Well good for you. I'm glad that Bombay worked out for you. You shouldn't complain about customer service. The reason that you wait to get a doctor in America is that so many people can actually freaking afford to go see a doctor. Bet you just couldn't see around that, could you? Those go-carts and bicycles say that surgery is a little out of their league.
What about the people in Bombay that are starving on their feet? I bet there are a ton. I bet they would love to go see a doctor. I bet that doctor could see a lot more patients and make you wait if the people there could afford him.
Face it, India is not great with this middle class thing, because there isn't any.
Yes. India is a wonderful land of harmony. This "more for me, less for you" thing has been in their culture for so long, so many thousands of years, that they have freaking castes that you are born into. CASTES! The poor are so downtrodden, they have a cultural name, and belief system that doesn't allow them advancement! You are not allowed the benefits of personal merit, you are "low caste" and "high caste." What a crock of shit.
I know a family from India that I am very tight with. The father left for America because he was the most brilliant man I have ever met, and India recognized that. He married above his caste, which was the poorest caste of them all, to one of the highest. His children are great. Brilliant and handsome and beautiful. Don't get me wrong, I believe in this country.
However, I knew girls that were going to college in America from India that were great at tennis, and they hired boys to go chase tennis balls for food money. FOR FOOD MONEY. As many as they needed, to practice their swing.
Yeah, India is the land of peace and good prosperity. Goody for your kidney stone. Not so hot for the walking starvers.
And to think, in ten years, there won't be any jobs worth a crap left in the USA for them to contract out to! Hooray!
The working man is so screwed in this country.
I think you need to realize something America. Those jobs ain't coming back. They ain't coming back ever. Limited trade works. It helped Japan not get swamped by American goods and then destroy their economy. It keeps it expensive, but it keeps Japan ALIVE. Now? This is just insane. You can't have an economy to give money to India if you don't have Americans working. Japan HAD to do this or get crushed under our industrial output. America has to do this or it will get utterly crushed by India and China's labor output. Period. This is akin to China and India being Wal-Mart, and you as Americans being the single shop owner. You have to think about it this way, the very lifestyle that you live will be dead in a generation if this keeps up. The floodgates are open. The decision if you want your city to be under water is obvious about what you have to do. Does it mean that your plastic crap from Wal-Mart is a little more expensive, yes. But this is predatory business. Don't think otherwise.
I don't want to hear some Adam Smith crap about this. Adam Smith was about free market economy, this is destroying choice in the economy to the point that all tech support will come from India, and soon so will all manufacturing. Economies have to be regulated because individuals in massive corps will destroy choice and freedom in the economy, and this is happening. This is about keeping America from destroying the middle class, which keeps this country, and the freedoms, the education of it's system, and all of the free choices you have with your life.
These practices destroy huge swaths of the middle class. Talk all you want about it, but without the middle class supporting your property tax in schools, you have CRAP SCHOOLS. Can't be done if you don't have a job. If you want to go to college you can in the middle class, can't be done if everyone is poor.
In a generation, everyone will be much poorer. This is not a good thing for the next generation.
Face it people. We peaked. The world now sees that and is trying to get there too. The bad part? They have fifty cent hours and six times the people. We have to watch what our free trade situation is.
Right now it is damn near a free labor situation.
Oh, you had to do it....
on
WB Cancels Angel
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· Score: 5, Funny
You mentioned a cancelled show on Slashdot!
Quiet! You'll wake up the Farscape fans!
Quick, delete the thread!
I thought I would do this...
on
WB Cancels Angel
·
· Score: 3, Funny
So, while we're on the subject, anyone remember this show called Farscape?/Gets a flaming arrow through the window, see a screaming horde descending on the house
Peter Jackson and New Line are treating fans like people worth of respect, and offering them as much of the LOTR magic as they can soak up. George Lucas is treating Star Wars fans the way a school bully treats kids in cartoons - turning them upside down and shaking money out of their pockets, all the while trying to dampen whatever Star Wars magic is left with a thick blanket of corporate greed.
Yes, 30 buck DVDs of the same kind of troll fighting action over and over again on yet another weed filled field (for another freaking three hour movie). Oh, I'm in! An exciting opportunity to see the motivation of Peter Jackson's key grip in a special feature? Gimme gimme! Great stuff.
(Summon HEAVY SARCASM) Yeah, they're certainly not milking this LOTR thing at all. DAMN YOU LUCAS! DAMN YOU FOR NOT RELEASING OUR CHILDHOOD DREAMS EXACTLY AS WE WANTED THEM! (Falls to knees) DAMN YOU! You added jawas in the back of my favorite scene! YOU RUINED MY CHILDHOOD!
