yeah, okay, fine with me if you choose a cynical-empirical stance on this issue. far be it for me to disagree that want of riches has been used to enslave us all. i don't care for your sally struthers comparison, however, nor your assumption that i was 'pre-supposing' anything... perhaps that means something different to you than it does to me, however...
i have also lived in rural 3rd world nations, and los angeles. it is true that you will find just as much strife in either place.
but this modern whiny reliance on 'stress' as a crutch for ones own excesses, vanity and exaggeration, i find inexcusable. it really is, in my opinion (which is wrong, no doubt), a complete dis-association not only with ones privilege, but also ones responsibilities.
"learn to enjoy the valuable life you have been granted" should in fact be the rule of the day for so many privileged, fresh-water drinking americans. yes, life is mundane. yes, we all dance with the mistress of entropy. but to not respect the differences between ones life and another, or to allow oneself to ignore others plight in light of ones own, i say is a shallow sin.
it appears that some would rather wallow in misery, or attempt to prevent others from de-wallowing... when all the while, there is sunshine to be enjoyed, and progress to be made with the gifts of civilization, whatever they may be...
doesn't mean we should only pro-actively focus on the bits that suck, though.
don't take life in the modern world for granted, is all i'm saying. for every one 'my life sucks' blue collar digit-pusher, there are a few hundred thousand 'my life really sucks' shit-grinders.
here's a bit of advice. if you decide you can't handle it in the machine any more, go back to the jungle and help those who want in to the machine, in...
RANT:
modern living is not stressful.
stressful is having to walk a mile to get a bucketful of greasy water, in a homeless territory rife with war, disease, and hatred.
it never ceases to remind me of the highlights of western decadence when i hear of people in the modern world complaining of 'stress' at their 'jobs'. of the worlds population, those even able to 'stress out' about their jobs are in the upper 15%...
everyone else is struggling to survive.
sometimes, we forget our privilege. this is always fatal.
END RANT
yeah, but you are under-counting linux. linux is, right now, an unstoppable force. it is becoming the 'new base-line' in so many operating system markets (since everyone can use it freely), not just the desktop. (the desktop war was finished in the 90's. microsoft won.)
the new battlegrounds- personal computing devices, not just 'systems', such as cell phones, PDA's, lifestyle-computing systems, embedded, etc. are ones which Microsoft has very little strong control over... yet.
they may have the beige-box hegemony pretty much sewn up, but the issue in the computing world today is that the desktop/beige-box/PC world is no longer the primary front.
When we have 7 independent silicon plants producing different embedded, 32-bit computing architectures, which are on par with where PC computing was oh... such a short while ago... it becomes clear that there are new battlegrounds for consumer attention ahead.
Its Symbian vs. Microsoft now, and all of them vs. Linux, which is "The Peoples Standard Operating System"...
lets just hope we see some significant leaps from those that need to compete with Linux...
great. so, i can walk into any sports shop, buy one of these 'health-obsessed consumer' toys, strip it of all its livery down to bare silicon, bag it up in gummy and duct tape, and make myself an easy GPS logging device for application in any one of several hundred thousand different devious ways...
I've been professionally coding for 20 years, and I took a 5 month break to help my old man work in the sun, carting limestone blocks on some real estate property he was working on. Very hard, grimey, dirty, exhausting work in the harsh Aussie sunshine. A far cry from the cushy coffee/edit/compile lifestyle I'd plugged myself into in California for far too long...
Best 5 months worth of work I've ever done. Sunshine, fresh air, daily exercise regimen disguised as 'work', and a decent wad of cash from the ol' man at the end of it.
