If I had mod points, I'd mod you up. Ever read George Orwell's "Animal Farm". The pig in power manipulated history to be what he needed it to be. The less intelligent animals began to question their own recollection of events. In America today, it's not only that one generation questions the history that it lived through, but subsequent generations have had almost no exposure to it at all. It is relegated to the footnote section of historical knowledge. The 1886 Haymarket riot is an obscure event that very few Americans know any thing about. How poignant that a non-American brought it to our attention here. In China, if you Google Tiananmen Square, you won't get information on the 1989 riots because it's censored. In the U.S. you'd get complete access to the information, but it is marginalized in importance by the people who tell us what we should think about. I wouldn't trade places with the Chinese, but in many ways the corporate American propaganda system is even more insidious because it is disguised as freedom of speech.
"Because, if you worked 32 hours, I would still work 40, so I could get a raise. If you work 40, I'll work 48, because I want my son to have more. This is America, competition matters, and if you want to have more, work more."
And if you work 48, I'll work 56 etc. And someone will have more as a result of it. But I doubt if it will ultimately be either of us. Where in this endless competition to work more do our lives actually improve? It won't until we choose cooperation over competition.
So somewhere on the BLS webpage you see evidence that "real" wages are rising? 'Cause I don't see it in the real world. Did you adjust those figures for inflation? In the 50's and 60's American dads put in 40 hours a week in a factory with just a high school diploma and families lived pretty well. Moms stayed home with the kids. Now with college degrees, Moms and Dads put in 80-Plus, and can't even achieve the same living standards they had as children. (Or worse, they are another generation removed, and have no recollection of better times.) The median American wage earner has been losing ground for decades. More immigrant labor (legal and illegal) and "free trade" agreements are the threats used by the have-mores to get the have-nots to produce more and expect less. Question: The 40-hour work week became a standard in the early 20th century. With all of the improvements in productivity that have come about since then, why are we not now on a standard 32-hour workweek? We should have been there 20 years ago. The answer is in the failure of economics professors to teach students to think critically about supply-side economic theories. I'm not whining (or "whinging"). I'm pointing out that we are being skillfully played against one another and our lives could be better if we get smart enough to recognize it. Oh, and by the way here's the proof you asked for: http://www.usw.org/usw/program/content/3060.php
In 1996, I picked up as Slackware distro and started playing around with it. Since then, I've installed or used Red Hat, Suse, Debian, Ubuntu, etc., and built Linux from Scratch systems several times. Now I'd have to work closely with a novice to get any insight into what "easy to use" means. If I worked with novices accustomed to Macs, PC's, or who were completely unfamiliar with computers, I'd bet they'd all have different ideas about what it means.
A typical conversation with my wife goes something like this:
Her: "That girl was flirting with you."
Me: "What girl?"
"The waitress, (receptionist, librarian, whatever). She was openly blatantly flirting."
"I think she was just being polite."
"No, She wasn't. She was openly blatantly flirting with you and you're too stupid to see it."
Ok, now let me recount the conversation with the waitress that led my wife to this conclusion.
Me: "Miss, could I please have some more coffee?"
Waitress: "Sure, I'm making a fresh pot. It'll be ready in just a minute."
Me: "Thank You."
Now maybe my wife is seeing something I'm not. But I think when she said she was making a fresh pot of coffee, that what she really meant was... that she was making a fresh pot of coffee.
I laughed when I read that page, but the reason it's funny is because it resonates as having a certain truth to it. If Microsoft really wants to bring an end to Linux, they could have no bigger impact than by spreading the meme that developing (or even using Linux) is like wearing a pocket protector and tape on the bridge of your glasses. They'd be able to do it too if Apple wasn't already in the business of doing the same thing to them with those television spots featuring John Hodgman as the PC. If you want the use of Linux to spread then you have to not only make it a good reliable OS (which it already is) but you have to make it seem charismatic. Advertising agencies understand this intuitively. Of course, then we wouldn't be talking about it on Slashdot: News for Nerds.