That Lucas. Bastard. He should be like Peter Jackson, and inspire yet another generation of LARPing. Damn you Jackson. Damn you and your cloaks! Damn you and your little cloak hobbit pins! I've got a +3 bag of overrated for your ass!
What's the difference between Star Wars and LOTR?
Probably that Star Wars invented the genre, and it came out twenty five years ago. Stop talking about Peter Jackson like he is the greatest. All of the effects, design, and big battles that you love so much about LOTR, Lucas practically reinvented after watching all of the old movies like Cleopatra and Ben Hur.
You cant tell me that 25 years ago, when crap shows like Buck Rogers that can't even get make-up right was the only Sci-fi, that the Millenium Falcon hauling ass through the new Death Star wasn't the greatest moment of your kid life.
Now compare that to twenty five years later... Braveheart with orcs. Good. Not the same impact, I dare say.
Comparing Jackson and Lucas is not even a comparison. Jackson is a great director. But saying that all of this LOTR thing is better to its fans pretty much lets that Star Wars convention in Indianapolis rot.
Improving on the innovation doesn't make you better than the innovator.
George Lucas did it first. And did it so well he spawned the entire Hollywood Summer blockbuster genre. Period.
This speaks to the paranoid mind, who believes that the police are after you and your dissenter friends.
In truth, the police could care less about you until you commit a crime. They're busy. They have no time to sit around in squad cars and think about this "grand conspiracy" that you, and others allude to and speak of.
Democracy is destroyed when we give them the rights to not let us be heard in government. Not when we have the opportunity to be seen in public. This whole being "observed and controlled" in a public place is rubbish. They are not using that information as promoting you as a dissenter and placing your face on a projection wall some where publicly... they are trying to slow and stop criminal activity in some hight crime areas. They are watching for criminal activity. There are these things, called cars, that patrol looking for criminal activity too. They have officers in them. Those officers look for criminal activity. This may sound like a new concept, but the police actually seek out criminals.
Adding electronic eyes to the system that is designed to protect the public, IN THE PUBLIC, is only a natural progression of the technology.
If you think that your right to vote, your rights to fair trial, your personal property rights, and your opportunities for advancement and personal happiness in the system are being destroyed by this, then you need to focus your attention on the legislators and MPs in your area, not the beat cops that are trying to keep the streets safe.
This is not only a misapplied argument, it makes no sense. They are not bugging your house. This is a public place. The authorities are looking for only one thing... crime. Not dissenters against their overarching conspiracy.
You wouldn't complain when someone snatches your purse or steals your car in front of the camera. You'd scream like crazy for the video so that the police will right the way you were wronged or get your property back.
I don't care if the thing disintigrates in my machine...
I sure as hell am not going to pay seven dollars for even a permanent copy of most Hollywood films out there.
Look, Ashton Kutcher has a new movie coming out every freaking week, and yet, no one sees them. I just think that they should be focusing their time on making movies we want to see.... instead of making crap movies and worrying about the technology.
hogging resources is exactly how you create wealth. Look at the diamond industry. Diamonds are plentyful, but they are very expensive because they are horded.
Please, if you are going to use an example to back up your economic theories out there, please don't use a cartel of the most valuable luxury item in the world, and extrapolate that information to the rest of the world to support your theories.
You need to read a Macro book.
There are classifications of goods and services, diamond mining would be way out of whack with most economic theories because, A) it is not a commodity, B) it is a cartel, and C) it is one of the most expensive and utterly useless luxury items on the planet.
I will state this again... using the diamond cartel as an example about anything other than diamond prices is the most misleading economic statement a person can make.
Once again, I reiterate that nations are born from within.
Anyone walking the streets in that nation that is rich while the rest are poor is not necessarily an instant oppressor.
If you could shrink the Earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, keeping the same ratios, this is what it would look like:
57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 Western Hemisphere, and 6 Africans
51 female, 49 male
70 non-white, 30 white
70 non-Christian, 30 Christian 50% of the world's wealth would be held by only 6 people who would be U.S. citizens
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death, 1 near birth
1 would have a college degree
0 would own a computer
When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for both tolerance and understanding becomes glaringly apparent.
That would be a valid argument if wealth is a scarce resource... in other words, if you looked at the world like the 6 Americans were "hogging" all of the resources, and the rest of the world was suffering for said "hogging." Unfortunately, there are resources aplenty on this planet that create wealth, mostly just lying around, matter of fact, we go to many other impoverished countries precisely because those resources are literally lying around undeveloped and are so glaringly easy to get to.
Nations and wealth are built from within. Don't speak as though the rest of the world is suffering because my ancestors died in coal mine cave-ins to build a real infrastructure... that is an inconsistent conclusion. There were these people from other times, called the ROMANS, that built wealth from vineyards and cattle farms. They didn't steal to get there. They organized. We did the same.
