Strawman. Comparing a crime like drinking and driving, which can result in injury and death to others, to that of copyright infringement (which *cannot* result in injury or death) shows that either a) you're a butt-monkey for the RIAA, or b) you're completely lacking in the basic human ability to discern between the two types of acts, despite the huge gulf looming right before your eyes.
Here's a primer:
- drinking and driving: we don't like it because drunks injure and kill others. That's pretty fucking bad on the human list of Things You Really Shouldn't Do.
- copyright infringement. Harms nothing but profits, if that in this case. Profits don't amount to shit compared to human life - at least to most sane people. Which doesn't include the RIAA and their butt-monkeys.
And if it runs on Windows, pretty soon every script kiddie in the land will feature you and everyone else with this system in a series of new Kazaa home porno movies.
We're not talking about the FBI running around tapping people's phones willy-nilly.
Except that they actually did that almost 3,000 times in the year 2001 alone, without a warrant or probable cause. A *governmental* inquiry found every single one of those taps to be illegal - and the FBI didn't bother to deny either the tapping or the illegality. They just said that it 'was necessary' to the 'safety and security of the country'. And supposedly that's justification enough to piss all over the Constitution.
A large number of people here seem to be suffering from the delusion that the government in 21st century America is actually bound, in some Borg-like way, to adhere to the law. Fact is, government - including law-enforcement agencies - at times doesn't pay attention to the law.
Our Founding Fathers knew this and tried to purposely limit the size and scope of government. The smaller and weaker the government, the less capable it is of doing evil. Seems that a good many of us have forgotten that lesson in the last 230 years. Either that, or we've become progressively more stupid through the generations.
Which means that the Congressional report issued in '02, specifying that the FBI issued close to three THOUSAND illegal wiretaps in the previous year alone (no warrant, no probable cause), was just the fevered imagination of a few paranoid investigators?
Funny, the FBI didn't even try to deny it.
If the FBI is willing to flagrantly violate the law by installing 3,000 illegal taps on phones, just how naive is it to think that - for some reason beyond mortal ken - they'll treat your car as 'hallowed ground'?
Then stop calling it American *English* you imbecile and just call it American.
We can call it whatever the hell we like. That's the point, you little loser.
And what are you going to do about it anyway? Whine on Slashdot? Do you think any of us really give a shit about your laughable demand? What, gonna come stomp our asses if we refuse to comply?
Is Sweden looking for American immigrants? The way things are going on this side of the ocean we just might not have elections come 2004 and well, my wife and I are trying to find a country that's actually still free....
This has nothing to do with capitalism. There isn't a real capitalist economy on the planet, just as there isn't a real communist economy or a real socialist economy.
The economic system of the United States has very little to do with capitalism and a great deal to do with plutocracy and perhaps might best be called 'corporate feudalism', mixed with liberal doses of pseudo-socialism and strains of fascism (no, not the Nazi type; look it up if you don't know what fascism is). The idea that Americans live in a capitalism is nothing more than hype and patriotic flag-waving, dreck meant to be swallowed by idiots who can't discern propaganda from reality.
There has never been a capitalism in the modern world. Therefore, you can't blame any of the things you're ranting about on capitalism. I agree with you that what you say is *true*, but it has *nothing* to do with capitalism.
I only wish we actually did live in a capitalism....
If this is what you want, Morrowind is both a far superior game and a far better engine than what's offered by NWN. I can't imagine why'd you 'step down' to NWN when you could use Morrowind instead, unless you want your game to be specifically D&D-based.
From the Random House American English Dictionary:
"4. also insure (defs 1, 2)"
Which means that here in America, the term was properly used.
We not only have our own country now, but also our own dictionary and our own definitions of words. If you've somehow missed the fact that we kicked your asses a couple of centuries ago and decided to go our own way with the language as well as with local politics, you might want to bone up a bit on recent history.
The definitive guide to *American* English is whatever the fuck we Americans say it is. So get over yourself; we stopped being your bitches more than 200 years ago.
I do. The school has no business whatsoever attempting to usurp my parental rights. Off campus grounds, *my* rules apply. What the school thinks about my rules is irrelevant.
have had sticks, knives and guns pulled on me. I know how to remove those weapons from an attacker and how to immobilize that attacker without use of fatal force
Ah, someone who thinks he's Bruce Lee. Well, goody for you. Your virtue should be readily apparent to anyone staring up at the high ground you've placed yourself on.
Me, if someone gets violent I pull my.38. If they continue to act violent, I don't take chances - I fire in their general direction and stop when I run out of bullets. Then I reload.
