Only a socialist would think socialism more "idealistically pure" than capitalism. Especially when socialism means "the many shall oppress the few, and each other, all in a crusade for 'the common good' - as defined by a few, self-proclaimed morally superior individuals...."
Socialism is just another name for dictatorship. The only thing that distinguishes it from any other banana-republic is who gets to run it.
I'll gladly come over and explain what I mean, if it's not too far from here. Where do you live? I won't beat you up though, because by your aggresive attitude you are probably a sexually-frustrated 15-year old, and I wouldn't want to break you.
Riiiight. No, there are two reasons you won't beat me up. They're called "The First Amendment" and "The Second Amendment"
Let me elaborate, since you seem to be ignorant of the Constitution. The First Amendment says I can state any opinion I want, and there isn't fuck-all you can do about it. You can whine, bitch and moan, but I can just laugh in your face and you're absolutely helpless to change the situation.
The Second Amendment says that if you get uppity and decide that you've the god-given right to ignore the First Amendment, I can shoot your sorry ass.
Those are the two reasons you won't be coming to my house and doing violence to me for saying something you don't happen to like. Neither of those reasons are in your control, nor will you ever have the power to change them.
And this would be me, laughing at your arrogance in thinking you could ever do otherwise. Impotent little git.
Who decides what is your 'just deserves'? You and your little judgemental friends? I don't think so. Try to decide that for me and I'll tell you to fuck off, socialist. I live in a capitalism, and that means I can accumulate far, far more wealth than I could ever reasonably use. And that is *not* a bad thing, no matter what you and your ilk claim.
Stop saying "greed is good".
Greed is good. And what are you going to do about? Come to my house and beat me up for saying something you don't like? Here's another one that'll undoubtedly get your knickers in a twist: "eat shit".
A desire for wealth doesn't mean a desire to cheat, steal, or take more than your fair share. Greed does.
Who elected you Supreme Ruler? Last I checked, you don't get to define terms for the rest of us. You're just one guy, with no power whatsoever, and that's all you'll ever be. Get used to it.
Oh - and greed is good. Really, really good. Mmmmm, greed....
No, but so far, we seem to be the only ones asserting eminent domain...
Which'll amount to dick once others get firmly established out there...seriously, what's Earth going to do? Invade any station that doesn't comply with it's directives? In an environment where people can throw rocks at any incoming hostile ship and destroy it? Or at Earth itself, if Earth refuses to get the message?
Earth will never be able to lay claim to the solar system. And as far as I'm concerned, that's a damned good thing.
That is a pretty high goal, because I do not know of any space vehicle that has accomplished this (am I wrong?).
No, you're not wrong. No one has ever managed to put the same spacecraft into orbit in a two-week time frame. Whoever wins the X-prize will accomplish what no government has ever been able to do.
orbital flight becomes a much thornier problem that almost certainly won't be solved in a decade.
Funny, just a couple of years back quite a few self-proclaimed pundits said the exact same thing about privately-funded ventures trying to do just what SpaceShip One accomplished today...along with a few officials at NASA, as well.
Looks like they didn't have a clue what they were talking about, either.
I thought that the world was too caught up in war and and greed
Greed is a good thing. Without greed there would be no SpaceShip One. Ponder that a second before you go off on some socialist rant about greed.
And if it still doesn't sink in, remember that it was an AMERICAN company motivated by GREED that pulled off this historic achievement. Not some SOCIALIST collective giving lip-service to 'the common good'.
The quality of the anchors was a notch above filming cottage cheese.
No shit. Not only was coverage absolutely abysmal for a first in the history of the human race, but the anchors kept going on and on about the $10 million dollar prize, as if that were the only real thing of importance. Heeeellloooo! The project already cost $20 million - what are you folks, economic advisors for the Bush administration?
That and the fact that the 'news' stations seem to think that yet another bullshit report on terrorism, or some two-faced conversative bitch ripping Michael Moore a new one, was more worthy of air time than this great achievement.
I knew there was a reason I stopped watching TV news years ago. I was reminded of those reasons this morning.
