on." It is a soup of characteristics. So point to the other ones that you have. You're smart, so blend in a little.
Think about this one for a bit. Which is more appealing to women 1) a man that is a brilliant thinker with hygiene problems and an affinity for Danger Girl T-shirts or 2) a man that looks like all the rest until he opens his mouth and in 30 seconds you can tell this man really has a brain and is going somewhere.
Remember: Uncleanliness and lack of style to women is like irrationality and lack of utility to men, they are on the same standard of turn-off.
Yes. And the UK has to pay for the television tax (is it each set, or each household?) and then they get such *wonderful* channels out of it... chock full of government sponsored rhetoric.
Explains why The Simpsons is one of the most popular UK programs.
Yes, you do get Black Adder, Monty Python, and Faulty Towers every few years, but I would resent the fact that some of the programming would come down from the mountain and tell us that tonight was "Ballet Night."
Don't get me wrong, but if I had to see Weathering Heights one more time, I would just shoot myself or buy a sattelite.
I've got a better book about slack...
on
Slack
·
· Score: 2
This is the original book about slack... and its even cheeeaper.
Honestly, I don't think that is correct. Bell telephone wasn't the first phone company? After all, the phone was invented by him, was it not?
Anyway, I don't think I have been educated in telephone history enough to *definitely* say that, but to me it makes sense, considering that the phone system became so large. Remember a time when all of the US was under one corporate system? A one united Bell umbrella... one that they had to be chopped into "baby bells" to maintain competetiveness.
I just don't think that the comparison is correct. But then again, at one time there were over 200 motorcycle manufacturers in the USA.
Look at the posts on this thread. They are all talking about cost inflation and the price of autos. Hilarious.
Guys... they meant proper tire inflation. If you are not a citizen of the USA, then you are of course pardoned. If you are a US citizen, I can assure you that where you live the news usually comes on at 5, 6, and probably also 9, 10, and 11.
SO HERE'S a little history.
The real reason why everyone else modded this joke up was that at the a certain point in the debauchery that caused so many Expedition/BIG Ford SUV deaths, both Ford and Firestone tried to shift the blame on the consumer stating that most of these roll over deaths could have been prevented by the driver having proper tire inflation.
This, in a sense is the equivalent of saying that if a consumer does something so benign as not change their VCR remote batteries on a regular basis, then they deserve to be electrocuted the moment they try to turn the TV off manually.
however the extra taxes are for compensating the loss in music sales (which would happen anyhow), and this money should (at some expenses of course) be given to the artists.
But how much of it do you think is really going to the artists... I would think very little.
Honestly, there should be no subsidies for any business because they have a problem with theft. If I lived in a bad neighborhood and had my car stolen all the time, would it be society's fault? Should we all have to pay for their unfortunate situation? In other words, do I deserve to have a "new car tax" put over on all gasoline sales for all people in the city because I "deserve" a new car, and was simply a victim?
I don't think we need to prop up the music industry... they're doing fine even with the piracy.
This is a distillation of what I have heard all through the postings:
"Whatever you do, don't get labelled as a turkey. If you do, you're dead in the water, and no amount of good games will get you out of that funk. Having no class A titles will get you labelled as a turkey. After that point, no amount of great games coming out later will get you out of that pit."
Methinks that MS is on a rampage to buy its way out of turkeydom. Sony and Nintendo all have games that make you want to go to a friends house and play them. So they are safe. MS really doesn't as of yet except for a FPS named Halo... but then again I own a LOAD of FPS games....personally after all of the money my relatives have spent buying me crappy MS games for Christmas and not knowing any better, I wish them nothing but the worst shopping season EVER for them.
The reason Nintendo's still around is because they had a lot of momentum from the Super Nintendo. If it weren't for the Game Boy and Pokemon, they may not have survived past the N64.
Yes, you're right on that one, but you forget one thing. The Gameboy and Pokemon weren't just "good sellers." They WERE ENORMOUS SELLERS. There is a distinction. Certain titles will always keep 'Tendo on the float, and they'll keep floating until the next Pokemon comes along. Also, keep in mind that the portables market is theirs, and its huuuuge. Totally wrapped up. Forget trying to even get into it. They own it. That is an 800 pound Gorilla.
Admittedly, I like the idea of an X-Box. I am not a snob, I see the titles that are coming out. But at the end of the day my wife loves MARIO. So we got a gamecube. I have not even put more than three games in it yet. Mario rocks too hard to not love it, and it has hardly left the machine. Simply put, my wife, not unlike most parents with their children, TRUST NINTENDO to send them many fun games without the blood splatter... it is a DUAL PURCHASE. I was buying for more than just me. In that situation, Nintendo usually wins over the others.