So let me adjust those statistics you quoted at us like we are a-holes that have it so great:
-fifty percent of those starving in that "global village" live in perfectly great growing locations with real, if not constant, growing seasons with real resources to make crops.
-80% of those that live in substandard housing live in countries with no concept of the words "building code," and thus spend all of their time keeping out the rain instead of doing it, by hand, correctly the first time. My people made log cabins. Certainly better than sheet metal and a pole.
-illiteracy is not a resource, and you cannot imply poor living to illiteracy.
Face facts. The reality of why the rest of the world is poor has to do with their lack of education and skills, not with some exploitation of the rest of the world, or these scarce resources you speak of. Most of the countries that scream "exploitation!" are upset that they can't read and are jealous when people from cultures worldwide come in and can read. See the history of the British Empire on this one. This was the first time that some people ever saw steel mechanics and other things like a record player. The lack of science was holding them back, and little tips like this:
Handy Third World Tip-
If you place rock next to the river bank, and place your house in and high, then your home doesn't wash away every other year with all of your possesions, livestock, and children.
You just can't blame science... so you blame the people that know it, call them the devils, exploiters, and then when you see an ignorant face in the wilderness on the Discovery Channel that is living just like we all used to live, (and you notice that you are living in air conditioned, clean, vermin-free glory) you feel guilty.
You assume in the back of your mind that you made them suffer, that you are responsible, like that lumber that came from American forests by American workers for your American house, is actually coming from their forest, and they are living like this because of SOMETHING YOU DID. The truth of the matter is it is NOTHING YOU OR YOUR ANCESTORS DID, other than the fact that they innovated and busted their tails to improve their childrens lives, and these poor villagers don't have a mechanism or a concept of how to do
Okay, I see a ton of economic theories running around here. As far as I can tell about all of this there is only one explanation.
This is economic exploitation. Pure and simple. It is also dropping the cost of code to the point that only large corporations can do it, and then it is impossible for innovations to come from the US.
The Indian workers are getting paid well, but they aren't getting rich... and there is a simple reason why:
If you make an employee wealthy enough to not be looking paycheck to paycheck at you, he will start up a competetive business.
This is exploiting the poor, and big corporations killing the working programmers in the USA so much that there are NO WAYS TO COMPETE.
Call it what it is. Exploitation for further pursuit of profit, all the while destroying the economy of the place that birthed its technology.
Does Myth TV come with a remote that runs said computer PVR?
I think that you can make a machine all day long that does things like that, but a relative is NOT SCARED to run the Tivo when I come over to the house, they don't think that they are going to break it.
If I put a beige box next to my TV and say to my relatives, "this is the remote that runs the computer/TV" they are going to say, "look, can I just watch TV in your bedroom? American Idol is coming on."
It just doesn't seem like booting your beige box to watch TV will make my relatives happy... however, surfing the web on TV would probably rule big time.
Anyone who wants to cover local news from a distance is insane. There are major setbacks to doing it, but living in the environment and seeing what is going on with your own eyes is ESSENTIAL.
This will all soon sort itself out.
No one will listen to local news set far away when they have local news from real locals sitting right next to them on the dial. It is only a matter of time before the people will realize this when they say something wrong on the air repeatedly, and then the other guys will be at the big event news when it happens across the street. The public just assumes that you are local when covering local news. The public will notice this soon enough, and when it does, they will lose market share that will not make up for the cost losses.
This is a new thing. I predict it will not be a very long thing. It will be over in a year and a half when the corporate nimrods bong-rip ideas like "we could do local news cheaper across the country!" die a horrible, horrible death.
News is exteremely competitive. They just replaced their personal insight with a phone call. This is NOT a smart move.
With the proliferation of the video game market and the recent (last year and a half) realization by people that video games make a lot of money...
Every argument that the marketplace is going to stink goes directly against every economic theory out there. Greater competition and demand is a great thing. I am tired of people saying that a LUXURY ITEM like video games is having some EA games conspiracy or something like that. This is pure drivel.
When I was a child I payed sometimes $35 for a game on the original NES system. Now, I pay $50 for Call of Duty. Which do you think was a better benefit? Which was the bigger bargain? Which is the best deal? I think that argument alone is enough to debunk what people have been saying about the video game industry going to hell in a handbasket... and that we should all put on our crash helmets and prepare to be screwed.
This whole argument is bunk. Go spin some of those tinfoil conspiracies elsewhere... and stop crying because you can't rip off games anymore. When someone rips off the GPL, everyone is up in arms, but a game that is cracked? TOTALLY COOL, RIGHT?
Get a grip, whiners. Go live in a mud hut for a month if you need to get away from the screwjob of the video games because you think you payed too much for a copy of MADDEN 2004 or whatever.
But the populous wants excuses, and the media provides them.
