Clarkson College (now University) was the first college to give computers to all its students. The first year to have computers was the 1983 incoming freshman class. They got Zenith Z-100 computers with a 5 Mhz processor, 192K of memory, a 320K floppy, and 96K of 3bpp video memory. -russ
It was not. Slashdot's value comes from its independence. Destroy that, and you destroy its value. Some people who might be involved in the various purchases of Slashdot might not understand that. Rob and Jeff do. Trust them, or seek a different news site. -russ
No, it *was* stupid. Some moderator saw h*t gr*its and without thinking, slapped it down a point. Must have been a member of MOD == Masters of Duh. -russ
On second thought, you might be right. The humor comes from the fact that the stereotypical cyberpunk is a white guy wearing black, whereas this person is a black guy wearing white. Clearly there is no humor if you ignore his race. And yet, I don't think I'm bringing any prejudice to this joke. I'm not imputing any characteristic to the person in question. Everything I say about him is obvious from his appearance, and is not demeaning. I mean, for all I know, that guy could be some famous and sublime geek who is purposefully creating his own parody of the cyberpunk regalia. And if that's the case, I'd look pretty dumb for pointing out the obvious, eh? -russ
That wasn't a troll, it was a simple statement of fact. I saw the expression on the Andover.net executives as the Slashdot AC's were being discussed at a 'Linux Publicity' session at The Bazaar. They were basically gritting their teeth in support of CT&&Hemos. Kind of like "Why, oh why oh why do we let CT&&Hemos put up with these assholes?" -russ
John Walker's UnicardUnicard: Ubiquitous Computation, Global Connectivity, and the End of Privacy discusses how a variety of technological trends are converging to make possible a world in which privacy no longer exists. It argues that in most cases privacy is not taken away from individuals by governments and corporations, but is rather willingly relinquished in exchange for convenience and/or perceived security, and that the apparent benefits of these new technologies will be so compelling that resisting their adoption, or demanding that they are implemented in an inherently secure manner, will be a difficult challenge.
It's too bad that critics of capitalism can't be forced to do without the benefits it has brought them. If you don't like capitalism, go back to the land and do without it. Do without your computer, too. -russ
Sorry, no, there is no exploitation. Yes, people do have to work to eat, but absent charity, everyone has always had to work to eat. That's not the fault of capitalism, it's just reality.
And yes, the entrepreneurs who can get megabucks have often had to prove themselves. How else would you expect them to get the money to pay the workers to solve the problem to make more money?
As far as loans to small-scale entrepreneurs goes, just look at the Grameen bank. -russ
No, it was by stealing capital from peasants, and causing WIDESPREAD DEATH FROM STARVATION. In other words, yes, industrial growth happened, but it came at a horrific cost in human lives. In sum, there was no progress, only bones and factories. -russ
Yes, I was totally amazed to see a big sign behind the VSNL front desk proclaiming an initiative to eliminate corruption. Seems to me like the way to eliminate corruption is to fire the people who take bribes. If you then cannot hire anybody because they can't make enough without baksheesh, well, then, that's a signal from the market to pay your workers more.