I know there have been a lot of people whining about all of the slowdown at college campuses, and I've got a way to get around it.
Put up a flyer that says: 'I FIX SLOW COMPUTERS ON WEEKENDS.'
Now you might be up to your ass in free work for a few days... but you probably will meet ALL THE GIRLS IN THE ENTIRE DORM... because 1) no self-respecting man in the world will admit to a slow computer and 2) everyone thinks their computer is slow because it can't anticipate their desires and 3) everyone has already burned their cash.
Looking for women requires the max interaction you can get. Don't cast your fishing pole once and then get upset and throw it in the water when you don't catch a fish. Pretty soon you'll be nkee deep in women, you won't even remember what a computer looks like. Don't obsess, if you're interested ask for coffee and be polite and gracious. Old civility mixed with young enthusiasm is a great combo.
If you play it right, you might end up with a beautiful veterinarian with some serious domestic skills... it worked out for me.
And with my current affliction with strategy games, that should make my copy of Moonbase Commander, Brood War, and Zeus run at a blistering 7 hojillion FPS.
Honestly people, we need to tell these people to patch the retail release IN THE BOX BEFORE I GET IT, and not worry so much about setting three programmers to really solve the "problem" with that pesky realistic-looking-liquified-guts-sliding-down-the- walls effect that is so damnably elusive.
Well, I for one want gameplay. Most people do. That is why right now my wife is having an affair and is about to leave me for an Italian plumber from the mushroom kingdom. You should hear the answering machine messages. Half of my caller ID logs come from the Koopa kingdom.
Really people. Get a grip. Its almost as though game companies hire a bunch of obsessed nerds and then forget their target market, purpose of the game, most people's systems requirements, and their budget releasing some crap into the world that... oh.
for one thing because they keep doing all the dirty work that so obviously are way beneath what you could ask an nth-generation citizen to do.)
Personally, I don't have a lot of hate for bad examples, but I can really say this one out loud and on slashdot over THAT STATEMENT...
FUUUUUCK YOU.
You really can't sell me that shit.
First of all, I never met my grandfather because a mine cave-in. So if you would like to sell me the one about the dirty fucking jobs out there for the immigrants, then you are barking up the wrong tree. The only reason my people got out of the mines was because one generation had an errant gene that made them too tall.
At least the immigrants get to see the fucking sun during the Winter. SO FUUUUCK YOU. There are plenty of Americans that get their hands dirty, and bust ass for little money. AND PAY TAXES ON IT.
But let's not dwell on the immigrants, lets talk about the one group that has been here 150 years (juuuust right after the colonists), and still gets treated like shit.
Yes, I'm talking black people in America.
What about my black friends that have been here for generations and still can't get a decent fucking job? What about them? Yeah. You're right. Poor immigrants. Their problem is that they can't speak the language. NO! Their problem is that they don't pay taxes. Black people pay taxes and work right next to them. Talk about a fuck job.
You know what the difference is in America between a black man in a car with a license and an immigrant hispanic without one? THE FUCKING FLASHING LIGHTS BEHIND THE BLACK MAN'S CAR.
POOR IMMIGRANTS. Always so polite. Blend in so well. Never drunk in public, or stealing your shit. NEVER EVER PLAYING THEIR STEREO TOO LOUD AT THREE A.M. NEVER PARKING IN YOUR STREET WITH THE THREE THOUSAND CARS SUPER-EXPENSIVE CARS THAT BELONG TO THEIR ONE HOUSE.
I guess I resent the fact that Third-Worlders come over, and then act like the Third World all over again. Its about the fucking courtesy... not the festivals.
(how many AMericans speak 2 languages? do you? Betya its those Spanish Immagrants that do the most)
Si. Puedo hablar otros idiomas. En los EEUU es importante a hablar con los conductador de los taxiz (o taxis, se depende en particular a parte del Sudamerica y la accente).
Why yes, I do speak two languages.
By the way, I understand that you English is not the greatest, but keep it up... I can tell that you are getting better. I am not being sarcastic. I appreciate you trying to use your foreign language skills.
However... I would not move to Spain unless I had a good grasp of the language. Nor would I drive illegally, nor enter the country illegally, nor would I not pay taxes and then try to get free health benefits.
Just because I see that the people of another country are coming here and cannot understand the language doesn't mean I hate them, I am just pointing out that "it ain't easy brother."
