I agree that he was awful, I don't think it'll require 50 years to undo the negative parts of his legacy. Here's hoping, anyway.
I think the reputation hit was bad enough - and more importantly is still ongoing - that it'll take a generation or two to correct.
Perhaps - most of them, democrat and republican alike, appear more interested in maintaining their own power base than they are in actually governing wisely. The arrival of a legitimate third party might shake it up enough for change, but with the current 2-party system, it seems like we'll be locked into a perpetual back-and-forth like we've seen the past 10 years or so.
From my (admittedly not at all comprehensive) understanding of the US electoral system, a useful third party is all but impossible with significant and fundamental reform.
But this assumes that the "US Right" is a monolithic entity that agrees on everything.
I disagree. It merely assumes they broadly agree about few things and - most importantly - *disagree* about the same things.
As an example: I'm willing to entertain the notion that health care is something we need to spend on as a country, and that it's both a priority, and the right thing to do. But when a politician tells me "We're going to add 30 million people to the health care system, we're going to change NOTHING about your existing coverage, and we're going to reduce costs for everybody," well... I can do math, and something there doesn't add up. (That message was delivered more or less exactly by Pres. Obama in several speeches - cover everybody, no change to peoples' existing coverage, less cost all around.)
A properly constructed *and enforced* regulatory framework would probably achieve that - it doesn't seem like Americans get a good ROI on their healthcare spend. However, when the other guys are just going respond with "no way" (or variations thereof - see above about disagreeing on the same things) then there's not a lot that can be done. This is particularly true when the opposing "facts" are comically inaccurate (eg: "Death Panels") or the rhetoric outrageous ("Repealing the Job Destroying Healthcare Act"). How can you possibly respond to that sort of "argument" in a constructive fashion ?
I certainly don't envy you Americans and the shit you need to sort out over the next decade or two. My pessismism about how it will turn out of one of the major reasons I'm moving back to Australia at the end of the year.
The really frustrating thing is the same sort of superficial and poisonous media coverage that I believe is one of the biggest reasons for the US's problems is rapidly infecting the rest of the Anglosphere, and probably the Western world. Certainly the politics in the UK and Australia have become much more "Americanised" over the last decade, and that's not a good thing.
And I know quite a few self-professed liberals and self-described leftists (not just those in the States, but in Canada, Ireland, Germany, and China - my company does quite a bit of business overseas, so I'm not as isolated as you might suspect, despite the fact that I'm American) who swear that the sun rises and sets on President Obama.
Well, after W, pretty much anything would have been an improvement. It will probably take the US (and, indeed, the West in general) half a century to fully recover from that disaster and it's follow-on effects.
I don't think that "electing someone more leftist than Obama, who is sorta not that left" is much of an answer - I'm asking who, in our present political climate, fits the bill, because there really is a dearth of leadership, and that's not a "left versus right" issue.
I don't know. I don't follow US politics closely enough to know much about more than a handful of people, and none of them are particularly impressive. To be honest, I'm nearly at the point where I don't think a good leader *can* rise from the US political system - it's simply too corrupt and broken.
I will say, however, that if someone does appear, then I sincerely doubt they will come from the "US Right". The politics coming from that side just seem to be too combative, exclusionary and absolutist, with little positive, constructive or useful to contribute - and becoming more so every day.
"Clever" wordplay does nothing to answer my question, and does nothing to inform or advance the discussion.
You said Obama was a candidate from the left. He was not. He was a candidate from the right.
Incidentally, the "tone" of the debate - at least from the top down - has changed noticably, particularly on the international stage. He's far less absolutist and much more prepared to investigate compromise. Sadly the debate from the bottom-up has gotten proportionally worse, as his temperance has been overshadowed by ever-increasing (and media-fuelled) extremism, obstinance and fear-mongering from the far right in the US.
Sadly, in my experience, most (non-Democrat-voting) Americans perceive Obama's behaviour as weakness, which highlights why the political process here is so broken.
It should be noted that a member of the Australian Green party is probably not the person who's likely to strike a leadership chord with the American people.
Indeed. Largely because of American attitudes towards left-wing politics. I only used them as an example because (as an Australian) it's a left-wing party I'm fairly familiar with (though I disagree with many of their views). However, my point was that left-wing parties in most of the rest of the world have similar agendas and, hence, they serve as a good example of what actual left-wing politics look like.
I'd guess he would rather expend his energy contributing to society rather than cheating a lottery.
No need to guess:
"People often assume that I must be some extremely moral person because I didn't take advantage of the lottery," he says. "I can assure you that that's not the case. I'd simply done the math and concluded that beating the game wasn't worth my time."