-Then later-
It's all about taking responsibility for your actions.
Wow. Did you go to a sociology convention for that, how many doctorates in human behavior do you have?
Your generalizations are unscrupulous. You talk about taking responsibility for your actions. Your generalizations show that you take no responsibility for the accusations you fling out towards the world.
But the populous wants excuses, and the media provides them.
I am a member of the media. I purport no claims, but according to many of you self-claimed GENIUSES here at slashdot, I am a media liar. I am a slime only out looking for a story. Some of you twits cannot even get logic puzzles and causation right. Then you accuse the entire media about ONE FREAKING ARTICLE FROM THE POST?... but, hey, if we're generalizing, let's generalize some more...
So here we go:
1. All mathematicians are potential unabombers. Anyone here a slimy, weasely mathematician?
2. All programmers are Kevin Mitnick. Anyone hacked a good system and stole from someone recently? WELL YOU ALL HAVE BECAUSE YOU'RE ALL PROGRAMMERS ON SLASHDOT. See? The logic is INSEPERABLE. After all, many of you geniuses at science and mathematics have applied this to me and my profession.
3. All clowns are like John Wayne Gacy.
4. All law students are Ted Bundy.
5. All business owners are like Ken Lay.
6. All scientists are actually working in an effort to bolster the munitions industry. ADMIT IT! You're trying to kill people.
SEE HOW STUPID IT SOUNDS?
But yet, for some reason, you are allowed to GENERALIZE when it comes to the media. You know what that makes you? The very "sheeple" that you rail on constantly.
Honestly, "the media" excuse is tired and busted. Completely. You can't generalize all of the media when some are acting like whores. Just like I can't generalize that all people that are good at computers are committing crimes.
There is a problem here...
on
What You Can't Say
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· Score: 2, Interesting
The biggest problem here is that you are getting in the middle of bickering matches with educated children with no real world experience.
Having an argument with a college student is like pig wrestling. You get all dirty, and the pig likes it.
Buck up, people. And use some sense. Most college kids in an argument are just happy that someone is listening to them about an issue. Unfortunately, they just haven't learned why they are not allowed to run planet Earth yet.
Besides, it's ridiculous to get into an argument with a person that can quote Camus and Marx on you but has never held a steady job. The moment some college kid starts trying to school me on anything, I start laughing. Usually that little crap-eating smile or a chuckle in their face does much more to shut down their "rage against the machine" attitude than anything else.
They're just kids. Sometimes you college kids need to learn to STFU. I know when I was in college I thougt I knew everything. I guarantee you that you are just as wrong as I was back then, so shut your mouths and listen to your elders.
So what have we learned? Colleges, and college kids need to shut the hell up. Thank you for your time.
I personally think that the next big thing that people will want although they don't know why are Mini-ITX computers.
Look at the apps.
It is a computer, but it looks like a gamecube in size and is a good price. It is the new WebTV with REAL FEATURES.
Laptops are great, and WebTV was a great idea that never caught on, but why not Webtv? Well my mother had one and this is all I can say:
1. It was only one service, and that was getting expensive. Dial up only.
2. When a person gets net savvy, they want features after a bit. WebTV offered no features.
3. NO MOUSE. You just cannot navigate the web without a mouse. END OF DISCUSSION.
4. It really is a computer. But it looks like an appliance.
Somewhere in the future, the Webtv, Xbox, and Mini-ITX computer will merge.
For the Marshall Brain uninitiated, he is a loser that does a syndicated segment on how things work for television stations, kind of a one minute "whaddyaknow" segment on how internal combustion works, or how hot air balloons fly.
It is good for the kids. Ultimately, I take one look at him and I think to myself, "this man is a nimrod."
Bill Nye's retarded cousin would be the description of this dude.
I have no doubt whatsoever that he was inflating and using bogus time marks. After all, that would be his style.
Service Rep: "Yes sir. See it right here. It's broken."
Guy: "What do I do to fix it?"
Service Rep: "Buy a new one."
Guy: "I just bought this a month ago."
Service Rep: "Actually it was thirty eight days sir, according to this, and on September 25th you put something metal in there, and that is your problem that caused the failure according to the info it sent. The machine locked itself up automatically for "safety" purposes, it's a child lock feature, you know, litigation and all these days, oh, and it really is broken. If you would have read the manual like it told you to, which is under menu 72-d on you microwave's display, you would have noticed that you just voided the warranty, and your unconditional, money back guarantee just expired eight days ago... (Like a chipper jerk) anything else I can do for you?"
Guy: "Uh, I, uh..."
Service Rep: "Thank you for calling our service line." (Click)
Slashdot Mirror
If you don't think that he or she is the best, you are only encouraging policies that you don't believe in.
The lesser of two evils is still evil.
Apparently you're still in college.