I know a lot of you out there think that your home countries are a lot safer, more interesting, etc.... and I agree. But you forget one thing about it. America is a real soup of people, and NOTHING COMES EASY IN AMERICA.
That is the nature of the soup that is the good 'ol USA. Most of the people that are from Finland and Norway say that there are no tensions and no problems at all with others.. well, move to Minnesota or the Upper Penninsula in the USA and you will notice that there is less violence there too... on the count that there really are less ethnic-religious-governmental-general-people tensions. Its the land of happy, slightly overweight hockey playing white guys. Lots of cheese.
I mean honestly, what the hell is there to argue about in Finland? Do you have a thousand cabbies that come from every country in the world and can't understand you, nor you understand them when they speak? Do you have hundreds of religious groups pining for their big piece of the political pie? Do you have anything that might get you annoyed like that? Unregistered illegal Mexican drivers that ran over kids in a schoolyard and then get no punishment because they are not US citizens, and caused all of this becasue they can't be bothered to read and understand English road signs?
WHY DOES AMERICA HAVE ALL OF THESE PROBLEMS? Because when poor, uneducated, huddled masses think of travelling to a land of prosperity they don't look around their straw hut and say, "Let's go to Iceland!"
Don't get me wrong. That's a good thing about being an American. But also you don't get this: when a Mexican punk drug dealer shoots a Texas cop on a sting in front of police, you also don't get an international incident where Vincente Fox shows his ass as a "show of power" to the American people over a P.O.S. drug dealer. The last time I checked, the Netherlands hasn't sent troops anywhere to save people. SO the Netherlands hasn't drawn any heat for it either. Believe it or not, there are several places in the world where people are excited to see me because I am a representative of America. Not everyone will try to kidnap me.
America-bash away. I don't blame anyone for liking a home country where everyone basically acts and looks the same as you... sounds great. Never had that. Probably pretty nice.
WE ARE JUST DIFFERENT, WITH DIFFERENT PROBLEMS. NOT BETTER OR WORSE THAN ANYONE, JUST WITH DIFFERENT PROBLEMS. But you can't really blame the USA for going crazy every day. You'd be nuts too if you had this many people that can't agree.
And another thing. When everyone says we don't need an army it just makes me laugh. Well, that is because we are doing the job for you. Keep in mind that if anyone invaded Norway, Iceland, The Netherlands, Australia, beautiful New Zealand, or anywhere else civilized... we might have the jets in the air faster than you might have yours. Why?
NOT BECAUSE AMERICA WANTS TO BE MR. BADASS ALL THE TIME. Its actually simpler than that.
That is what true friends do for friends when they need help. We'd kick butt again for France or Germany (or the Netherlands) in a second if they needed it. Of course, the UK doesn't even need to ask. You get punched silly for even looking at the UK in front of the USA.
Nevermoind that the voting machines didn't work. Lets remember that Florida is the land of rigged elections, thanks to our little friend Katherine Harris (a bigwig Republican).
Personally, I think her ass should be in fucking federal prison for criminal tampering with the election process. Please follow me on this one. I have been picking this one up on the way all through the AP wires (I get access at work) and a good book by Michael Moore called Stupid White Men that I have been reading.
Shortly before the election even began, Katherine Harris decided to expunge the system of any felons that might be in the system. Those felons were (by vast majority in America on average) usually of African-American descent. Finding and removing all of these felons would have been a herculean task, so Katherine Harris and all of her election board members decided to go with a close match criteria to expedite the removal of felons in the system. The Election Commission also sent out memos to other states to give them lists of other possible felons that may have moved to Florida. Take a big stab on the only state that gave them a possible list.
TEXAS. That's right. Texas.
SO WHAT WAS THE OUTCOME OF THIS? Thousands, and I mean thousands, of African-American voters that were NOT FELONS got turned away at the polls for matching up all of their kangaroo court requirements. THOUSANDS OF AFRICAN AMRERICANS, CITIZENS WHO EARNED THEIR RIGHT TO VOTE THE HARDEST WAY IN AMERICA COULD NOT VOTE. Imagine getting to the polls and getting turned away. Now imagine being black in America and getting turned away.
Here's another one: Entire districts were lost or counted as null or erroneous in Florida elections... or the locations were moved entirely. TAKE A STAB ON THE MAKEUP OF THESE DISTRICTS. If you guessed African-American, you'd be dead on the money. This is a PROVEN FACT. The election commission only messed with black districts.
