Ever wonder why environmentalists have such a bad name? Here's a new concept and they're already shooting it down, based on nothing more than a vague assertion.
Because it's what most humans have done, for millenia? Food growing is who humans are, it's what separates us from the animals. And because NOT having any idea where food comes from is dangerous as people just think Chilean sea bass just comes from the store. Or worse, don't think about it at all.
In China, businesses are often obsessed with obtaining certifications. ISO9001, UL, CE, human rights guarantee, eco-certification, whatever it is, they want it, and they have been trained by foreign buyers that certifications are Important.
Of course, they aren't particularly concerned with fulfilling the conditions to get the certification - which is entirely the point of certification in the first place, but they don't see it that way. The end result is all that matters. This "pledge" is an entirely rational (by Chinese standards) reply to the avalanche of bad publicity (perpetrated by journalists with an axe to grind). Seriously, the "Apple suicides" were just one of those non-stories the press just runs with...remember it was shark attacks during 2004-05? Anyway, to all of you internet geniuses chortling to yourselves saying "how they gonna enforce it LOL"...that's not the point. They now have a piece of paper they can show..."see, we solved the problem!" They've been trained that this fixes things where foreigners are involved.
Two stories, a Chinese friend of mine recently had a large order for promotional items from the UK. However, there was some restriction that said the factory had to pledge itself to enforce some bit of leftist dogma. Ten cartons of Zhonghua cigarettes later, and the proper certificate was produced and the buyer was none the wiser. This next one is one of my favorite stories, heard it when I first came to China. Buddy of mine is buying sunglasses from some factory. He asks, do they have UV coating? Evidently there's some problem translating ultraviolet into Chinese so the factory owner doesn't understand. They go back and forth for a while without getting anywhere. Then suddenly, the guy's face lights up and he says, "Oh ya ya ya ya I know I know! We have sticker!" True story.
Tipping means you're a trustworthy businessman? WTF where did that one come from? The biggest asshole businessman I ever knew (ended up in prison) was a big tipper. It turned out he was frivolous with money and spent like there was no tomorrow. I got screwed for almost $10k in salary and unreimbursed expenses on that one.
Wow Slashdot has gone downhill...
on
Forty Years of P=NP?
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· Score: 4, Interesting
I looked in to this discussion just because I wanted to see what the hardcore science/math nerds were saying, and instead I get a dozen posts asking, "What the hell is P=NP, LOL." Time was, you could look into math threads on Slashdot and see graduate students talking shop. Even if I didn't understand half of what they said, it was still enlightening.
It's just a bunch of nincompoops playing games that aren't like Rogue in any way, and calling them 'roguelikes' because they use a console interface. It's a sign of a tiny mind that can't expand to embrace new concepts and seeks to explain everything in terms of its own limited, parochial worldview.
Sheesh, God forbid anyone actually try to play the game as it was intended, rather than use every bit of fun-draining information available on the net to make the game into an 'achievement' instead of 'fun'.
Laugh at them at your peril. Greenpeace has a lot of friends in high places, rather like how Wikileaks was able to give orders to bigtime media players like the New York Times. When you read ideas like "We must ALL act to eradicate the scourge of research into nuclear technology" and then read similar ideas the next day in the mainstream media, you know they have real power. You can laugh at their earnestness, but they are taken as the vanguard of positive social change by a lot of people who wouldn't dare to show themselves openly...rather like Koran-burning pastor Terry Jones is a hero to closet Islamophobes.
Greenpeace has an impressive number of scalps on its belt. A recent campaign against Nestle's Kit Kat chocolate bars resulted in the company changing the way it buys its materials. Clorox began using a new, more expensive way to transport chlorine after a FUD campaign from Greenpeace. Greenpeace successfully stopped a clean coal plant from being built in the UK, and its activists were cleared of any wrongdoing on the defence of 'lawful excuse' - claiming they shut the power station in order to defend property of a greater value from the global impact of climate change (the first time 'lawful excuse' was used in the context of climate change). Apple phased out PVC plastics due to Greenpeace's online campaign (it won a Webby award...see what I mean about their influential friends). Greenpeace got Argentina to ban the incandescent light bulb after a media campaign. Greenpeace got Spain, Sweden, Germany, Italy and Belgium to abandon nuclear power.
Whistle past the graveyard if you wish. But Greenpeace is powerful, and more importantly, has a lot of fellow travelers who will promote their agenda for free. Read the list of Greenpeace victories. It is long and impressive. Every victory was won in a developed country or the UN - the real sources of power in the world. You will note a total lack of victories in powerless areas like China, India, Africa, and so on.
a truly strict meritocracy is race, gender and culture-blind.
BZZT wrong. A truly strict meritocracy is indeed blind, and does not take any external factors into mind. It hires only those most qualified, which, due to America's discrimination towards blacks, results in substandard schooling for blacks. Thus, any African-Americans applying must receive extra points for not being white. What is Google's racial makeup, and how does it resemble America? Are there too many whites or Asians, as seems likely? Sometimes, a lowering of hiring standards is necessary to enjoy the full benefits of multiculturalism. This in no way reflects negatively on Google.
So...an evil American corporation (a triple redundancy) is making profit hand over fist. Hurray! Now how much did Apple pay to the US Government for the privilege of headquartering in America? $24,600,000,000 results in $8,610,000,000 in tax revenue for the federal government alone, not even counting state taxes, plus federal and state income taxes on Apple employees (which Steve Jobs evades by taking $1.00 in salary), plus any local taxes which Apple is liable for. How much did Apple actually pay? How much of their fair share did they evade by accounting tricks? A famous Nobel Peace Prize winner has said, "I do think at a certain point you've made enough money, but you know part of the American way is that you can just keep on making it if you're providing a good product or you're providing a good service." How much is enough for Apple, and when will they start writing checks to the US Treasury? Afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted!