When I first joined Mensa, I think I had assumed that a group of people with high I.Q.'s would be rational enough that there wouldn't be any astrologers among them. But there are, and even more surprising, the astrologers in my local group were all people who had much higher I.Q.'s than my own. Some of them even had advanced degrees. I've tried to get verification for their beliefs, wondering of course if it was possible that my rejection of astrology was premature. But their explanations always got so convoluted that I couldn't follow them. Maybe they were trying to baffle me with bullshit, sort of a Mensa snipe hunt. No, all that I was able to verify was that they really do believe in it. I still don't.
If the alphabet weren't an Open Source development, we would all have to pay every time we read or wrote anything. In short most of what has been written would not have been. How many centuries behind in development would we now be?
"It's always been that way, or at least since I was a kid watching Sesame Street in the 70s." Well, when I was a kid in the 60's, it wasn't that way. SRR
"Let's try that again: are there any respectable news sources that aren't blatantly anti-conservative?" Answer: No. Blatant anti-conservatism in today's political climate is necessary to be respectable. By that I mean I can't tell you things that you really need to know (which is essential to being respectable) without conservatives ranting that I'm being biased.
PBS coverage is excellent. But it used to be that PBS was "viewer supported television", without advertising. Now too many PBS shows begin with "was made possible by a grant from Exxon Mobil", or some such corporate giant. They're definitely trying to influence the coverage. (Or does that make it sound like I'm wearing a tin-foil hat?)
"Are there any respectable news sources left on US TV?"
Yes. You could watch Democracy Now with Amy Goodman on Link TV or Freespeech TV. They come in on satellite at least. I think the local cable company where I live has blocked them out.
I'd like to know something about Obama. Specifically, can he admit to making mistakes? When Mrs. Clinton was repeatedly asked about her votes on the Iraq war, she refused to say "I made a mistake". She went through all sorts of contorted explanations to avoid saying it. I'm sick to death of the White House being occupied by someone who is incapable of admitting to error, for fear of appearing weak, even when a change in course is warranted.
They didn't really ignore Kucinich. They did everything they could to marginalize his campaign. While other candidates were asked about political issues in debates, he was asked about UFO's. MSNBC UN-Invited him to a debate in Nevada and pushed a decision of the Nevada Supreme Court (in less than 24 hours), and pulled the televised debate from the broadcast airwaves to make certain that he wouldn't have a valid complaint through the FCC. They aren't ignoring him. They're just making sure that we do.
Well for starters take the "death tax". Democrats were too slow in re-dubbing this "the Paris Hilton tax". But it would have been appropriate to name it that, since as a result of its repeal, she will pay a smaller percentage of her inheritance in taxes than most of us pay on income that we had to work for.
Well, I'm not sure which proposal has been dubbed the "Protect America" act, but I'll bet that it has, in all likelihood, nothing to do with protecting America. Who names these things? Karl Rove? Why are Republicans so much better at the art of framing the debate than the Dems are? It's the "Clear Skies Initiative", the "Death Tax", the "Patriot Act" LOL. Dems need to start renaming these bills to reflect what effects they really have.
Fire alarms can be triggered by steam from a shower. Should they require licensing too? People have actually died in their efforts to escape non-existent fires.
It's overpopulation that provides a cheap work force to mine, grow, and process the resources you speak of. Without the poor masses, competing for subsistence, who will do all the grunt work? Only through mass poverty and starvation can we become truly prosperous.
Slashdot Mirror
If I had mod points, I'd mod you up. Ever read George Orwell's "Animal Farm". The pig in power manipulated history to be what he needed it to be. The less intelligent animals began to question their own recollection of events. In America today, it's not only that one generation questions the history that it lived through, but subsequent generations have had almost no exposure to it at all. It is relegated to the footnote section of historical knowledge. The 1886 Haymarket riot is an obscure event that very few Americans know any thing about. How poignant that a non-American brought it to our attention here.