The lesser of two evils is what freaking runs Bartertown, kiddo.
Well good for you. I'm glad that Bombay worked out for you. You shouldn't complain about customer service. The reason that you wait to get a doctor in America is that so many people can actually freaking afford to go see a doctor. Bet you just couldn't see around that, could you? Those go-carts and bicycles say that surgery is a little out of their league.
What about the people in Bombay that are starving on their feet? I bet there are a ton. I bet they would love to go see a doctor. I bet that doctor could see a lot more patients and make you wait if the people there could afford him.
Face it, India is not great with this middle class thing, because there isn't any.
Yes. India is a wonderful land of harmony. This "more for me, less for you" thing has been in their culture for so long, so many thousands of years, that they have freaking castes that you are born into. CASTES! The poor are so downtrodden, they have a cultural name, and belief system that doesn't allow them advancement! You are not allowed the benefits of personal merit, you are "low caste" and "high caste." What a crock of shit.
I know a family from India that I am very tight with. The father left for America because he was the most brilliant man I have ever met, and India recognized that. He married above his caste, which was the poorest caste of them all, to one of the highest. His children are great. Brilliant and handsome and beautiful. Don't get me wrong, I believe in this country.
However, I knew girls that were going to college in America from India that were great at tennis, and they hired boys to go chase tennis balls for food money. FOR FOOD MONEY. As many as they needed, to practice their swing.
Yeah, India is the land of peace and good prosperity. Goody for your kidney stone. Not so hot for the walking starvers.
And to think, in ten years, there won't be any jobs worth a crap left in the USA for them to contract out to! Hooray!
The working man is so screwed in this country.
I think you need to realize something America. Those jobs ain't coming back. They ain't coming back ever. Limited trade works. It helped Japan not get swamped by American goods and then destroy their economy. It keeps it expensive, but it keeps Japan ALIVE. Now? This is just insane. You can't have an economy to give money to India if you don't have Americans working. Japan HAD to do this or get crushed under our industrial output. America has to do this or it will get utterly crushed by India and China's labor output. Period. This is akin to China and India being Wal-Mart, and you as Americans being the single shop owner. You have to think about it this way, the very lifestyle that you live will be dead in a generation if this keeps up. The floodgates are open. The decision if you want your city to be under water is obvious about what you have to do. Does it mean that your plastic crap from Wal-Mart is a little more expensive, yes. But this is predatory business. Don't think otherwise.
I don't want to hear some Adam Smith crap about this. Adam Smith was about free market economy, this is destroying choice in the economy to the point that all tech support will come from India, and soon so will all manufacturing. Economies have to be regulated because individuals in massive corps will destroy choice and freedom in the economy, and this is happening. This is about keeping America from destroying the middle class, which keeps this country, and the freedoms, the education of it's system, and all of the free choices you have with your life.
These practices destroy huge swaths of the middle class. Talk all you want about it, but without the middle class supporting your property tax in schools, you have CRAP SCHOOLS. Can't be done if you don't have a job. If you want to go to college you can in the middle class, can't be done if everyone is poor.
In a generation, everyone will be much poorer. This is not a good thing for the next generation.
Face it people. We peaked. The world now sees that and is trying to get there too. The bad part? They have fifty cent hours and six times the people. We have to watch what our free trade situation is.
Right now it is damn near a free labor situation.
You mentioned a cancelled show on Slashdot!
Quiet! You'll wake up the Farscape fans!
Quick, delete the thread!
So, while we're on the subject, anyone remember this show called Farscape? /Gets a flaming arrow through the window, see a screaming horde descending on the house
Heck, I even liked Tribes 2. UT just doesn't cut it for me.
(Shaking fist desperately)
"Damn you Lucas! Damn you and your extra droids in the background! Damn you and your extra thirty seconds!"
*SOB* *Sniffle*
(FALLS TO KNEES, LOOKS SKYWARD)
"Star Wars fans are made of PEOPLE! It's made of PEOPLE!"
(COLLAPSES)
(Crawls off to to throw up tent in a line outside of Best Buy)
Pick a side people. There is no in between.
Are you for the guy that inspires girlfriend to wear bikini slave girl costumes in public, or are you for the guy that inspires LARPing?
I think the choice is clear.
Peter Jackson and New Line are treating fans like people worth of respect, and offering them as much of the LOTR magic as they can soak up. George Lucas is treating Star Wars fans the way a school bully treats kids in cartoons - turning them upside down and shaking money out of their pockets, all the while trying to dampen whatever Star Wars magic is left with a thick blanket of corporate greed.
Yes, 30 buck DVDs of the same kind of troll fighting action over and over again on yet another weed filled field (for another freaking three hour movie). Oh, I'm in! An exciting opportunity to see the motivation of Peter Jackson's key grip in a special feature? Gimme gimme! Great stuff.
