There is a point to be made there. Being a doomsday prepper after a real disaster would make you more of a target than anything else. Anything more than one or two guns and a few days of supplies would be like hanging up a big sign that said "Come raid here!" And going on a national TV show and bragging about it is probably not the smartest move either.
Maybe smug Apple fans need a place to go and blast non-believers, so they can feel superior. It's kind of like when Christians host fake atheist forums to proselytize.
Yeah, just him and 4 million other contractors with Top Secret clearance. And their wives, friends, and anyone else they've ever blabbed to. And high ranking military officials, the CIA, any number of Congressmen, State Department officials, etc.
But, yeah, aside from them--and Snowden--all this stuff is totally contained. Our phone calls, emails, and web browsing histories are safe. And no one could possibly use them for anything illegal or unethical.
The One Laptop Per Child program struck me in a similar way. The idea of giving laptops to kids who don't have basic stuff like running water and decent medical care always struck me as a pretty bizarre use of resources.
It's sad that so many fools went to their deaths following a spoiled, rich poseur. Ironically, he was a lot like George W. Bush in that regard--the rich boy who's more than happy to send everyone else out to fight and die, but who runs and hides when it comes his time to fight.
The Wii sold consoles, but it never sold games. You think Sony and MS have made their money from raw console sales? Shit, they LOST money on their hardware sales for years. The real bank was in the chunk they got from the software.
And it's that attitude at Nintendo that has been their problem for 20 years now--blindly assuming that since they were on top once that they'll always have a guaranteed place in the console world, no matter how much the competition (or world) passes them by. Many a company has followed that kind of arrogance right into bankruptcy.
Every society in the world has established that (at least some) rights can be removed from criminals, with due process. If their right to freedom can be removed, there's no reason their right to life can't be as well (in extreme circumstances at least). It's a moral choice to make, and that's fine. But to argue that executions are some absurdity that have no place in a reasonable society is unfair.
As opposed to the imperialism of western, mostly Christian nations, which is noted for sending women in their 50s off to invade other countries.
I don't recall making the assertion that the West was perfect (most certainly not).
But on a very real-world level, who would you rather be ruled by--the Taliban or the U.S. government? If your argument for equivalency is valid, you shouldn't be able to answer that question. But I bet if you're being honest that you can, can't you?
Overdoses aren't reliable enough. You need something that it consistent and predictable with every person. You don't want to use a drug that requires wildly different doses for different people (such as former heroin addicts, for example, who may have a high tolerance).
Human society needs some method of permanently removing those from society who are clearly a threat to other members of that society, and are very likely to remain that way for the rest of their lives (those who clearly can't be reformed). That means either lifetime imprisonment or execution. Lifetime imprisonment is the more humane option in most cases, but on a practical level it's also VERY expensive. It's essentially allowing said criminals to continue to victimize society by leeching taxpayer dollars that could be spent elsewhere on more deserving causes. Execution is an alternative that is less humane in most cases, but it also permanently ends any further exploitation of society by those who can't be reformed and can't live in said society.
In a purely rational sense, as distasteful or immoral as some find it, there is an important place for execution in the criminal justice system.
You can bet there are some 87-year old Muslims out there who would love to take a shoe-bomb if they thought they could get through.
Radical Islam specializes in young men for their operations, not old. It's only logical for a polygamous religion. Allowing men to marry as many women as they can afford means that you're going to have a lot of horny, angry young men on your hands who don't get ANY wives (or even get laid, since they don't like that either). So, assuming a equitable birthrate of males and females, you need some way to get rid of all those angry young men. So either you have a war or you con them into believing that they can have all the wives they want in heaven if they'll just walk into the nearest mall and blow themselves up. Sure, it's dumb as shit. But when you're talking desperately horny, poor, illiterate goat farmers--you can talk them into pretty much anything.
If someone has made it to 87 in this environment, odds are that they're one of the smart ones at the top of this big religious pyramid scam who actually have something to lose. Notice that Osama Bin Laden wasn't one of the 9-11 hijackers. He was sitting back safely in his bunker with his several wives, while the young saps killed themselves for Allah.
The employees are out there but they cannot work for chinese slave labor wages
Doesn't matter. This whole "We can't find enough workers here in the U.S.!" schtick is just a ploy for them to go running to Congress and beg for more H1B visas (like pretty much every other tech company now). They don't give a shit how much American workers are willing to work for, because all they're interested in is importing cheap indentured servants from overseas, with the full blessings of our "representatives" in Congress of course.
Someone should do a page just of hilarious "citation needed" edits on Wikipedia. I've seen some pretty funny/bizarre ones, especially lately. Someone could post "The Earth has a moon" on there and some prick would have a [citation needed] slapped on it five seconds later.
Slashdot Mirror
There is a point to be made there. Being a doomsday prepper after a real disaster would make you more of a target than anything else. Anything more than one or two guns and a few days of supplies would be like hanging up a big sign that said "Come raid here!" And going on a national TV show and bragging about it is probably not the smartest move either.
Wouldn't drought in a desert be considered normal?
Why would Apple even need a support forum?
Maybe smug Apple fans need a place to go and blast non-believers, so they can feel superior. It's kind of like when Christians host fake atheist forums to proselytize.