Except that in D.C., I have zero chance of being kidnapped, tortured, and then beheaded in a slow and gruesome fashion while my death it being taped for the entertainment of millions world-wide.
This distinguishes violators like Cory and his ilk from those of us who copy for convenience. For example, I rip all of my CDs to mp3s to play them anywhere, anywhen. I also make copies of the CDs themselves as backups, and another copy for my wife to take to work. If the CD is destroyed in her lab or stolen, who gives a shit? We still have the original we paid for.
Copy protection schemes treat us the same as the criminals. According to the RIAA I should:
- never have the right to rip the music I paid for into the format I want to use; - never have the right to back up the music I paid for, but instead have to pay full price for a second copy; and - never have the right to make copies simply for the sake of convenience, or in possible anticipation that the copy will be destroyed due to work conditions or stolen by some sticky-fingered college fuck whose mama never bitch-slapped any manners into him.
According to the RIAA, my reasoning is irrelevent. Because I copied the CD twice and ripped two different sets of mp3s (main and backup) I'm just as much a copyright violator has Cory and the rest of the scum.
DRM is here to stay, in one form or another, and for better or worse.
I'm sure that buggy whip manufacturers said the same thing about their product.
DRM is part of a desperate, and ultimately futile, attempt to maintain a 20th century business model in the 21st century. DRM is doomed, and anyone with half a brain can see that.
Just about every webmail service allows you to define filter rules. One rule to deliver all mail to trash, then a rule for each sender you want to allow, and you're all set. I've done this on yahoo mail myself a couple years ago.
Free Yahoo only allows for 15 filters. That's one to put everything into the trash, and a maximum of 14 folks from different addresses.
I may be slow, but if you only know 14 people you might ever want to get mail from (including business mail and confirmation mail) then you've got to be one of the most unpopular folks in the western hemisphere.
...would allow me to implement my own white list. Imagine getting mail only from those people I've authorized, and *never ever* having to deal with a single piece of spam.
I can do that now, of course, with my own server - and I do. But with my region's uncertain, semi-regular power flickers, along with inexplicable ups and downs of my cable service, I'd like a white-list free account that I *know* I'll be able to get to no matter where I am and regardless of whether or not my servers are rebooting or temporarily down because my cable service hiccuped.
It's absolutely justified banning public statements like "All jews should be gased" or "All blacks should be hung" or "Our race should be cleansed".
No, it isn't. "Congress shall pass no law", asshole. The views expressed might be horrific, but they are protected. If you have a problem with that, fuck you, the horse you rode in on, and your pseudo-liberal fuckwit friends who pretend to be champions of the 'common good' while working to enslave the hearts, minds and mouthes of everyone you happen to disagree with.
Oh, and just so we're straight? I'd cheer if someone put you and all your ilk up against a wall and shot you. But they'd have to do it in another country, because as much as I despise little would-be tin-pot dictators like yourself, and desperately wish each and every one of you would get run over by a bus before you have the chance to breed, I swore an oath to protect *YOUR* freedom of speech.
I swore that same oath - Constitution first and foremost, before all other things.
The Constitution is worth fighting and dying for. The moment it becomes just another piece of paper we use to wipe our ass with - an end some seem to be working for - then freedom in the United States is truly dead.
To say that either France or Germany, or any country which uses the government to muzzle it's citizenry (no matter how offensive the views suppressed might be to the majority) is just as free as America is fucking ludicrous. Free speech is the basis of all other freedoms, a point which seem rather self-evident not only to my American founding fathers, but many of their French counterparts as well.
The French seem to have forgotten that. With any luck, others like myself and the previous poster - who take our oaths seriously - will make sure that America doesn't go the same way. Violently, if necessary. We owe it to ourselves, our children, and all the others who've died before us defending those very freedoms.
A religious party does not necessarily mean imposing your religion on everyone else, either.
If they're an American religious party, you can bet your ass they'll try to impose their religious clap-trap on everyone else. It's practically the fucking definition of 'christian' activists in the U.S. of A.
Aside from which, in the U.S. we have this thing about separation of church and state. Religious political parties can't be divorced from their partent church - to say otherwise is nothing more than bullshit - which means that if a religious political party takes power separation of church and state *will* be violated.