It's the difference between creating money and creating wealth. The people who concentrate on the latter tend to be more successful in the long run.
Most of the people who got out of the most recent GFC best off were most certainly in the game of "creating money" rather than "creating wealth". Ie: bankers.
Banning firearms, IMO, is the biggest loss of civil liberty in Australia.
Firearms aren't banned. You just need a good reason to own one.
Note that this is the same situation as pretty much all of the civilised outside America.
Add to that this insulting idea that you can't have a drink without giving up your identity to an establishment that really has NO RIGHT to have or keep makes it plain that there are some serious problems in that county.
I can count on one hand the number of establishments in the US I haven't been carded at when buying a drink for the first time, and it's been 10+ years since I looked even close to being under 21.
This database is in no way law, or any other form of government policy. It is 100% a collaboration of private businesses. As such, it's trivial to avoid - just don't go to one of the establishments that insists on it.
Would you like to explain how that's any different to the ordinary evolutionary process where ANY gene can have unforeseen consequences, propagate, do so on a whim, intermix with other "normal" organisms, etc. in a completely unregulated manner?
One happens over the course of a few years, in isolation. The other happens over the course of centuries to millennia, in a complex and interwoven environment.
I'm far from being on the anti-GE bandwagon, but the argument that "evolution" - even "manipulated evolution" like selective breeding - and genetic engineering are identical, is specious to the point of utter bullshit.
He IS unstable and paranoid. That doesn't necessarily mean he's not doing something worthwhile, or he has no value as a human being, but let's be honest here, he has mental issues.
It seems a certain level of paranoia is justified given multiple politicians in multiple countries have condoned, if not actively encouraged, violence against him. America does *not* have a good track record over the last decade or so when it comes to dealing with people it doesn't like.
Is he likely to get taken out by a hit squad ? Highly unlikely (at least not an American one). There is certainly a non-trivial chance of him getting spirited away into one of those delightful facilities Americans seem to favour these days when they need to do some "enhanced interrogation", however, and not see the light of day again for a decade or two.
The celebrity status he's managed to engineer over the last year or so probably offers more protection from a nasty fate than any legal system might (and is likely a large motivator for it).
She apparently thinks Intelligent Design should be taught in science classes and wants a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage because homosexuals are "targeting children".
Crazy. Doesn't look to be any crazier than most of her right-wing peers, but still crazy.
The excitement of the "ifup/ifdown ethX" game with co-workers watching for the green light while mapping blade enclosures is no more? What a shame.
What kind of blade enclosure are you using where the mapping between blade ethernet ports and external ethernet ports is not hardwired and/or trivially viewable through the management interface ?
Though its not there speed wise yet (an i7 next gen could change that), the new mini is as if not more capable and its much more affordable easier to integrate into a small business. The Mac Pro is fully capable of running OSX server as well and those have long surpassed the Xserve hardware wise.
Sure, if your needs are trivial then a Mac Mini is probably adequate. But if your needs were trivial a Mac Mini was adequate beforehand as well.
However, if you need a system with anything remotely resembling high availability, performance or capacity, it's not even in the game. A Mac Pro can at least address most aspects of performance and capacity, but the 7-10x density penalty make it an expensive proposition in the server room and the lack of redundant power seriously hampers use in high-availability scenarios, especially given the lack of any clustering capabilities in OS X.
If Apple had anything like a coherent strategy towards the business market, rather than just building shiny toys for Executives, then they would have had the most obvious and beneficial solution - a version of OSX Server licensed for use on VMware - ready to go the same day they cancelled the Xserve. (They would also be making a decent business laptop line that offered a Docking Station as well, but I digress.)
We use Ipads a lot in the ETC center of the College of Education at Pen State. With remote desktop, exchange integration, the size and portability, web functionality, it's a great tool for sys admins who need to go help others while still retaining the ability to remote into servers and other such devices to change configs, manage support tickets, update databases etc. Less bulky than a laptop, while providing the tools we need.
Wow. I can't even being to imagine how frustrating it would be to do sysadmin work on an iPad as a matter of course. It's bad enough having to use a tidgy 13" laptop for a few hours if I get a call while I'm travelling, let alone throwing borderline incompatible UI models into the mix as well.
My iPad is a cool toy, and I like it a lot more than I thought I would, but the idea of having to use it as a primary device for any meaningful amount of my work gives me the shakes.
Getting a degree could also mean you're overly conformist and likely to lack a lot of creativity.
Indeed. That's why Universities are widely known for being bastions of Conservatism...