The safest course is to indeed retreat. If that isn't an option, the second safest course is to kill the fucker. That way you're absolutely assured that they can't hurt you at that moment, nor jump you when you aren't looking at some future point down the road.
If the loser didn't want to take a fistful of slugs then he should've seen the gun as a signal to back off. Failure to recognize that signal qualifies you for a well-deserved Darwin award.
I wouldn't, however, risk my life under any circumstances to try to prevent harm to someone who pulled a knife, gun, or baseball bat on me. They do this, they deserve exactly what they get: a plot in the local cemetary.
However, I could post on an open forum that I think you're an absolute shithead, and this violates no law whatsoever. I could also say that I suspect you're an AIDS-carrying fudge-packing meat-spanking loser, and this too is a form of protected free speech.
But any way you cut it, all this really says is that I'm a complete asshole. And a bigot, to boot. Either that or I'm just trying to piss you off and make you miserable, and this just seems to be the most effective way to do it.
Which is the intent of bullying, no? You can bully people in a variety of ways without violating the Constitution or local law.
Definitely SuSE for the end user. It's a hell of a lot easier to install and configure than Redhat, and it's considerably better at detecting and properly configuring onboard hardware. SuSE is leaps and bounds ahead of Redhat when it comes to accommodating the average Joe; and while this may spur the "I'm a geek and proud of it" crowd to condemn them for that very reason, where a real IT professional is concerned this is a very good thing.
When it comes to other things like server installs, it doesn't really matter which one you choose. Either will do just fine. I go with SuSE just to make things consistent (i.e., I'd rather not have to deal with two separate sorts of linux installs when there's no discernable difference between the two in this area).
And on the other side of the anecdotal and completely irrelevant evidence fence, I've never once had a problem with AMD's processors on the very large number of installs that I've done and supported. Not a single one.
Of course, I've also been smart enough to make sure each unit either comes equipped with a set of quality fans, or to pass along the order for the same to staff. And we don't select for substandard motherboards either. The smart professional will spend the few extra bucks to avoid the problems inherent in cheap knock-off equipment, especially if the units are running 24/7.
Leaving these sorts of decisions to manufacturers - who're quite likely to give you the worst parts available - is just begging for trouble. No matter who produces the actual CPU.
What a delightful point of view. I'm sure the 10,000 12-year-old Muslim girls that were gang-raped by Serbian troops during the most recent Balkan war would heartily agree with you.
Life ain't a Mary Poppins film. For many folks - those outside the insulated, fat, privileged classes of the First World - it's all about bitter struggle, despair, and usually defeat.
So quit whining about "freedom" in the Western world; over here you can openly criticize your government in the press, on the TV, on a public web site without the slightest fear of reprisal.
Unless, of course, the government decides that your 'whining' is a way of aiding terrorism, in which case you can be locked up forever, without any Constitutional recourse, care of Section 81A of the Patriot Act.
Another 'STFU' argument from your local Bush apologist. Hey, who gives a shit what the hell happens in America - so long as it's still better than North Korea? At least *some* part of the Constitution is still good, so who are you to complain?
It stops when enough people get so annoyed that they decide to shoot everyone in the government and start over. That's pretty much what history teaches us. It goes something like this:
A) Angry citizenry overthrow government, replace it with a new one;
B) New government wary of being lynched, treads carefully.
C) Time passes. Citizenry becomes fat and deliberately stupid, government starts amassing power and revoking rights.
D) More time passes. More people go to jail. More people start getting pissed off and asking what the hell is going on.
E) Government cracks down on dissenters, sends them to jail, enacts draconian laws. Thinks these tactics will put the fear of god into those uppity proles, but really, it just ticks off even more people.
F) Government and citizenry come to blows. Much bloodshed follows.
G) Government wins and becomes an open dictatorship, or government loses and the process starts all over again.
It's been awhile since either the U.S. or the U.K. got riled enough to kill their politicians. I figure both countries are past 'D' and on their way to 'E' right about now. It remains to be seen if the process isn't short-circuited because today's proles are a bunch of bleeding cowards.
This is really getting old. One reason there is a backlash from companies against "fair use" is because people decided to abuse it.
And the apologia for corporate usurpation of individual rights continues. "Hey, if everyone wasn't a criminal none of these laws would be passed" has got to be the one of the most naive arguments ever made.