Hell, it happens right now even with non-religious political parties; religious ones would probably do away with that irritating little piece of paper known as the Constitution altogether....
Ooooh, now you're up shit creek. Haven't you realized yet? Somewhere along the line you've become a libertarian.
I know, I know - I was just as shocked as you are right now, when it happened to me. But once you realize that both the Republicans and Democrats are either insane, power hungry, or whores to whatever special interest will offer them a sop; when you realize that 'issues' are just campaign slogans for them, and seizing power is what it's *really* all about - well, then, at that point you can either accept the toilet that your party's become, or face up to the terrible realization that although you haven't moved an inch in your political leanings, everyone else has...and now, without doing anything at all, you've become a libertarian.
but the fact is that the only group of citizens that commits less gun crime and has less gun incidents than concealed carry permit holders are senior citizens.
Shhh! You'll get the liberals up in arms (so to speak) if you say anything at all nice about personal firepower. Present them with unpleasant little truths like this, backed by facts, and they'll do their screaming, frothing-at-the-mouth fanatic routine. It always ends up with the loons calling us gun-carriers 'Nazis' and 'child-haters' - really, one of the few times in the course of my normally nice, boring existence that I'm honestly tempted to shoot anyone with my concealed weapon. I catch myself thinking 'murder or no, this can only help the gene pool' and then yank my hand back from beneath my jacket before it takes on a life of it's own....
Slashdot Mirror
However it does look like you are probably some kind of psychopath.
Which would still be a step above being a frustrated little socialist loon.
Max
Only a socialist would think socialism more "idealistically pure" than capitalism. Especially when socialism means "the many shall oppress the few, and each other, all in a crusade for 'the common good' - as defined by a few, self-proclaimed morally superior individuals...."
Socialism is just another name for dictatorship. The only thing that distinguishes it from any other banana-republic is who gets to run it.
Max
I'll gladly come over and explain what I mean, if it's not too far from here. Where do you live? I won't beat you up though, because by your aggresive attitude you are probably a sexually-frustrated 15-year old, and I wouldn't want to break you.
Riiiight. No, there are two reasons you won't beat me up. They're called "The First Amendment" and "The Second Amendment"
Let me elaborate, since you seem to be ignorant of the Constitution. The First Amendment says I can state any opinion I want, and there isn't fuck-all you can do about it. You can whine, bitch and moan, but I can just laugh in your face and you're absolutely helpless to change the situation.
The Second Amendment says that if you get uppity and decide that you've the god-given right to ignore the First Amendment, I can shoot your sorry ass.
Those are the two reasons you won't be coming to my house and doing violence to me for saying something you don't happen to like. Neither of those reasons are in your control, nor will you ever have the power to change them.
And this would be me, laughing at your arrogance in thinking you could ever do otherwise. Impotent little git.
Max
Greed is taking more than your just deserves.
Who decides what is your 'just deserves'? You and your little judgemental friends? I don't think so. Try to decide that for me and I'll tell you to fuck off, socialist. I live in a capitalism, and that means I can accumulate far, far more wealth than I could ever reasonably use. And that is *not* a bad thing, no matter what you and your ilk claim.
Stop saying "greed is good".
Greed is good. And what are you going to do about? Come to my house and beat me up for saying something you don't like? Here's another one that'll undoubtedly get your knickers in a twist: "eat shit".
A desire for wealth doesn't mean a desire to cheat, steal, or take more than your fair share. Greed does.
Who elected you Supreme Ruler? Last I checked, you don't get to define terms for the rest of us. You're just one guy, with no power whatsoever, and that's all you'll ever be. Get used to it.
Oh - and greed is good. Really, really good. Mmmmm, greed....
Max
No, but so far, we seem to be the only ones asserting eminent domain...
Which'll amount to dick once others get firmly established out there...seriously, what's Earth going to do? Invade any station that doesn't comply with it's directives? In an environment where people can throw rocks at any incoming hostile ship and destroy it? Or at Earth itself, if Earth refuses to get the message?