Hmmm... I was wondering why my hosts pre-paid the hotel room partly in cash. Maybe credit cards are not trusted? Maybe the hotel employees were taking their cut out of the till? -russ
Yes, those countries *are* worse off. If you think they're doing well now, imagine how well they would be doing if the market was free to work well. How can you say that pure capitalist market economies breed poverty?? Who's gonna buy all this stuff if everyone is poor?? Sheesh! Use your head, man. Capitalists lend their money to entrepreneurs, who spend it to solve a problem, and then they sell the solution back to the people who got the capitalists' money, keeping a portion of the extra value created. The workers are better off, the entrepreneurs are better off, the capitalists are better off. It's the only way progress has *ever* been made. -russ
I think that some people have felt in the past that the large number of official languages in India have been responsible for its poverty. The government tried forcing people to learn a different language, with some success at great human cost. I think you'll find that most Indians who haven't learned English have refrained for (their own) very good reasons. -russ
I've got an Indian customer who is switching to Open Source solutions as promptly as they can. They have found that the amount of money they spend on a solution is only lightly correlated with its ability to solve their problems. They've got US investors, so money isn't a problem. -russ
There are no socialist countries in existance. There are many capitalist market economies which are influenced by socialist thought (and they are worse off for it), but a socialist economy requires the absence of a market. It's very unlikely that a socialist economy could survive even one natural diaster. How could it mobilize resources faster than the market? Look at how badly Orissa did, with all the interference that the Indian gov't puts in the ways of the Indian market. I'm very impressed by the Indian people's eagerness to work hard and get ahead. I'm saddened that they don't know enough about economics to shun political solutions. -russ p.s. Read any Indian newspaper, or read India Today if you want to see how Marxist India remains. For example, university tenure committees are full of Marxists; to get tenure you must espouse Marxist (that is, Nonsense) economics.
India needs to get away from the idea that all economic activities should be controlled by the government. Curiously, there are many self-help groups in India, and yet you have the remainder of the Raj, controlling, for example, every aspect of communications, whether wireless or wired. -russ
The problem is that Windows craps out on you from time to time. I had to buy a WHOLE NEW COMPUTER because that was cheaper than dealing with replacing the unreadable reinstall CD. Life is too short to waste it reinstalling windows. -russ
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then they join you? Sun is clearly somewhere between the ridicule and the fighting stages. -russ
Slashdot Mirror
First is first.
-russ
p.s. Yes, once Dave Bray left, the PC program turned to shit.
Clarkson College (now University) was the first college to give computers to all its students. The first year to have computers was the 1983 incoming freshman class. They got Zenith Z-100 computers with a 5 Mhz processor, 192K of memory, a 320K floppy, and 96K of 3bpp video memory.
-russ
Yes, it's the same model. It'll be for sale no sooner than the end of March.
-russ
It was not. Slashdot's value comes from its independence. Destroy that, and you destroy its value. Some people who might be involved in the various purchases of Slashdot might not understand that. Rob and Jeff do. Trust them, or seek a different news site. -russ
No, it *was* stupid. Some moderator saw h*t gr*its and without thinking, slapped it down a point. Must have been a member of MOD == Masters of Duh.
-russ
On second thought, you might be right. The humor comes from the fact that the stereotypical cyberpunk is a white guy wearing black, whereas this person is a black guy wearing white. Clearly there is no humor if you ignore his race. And yet, I don't think I'm bringing any prejudice to this joke. I'm not imputing any characteristic to the person in question. Everything I say about him is obvious from his appearance, and is not demeaning. I mean, for all I know, that guy could be some famous and sublime geek who is purposefully creating his own parody of the cyberpunk regalia. And if that's the case, I'd look pretty dumb for pointing out the obvious, eh?
-russ
You need a humor transplant. Sheesh!
-russ
p.s. at least *I* stand behind my comments, coward.
Something strange is going on. The guy in the top-center of this picture is in reverse video!
-russ
That wasn't a troll, it was a simple statement of fact. I saw the expression on the Andover.net executives as the Slashdot AC's were being discussed at a 'Linux Publicity' session at The Bazaar. They were basically gritting their teeth in support of CT&&Hemos. Kind of like "Why, oh why oh why do we let CT&&Hemos put up with these assholes?"
-russ
Because they don't want OPEN SOURCE hot grits in their user's pants.
Not everyone tolerates assholes as willingly as CT&&Hemos.
-russ
John Walker's UnicardUnicard: Ubiquitous Computation, Global Connectivity, and the End of Privacy discusses how a variety of technological trends are converging to make possible a world in which privacy no longer exists. It argues that in most cases privacy is not taken away from individuals by governments and corporations, but is rather willingly relinquished in exchange for convenience and/or perceived security, and that the apparent benefits of these new technologies will be so compelling that resisting their adoption, or demanding that they are implemented in an inherently secure manner, will be a difficult challenge.