(Summon HEAVY SARCASM) Yeah, they're certainly not milking this LOTR thing at all. DAMN YOU LUCAS! DAMN YOU FOR NOT RELEASING OUR CHILDHOOD DREAMS EXACTLY AS WE WANTED THEM! (Falls to knees) DAMN YOU! You added jawas in the back of my favorite scene! YOU RUINED MY CHILDHOOD!
That Lucas. Bastard. He should be like Peter Jackson, and inspire yet another generation of LARPing. Damn you Jackson. Damn you and your cloaks! Damn you and your little cloak hobbit pins! I've got a +3 bag of overrated for your ass!
What's the difference between Star Wars and LOTR?
Probably that Star Wars invented the genre, and it came out twenty five years ago. Stop talking about Peter Jackson like he is the greatest. All of the effects, design, and big battles that you love so much about LOTR, Lucas practically reinvented after watching all of the old movies like Cleopatra and Ben Hur.
You cant tell me that 25 years ago, when crap shows like Buck Rogers that can't even get make-up right was the only Sci-fi, that the Millenium Falcon hauling ass through the new Death Star wasn't the greatest moment of your kid life.
Now compare that to twenty five years later... Braveheart with orcs. Good. Not the same impact, I dare say.
Comparing Jackson and Lucas is not even a comparison. Jackson is a great director. But saying that all of this LOTR thing is better to its fans pretty much lets that Star Wars convention in Indianapolis rot.
Improving on the innovation doesn't make you better than the innovator.
George Lucas did it first. And did it so well he spawned the entire Hollywood Summer blockbuster genre. Period.
May I suggest Tribes 2.
It's easy, and there isn't a real steep learning curve.
It's also simple, and easy to understand what is going on.
Democracy is not destroyed by cameras.
This is an argument that doesn't even make sense.
This speaks to the paranoid mind, who believes that the police are after you and your dissenter friends.
In truth, the police could care less about you until you commit a crime. They're busy. They have no time to sit around in squad cars and think about this "grand conspiracy" that you, and others allude to and speak of.
Democracy is destroyed when we give them the rights to not let us be heard in government. Not when we have the opportunity to be seen in public. This whole being "observed and controlled" in a public place is rubbish. They are not using that information as promoting you as a dissenter and placing your face on a projection wall some where publicly... they are trying to slow and stop criminal activity in some hight crime areas. They are watching for criminal activity. There are these things, called cars, that patrol looking for criminal activity too. They have officers in them. Those officers look for criminal activity. This may sound like a new concept, but the police actually seek out criminals.
Adding electronic eyes to the system that is designed to protect the public, IN THE PUBLIC, is only a natural progression of the technology.
If you think that your right to vote, your rights to fair trial, your personal property rights, and your opportunities for advancement and personal happiness in the system are being destroyed by this, then you need to focus your attention on the legislators and MPs in your area, not the beat cops that are trying to keep the streets safe.
This is not only a misapplied argument, it makes no sense. They are not bugging your house. This is a public place. The authorities are looking for only one thing... crime. Not dissenters against their overarching conspiracy.
You wouldn't complain when someone snatches your purse or steals your car in front of the camera. You'd scream like crazy for the video so that the police will right the way you were wronged or get your property back.
Please stop it with the tinfoil conspiracies.
Aunt B. is going to be pissed about this one.
"AAAANNNDDYYYYYYYY!"
I don't care if the thing disintigrates in my machine...
I sure as hell am not going to pay seven dollars for even a permanent copy of most Hollywood films out there.
Look, Ashton Kutcher has a new movie coming out every freaking week, and yet, no one sees them. I just think that they should be focusing their time on making movies we want to see.... instead of making crap movies and worrying about the technology.
hogging resources is exactly how you create wealth. Look at the diamond industry. Diamonds are plentyful, but they are very expensive because they are horded.
Please, if you are going to use an example to back up your economic theories out there, please don't use a cartel of the most valuable luxury item in the world, and extrapolate that information to the rest of the world to support your theories.
You need to read a Macro book.
There are classifications of goods and services, diamond mining would be way out of whack with most economic theories because, A) it is not a commodity, B) it is a cartel, and C) it is one of the most expensive and utterly useless luxury items on the planet.
I will state this again... using the diamond cartel as an example about anything other than diamond prices is the most misleading economic statement a person can make.
Once again, I reiterate that nations are born from within.
Anyone walking the streets in that nation that is rich while the rest are poor is not necessarily an instant oppressor.
Once again, read an economics book.
If you could shrink the Earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, keeping the same ratios, this is what it would look like:
57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 Western Hemisphere, and 6 Africans
51 female, 49 male
70 non-white, 30 white
70 non-Christian, 30 Christian
50% of the world's wealth would be held by only 6 people who would be U.S. citizens
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death, 1 near birth
1 would have a college degree
0 would own a computer
When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for both tolerance and understanding becomes glaringly apparent.