Actually Appalachia went "red" a long time ago, only slightly behind the rest of the South. Excellent article on it here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2013/10/26/a-blue-states-road-to-red/
"[T]he content was written at a sixth-grade reading level so it would be as easy to understand as possible."
They really are setting the bar high in Kentucky.
That's pretty standard for text intended for the general public. Newspapers have traditionally been aimed at a sixth-grade reading level too.
No one outside the NSA knows what Snowden knows
Yeah, just him and 4 million other contractors with Top Secret clearance. And their wives, friends, and anyone else they've ever blabbed to. And high ranking military officials, the CIA, any number of Congressmen, State Department officials, etc.
But, yeah, aside from them--and Snowden--all this stuff is totally contained. Our phone calls, emails, and web browsing histories are safe. And no one could possibly use them for anything illegal or unethical.
Do or do not! There is no try!
The One Laptop Per Child program struck me in a similar way. The idea of giving laptops to kids who don't have basic stuff like running water and decent medical care always struck me as a pretty bizarre use of resources.
It's sad that so many fools went to their deaths following a spoiled, rich poseur. Ironically, he was a lot like George W. Bush in that regard--the rich boy who's more than happy to send everyone else out to fight and die, but who runs and hides when it comes his time to fight.
The Wii sold consoles, but it never sold games. You think Sony and MS have made their money from raw console sales? Shit, they LOST money on their hardware sales for years. The real bank was in the chunk they got from the software.
Mine is sitting in my tech junk room. I have three games for it. I used to bring it out for visitors, but I haven't used it now in probably 2 years.
always have and always will...
And it's that attitude at Nintendo that has been their problem for 20 years now--blindly assuming that since they were on top once that they'll always have a guaranteed place in the console world, no matter how much the competition (or world) passes them by. Many a company has followed that kind of arrogance right into bankruptcy.
Pure rationality cannot trample human rights.
Every society in the world has established that (at least some) rights can be removed from criminals, with due process. If their right to freedom can be removed, there's no reason their right to life can't be as well (in extreme circumstances at least). It's a moral choice to make, and that's fine. But to argue that executions are some absurdity that have no place in a reasonable society is unfair.
As opposed to the imperialism of western, mostly Christian nations, which is noted for sending women in their 50s off to invade other countries.
I don't recall making the assertion that the West was perfect (most certainly not).
But on a very real-world level, who would you rather be ruled by--the Taliban or the U.S. government? If your argument for equivalency is valid, you shouldn't be able to answer that question. But I bet if you're being honest that you can, can't you?
Overdoses aren't reliable enough. You need something that it consistent and predictable with every person. You don't want to use a drug that requires wildly different doses for different people (such as former heroin addicts, for example, who may have a high tolerance).
Human society needs some method of permanently removing those from society who are clearly a threat to other members of that society, and are very likely to remain that way for the rest of their lives (those who clearly can't be reformed). That means either lifetime imprisonment or execution. Lifetime imprisonment is the more humane option in most cases, but on a practical level it's also VERY expensive. It's essentially allowing said criminals to continue to victimize society by leeching taxpayer dollars that could be spent elsewhere on more deserving causes. Execution is an alternative that is less humane in most cases, but it also permanently ends any further exploitation of society by those who can't be reformed and can't live in said society.
In a purely rational sense, as distasteful or immoral as some find it, there is an important place for execution in the criminal justice system.
A simple gunshot to the head would probably be more humane, if a bit more bloody.
You can bet there are some 87-year old Muslims out there who would love to take a shoe-bomb if they thought they could get through.
Radical Islam specializes in young men for their operations, not old. It's only logical for a polygamous religion. Allowing men to marry as many women as they can afford means that you're going to have a lot of horny, angry young men on your hands who don't get ANY wives (or even get laid, since they don't like that either). So, assuming a equitable birthrate of males and females, you need some way to get rid of all those angry young men. So either you have a war or you con them into believing that they can have all the wives they want in heaven if they'll just walk into the nearest mall and blow themselves up. Sure, it's dumb as shit. But when you're talking desperately horny, poor, illiterate goat farmers--you can talk them into pretty much anything.
If someone has made it to 87 in this environment, odds are that they're one of the smart ones at the top of this big religious pyramid scam who actually have something to lose. Notice that Osama Bin Laden wasn't one of the 9-11 hijackers. He was sitting back safely in his bunker with his several wives, while the young saps killed themselves for Allah.
The employees are out there but they cannot work for chinese slave labor wages
Doesn't matter. This whole "We can't find enough workers here in the U.S.!" schtick is just a ploy for them to go running to Congress and beg for more H1B visas (like pretty much every other tech company now). They don't give a shit how much American workers are willing to work for, because all they're interested in is importing cheap indentured servants from overseas, with the full blessings of our "representatives" in Congress of course.
I wonder if I would get a simple fine if I systematically hacked into thousands of people's computers to watch "intimate moments."
Yeah, a CEO with the moral courage to bad-mouth competitors' products. Truly, he's a hero for the ages.
It gets hot in there, and Johnson is always farting.
Someone should do a page just of hilarious "citation needed" edits on Wikipedia. I've seen some pretty funny/bizarre ones, especially lately. Someone could post "The Earth has a moon" on there and some prick would have a [citation needed] slapped on it five seconds later.
It wouldn't surprise me to learn that more quality editors have been driven away at this point than actually allowed to contribute.
it is not a welcoming place for any contributors.
FTFY