It's too bad that critics of capitalism can't be forced to do without the benefits it has brought them. If you don't like capitalism, go back to the land and do without it. Do without your computer, too.
-russ
Sorry, no, there is no exploitation. Yes, people do have to work to eat, but absent charity, everyone has always had to work to eat. That's not the fault of capitalism, it's just reality.
And yes, the entrepreneurs who can get megabucks have often had to prove themselves. How else would you expect them to get the money to pay the workers to solve the problem to make more money?
As far as loans to small-scale entrepreneurs goes, just look at the Grameen bank.
-russ
No, it was by stealing capital from peasants, and causing WIDESPREAD DEATH FROM STARVATION. In other words, yes, industrial growth happened, but it came at a horrific cost in human lives. In sum, there was no progress, only bones and factories.
-russ
Yes, I was totally amazed to see a big sign behind the VSNL front desk proclaiming an initiative to eliminate corruption. Seems to me like the way to eliminate corruption is to fire the people who take bribes. If you then cannot hire anybody because they can't make enough without baksheesh, well, then, that's a signal from the market to pay your workers more.
Hmmm... I was wondering why my hosts pre-paid the hotel room partly in cash. Maybe credit cards are not trusted? Maybe the hotel employees were taking their cut out of the till?
-russ
Yes, those countries *are* worse off. If you think they're doing well now, imagine how well they would be doing if the market was free to work well. How can you say that pure capitalist market economies breed poverty?? Who's gonna buy all this stuff if everyone is poor?? Sheesh! Use your head, man. Capitalists lend their money to entrepreneurs, who spend it to solve a problem, and then they sell the solution back to the people who got the capitalists' money, keeping a portion of the extra value created. The workers are better off, the entrepreneurs are better off, the capitalists are better off. It's the only way progress has *ever* been made.
-russ
I think that some people have felt in the past that the large number of official languages in India have been responsible for its poverty. The government tried forcing people to learn a different language, with some success at great human cost. I think you'll find that most Indians who haven't learned English have refrained for (their own) very good reasons.
-russ
I've got an Indian customer who is switching to Open Source solutions as promptly as they can. They have found that the amount of money they spend on a solution is only lightly correlated with its ability to solve their problems. They've got US investors, so money isn't a problem.
-russ
There are no socialist countries in existance. There are many capitalist market economies which are influenced by socialist thought (and they are worse off for it), but a socialist economy requires the absence of a market. It's very unlikely that a socialist economy could survive even one natural diaster. How could it mobilize resources faster than the market? Look at how badly Orissa did, with all the interference that the Indian gov't puts in the ways of the Indian market. I'm very impressed by the Indian people's eagerness to work hard and get ahead. I'm saddened that they don't know enough about economics to shun political solutions.
-russ
p.s. Read any Indian newspaper, or read India Today if you want to see how Marxist India remains. For example, university tenure committees are full of Marxists; to get tenure you must espouse Marxist (that is, Nonsense) economics.
India needs to get away from the idea that all economic activities should be controlled by the government. Curiously, there are many self-help groups in India, and yet you have the remainder of the Raj, controlling, for example, every aspect of communications, whether wireless or wired.
-russ
The problem is that Windows craps out on you from time to time. I had to buy a WHOLE NEW COMPUTER because that was cheaper than dealing with replacing the unreadable reinstall CD. Life is too short to waste it reinstalling windows.
-russ
Yup, I remember it. Now do a 3D FPS version of it. :)
-russ
All the excellent adventure games.
-russ
Right. It's not a contest. That's why I said that Sun would *join* us, not that we would "win", as the quote apparently goes.
-russ
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then they join you? Sun is clearly somewhere between the ridicule and the fighting stages.
-russ