You probably lack a strong leadership personality and shy away from individual excellence.
Clearly. Because if there's one thing that shouts "I am excellent", it's not finishing High School.
If I need a worker drone, you're probably a good fit. I may or may not desire a worker drone.
If all you want is a "worker drone", the best place to look is the local McDonalds. Generally those aren't full of "strong leaders" personified by a commitment to "individual excellence".
I'm often amazed by Slashdot's anti-intellectual bent - though it is mostly populated by Americans, so I suppose it shouldn't be that surprising.
I don't mind. It's time we switched over to pure autopilot anyway.
I have no doubt in my mind a computer can fly a plane better than a human 99% of the time.
I'd still prefer a human in control for that 1% of the time saving a few hundred lives might mean theoretically exceeding the capability of the airframe.
Er, yeah, that's because every state in the world has 20% of the world coal market - without it it would be impossible for them all to run.
How is that relevant ? Queensland's economy relies heavily on mining, and the money generated from same isn't like some surprise, once-off Christmas bonus that appears out of nowhere at the end of the year.
Not to mention Aussies rejecting raising taxes on mining companies - being the lowest in the first world. Who is calling whom stupid?
Huh ? Additional mining taxes have been approved and will take effect next year.
As for your climate change dig (Queenslander are we?) - if you listened at all to climate change scientist community you would know that it means more frequent extreme weather conditions (not necessarily "biggest ever").
I'm well aware of that, and I'm also well aware that this is a once-in-a-century (probably more like once-in-a-few-centuries) event, which you apparently aren't. If it happens multiple times again in the next decade - or if this were the second or third time it had happened in the last decade or two - you might have a glimmer of an argument. However, the last time an event even close to this magnitude occurred was in the 1890s.
You know, like the recent series of floods in south Spain (never happened so frequently in recoded history), more frequent cyclones etc. Perhaps your fox news channel hasn't been keeping you informed [worldwildlife.org].
Your argument is based on the premise that these events are "frequent", but the current flooding in Queensland (and other parts of Australia) is unprecedented in recorded history. Three quarters of the state is inundated, and that's before even considering the parts of Northern NSW, Victoria and Tasmania that are also flooding.
As I read it, the QLD government receives "$3.22 billion [annually] in coal royalties". That is a whole lot of handout which can easily cover the flood costs.
Er, yeah, maybe if that money wasn't already being used to pay for running the state. How stupid do you have to be to think that ~3 billion dollars just drops into some big box somewhere every year and sits, unused ?
Incidentally, there's little reason to believe this flood has anything to do with climate change at all, let alone the irrelevantly tiny proportion of climate change that Queensland's coal mining could possibly be responsible for.
Slashdot Mirror
I think the reputation hit was bad enough - and more importantly is still ongoing - that it'll take a generation or two to correct.
From my (admittedly not at all comprehensive) understanding of the US electoral system, a useful third party is all but impossible with significant and fundamental reform.
I disagree. It merely assumes they broadly agree about few things and - most importantly - *disagree* about the same things.
A properly constructed *and enforced* regulatory framework would probably achieve that - it doesn't seem like Americans get a good ROI on their healthcare spend. However, when the other guys are just going respond with "no way" (or variations thereof - see above about disagreeing on the same things) then there's not a lot that can be done. This is particularly true when the opposing "facts" are comically inaccurate (eg: "Death Panels") or the rhetoric outrageous ("Repealing the Job Destroying Healthcare Act"). How can you possibly respond to that sort of "argument" in a constructive fashion ?
I certainly don't envy you Americans and the shit you need to sort out over the next decade or two. My pessismism about how it will turn out of one of the major reasons I'm moving back to Australia at the end of the year.
The really frustrating thing is the same sort of superficial and poisonous media coverage that I believe is one of the biggest reasons for the US's problems is rapidly infecting the rest of the Anglosphere, and probably the Western world. Certainly the politics in the UK and Australia have become much more "Americanised" over the last decade, and that's not a good thing.
Well, after W, pretty much anything would have been an improvement. It will probably take the US (and, indeed, the West in general) half a century to fully recover from that disaster and it's follow-on effects.
I don't know. I don't follow US politics closely enough to know much about more than a handful of people, and none of them are particularly impressive. To be honest, I'm nearly at the point where I don't think a good leader *can* rise from the US political system - it's simply too corrupt and broken.
I will say, however, that if someone does appear, then I sincerely doubt they will come from the "US Right". The politics coming from that side just seem to be too combative, exclusionary and absolutist, with little positive, constructive or useful to contribute - and becoming more so every day.