Fact is, if everyone is breaking a law then something is wrong with the law. The idea that people obey laws only out of fear of punishment is the argument of the dictator and his adoring fans, who use this as an excuse to drop-kick anyone who happens to disagree with them or refuse to play ball. It should be rather clear by now that the 20th century business model employed by the rabid and frantic RIAA/MPAA doesn't cut it in the 21st century, but rather than try to develop a new business model they buy off politicians to pass laws in an effort to shore up their eroding economic monoliths.
And why not? There are plenty of Joe Idiots sitting about just waiting to kiss ass and jump on the bandwagon, supporting any legal inanity proposed by these modern-day rail barons just so, for a few brief seconds, they can feel morally superior to their neighbors.
My only question is: where the hell were all you losers when the buggy whip industry was demanding that the automobile be banned? If you'd gotten off your lazy asses then we could've saved those poor oppressed corporations and done away with the evil automobile forever!
That's right - if you made the mistake of letting them have computers in their room, don't allow them to have connections to the internet.
That'll cut out about 99% of the garbage you might ever have to worry about. And don't listen to the naysayers - no matter what the age of your kids, it's *your* house and *your* rules. They can make their own rules when they move out.
There are plenty of little 14-year-old brats out there who think they're 'the shit' because they managed to figure out a simple script. The limited brainpower of these individuals keeps them from realizing that they aren't the real-world version of Neo that they imagine themselves to be, but rather just pathetic little wretches wallowing in their own arrogance.
Age has little to do with it. Once a 14-year-old loser, always a 14-year-old loser, no matter what your actual chronological age is.
I'd rather get a bullet in the head than see something as horrible as Lexx revived. That show had some of the worst writing, plots, and characters ever conceived of and aired on public television.
Lexx is the very definition of what *not* to do when creating a sci fi show, a contender with Rick "everything I touch I turn to shit" Berman's newest Star Trek embarrassment.
Given the current political climate this surprises you? At one time I thought the average American was pretty savvy; now, with Joe and Jane Consumer happily signing over their Constitutional rights like crack whores dying for a fix, I'm pretty sure that Joe and Jane are fucking brain dead.
Slashdot Mirror
Strawman. Comparing a crime like drinking and driving, which can result in injury and death to others, to that of copyright infringement (which *cannot* result in injury or death) shows that either a) you're a butt-monkey for the RIAA, or b) you're completely lacking in the basic human ability to discern between the two types of acts, despite the huge gulf looming right before your eyes.
Here's a primer:
- drinking and driving: we don't like it because drunks injure and kill others. That's pretty fucking bad on the human list of Things You Really Shouldn't Do.
- copyright infringement. Harms nothing but profits, if that in this case. Profits don't amount to shit compared to human life - at least to most sane people. Which doesn't include the RIAA and their butt-monkeys.
Max
Let me get this straight: copyright violation is a criminal, not a civil, offense in Australia? Did I miss something from the article?
Max
And if it runs on Windows, pretty soon every script kiddie in the land will feature you and everyone else with this system in a series of new Kazaa home porno movies.
Max
We're not talking about the FBI running around tapping people's phones willy-nilly.
Except that they actually did that almost 3,000 times in the year 2001 alone, without a warrant or probable cause. A *governmental* inquiry found every single one of those taps to be illegal - and the FBI didn't bother to deny either the tapping or the illegality. They just said that it 'was necessary' to the 'safety and security of the country'. And supposedly that's justification enough to piss all over the Constitution.
A large number of people here seem to be suffering from the delusion that the government in 21st century America is actually bound, in some Borg-like way, to adhere to the law. Fact is, government - including law-enforcement agencies - at times doesn't pay attention to the law.
Our Founding Fathers knew this and tried to purposely limit the size and scope of government. The smaller and weaker the government, the less capable it is of doing evil. Seems that a good many of us have forgotten that lesson in the last 230 years. Either that, or we've become progressively more stupid through the generations.
Max
Which means that the Congressional report issued in '02, specifying that the FBI issued close to three THOUSAND illegal wiretaps in the previous year alone (no warrant, no probable cause), was just the fevered imagination of a few paranoid investigators?
Funny, the FBI didn't even try to deny it.
If the FBI is willing to flagrantly violate the law by installing 3,000 illegal taps on phones, just how naive is it to think that - for some reason beyond mortal ken - they'll treat your car as 'hallowed ground'?
Max
Then stop calling it American *English* you imbecile and just call it American.
We can call it whatever the hell we like. That's the point, you little loser.
And what are you going to do about it anyway? Whine on Slashdot? Do you think any of us really give a shit about your laughable demand? What, gonna come stomp our asses if we refuse to comply?