Made me appreciate the beauty of code even more, when I finally got back to my laptop... and now I have my dream job writing software, but I'm sure I'll put some more sweat and tears into the limestone walls on my ol' mans property again, sooner or later... totally rejuvenating.
a 5 gig tarball ain't nothing to keep around, and it sure is fun to see a bunch of them.gz'ed on a cheap disk.
so, yeah, thanks to my ipod, i'm now 'completely off the grid' of commercial music. i no longer really care for any music unless i am able to maintain a direct relationship with the artist, without any middle-man.
since i've gotten so used to being able to treat my 5gig ipod (rev a., love it to bits, scratches and dents and all) like a portable reference system, instead of the be-all of archive, i've rediscovered a vital interest in indepently produced trax.
a few well-scripted cron jobs and an.rss feed (or 50) and my ipod is suddenly a nightly-updated 'personal radio station'.
fuck a&r. as a digital consumer, i can do that myself. a&r is a prime target for redundancy through computerization, in my opinion, and i got there with a 5gig ipod. thanks apple, kudo's steve!
if they don't start their own distro effort (many say they already have), then they are going to be left in the dust. the best option for MS would be to do what Apple did: get the old API's wrapped into a functioning new "Classic" layer, and turn to Linux/BSD for all else.
linux is unstoppable. If we don't have MSLinux around in a year, I will print out those three words and eat them.
The pods have a shelf-life. The one thats been there already is going back down with the old crew - the reason they can't have more than two is that they have to stagger the operational lifetime of the pods, since after 6 months in space (or some such thing) its no longer 'safe'...
Not any more though, and I have to say that having this new distcc-centric Knopix distro around has turned it from being 'a pain in the ass' to 'unbelievably easy, cheap, and fast!'...
oh dear. linux is unstoppable. you'd think that, by now, the point where linux is becoming 'The Development Environment of Choice' for compiling stuff for Other Operating Systems, well... how can I put this: c'mon Microsoft, roll your own distro, for cryin' out loud!!!
was or was not Saddam Hussein a murdering bastard of a dictator who should have been taken out?
The problem with asking this question is that you have to let it be asked by -everyone-... that is what Freedom is all about, after all.
Would you have someone ask this question about Mr. Bush right now, and if not... why not? If you can ask this question of the head of state of a nation not your own, why can't a nation not your own as this same question of your head of state?
The U.S. has no right to be assuming it has a moral ground for these sorts of actions against sovereign states. It is this arrogance which leads the American People into the pits of hate and despisement being dug in the Eastern deserts right now...
What we need is a MMO Peace sim for the Neo-Con so-called think tanks (think? tanks!). A complete political / economical earth simulation.
They've had this, for years. It is the reason why politics makes no sense to the casual observer. World Economics simulations run on computer have been the cause of more problems and strife than any other "administrative" tool of the Pentagon...
yeah, that argument is fine if you forget the fact that Microsoft is a convicted felon, found guilty... you want them to now go ahead and give whatever software they want to our kids?
When people submit something like this, why can't they submit a descriptive little write up, and why can't slashdot hold a jpeg or two in the story text?
Because, it would appear in this case, nobody has a freakin' clue what 'nerd' means.
If you look at Microsoft's market strategy over the last couple of decades, you really have to admire the genius that they have for forward thinking.
No, you don't, because its not genious - it is obvious corruption and a failure of government to protect its citizens from corporations and foreign powers.
Okay, I'm stretching it, but in my opinion, it is appropriate to consider monopolies a 'foreign power' in this day and age, particularly one which dominates 'cyberspace'...
Now do we expect everyone to be well versed in the topic and perform extensive research through every media outlet for every tidbit of information before posting?
You SHOULD demand that your fellows keep themselves appraised, anonymous or not, and yes, in my opinion, you SHOULD discourage brash incognoscentia wherever it occurs... to do otherwise is to encourage ignorance.
... to say that "the rest of the 'money' will go to California schools".
What will go to "California Schools" is 'boxes of Microsoft product', valued at the $-value for the settlement, by a team of accountants, lawyers, and auditors.
This settlement is a sham. It is nothing but an easy seeding program for Microsoft market-share harvests in the 6-month to 1-year time frame, among a vulnerable and naive market (education), and Microsoft know it.