DID KATHERINE HARRIS AND ALL OF HER ASSOCIATES GO TO JAIL? No. Actually she ran for US Senate. What a payback to get all of that campaign funds. I wonder where she got them.
In an interview Katherine Harris said that if Gore had been nice to her, he might have been president. After the fact, that ego alone tells me that all of the allegations are pretty much true. That statement alone wants me to see her go to prison even more.
So here is the question... with all of this crap going on in the system. Why is it that we don't vote? BECAUSE IT DOESN'T MATTER. THATS WHY. But many of us are out there for the reason to get our votes back. And we will. We will be watching the election commissions. You all should. Especially in America, where election commissions are appointed by the local bigwigs.
Actually, it strikes me as proper that a patent would be used to protect an individual's invention (in this case, a business process, which is allowed under current rules) against a large and otherwise unasailable uberCompany.
One. Patents are not made to stifle business. They are made to protect the inventor.
However, the whole concept of inventing an "online auction" is so damnably ridiculous that there is no way that he should ever have been granted a patent for it. This whole argument is founded in the fact that the man said "uh, auction on a computer!" and got a patent. WTF ever. Auctions have been around for centuries. People can not apply the phrase on a computer on the back of every tried and true business model and expect to get royalties or the ability to sue the bejesus out of people.
Oh, and when you use the phrase unasailable uber-company, it makes us all think of you as a useless leftie that thinks that eBay is "evil" simply because it is big. The last thing I checked that eBay did to ruin or world and our freedoms was consume electricity. So go attack Dow Chemical, Halliburton, or McDonald's. All eBay has done for me is make sure that I am not getting price gouged. At the very least, if you are going to go after corporate America, go after the ones that are fucking up people's health, the government, and the planet.
Yes I'm sure there's a Bulgarian Nympho Club, but thats beside the point.
I just checked on google. No Bulgarian Nympho Club. At least not on the web. Damn. I just posted to tell everyone to not get their priceline tickets to Bulgaria just yet.
Slashdot Mirror
I think you missed what I said. I meant that people the whole world over need to live better. I don't disagree with your points. Nor am I some kook lefty. If I was a kook lefty, I would assume that everyone around me is not as eduated, blindingly noble, and clued in as I AM. I don't believe that at all.
I beleive we should never be satisfied with other people in terrible poverty. Just like the USA is never satisfied with a country until elections occur. As for the Chinese people... MORE POWER TO THEM. As for the Chinese government... screw them. If that make me a lefty, then you really need to establish a difference between what a lefty and a hardcore, freedom nut righty like me really thinks. Cuz it ain't the same.
Also, food aid is usually a UN situation, the last time I checked. Those derelict-duty model-humpers in the UN can't keep their own countries in check, and then try to pass legislation that is biased against those that can.
Oh, and if your nation has a name that has not changed since the time before the bible, Torah, or the al'Quaran, perhaps you need to be taken off of the "developing countries list." That isn't development, its retardation.
Amen brother.
I doubt that China will let freedom of speech reign supreme. Does anyone think these people want to make anything but crap wages their whole lives? Give them a better life, and you'll have the whole system collapse when they want something more for themselves.
Yes, I know the counterargument about this one. Heard it a lot. "Blah blah best wages they ever had blah blah." So here is my response.
Don't you want to make better wages right now? Doesn't everyone? What if they want to unionize? What if they want to speak out against unfair working conditions? What if the corporation is going to have unsanitary and toxic byproducts spilling out all over China...
No wait. We know that one already. Pollute away. Happens everywhere in starting industry. As long as the PRoC gets a little profit, its all good.
I am not saying that it isn't good for the Chinese people that they are getting manufacturing jobs. I am saying that we should excourage them to be as free and open with their work as everyone else. That we should not be satisfied until everyone is livign a standard liek we are, if not better.
Honestly, I really hate the idea that just because a bunch of people live under a jackboot thug regime, it means that they we somehow desrve to be better off and recieve the fruits of exploitation.
Very cool... and right on topic.
"Greetings from the Lord Humongous... The warrior of the wasteland... the ayatollah of rock and rollah!"
Now I don't want to jog anyone's memory here, but the last time we had people that wanted to "drop out of the system" was around the 1860s was it not?
Someone please jog my memory about how that plan worked out... I can't remember.
Also, if you want to turn a portion of the US into a "federal free zone" then you will become the new federal crimes enterprise zone and also the federal fugitives haven zone as well, leaving you with a federal crime problem that no one (especially the ones that don't want to *gasp* PAY for a non-regulated police force) to mop up all of the immoral acts that no one is enforcing.