Earth will never be able to lay claim to the solar system. And as far as I'm concerned, that's a damned good thing.
Max
As I said before, 'almost' doesn't count. The X-15 never flew twice in two weeks with three people aboard.
Which makes my statement ENTIRELY accurate.
Max
That is a pretty high goal, because I do not know of any space vehicle that has accomplished this (am I wrong?).
No, you're not wrong. No one has ever managed to put the same spacecraft into orbit in a two-week time frame. Whoever wins the X-prize will accomplish what no government has ever been able to do.
Max
orbital flight becomes a much thornier problem that almost certainly won't be solved in a decade.
Funny, just a couple of years back quite a few self-proclaimed pundits said the exact same thing about privately-funded ventures trying to do just what SpaceShip One accomplished today...along with a few officials at NASA, as well.
Looks like they didn't have a clue what they were talking about, either.
Max
I thought that the world was too caught up in war and and greed
Greed is a good thing. Without greed there would be no SpaceShip One. Ponder that a second before you go off on some socialist rant about greed.
And if it still doesn't sink in, remember that it was an AMERICAN company motivated by GREED that pulled off this historic achievement. Not some SOCIALIST collective giving lip-service to 'the common good'.
Max
The quality of the anchors was a notch above filming cottage cheese.
No shit. Not only was coverage absolutely abysmal for a first in the history of the human race, but the anchors kept going on and on about the $10 million dollar prize, as if that were the only real thing of importance. Heeeellloooo! The project already cost $20 million - what are you folks, economic advisors for the Bush administration?
That and the fact that the 'news' stations seem to think that yet another bullshit report on terrorism, or some two-faced conversative bitch ripping Michael Moore a new one, was more worthy of air time than this great achievement.
I knew there was a reason I stopped watching TV news years ago. I was reminded of those reasons this morning.
Max
And someone will have to regulate space flight so we don't have unsafe craft zipping around.
Only insofar as Earth is concerned. No nation on Earth, nor any group of nations, has any business at all regulating any activity beyond Earth orbit.
Earth doesn't own the solar system.
Max
but people getting modded up for posting Google News headlines for the Obituary of Melville is a definite sign of crossing the line.
Then despite your assertion, you really don't have any idea what free speech is.
Max
Previously, the only other alternative was to buy the boxed set.
And god forbid that someone on Slashdot might actually pay for something!
Max
You talk as if making money were some sort of sin. What sort of bullshit are *you* selling?
Max
Except that in D.C., I have zero chance of being kidnapped, tortured, and then beheaded in a slow and gruesome fashion while my death it being taped for the entertainment of millions world-wide.
Max
This distinguishes violators like Cory and his ilk from those of us who copy for convenience. For example, I rip all of my CDs to mp3s to play them anywhere, anywhen. I also make copies of the CDs themselves as backups, and another copy for my wife to take to work. If the CD is destroyed in her lab or stolen, who gives a shit? We still have the original we paid for.
Copy protection schemes treat us the same as the criminals. According to the RIAA I should:
- never have the right to rip the music I paid for into the format I want to use;
- never have the right to back up the music I paid for, but instead have to pay full price for a second copy; and
- never have the right to make copies simply for the sake of convenience, or in possible anticipation that the copy will be destroyed due to work conditions or stolen by some sticky-fingered college fuck whose mama never bitch-slapped any manners into him.
According to the RIAA, my reasoning is irrelevent. Because I copied the CD twice and ripped two different sets of mp3s (main and backup) I'm just as much a copyright violator has Cory and the rest of the scum.
Max
DRM is here to stay, in one form or another, and for better or worse.
I'm sure that buggy whip manufacturers said the same thing about their product.
DRM is part of a desperate, and ultimately futile, attempt to maintain a 20th century business model in the 21st century. DRM is doomed, and anyone with half a brain can see that.
Max
Just about every webmail service allows you to define filter rules. One rule to deliver all mail to trash, then a rule for each sender you want to allow, and you're all set. I've done this on yahoo mail myself a couple years ago.
Free Yahoo only allows for 15 filters. That's one to put everything into the trash, and a maximum of 14 folks from different addresses.