Slashdot Mirror
... about whiny bitches. There sure are a lot of them, a fact I personally attribute to a preponderance of rude diktats ...
psychological stress is an oxymoron.
who defines 'stress'? you, me, some doctor? bah, psychology is a fools religion!
yeah, okay, fine with me if you choose a cynical-empirical stance on this issue. far be it for me to disagree that want of riches has been used to enslave us all. i don't care for your sally struthers comparison, however, nor your assumption that i was 'pre-supposing' anything
i have also lived in rural 3rd world nations, and los angeles. it is true that you will find just as much strife in either place.
but this modern whiny reliance on 'stress' as a crutch for ones own excesses, vanity and exaggeration, i find inexcusable. it really is, in my opinion (which is wrong, no doubt), a complete dis-association not only with ones privilege, but also ones responsibilities.
"learn to enjoy the valuable life you have been granted" should in fact be the rule of the day for so many privileged, fresh-water drinking americans. yes, life is mundane. yes, we all dance with the mistress of entropy. but to not respect the differences between ones life and another, or to allow oneself to ignore others plight in light of ones own, i say is a shallow sin.
it appears that some would rather wallow in misery, or attempt to prevent others from de-wallowing
doesn't mean we should only pro-actively focus on the bits that suck, though.
don't take life in the modern world for granted, is all i'm saying. for every one 'my life sucks' blue collar digit-pusher, there are a few hundred thousand 'my life really sucks' shit-grinders.
here's a bit of advice. if you decide you can't handle it in the machine any more, go back to the jungle and help those who want in to the machine, in...
RANT: modern living is not stressful. stressful is having to walk a mile to get a bucketful of greasy water, in a homeless territory rife with war, disease, and hatred. it never ceases to remind me of the highlights of western decadence when i hear of people in the modern world complaining of 'stress' at their 'jobs'. of the worlds population, those even able to 'stress out' about their jobs are in the upper 15%... everyone else is struggling to survive. sometimes, we forget our privilege. this is always fatal. END RANT
yeah, but you are under-counting linux. linux is, right now, an unstoppable force. it is becoming the 'new base-line' in so many operating system markets (since everyone can use it freely), not just the desktop. (the desktop war was finished in the 90's. microsoft won.)
... yet.
... such a short while ago ... it becomes clear that there are new battlegrounds for consumer attention ahead.
...
...
the new battlegrounds- personal computing devices, not just 'systems', such as cell phones, PDA's, lifestyle-computing systems, embedded, etc. are ones which Microsoft has very little strong control over
they may have the beige-box hegemony pretty much sewn up, but the issue in the computing world today is that the desktop/beige-box/PC world is no longer the primary front.
When we have 7 independent silicon plants producing different embedded, 32-bit computing architectures, which are on par with where PC computing was oh
Its Symbian vs. Microsoft now, and all of them vs. Linux, which is "The Peoples Standard Operating System"
lets just hope we see some significant leaps from those that need to compete with Linux
great. so, i can walk into any sports shop, buy one of these 'health-obsessed consumer' toys, strip it of all its livery down to bare silicon, bag it up in gummy and duct tape, and make myself an easy GPS logging device for application in any one of several hundred thousand different devious ways ...
cool. rock on Consumerica!
I've been professionally coding for 20 years, and I took a 5 month break to help my old man work in the sun, carting limestone blocks on some real estate property he was working on. Very hard, grimey, dirty, exhausting work in the harsh Aussie sunshine. A far cry from the cushy coffee/edit/compile lifestyle I'd plugged myself into in California for far too long
Best 5 months worth of work I've ever done. Sunshine, fresh air, daily exercise regimen disguised as 'work', and a decent wad of cash from the ol' man at the end of it.
Made me appreciate the beauty of code even more, when I finally got back to my laptop
a 5 gig tarball ain't nothing to keep around, and it sure is fun to see a bunch of them .gz'ed on a cheap disk.
.rss feed (or 50) and my ipod is suddenly a nightly-updated 'personal radio station'.
so, yeah, thanks to my ipod, i'm now 'completely off the grid' of commercial music. i no longer really care for any music unless i am able to maintain a direct relationship with the artist, without any middle-man.
since i've gotten so used to being able to treat my 5gig ipod (rev a., love it to bits, scratches and dents and all) like a portable reference system, instead of the be-all of archive, i've rediscovered a vital interest in indepently produced trax.
a few well-scripted cron jobs and an
fuck a&r. as a digital consumer, i can do that myself. a&r is a prime target for redundancy through computerization, in my opinion, and i got there with a 5gig ipod. thanks apple, kudo's steve!
all i can see for microsoft right now is MSLinux.
if they don't start their own distro effort (many say they already have), then they are going to be left in the dust. the best option for MS would be to do what Apple did: get the old API's wrapped into a functioning new "Classic" layer, and turn to Linux/BSD for all else.
linux is unstoppable. If we don't have MSLinux around in a year, I will print out those three words and eat them.