Honestly, just move to the country people. If you mind your own business, most people will leave you alone. But honestly, if this is about the fact that you want to smoke weed, have an issue with pre-ban magazines on assault rifles, or generally just don't want to pay taxes, then I would suggest moving to Afghanistan. You can pretty much do what you want to there. Y'know.
Keep in mind that lawlessness is a great idea.
But only if you're paranoid, self-sufficient, unfriendly, armed to the teeth, healthy enough and disciplined enough to not need high technology, and and don't mind losing a child or two to the occasional resource raid.
Hmmm. WHERE DO I SIGN UP?!?
At 146, you're never going to find an intellectual mate. I remember that less than 2% of the population is over 120. I usually test at the 130 range. You probably represent about
Your biological urges will tell you to BREED UP. Your mental mind will tell you that breeding up means that you need to find someone that can hold a conversation on your level with. There is the rub. You will never find an intellectual equal. More than likely you never have felt that you have ever been fully challenged with an intellectual equal. So don't expect to find a woman with those qualities either. It is a goose chase. Besides, women don't run that way. You're trying to spawn like salmon instead of human.
Give it up. I did and won. I never found a girl that dazzled me mentally. So I cleaned up, kept my head up and found the female equivalent. A "GO GETTER." She is a beautiful, motivated, big breasted veterinarian who is fascinated by my thoughts. Keep this in mind: there will be nothing EVER that people can do to address your fundamental difference in thinking... and a woman will not change that either. If you are a 146, you might never, EVER find a peer in this world. Much less a female one, because women's intellegence does not manifest itself well by men's standards.
You will have to accept that in this lifetime, you will never be like them. SO DON'T. Your mind will always be alien to them. Just hunt out characteristics that makes your ideal, NON-SUPERHUMAN BRAINED WOMAN, and I will guarantee that love will pursue immediately. Besides, she (the one that you will find sooner or later) is not looking around thinking, "Gee, I need the smartest man I can get my hands on." It is a soup of characteristics. So point to the other ones that you have. You're smart, so blend in a little.
Think about this one for a bit. Which is more appealing to women 1) a man that is a brilliant thinker with hygiene problems and an affinity for Danger Girl T-shirts or 2) a man that looks like all the rest until he opens his mouth and in 30 seconds you can tell this man really has a brain and is going somewhere.
Remember: Uncleanliness and lack of style to women is like irrationality and lack of utility to men, they are on the same standard of turn-off.
Good luck. Happy hunting.
Yes. And the UK has to pay for the television tax (is it each set, or each household?) and then they get such *wonderful* channels out of it... chock full of government sponsored rhetoric.
Explains why The Simpsons is one of the most popular UK programs.
Yes, you do get Black Adder, Monty Python, and Faulty Towers every few years, but I would resent the fact that some of the programming would come down from the mountain and tell us that tonight was "Ballet Night."
Don't get me wrong, but if I had to see Weathering Heights one more time, I would just shoot myself or buy a sattelite.
This is the original book about slack... and its even cheeeaper.
And it also puts more bull in your bulldada.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/067
Honestly, I don't think that is correct. Bell telephone wasn't the first phone company? After all, the phone was invented by him, was it not?
Anyway, I don't think I have been educated in telephone history enough to *definitely* say that, but to me it makes sense, considering that the phone system became so large. Remember a time when all of the US was under one corporate system? A one united Bell umbrella... one that they had to be chopped into "baby bells" to maintain competetiveness.
I just don't think that the comparison is correct. But then again, at one time there were over 200 motorcycle manufacturers in the USA.
Please shed some light on this one.
Look at the posts on this thread. They are all talking about cost inflation and the price of autos. Hilarious.
Guys... they meant proper tire inflation. If you are not a citizen of the USA, then you are of course pardoned. If you are a US citizen, I can assure you that where you live the news usually comes on at 5, 6, and probably also 9, 10, and 11.
SO HERE'S a little history.
The real reason why everyone else modded this joke up was that at the a certain point in the debauchery that caused so many Expedition/BIG Ford SUV deaths, both Ford and Firestone tried to shift the blame on the consumer stating that most of these roll over deaths could have been prevented by the driver having proper tire inflation.
This, in a sense is the equivalent of saying that if a consumer does something so benign as not change their VCR remote batteries on a regular basis, then they deserve to be electrocuted the moment they try to turn the TV off manually.
"You know, if you don't get our new MS Security Plus! you'll probably get infected with all sorts of viruses."