I may be slow, but if you only know 14 people you might ever want to get mail from (including business mail and confirmation mail) then you've got to be one of the most unpopular folks in the western hemisphere.
Max
...would allow me to implement my own white list. Imagine getting mail only from those people I've authorized, and *never ever* having to deal with a single piece of spam.
I can do that now, of course, with my own server - and I do. But with my region's uncertain, semi-regular power flickers, along with inexplicable ups and downs of my cable service, I'd like a white-list free account that I *know* I'll be able to get to no matter where I am and regardless of whether or not my servers are rebooting or temporarily down because my cable service hiccuped.
Max
It's absolutely justified banning public statements like "All jews should be gased" or "All blacks should be hung" or "Our race should be cleansed".
No, it isn't. "Congress shall pass no law", asshole. The views expressed might be horrific, but they are protected. If you have a problem with that, fuck you, the horse you rode in on, and your pseudo-liberal fuckwit friends who pretend to be champions of the 'common good' while working to enslave the hearts, minds and mouthes of everyone you happen to disagree with.
Oh, and just so we're straight? I'd cheer if someone put you and all your ilk up against a wall and shot you. But they'd have to do it in another country, because as much as I despise little would-be tin-pot dictators like yourself, and desperately wish each and every one of you would get run over by a bus before you have the chance to breed, I swore an oath to protect *YOUR* freedom of speech.
Fuck if that isn't funny.
Max
I swore that same oath - Constitution first and foremost, before all other things.
The Constitution is worth fighting and dying for. The moment it becomes just another piece of paper we use to wipe our ass with - an end some seem to be working for - then freedom in the United States is truly dead.
To say that either France or Germany, or any country which uses the government to muzzle it's citizenry (no matter how offensive the views suppressed might be to the majority) is just as free as America is fucking ludicrous. Free speech is the basis of all other freedoms, a point which seem rather self-evident not only to my American founding fathers, but many of their French counterparts as well.
The French seem to have forgotten that. With any luck, others like myself and the previous poster - who take our oaths seriously - will make sure that America doesn't go the same way. Violently, if necessary. We owe it to ourselves, our children, and all the others who've died before us defending those very freedoms.
Max
A religious party does not necessarily mean imposing your religion on everyone else, either.
If they're an American religious party, you can bet your ass they'll try to impose their religious clap-trap on everyone else. It's practically the fucking definition of 'christian' activists in the U.S. of A.
Aside from which, in the U.S. we have this thing about separation of church and state. Religious political parties can't be divorced from their partent church - to say otherwise is nothing more than bullshit - which means that if a religious political party takes power separation of church and state *will* be violated.
Hell, it happens right now even with non-religious political parties; religious ones would probably do away with that irritating little piece of paper known as the Constitution altogether....
Max
Ooooh, now you're up shit creek. Haven't you realized yet? Somewhere along the line you've become a libertarian.
I know, I know - I was just as shocked as you are right now, when it happened to me. But once you realize that both the Republicans and Democrats are either insane, power hungry, or whores to whatever special interest will offer them a sop; when you realize that 'issues' are just campaign slogans for them, and seizing power is what it's *really* all about - well, then, at that point you can either accept the toilet that your party's become, or face up to the terrible realization that although you haven't moved an inch in your political leanings, everyone else has...and now, without doing anything at all, you've become a libertarian.
Welcome to the club.
Max
As compared to democrats, who only believe in the dissent that they agree with.
Max
but the fact is that the only group of citizens that commits less gun crime and has less gun incidents than concealed carry permit holders are senior citizens.
Shhh! You'll get the liberals up in arms (so to speak) if you say anything at all nice about personal firepower. Present them with unpleasant little truths like this, backed by facts, and they'll do their screaming, frothing-at-the-mouth fanatic routine. It always ends up with the loons calling us gun-carriers 'Nazis' and 'child-haters' - really, one of the few times in the course of my normally nice, boring existence that I'm honestly tempted to shoot anyone with my concealed weapon. I catch myself thinking 'murder or no, this can only help the gene pool' and then yank my hand back from beneath my jacket before it takes on a life of it's own....
Max