... springs to life, opens up one eager eye ...
The pods have a shelf-life. The one thats been there already is going back down with the old crew - the reason they can't have more than two is that they have to stagger the operational lifetime of the pods, since after 6 months in space (or some such thing) its no longer 'safe' ...
Not any more though, and I have to say that having this new distcc-centric Knopix distro around has turned it from being 'a pain in the ass' to 'unbelievably easy, cheap, and fast!' ...
... how can I put this: c'mon Microsoft, roll your own distro, for cryin' out loud!!!
oh dear. linux is unstoppable. you'd think that, by now, the point where linux is becoming 'The Development Environment of Choice' for compiling stuff for Other Operating Systems, well
was or was not Saddam Hussein a murdering bastard of a dictator who should have been taken out?
... that is what Freedom is all about, after all.
... why not? If you can ask this question of the head of state of a nation not your own, why can't a nation not your own as this same question of your head of state?
...
The problem with asking this question is that you have to let it be asked by -everyone-
Would you have someone ask this question about Mr. Bush right now, and if not
The U.S. has no right to be assuming it has a moral ground for these sorts of actions against sovereign states. It is this arrogance which leads the American People into the pits of hate and despisement being dug in the Eastern deserts right now
What we need is a MMO Peace sim for the Neo-Con so-called think tanks (think? tanks!). A complete political / economical earth simulation.
They've had this, for years. It is the reason why politics makes no sense to the casual observer. World Economics simulations run on computer have been the cause of more problems and strife than any other "administrative" tool of the Pentagon...
yeah, that argument is fine if you forget the fact that Microsoft is a convicted felon, found guilty ... you want them to now go ahead and give whatever software they want to our kids?
better the hip than the heart.
When people submit something like this, why can't they submit a descriptive little write up, and why can't slashdot hold a jpeg or two in the story text?
Because, it would appear in this case, nobody has a freakin' clue what 'nerd' means.
If you look at Microsoft's market strategy over the last couple of decades, you really have to admire the genius that they have for forward thinking.
...
No, you don't, because its not genious - it is obvious corruption and a failure of government to protect its citizens from corporations and foreign powers.
Okay, I'm stretching it, but in my opinion, it is appropriate to consider monopolies a 'foreign power' in this day and age, particularly one which dominates 'cyberspace'
Now do we expect everyone to be well versed in the topic and perform extensive research through every media outlet for every tidbit of information before posting?
... to do otherwise is to encourage ignorance.
You SHOULD demand that your fellows keep themselves appraised, anonymous or not, and yes, in my opinion, you SHOULD discourage brash incognoscentia wherever it occurs
I yearn for a day where logical elitism is a legitmate criticism. It'd be much nicer than our current state.
Ain't no time like the present. Lead on, I'm right behind you.
Uh huh.
...
Tell me, which part of this sentence don't you understand:
Two-thirds of the unclaimed money will go to California public schools in a mix of donated Microsoft software and cash grants
... to say that "the rest of the 'money' will go to California schools".
What will go to "California Schools" is 'boxes of Microsoft product', valued at the $-value for the settlement, by a team of accountants, lawyers, and auditors.
This settlement is a sham. It is nothing but an easy seeding program for Microsoft market-share harvests in the 6-month to 1-year time frame, among a vulnerable and naive market (education), and Microsoft know it.
Or T9 input ...
Fiction propels fact in the barrent wasteland that is Mans' inspirational landscape.
If it weren't for the sci-fi authors of the 30's, 40's and 50's, we wouldn't nearly be as motivated a technological culture as we currently are.
I'm amazed that you are unable to see this connection, honestly. Maybe you don't know what the word 'inspiration' means?