Now I am just *dying* to hear that from a kid at my local Circuit City.
however the extra taxes are for compensating the loss in music sales (which would happen anyhow), and this money should (at some expenses of course) be given to the artists.
But how much of it do you think is really going to the artists... I would think very little.
Honestly, there should be no subsidies for any business because they have a problem with theft. If I lived in a bad neighborhood and had my car stolen all the time, would it be society's fault? Should we all have to pay for their unfortunate situation? In other words, do I deserve to have a "new car tax" put over on all gasoline sales for all people in the city because I "deserve" a new car, and was simply a victim?
I don't think we need to prop up the music industry... they're doing fine even with the piracy.
This is a distillation of what I have heard all through the postings:
...personally after all of the money my relatives have spent buying me crappy MS games for Christmas and not knowing any better, I wish them nothing but the worst shopping season EVER for them.
"Whatever you do, don't get labelled as a turkey. If you do, you're dead in the water, and no amount of good games will get you out of that funk. Having no class A titles will get you labelled as a turkey. After that point, no amount of great games coming out later will get you out of that pit."
Methinks that MS is on a rampage to buy its way out of turkeydom. Sony and Nintendo all have games that make you want to go to a friends house and play them. So they are safe. MS really doesn't as of yet except for a FPS named Halo... but then again I own a LOAD of FPS games.
They can't have Donkey Kong. And they can trade all the talking paperclips all day for it.
It is owned by 'Tendo.
Although Clipit Adventures (TM) for the X-Box I hear is going to be very exciting.
The reason Nintendo's still around is because they had a lot of momentum from the Super Nintendo. If it weren't for the Game Boy and Pokemon, they may not have survived past the N64.
Yes, you're right on that one, but you forget one thing. The Gameboy and Pokemon weren't just "good sellers." They WERE ENORMOUS SELLERS. There is a distinction. Certain titles will always keep 'Tendo on the float, and they'll keep floating until the next Pokemon comes along. Also, keep in mind that the portables market is theirs, and its huuuuge. Totally wrapped up. Forget trying to even get into it. They own it. That is an 800 pound Gorilla.
Admittedly, I like the idea of an X-Box. I am not a snob, I see the titles that are coming out. But at the end of the day my wife loves MARIO. So we got a gamecube. I have not even put more than three games in it yet. Mario rocks too hard to not love it, and it has hardly left the machine. Simply put, my wife, not unlike most parents with their children, TRUST NINTENDO to send them many fun games without the blood splatter... it is a DUAL PURCHASE. I was buying for more than just me. In that situation, Nintendo usually wins over the others.
I know there have been a lot of people whining about all of the slowdown at college campuses, and I've got a way to get around it.
Put up a flyer that says: 'I FIX SLOW COMPUTERS ON WEEKENDS.'
Now you might be up to your ass in free work for a few days... but you probably will meet ALL THE GIRLS IN THE ENTIRE DORM... because 1) no self-respecting man in the world will admit to a slow computer and 2) everyone thinks their computer is slow because it can't anticipate their desires and 3) everyone has already burned their cash.
Looking for women requires the max interaction you can get. Don't cast your fishing pole once and then get upset and throw it in the water when you don't catch a fish. Pretty soon you'll be nkee deep in women, you won't even remember what a computer looks like. Don't obsess, if you're interested ask for coffee and be polite and gracious. Old civility mixed with young enthusiasm is a great combo.
If you play it right, you might end up with a beautiful veterinarian with some serious domestic skills... it worked out for me.
Think about it. Use the Force.
And with my current affliction with strategy games, that should make my copy of Moonbase Commander, Brood War, and Zeus run at a blistering 7 hojillion FPS.
- walls effect that is so damnably elusive.
Honestly people, we need to tell these people to patch the retail release IN THE BOX BEFORE I GET IT, and not worry so much about setting three programmers to really solve the "problem" with that pesky realistic-looking-liquified-guts-sliding-down-the
Well, I for one want gameplay. Most people do. That is why right now my wife is having an affair and is about to leave me for an Italian plumber from the mushroom kingdom. You should hear the answering machine messages. Half of my caller ID logs come from the Koopa kingdom.
Really people. Get a grip. Its almost as though game companies hire a bunch of obsessed nerds and then forget their target market, purpose of the game, most people's systems requirements, and their budget releasing some crap into the world that... oh.
Nevermind.
Broadcast TV does this all the time.
And they have never gone against broadcast TV on this one, FCC rules.
Besides, that would be biting the hand that feeds.
for one thing because they keep doing all the dirty work that so obviously are way beneath what you could ask an nth-generation citizen to do.)