You said Obama was a candidate from the left. He was not. He was a candidate from the right.
Incidentally, the "tone" of the debate - at least from the top down - has changed noticably, particularly on the international stage. He's far less absolutist and much more prepared to investigate compromise. Sadly the debate from the bottom-up has gotten proportionally worse, as his temperance has been overshadowed by ever-increasing (and media-fuelled) extremism, obstinance and fear-mongering from the far right in the US.
Sadly, in my experience, most (non-Democrat-voting) Americans perceive Obama's behaviour as weakness, which highlights why the political process here is so broken.
Indeed. Largely because of American attitudes towards left-wing politics. I only used them as an example because (as an Australian) it's a left-wing party I'm fairly familiar with (though I disagree with many of their views). However, my point was that left-wing parties in most of the rest of the world have similar agendas and, hence, they serve as a good example of what actual left-wing politics look like.
Surely you mean alleged "barbaric treatment of women" ?
Indeed. So "afraid" that he voluntarily went to the police when requested and has made no attempt to flee since. Clearly the behaviour of a fugutive !
No, the slightly-less-extreme-right offered you Obama.
There is no left-wing political party in the USA. There is merely the Right, the Far Right, and the Crazy Far Right.
This is what a left-wing political party looks like.
Ask them how they feel about humans evolving from a common ancestor shared with other contemporary primates.
No need to guess:
"People often assume that I must be some extremely moral person because I didn't take advantage of the lottery," he says. "I can assure you that that's not the case. I'd simply done the math and concluded that beating the game wasn't worth my time."
Most of the people who got out of the most recent GFC best off were most certainly in the game of "creating money" rather than "creating wealth". Ie: bankers.
Firearms aren't banned. You just need a good reason to own one.
Note that this is the same situation as pretty much all of the civilised outside America.
I can count on one hand the number of establishments in the US I haven't been carded at when buying a drink for the first time, and it's been 10+ years since I looked even close to being under 21.
This database is in no way law, or any other form of government policy. It is 100% a collaboration of private businesses. As such, it's trivial to avoid - just don't go to one of the establishments that insists on it.
One happens over the course of a few years, in isolation. The other happens over the course of centuries to millennia, in a complex and interwoven environment.
I'm far from being on the anti-GE bandwagon, but the argument that "evolution" - even "manipulated evolution" like selective breeding - and genetic engineering are identical, is specious to the point of utter bullshit.
He IS unstable and paranoid. That doesn't necessarily mean he's not doing something worthwhile, or he has no value as a human being, but let's be honest here, he has mental issues.
It seems a certain level of paranoia is justified given multiple politicians in multiple countries have condoned, if not actively encouraged, violence against him. America does *not* have a good track record over the last decade or so when it comes to dealing with people it doesn't like.
Is he likely to get taken out by a hit squad ? Highly unlikely (at least not an American one). There is certainly a non-trivial chance of him getting spirited away into one of those delightful facilities Americans seem to favour these days when they need to do some "enhanced interrogation", however, and not see the light of day again for a decade or two.
The celebrity status he's managed to engineer over the last year or so probably offers more protection from a nasty fate than any legal system might (and is likely a large motivator for it).
Unless those things aren't actually crazy.
She apparently thinks Intelligent Design should be taught in science classes and wants a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage because homosexuals are "targeting children".
Crazy. Doesn't look to be any crazier than most of her right-wing peers, but still crazy.
The excitement of the "ifup/ifdown ethX" game with co-workers watching for the green light while mapping blade enclosures is no more? What a shame.
What kind of blade enclosure are you using where the mapping between blade ethernet ports and external ethernet ports is not hardwired and/or trivially viewable through the management interface ?
Though its not there speed wise yet (an i7 next gen could change that), the new mini is as if not more capable and its much more affordable easier to integrate into a small business. The Mac Pro is fully capable of running OSX server as well and those have long surpassed the Xserve hardware wise.
Sure, if your needs are trivial then a Mac Mini is probably adequate. But if your needs were trivial a Mac Mini was adequate beforehand as well.
However, if you need a system with anything remotely resembling high availability, performance or capacity, it's not even in the game. A Mac Pro can at least address most aspects of performance and capacity, but the 7-10x density penalty make it an expensive proposition in the server room and the lack of redundant power seriously hampers use in high-availability scenarios, especially given the lack of any clustering capabilities in OS X.
If Apple had anything like a coherent strategy towards the business market, rather than just building shiny toys for Executives, then they would have had the most obvious and beneficial solution - a version of OSX Server licensed for use on VMware - ready to go the same day they cancelled the Xserve. (They would also be making a decent business laptop line that offered a Docking Station as well, but I digress.)