That would be a valid argument if wealth is a scarce resource... in other words, if you looked at the world like the 6 Americans were "hogging" all of the resources, and the rest of the world was suffering for said "hogging." Unfortunately, there are resources aplenty on this planet that create wealth, mostly just lying around, matter of fact, we go to many other impoverished countries precisely because those resources are literally lying around undeveloped and are so glaringly easy to get to.
Nations and wealth are built from within. Don't speak as though the rest of the world is suffering because my ancestors died in coal mine cave-ins to build a real infrastructure... that is an inconsistent conclusion. There were these people from other times, called the ROMANS, that built wealth from vineyards and cattle farms. They didn't steal to get there. They organized. We did the same.
So let me adjust those statistics you quoted at us like we are a-holes that have it so great:
-fifty percent of those starving in that "global village" live in perfectly great growing locations with real, if not constant, growing seasons with real resources to make crops.
-80% of those that live in substandard housing live in countries with no concept of the words "building code," and thus spend all of their time keeping out the rain instead of doing it, by hand, correctly the first time. My people made log cabins. Certainly better than sheet metal and a pole.
-illiteracy is not a resource, and you cannot imply poor living to illiteracy.
Face facts. The reality of why the rest of the world is poor has to do with their lack of education and skills, not with some exploitation of the rest of the world, or these scarce resources you speak of. Most of the countries that scream "exploitation!" are upset that they can't read and are jealous when people from cultures worldwide come in and can read. See the history of the British Empire on this one. This was the first time that some people ever saw steel mechanics and other things like a record player. The lack of science was holding them back, and little tips like this:
Handy Third World Tip-
If you place rock next to the river bank, and place your house in and high, then your home doesn't wash away every other year with all of your possesions, livestock, and children.
You just can't blame science... so you blame the people that know it, call them the devils, exploiters, and then when you see an ignorant face in the wilderness on the Discovery Channel that is living just like we all used to live, (and you notice that you are living in air conditioned, clean, vermin-free glory) you feel guilty.
You assume in the back of your mind that you made them suffer, that you are responsible, like that lumber that came from American forests by American workers for your American house, is actually coming from their forest, and they are living like this because of SOMETHING YOU DID. The truth of the matter is it is NOTHING YOU OR YOUR ANCESTORS DID, other than the fact that they innovated and busted their tails to improve their childrens lives, and these poor villagers don't have a mechanism or a concept of how to do
Okay, I see a ton of economic theories running around here. As far as I can tell about all of this there is only one explanation.
This is economic exploitation. Pure and simple. It is also dropping the cost of code to the point that only large corporations can do it, and then it is impossible for innovations to come from the US.
The Indian workers are getting paid well, but they aren't getting rich... and there is a simple reason why:
If you make an employee wealthy enough to not be looking paycheck to paycheck at you, he will start up a competetive business.
This is exploiting the poor, and big corporations killing the working programmers in the USA so much that there are NO WAYS TO COMPETE.
Call it what it is. Exploitation for further pursuit of profit, all the while destroying the economy of the place that birthed its technology.
Does Myth TV come with a remote that runs said computer PVR?
I think that you can make a machine all day long that does things like that, but a relative is NOT SCARED to run the Tivo when I come over to the house, they don't think that they are going to break it.
If I put a beige box next to my TV and say to my relatives, "this is the remote that runs the computer/TV" they are going to say, "look, can I just watch TV in your bedroom? American Idol is coming on."
It just doesn't seem like booting your beige box to watch TV will make my relatives happy... however, surfing the web on TV would probably rule big time.
They're idiots.
Anyone who wants to cover local news from a distance is insane. There are major setbacks to doing it, but living in the environment and seeing what is going on with your own eyes is ESSENTIAL.
This will all soon sort itself out.
No one will listen to local news set far away when they have local news from real locals sitting right next to them on the dial. It is only a matter of time before the people will realize this when they say something wrong on the air repeatedly, and then the other guys will be at the big event news when it happens across the street. The public just assumes that you are local when covering local news. The public will notice this soon enough, and when it does, they will lose market share that will not make up for the cost losses.
This is a new thing. I predict it will not be a very long thing. It will be over in a year and a half when the corporate nimrods bong-rip ideas like "we could do local news cheaper across the country!" die a horrible, horrible death.
News is exteremely competitive. They just replaced their personal insight with a phone call. This is NOT a smart move.
With the proliferation of the video game market and the recent (last year and a half) realization by people that video games make a lot of money...