Asshole.
Max
Is Sweden looking for American immigrants? The way things are going on this side of the ocean we just might not have elections come 2004 and well, my wife and I are trying to find a country that's actually still free....
Max
This has nothing to do with capitalism. There isn't a real capitalist economy on the planet, just as there isn't a real communist economy or a real socialist economy.
The economic system of the United States has very little to do with capitalism and a great deal to do with plutocracy and perhaps might best be called 'corporate feudalism', mixed with liberal doses of pseudo-socialism and strains of fascism (no, not the Nazi type; look it up if you don't know what fascism is). The idea that Americans live in a capitalism is nothing more than hype and patriotic flag-waving, dreck meant to be swallowed by idiots who can't discern propaganda from reality.
There has never been a capitalism in the modern world. Therefore, you can't blame any of the things you're ranting about on capitalism. I agree with you that what you say is *true*, but it has *nothing* to do with capitalism.
I only wish we actually did live in a capitalism....
Max
If this is what you want, Morrowind is both a far superior game and a far better engine than what's offered by NWN. I can't imagine why'd you 'step down' to NWN when you could use Morrowind instead, unless you want your game to be specifically D&D-based.
Max
From the Random House American English Dictionary:
"4. also insure (defs 1, 2)"
Which means that here in America, the term was properly used.
We not only have our own country now, but also our own dictionary and our own definitions of words. If you've somehow missed the fact that we kicked your asses a couple of centuries ago and decided to go our own way with the language as well as with local politics, you might want to bone up a bit on recent history.
Max
The definitive guide to *American* English is whatever the fuck we Americans say it is. So get over yourself; we stopped being your bitches more than 200 years ago.
Max
I do. The school has no business whatsoever attempting to usurp my parental rights. Off campus grounds, *my* rules apply. What the school thinks about my rules is irrelevant.
Max
have had sticks, knives and guns pulled on me. I know how to remove those weapons from an attacker and how to immobilize that attacker without use of fatal force
.38. If they continue to act violent, I don't take chances - I fire in their general direction and stop when I run out of bullets. Then I reload.
Ah, someone who thinks he's Bruce Lee. Well, goody for you. Your virtue should be readily apparent to anyone staring up at the high ground you've placed yourself on.
Me, if someone gets violent I pull my
The safest course is to indeed retreat. If that isn't an option, the second safest course is to kill the fucker. That way you're absolutely assured that they can't hurt you at that moment, nor jump you when you aren't looking at some future point down the road.
If the loser didn't want to take a fistful of slugs then he should've seen the gun as a signal to back off. Failure to recognize that signal qualifies you for a well-deserved Darwin award.
I wouldn't, however, risk my life under any circumstances to try to prevent harm to someone who pulled a knife, gun, or baseball bat on me. They do this, they deserve exactly what they get: a plot in the local cemetary.
Max
However, I could post on an open forum that I think you're an absolute shithead, and this violates no law whatsoever. I could also say that I suspect you're an AIDS-carrying fudge-packing meat-spanking loser, and this too is a form of protected free speech.
But any way you cut it, all this really says is that I'm a complete asshole. And a bigot, to boot. Either that or I'm just trying to piss you off and make you miserable, and this just seems to be the most effective way to do it.
Which is the intent of bullying, no? You can bully people in a variety of ways without violating the Constitution or local law.
Max
Definitely SuSE for the end user. It's a hell of a lot easier to install and configure than Redhat, and it's considerably better at detecting and properly configuring onboard hardware. SuSE is leaps and bounds ahead of Redhat when it comes to accommodating the average Joe; and while this may spur the "I'm a geek and proud of it" crowd to condemn them for that very reason, where a real IT professional is concerned this is a very good thing.
When it comes to other things like server installs, it doesn't really matter which one you choose. Either will do just fine. I go with SuSE just to make things consistent (i.e., I'd rather not have to deal with two separate sorts of linux installs when there's no discernable difference between the two in this area).
Max
And on the other side of the anecdotal and completely irrelevant evidence fence, I've never once had a problem with AMD's processors on the very large number of installs that I've done and supported. Not a single one.
Of course, I've also been smart enough to make sure each unit either comes equipped with a set of quality fans, or to pass along the order for the same to staff. And we don't select for substandard motherboards either. The smart professional will spend the few extra bucks to avoid the problems inherent in cheap knock-off equipment, especially if the units are running 24/7.
Leaving these sorts of decisions to manufacturers - who're quite likely to give you the worst parts available - is just begging for trouble. No matter who produces the actual CPU.