We use Ipads a lot in the ETC center of the College of Education at Pen State. With remote desktop, exchange integration, the size and portability, web functionality, it's a great tool for sys admins who need to go help others while still retaining the ability to remote into servers and other such devices to change configs, manage support tickets, update databases etc. Less bulky than a laptop, while providing the tools we need.
Wow. I can't even being to imagine how frustrating it would be to do sysadmin work on an iPad as a matter of course. It's bad enough having to use a tidgy 13" laptop for a few hours if I get a call while I'm travelling, let alone throwing borderline incompatible UI models into the mix as well.
My iPad is a cool toy, and I like it a lot more than I thought I would, but the idea of having to use it as a primary device for any meaningful amount of my work gives me the shakes.
Getting a degree could also mean you're overly conformist and likely to lack a lot of creativity.
Indeed. That's why Universities are widely known for being bastions of Conservatism...
You probably lack a strong leadership personality and shy away from individual excellence.
Clearly. Because if there's one thing that shouts "I am excellent", it's not finishing High School.
If I need a worker drone, you're probably a good fit. I may or may not desire a worker drone.
If all you want is a "worker drone", the best place to look is the local McDonalds. Generally those aren't full of "strong leaders" personified by a commitment to "individual excellence".
I'm often amazed by Slashdot's anti-intellectual bent - though it is mostly populated by Americans, so I suppose it shouldn't be that surprising.
Thanks for repeating what I already said. Helps to drive the point home.
I don't mind. It's time we switched over to pure autopilot anyway.
I have no doubt in my mind a computer can fly a plane better than a human 99% of the time.
I'd still prefer a human in control for that 1% of the time saving a few hundred lives might mean theoretically exceeding the capability of the airframe.
Traffic is fast and mean, and you have to think and react quick or get cut off.
You're Doing It Wrong.
Maybe this is the future growth export industry in the US: securities fraud of foreign nationals.
Well they basically spent the last decade exporting fraudulent debt, so it seems like a logical progression...
Anonymous is legion, but on occasion, some Anonymous are very, very stupid.
This is the Internet. Here, they are referred to as Anonymii.
Any reason Luster cannot be spelled correctly?
Assuming the name is supposed to indicate something that shines, and not a sex addict, it is spelled correctly.
Er, yeah, that's because every state in the world has 20% of the world coal market - without it it would be impossible for them all to run.
How is that relevant ? Queensland's economy relies heavily on mining, and the money generated from same isn't like some surprise, once-off Christmas bonus that appears out of nowhere at the end of the year.
Not to mention Aussies rejecting raising taxes on mining companies - being the lowest in the first world. Who is calling whom stupid?
Huh ? Additional mining taxes have been approved and will take effect next year.
As for your climate change dig (Queenslander are we?) - if you listened at all to climate change scientist community you would know that it means more frequent extreme weather conditions (not necessarily "biggest ever").
I'm well aware of that, and I'm also well aware that this is a once-in-a-century (probably more like once-in-a-few-centuries) event, which you apparently aren't. If it happens multiple times again in the next decade - or if this were the second or third time it had happened in the last decade or two - you might have a glimmer of an argument. However, the last time an event even close to this magnitude occurred was in the 1890s.
You know, like the recent series of floods in south Spain (never happened so frequently in recoded history), more frequent cyclones etc. Perhaps your fox news channel hasn't been keeping you informed [worldwildlife.org].
Your argument is based on the premise that these events are "frequent", but the current flooding in Queensland (and other parts of Australia) is unprecedented in recorded history. Three quarters of the state is inundated, and that's before even considering the parts of Northern NSW, Victoria and Tasmania that are also flooding.
As I read it, the QLD government receives "$3.22 billion [annually] in coal royalties". That is a whole lot of handout which can easily cover the flood costs.
Er, yeah, maybe if that money wasn't already being used to pay for running the state. How stupid do you have to be to think that ~3 billion dollars just drops into some big box somewhere every year and sits, unused ?
Incidentally, there's little reason to believe this flood has anything to do with climate change at all, let alone the irrelevantly tiny proportion of climate change that Queensland's coal mining could possibly be responsible for.
I only want functional code. Not bloat.
Tough luck. All code is considered bloat by someone.
and after decades of with this capability, what percentage of capable systems actually do this? ... very few.
No, lots and lots. It's extremely common for OS installs on both servers and clients, and also typical for Citrix/Terminal Services dumb terminals.
Probably 80% of the computers in our organisation have been netbooted at least once.