Personally, I don't have a lot of hate for bad examples, but I can really say this one out loud and on slashdot over THAT STATEMENT...
FUUUUUCK YOU.
You really can't sell me that shit.
First of all, I never met my grandfather because a mine cave-in. So if you would like to sell me the one about the dirty fucking jobs out there for the immigrants, then you are barking up the wrong tree. The only reason my people got out of the mines was because one generation had an errant gene that made them too tall.
At least the immigrants get to see the fucking sun during the Winter. SO FUUUUCK YOU. There are plenty of Americans that get their hands dirty, and bust ass for little money. AND PAY TAXES ON IT.
But let's not dwell on the immigrants, lets talk about the one group that has been here 150 years (juuuust right after the colonists), and still gets treated like shit.
Yes, I'm talking black people in America.
What about my black friends that have been here for generations and still can't get a decent fucking job? What about them? Yeah. You're right. Poor immigrants. Their problem is that they can't speak the language. NO! Their problem is that they don't pay taxes. Black people pay taxes and work right next to them. Talk about a fuck job.
You know what the difference is in America between a black man in a car with a license and an immigrant hispanic without one? THE FUCKING FLASHING LIGHTS BEHIND THE BLACK MAN'S CAR.
POOR IMMIGRANTS. Always so polite. Blend in so well. Never drunk in public, or stealing your shit. NEVER EVER PLAYING THEIR STEREO TOO LOUD AT THREE A.M. NEVER PARKING IN YOUR STREET WITH THE THREE THOUSAND CARS SUPER-EXPENSIVE CARS THAT BELONG TO THEIR ONE HOUSE.
I guess I resent the fact that Third-Worlders come over, and then act like the Third World all over again. Its about the fucking courtesy... not the festivals.
(how many AMericans speak 2 languages? do you? Betya its those Spanish Immagrants that do the most)
Si. Puedo hablar otros idiomas. En los EEUU es importante a hablar con los conductador de los taxiz (o taxis, se depende en particular a parte del Sudamerica y la accente).
Why yes, I do speak two languages.
By the way, I understand that you English is not the greatest, but keep it up... I can tell that you are getting better. I am not being sarcastic. I appreciate you trying to use your foreign language skills.
However... I would not move to Spain unless I had a good grasp of the language. Nor would I drive illegally, nor enter the country illegally, nor would I not pay taxes and then try to get free health benefits.
Just because I see that the people of another country are coming here and cannot understand the language doesn't mean I hate them, I am just pointing out that "it ain't easy brother."
I know a lot of you out there think that your home countries are a lot safer, more interesting, etc.... and I agree. But you forget one thing about it. America is a real soup of people, and NOTHING COMES EASY IN AMERICA.
That is the nature of the soup that is the good 'ol USA. Most of the people that are from Finland and Norway say that there are no tensions and no problems at all with others.. well, move to Minnesota or the Upper Penninsula in the USA and you will notice that there is less violence there too... on the count that there really are less ethnic-religious-governmental-general-people tensions. Its the land of happy, slightly overweight hockey playing white guys. Lots of cheese.
I mean honestly, what the hell is there to argue about in Finland? Do you have a thousand cabbies that come from every country in the world and can't understand you, nor you understand them when they speak? Do you have hundreds of religious groups pining for their big piece of the political pie? Do you have anything that might get you annoyed like that? Unregistered illegal Mexican drivers that ran over kids in a schoolyard and then get no punishment because they are not US citizens, and caused all of this becasue they can't be bothered to read and understand English road signs?
WHY DOES AMERICA HAVE ALL OF THESE PROBLEMS? Because when poor, uneducated, huddled masses think of travelling to a land of prosperity they don't look around their straw hut and say, "Let's go to Iceland!"
Don't get me wrong. That's a good thing about being an American. But also you don't get this: when a Mexican punk drug dealer shoots a Texas cop on a sting in front of police, you also don't get an international incident where Vincente Fox shows his ass as a "show of power" to the American people over a P.O.S. drug dealer. The last time I checked, the Netherlands hasn't sent troops anywhere to save people. SO the Netherlands hasn't drawn any heat for it either. Believe it or not, there are several places in the world where people are excited to see me because I am a representative of America. Not everyone will try to kidnap me.
America-bash away. I don't blame anyone for liking a home country where everyone basically acts and looks the same as you... sounds great. Never had that. Probably pretty nice.