Max
There are a lot of huge egos in the computer industry, but none are larger than Larry Ellison's.
Steve Jobs is a contender. Jobs is just slightly more diplomatic about his monstrous megalomania.
Max
Life is a fun game - try not to get bitter.
What a delightful point of view. I'm sure the 10,000 12-year-old Muslim girls that were gang-raped by Serbian troops during the most recent Balkan war would heartily agree with you.
Life ain't a Mary Poppins film. For many folks - those outside the insulated, fat, privileged classes of the First World - it's all about bitter struggle, despair, and usually defeat.
Max
So quit whining about "freedom" in the Western world; over here you can openly criticize your government in the press, on the TV, on a public web site without the slightest fear of reprisal.
Unless, of course, the government decides that your 'whining' is a way of aiding terrorism, in which case you can be locked up forever, without any Constitutional recourse, care of Section 81A of the Patriot Act.
Another 'STFU' argument from your local Bush apologist. Hey, who gives a shit what the hell happens in America - so long as it's still better than North Korea? At least *some* part of the Constitution is still good, so who are you to complain?
Max
It stops when enough people get so annoyed that they decide to shoot everyone in the government and start over. That's pretty much what history teaches us. It goes something like this:
A) Angry citizenry overthrow government, replace it with a new one;
B) New government wary of being lynched, treads carefully.
C) Time passes. Citizenry becomes fat and deliberately stupid, government starts amassing power and revoking rights.
D) More time passes. More people go to jail. More people start getting pissed off and asking what the hell is going on.
E) Government cracks down on dissenters, sends them to jail, enacts draconian laws. Thinks these tactics will put the fear of god into those uppity proles, but really, it just ticks off even more people.
F) Government and citizenry come to blows. Much bloodshed follows.
G) Government wins and becomes an open dictatorship, or government loses and the process starts all over again.
It's been awhile since either the U.S. or the U.K. got riled enough to kill their politicians. I figure both countries are past 'D' and on their way to 'E' right about now. It remains to be seen if the process isn't short-circuited because today's proles are a bunch of bleeding cowards.
Max
This is really getting old. One reason there is a backlash from companies against "fair use" is because people decided to abuse it.
And the apologia for corporate usurpation of individual rights continues. "Hey, if everyone wasn't a criminal none of these laws would be passed" has got to be the one of the most naive arguments ever made.
Fact is, if everyone is breaking a law then something is wrong with the law. The idea that people obey laws only out of fear of punishment is the argument of the dictator and his adoring fans, who use this as an excuse to drop-kick anyone who happens to disagree with them or refuse to play ball. It should be rather clear by now that the 20th century business model employed by the rabid and frantic RIAA/MPAA doesn't cut it in the 21st century, but rather than try to develop a new business model they buy off politicians to pass laws in an effort to shore up their eroding economic monoliths.
And why not? There are plenty of Joe Idiots sitting about just waiting to kiss ass and jump on the bandwagon, supporting any legal inanity proposed by these modern-day rail barons just so, for a few brief seconds, they can feel morally superior to their neighbors.
My only question is: where the hell were all you losers when the buggy whip industry was demanding that the automobile be banned? If you'd gotten off your lazy asses then we could've saved those poor oppressed corporations and done away with the evil automobile forever!
Max
That's right - if you made the mistake of letting them have computers in their room, don't allow them to have connections to the internet.
That'll cut out about 99% of the garbage you might ever have to worry about. And don't listen to the naysayers - no matter what the age of your kids, it's *your* house and *your* rules. They can make their own rules when they move out.
Max
There are plenty of little 14-year-old brats out there who think they're 'the shit' because they managed to figure out a simple script. The limited brainpower of these individuals keeps them from realizing that they aren't the real-world version of Neo that they imagine themselves to be, but rather just pathetic little wretches wallowing in their own arrogance.
Age has little to do with it. Once a 14-year-old loser, always a 14-year-old loser, no matter what your actual chronological age is.
Max
I'd rather get a bullet in the head than see something as horrible as Lexx revived. That show had some of the worst writing, plots, and characters ever conceived of and aired on public television.
Lexx is the very definition of what *not* to do when creating a sci fi show, a contender with Rick "everything I touch I turn to shit" Berman's newest Star Trek embarrassment.
Max
Given the current political climate this surprises you? At one time I thought the average American was pretty savvy; now, with Joe and Jane Consumer happily signing over their Constitutional rights like crack whores dying for a fix, I'm pretty sure that Joe and Jane are fucking brain dead.
Max