In China, if you Google Tiananmen Square, you won't get information on the 1989 riots because it's censored. In the U.S. you'd get complete access to the information, but it is marginalized in importance by the people who tell us what we should think about. I wouldn't trade places with the Chinese, but in many ways the corporate American propaganda system is even more insidious because it is disguised as freedom of speech.
"Did you see HOW those people lived back then?"
Yes. I saw it first hand.
Did you?
"Because, if you worked 32 hours, I would still work 40, so I could get a raise. If you work 40, I'll work 48, because I want my son to have more. This is America, competition matters, and if you want to have more, work more."
And if you work 48, I'll work 56 etc. And someone will have more as a result of it. But I doubt if it will ultimately be either of us. Where in this endless competition to work more do our lives actually improve? It won't until we choose cooperation over competition.
So somewhere on the BLS webpage you see evidence that "real" wages are rising? 'Cause I don't see it in the real world. Did you adjust those figures for inflation?
In the 50's and 60's American dads put in 40 hours a week in a factory with just a high school diploma and families lived pretty well. Moms stayed home with the kids. Now with college degrees, Moms and Dads put in 80-Plus, and can't even achieve the same living standards they had as children. (Or worse, they are another generation removed, and have no recollection of better times.) The median American wage earner has been losing ground for decades. More immigrant labor (legal and illegal) and "free trade" agreements are the threats used by the have-mores to get the have-nots to produce more and expect less.
Question: The 40-hour work week became a standard in the early 20th century. With all of the improvements in productivity that have come about since then, why are we not now on a standard 32-hour workweek? We should have been there 20 years ago. The answer is in the failure of economics professors to teach students to think critically about supply-side economic theories.
I'm not whining (or "whinging"). I'm pointing out that we are being skillfully played against one another and our lives could be better if we get smart enough to recognize it.
Oh, and by the way here's the proof you asked for:
http://www.usw.org/usw/program/content/3060.php
What's worse is that the 5 digits includes the cents.
American Nerds should rise up and revolt.
Have Fun Storming the Castle.
Slashdot was a small town where everyone knew everyone by number.
Who could could forget that classic line: "Soylent Green is made of people! Mouthwatering delicious people!"
In 1996, I picked up as Slackware distro and started playing around with it. Since then, I've installed or used Red Hat, Suse, Debian, Ubuntu, etc., and built Linux from Scratch systems several times. Now I'd have to work closely with a novice to get any insight into what "easy to use" means. If I worked with novices accustomed to Macs, PC's, or who were completely unfamiliar with computers, I'd bet they'd all have different ideas about what it means.
A typical conversation with my wife goes something like this:
... that she was making a fresh pot of coffee.
Her: "That girl was flirting with you."
Me: "What girl?"
"The waitress, (receptionist, librarian, whatever). She was openly blatantly flirting."
"I think she was just being polite."
"No, She wasn't. She was openly blatantly flirting with you and you're too stupid to see it."
Ok, now let me recount the conversation with the waitress that led my wife to this conclusion.
Me: "Miss, could I please have some more coffee?"
Waitress: "Sure, I'm making a fresh pot. It'll be ready in just a minute."
Me: "Thank You."
Now maybe my wife is seeing something I'm not. But I think when she said she was making a fresh pot of coffee, that what she really meant was
I laughed when I read that page, but the reason it's funny is because it resonates as having a certain truth to it. If Microsoft really wants to bring an end to Linux, they could have no bigger impact than by spreading the meme that developing (or even using Linux) is like wearing a pocket protector and tape on the bridge of your glasses. They'd be able to do it too if Apple wasn't already in the business of doing the same thing to them with those television spots featuring John Hodgman as the PC. If you want the use of Linux to spread then you have to not only make it a good reliable OS (which it already is) but you have to make it seem charismatic. Advertising agencies understand this intuitively. Of course, then we wouldn't be talking about it on Slashdot: News for Nerds.