WE ARE JUST DIFFERENT, WITH DIFFERENT PROBLEMS. NOT BETTER OR WORSE THAN ANYONE, JUST WITH DIFFERENT PROBLEMS. But you can't really blame the USA for going crazy every day. You'd be nuts too if you had this many people that can't agree.
And another thing. When everyone says we don't need an army it just makes me laugh. Well, that is because we are doing the job for you. Keep in mind that if anyone invaded Norway, Iceland, The Netherlands, Australia, beautiful New Zealand, or anywhere else civilized... we might have the jets in the air faster than you might have yours. Why?
NOT BECAUSE AMERICA WANTS TO BE MR. BADASS ALL THE TIME. Its actually simpler than that.
That is what true friends do for friends when they need help. We'd kick butt again for France or Germany (or the Netherlands) in a second if they needed it. Of course, the UK doesn't even need to ask. You get punched silly for even looking at the UK in front of the USA.
Christ, I just watch them for the explosions and sassy ladies.
And, of course, the opening credits.
Nevermoind that the voting machines didn't work. Lets remember that Florida is the land of rigged elections, thanks to our little friend Katherine Harris (a bigwig Republican).
Personally, I think her ass should be in fucking federal prison for criminal tampering with the election process. Please follow me on this one. I have been picking this one up on the way all through the AP wires (I get access at work) and a good book by Michael Moore called Stupid White Men that I have been reading.
Shortly before the election even began, Katherine Harris decided to expunge the system of any felons that might be in the system. Those felons were (by vast majority in America on average) usually of African-American descent. Finding and removing all of these felons would have been a herculean task, so Katherine Harris and all of her election board members decided to go with a close match criteria to expedite the removal of felons in the system. The Election Commission also sent out memos to other states to give them lists of other possible felons that may have moved to Florida. Take a big stab on the only state that gave them a possible list.
TEXAS. That's right. Texas.
SO WHAT WAS THE OUTCOME OF THIS? Thousands, and I mean thousands, of African-American voters that were NOT FELONS got turned away at the polls for matching up all of their kangaroo court requirements. THOUSANDS OF AFRICAN AMRERICANS, CITIZENS WHO EARNED THEIR RIGHT TO VOTE THE HARDEST WAY IN AMERICA COULD NOT VOTE. Imagine getting to the polls and getting turned away. Now imagine being black in America and getting turned away.
Here's another one: Entire districts were lost or counted as null or erroneous in Florida elections... or the locations were moved entirely. TAKE A STAB ON THE MAKEUP OF THESE DISTRICTS. If you guessed African-American, you'd be dead on the money. This is a PROVEN FACT. The election commission only messed with black districts.
DID KATHERINE HARRIS AND ALL OF HER ASSOCIATES GO TO JAIL? No. Actually she ran for US Senate. What a payback to get all of that campaign funds. I wonder where she got them.
In an interview Katherine Harris said that if Gore had been nice to her, he might have been president. After the fact, that ego alone tells me that all of the allegations are pretty much true. That statement alone wants me to see her go to prison even more.
So here is the question... with all of this crap going on in the system. Why is it that we don't vote? BECAUSE IT DOESN'T MATTER. THATS WHY. But many of us are out there for the reason to get our votes back. And we will. We will be watching the election commissions. You all should. Especially in America, where election commissions are appointed by the local bigwigs.
Actually, it strikes me as proper that a patent would be used to protect an individual's invention (in this case, a business process, which is allowed under current rules) against a large and otherwise unasailable uberCompany.
One. Patents are not made to stifle business. They are made to protect the inventor.
However, the whole concept of inventing an "online auction" is so damnably ridiculous that there is no way that he should ever have been granted a patent for it. This whole argument is founded in the fact that the man said "uh, auction on a computer!" and got a patent. WTF ever. Auctions have been around for centuries. People can not apply the phrase on a computer on the back of every tried and true business model and expect to get royalties or the ability to sue the bejesus out of people.
Oh, and when you use the phrase unasailable uber-company, it makes us all think of you as a useless leftie that thinks that eBay is "evil" simply because it is big. The last thing I checked that eBay did to ruin or world and our freedoms was consume electricity. So go attack Dow Chemical, Halliburton, or McDonald's. All eBay has done for me is make sure that I am not getting price gouged. At the very least, if you are going to go after corporate America, go after the ones that are fucking up people's health, the government, and the planet.
Yes I'm sure there's a Bulgarian Nympho Club, but thats beside the point.
I just checked on google. No Bulgarian Nympho Club. At least not on the web. Damn. I just posted to tell everyone to not get their priceline tickets to Bulgaria just yet.