Every argument that the marketplace is going to stink goes directly against every economic theory out there. Greater competition and demand is a great thing. I am tired of people saying that a LUXURY ITEM like video games is having some EA games conspiracy or something like that. This is pure drivel.
When I was a child I payed sometimes $35 for a game on the original NES system. Now, I pay $50 for Call of Duty. Which do you think was a better benefit? Which was the bigger bargain? Which is the best deal? I think that argument alone is enough to debunk what people have been saying about the video game industry going to hell in a handbasket... and that we should all put on our crash helmets and prepare to be screwed.
This whole argument is bunk. Go spin some of those tinfoil conspiracies elsewhere... and stop crying because you can't rip off games anymore. When someone rips off the GPL, everyone is up in arms, but a game that is cracked? TOTALLY COOL, RIGHT?
Get a grip, whiners. Go live in a mud hut for a month if you need to get away from the screwjob of the video games because you think you payed too much for a copy of MADDEN 2004 or whatever.
But the populous wants excuses, and the media provides them.
-Then later-
It's all about taking responsibility for your actions.
Wow. Did you go to a sociology convention for that, how many doctorates in human behavior do you have?
Your generalizations are unscrupulous. You talk about taking responsibility for your actions. Your generalizations show that you take no responsibility for the accusations you fling out towards the world.
But the populous wants excuses, and the media provides them.
I am a member of the media. I purport no claims, but according to many of you self-claimed GENIUSES here at slashdot, I am a media liar. I am a slime only out looking for a story. Some of you twits cannot even get logic puzzles and causation right. Then you accuse the entire media about ONE FREAKING ARTICLE FROM THE POST?... but, hey, if we're generalizing, let's generalize some more...
So here we go:
1. All mathematicians are potential unabombers. Anyone here a slimy, weasely mathematician?
2. All programmers are Kevin Mitnick. Anyone hacked a good system and stole from someone recently? WELL YOU ALL HAVE BECAUSE YOU'RE ALL PROGRAMMERS ON SLASHDOT. See? The logic is INSEPERABLE. After all, many of you geniuses at science and mathematics have applied this to me and my profession.
3. All clowns are like John Wayne Gacy.
4. All law students are Ted Bundy.
5. All business owners are like Ken Lay.
6. All scientists are actually working in an effort to bolster the munitions industry. ADMIT IT! You're trying to kill people.
SEE HOW STUPID IT SOUNDS?
But yet, for some reason, you are allowed to GENERALIZE when it comes to the media. You know what that makes you? The very "sheeple" that you rail on constantly.
Honestly, "the media" excuse is tired and busted. Completely. You can't generalize all of the media when some are acting like whores. Just like I can't generalize that all people that are good at computers are committing crimes.
The biggest problem here is that you are getting in the middle of bickering matches with educated children with no real world experience.
Having an argument with a college student is like pig wrestling. You get all dirty, and the pig likes it.
Buck up, people. And use some sense. Most college kids in an argument are just happy that someone is listening to them about an issue. Unfortunately, they just haven't learned why they are not allowed to run planet Earth yet.
Besides, it's ridiculous to get into an argument with a person that can quote Camus and Marx on you but has never held a steady job. The moment some college kid starts trying to school me on anything, I start laughing. Usually that little crap-eating smile or a chuckle in their face does much more to shut down their "rage against the machine" attitude than anything else.
They're just kids. Sometimes you college kids need to learn to STFU. I know when I was in college I thougt I knew everything. I guarantee you that you are just as wrong as I was back then, so shut your mouths and listen to your elders.
So what have we learned? Colleges, and college kids need to shut the hell up. Thank you for your time.
I personally think that the next big thing that people will want although they don't know why are Mini-ITX computers.
Look at the apps.
It is a computer, but it looks like a gamecube in size and is a good price. It is the new WebTV with REAL FEATURES.
Laptops are great, and WebTV was a great idea that never caught on, but why not Webtv? Well my mother had one and this is all I can say:
1. It was only one service, and that was getting expensive. Dial up only.
2. When a person gets net savvy, they want features after a bit. WebTV offered no features.
3. NO MOUSE. You just cannot navigate the web without a mouse. END OF DISCUSSION.
4. It really is a computer. But it looks like an appliance.
Somewhere in the future, the Webtv, Xbox, and Mini-ITX computer will merge.
That is when it will get interesting.
For the Marshall Brain uninitiated, he is a loser that does a syndicated segment on how things work for television stations, kind of a one minute "whaddyaknow" segment on how internal combustion works, or how hot air balloons fly.
It is good for the kids. Ultimately, I take one look at him and I think to myself, "this man is a nimrod."
Bill Nye's retarded cousin would be the description of this dude.
I have no doubt whatsoever that he was inflating and using bogus time marks. After all, that would be his style.
You sir, are our slashdot winner of the day!
Tell him what he's won, Don Pardo!
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