When I first joined Mensa, I think I had assumed that a group of people with high I.Q.'s would be rational enough that there wouldn't be any astrologers among them. But there are, and even more surprising, the astrologers in my local group were all people who had much higher I.Q.'s than my own. Some of them even had advanced degrees. I've tried to get verification for their beliefs, wondering of course if it was possible that my rejection of astrology was premature. But their explanations always got so convoluted that I couldn't follow them. Maybe they were trying to baffle me with bullshit, sort of a Mensa snipe hunt. No, all that I was able to verify was that they really do believe in it. I still don't.
Thanks, I had totally forgotten that song ever existed.
If the alphabet weren't an Open Source development, we would all have to pay every time we read or wrote anything. In short most of what has been written would not have been. How many centuries behind in development would we now be?
"It's always been that way, or at least since I was a kid watching Sesame Street in the 70s."
Well, when I was a kid in the 60's, it wasn't that way.
SRR
"Let's try that again: are there any respectable news sources that aren't blatantly anti-conservative?"
Answer: No. Blatant anti-conservatism in today's political climate is necessary to be respectable.
By that I mean I can't tell you things that you really need to know (which is essential to being respectable) without conservatives ranting that I'm being biased.
PBS coverage is excellent. But it used to be that PBS was "viewer supported television", without advertising.
Now too many PBS shows begin with "was made possible by a grant from Exxon Mobil", or some such corporate giant.
They're definitely trying to influence the coverage. (Or does that make it sound like I'm wearing a tin-foil hat?)
"Are there any respectable news sources left on US TV?"
Yes. You could watch Democracy Now with Amy Goodman on Link TV or Freespeech TV. They come in on satellite at least. I think the local cable company where I live has blocked them out.
... that means 4 of the 5 Democrats in Idaho voted for Obama.
"...please only discuss the Republican candidates in this story. Huckabee, McCain, and Romney only."
LOL. You are funny Taco.
I'd like to know something about Obama. Specifically, can he admit to making mistakes? When Mrs. Clinton was repeatedly asked about her votes on the Iraq war, she refused to say "I made a mistake". She went through all sorts of contorted explanations to avoid saying it. I'm sick to death of the White House being occupied by someone who is incapable of admitting to error, for fear of appearing weak, even when a change in course is warranted.
They didn't really ignore Kucinich. They did everything they could to marginalize his campaign. While other candidates were asked about political issues in debates, he was asked about UFO's. MSNBC UN-Invited him to a debate in Nevada and pushed a decision of the Nevada Supreme Court (in less than 24 hours), and pulled the televised debate from the broadcast airwaves to make certain that he wouldn't have a valid complaint through the FCC. They aren't ignoring him. They're just making sure that we do.
If you use Aardvark, you can isolate and dewidthify the center text column and read only the story.
Well for starters take the "death tax".
Democrats were too slow in re-dubbing this "the Paris Hilton tax".
But it would have been appropriate to name it that, since as a result of its repeal, she will pay a smaller percentage of her inheritance in taxes than most of us pay on income that we had to work for.
Well, I'm not sure which proposal has been dubbed the "Protect America" act, but I'll bet that it has, in all likelihood, nothing to do with protecting America. Who names these things? Karl Rove? Why are Republicans so much better at the art of framing the debate than the Dems are? It's the "Clear Skies Initiative", the "Death Tax", the "Patriot Act" LOL. Dems need to start renaming these bills to reflect what effects they really have.
Fire alarms can be triggered by steam from a shower. Should they require licensing too? People have actually died in their efforts to escape non-existent fires.
It's overpopulation that provides a cheap work force to mine, grow, and process the resources you speak of. Without the poor masses, competing for subsistence, who will do all the grunt work? Only through mass poverty and starvation can we become truly prosperous.