Someone talented enough to build such a thing from LEGO(R) bricks is certainly talented enough to use real materials. Anyone who limits himself to LEGO(R) bricks is merely limiting his ideas to what a multinational corporation deems acceptable. What the hell kind of nonconformist does that?
PS never call them "legos". LEGO is a registered trademark, and LEGO(R) bricks are the components that the LEGO company produces. If you're going to conform, then bow to your corporate masters like Obama bowing to Hu Jintao.
Does that actually happen? Maybe 50 years ago it was considered shameful, but that's back when homosexuality was considered shameful, too. Today, there is no stigma attached to receiving government money...in fact the children who have to pay for lunch would be looked on as suckers by the majority.
In days past, sysadmins were the "let's get things done!" people and the pointy-headed bosses and lusers were the "lawyers say we can't apply this totally obvious technical solution" types. Now, the tables have turned. Sucks, doesn't it?
I see what you did there! But there are parts missing...where's the "TEPCO is a corporation and all corporations are evil so this result was totally expected." The link text says, unveiled its plan for dealing with the crisis...don't you really mean "snowed the gullible media with its non-plan for handwaving away reality while paying no corporate income tax?" And where's the throwaway comment about capitalism failing? I mean, a dry recital of facts with a single opinion statement disguised in the middle is how things work these days, isn't it?
What's the point of a crisis like Fukushima if we don't take advantage of it to score points in favor of environmentalist anti-nuclear political objectives?
What the hell? When Anonymous fires the low-orbit ion cannon, it comes down hard on evildoers. Why the fuck is Google on the other side of the fence now? I thought their motto is "don't be evil"? Why isn't Google offering LOIC as a feature in Chrome?
Funny, the death throes of capitalism have been preached since oh...about 1917 or so. To the barricades, comrades! Surely, communism won't kill 100,000,000 people in this century like it did last century. We'll get it right this time for sure!
Dictatorship. Of the proletariat. How can there be a dictatorship of the proletariat if the dictator isn't a proletarian? WTF dude, you are arguing against yourself...and losing.
"The scientific concept, dictatorship, means neither more nor less than unlimited power resting directly on force, not limited by anything, not restrained by any laws or any absolute rules. Nothing else but that."
-- Vladimir Lenin
"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites.
The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just round the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it.
Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power."
-- George Orwell, "1984"
"Where cultural progress is genuinely successful and ills are cured, this progress is seldom received with enthusiasm. Instead, they are taken for granted and attention focuses on those ills that remain."
-- Odo Marquard, Philosopher
Uh, you are aware that the British and nazis fought a war together, right? And that those same British even allied with communists AGAINST the nazis? Yeah, Lenin was a real proletarian, wasn't he?
Slashdot Mirror
Well, that certainly excuses relentless negativism and theophobia. Well-played! Please continue the campaign of shitting all over solutions.
Ever wonder why environmentalists have such a bad name? Here's a new concept and they're already shooting it down, based on nothing more than a vague assertion.
China tried Marxism already. Didn't you get the memo? People, and yes even factory workers, are far better off now than years ago.
Because it's what most humans have done, for millenia? Food growing is who humans are, it's what separates us from the animals. And because NOT having any idea where food comes from is dangerous as people just think Chilean sea bass just comes from the store. Or worse, don't think about it at all.
Specialization is for insects.
In China, businesses are often obsessed with obtaining certifications. ISO9001, UL, CE, human rights guarantee, eco-certification, whatever it is, they want it, and they have been trained by foreign buyers that certifications are Important.
Of course, they aren't particularly concerned with fulfilling the conditions to get the certification - which is entirely the point of certification in the first place, but they don't see it that way. The end result is all that matters. This "pledge" is an entirely rational (by Chinese standards) reply to the avalanche of bad publicity (perpetrated by journalists with an axe to grind). Seriously, the "Apple suicides" were just one of those non-stories the press just runs with...remember it was shark attacks during 2004-05? Anyway, to all of you internet geniuses chortling to yourselves saying "how they gonna enforce it LOL"...that's not the point. They now have a piece of paper they can show..."see, we solved the problem!" They've been trained that this fixes things where foreigners are involved.
Two stories, a Chinese friend of mine recently had a large order for promotional items from the UK. However, there was some restriction that said the factory had to pledge itself to enforce some bit of leftist dogma. Ten cartons of Zhonghua cigarettes later, and the proper certificate was produced and the buyer was none the wiser. This next one is one of my favorite stories, heard it when I first came to China. Buddy of mine is buying sunglasses from some factory. He asks, do they have UV coating? Evidently there's some problem translating ultraviolet into Chinese so the factory owner doesn't understand. They go back and forth for a while without getting anywhere. Then suddenly, the guy's face lights up and he says, "Oh ya ya ya ya I know I know! We have sticker!" True story.
Tipping means you're a trustworthy businessman? WTF where did that one come from? The biggest asshole businessman I ever knew (ended up in prison) was a big tipper. It turned out he was frivolous with money and spent like there was no tomorrow. I got screwed for almost $10k in salary and unreimbursed expenses on that one.
I looked in to this discussion just because I wanted to see what the hardcore science/math nerds were saying, and instead I get a dozen posts asking, "What the hell is P=NP, LOL." Time was, you could look into math threads on Slashdot and see graduate students talking shop. Even if I didn't understand half of what they said, it was still enlightening.
It's just a bunch of nincompoops playing games that aren't like Rogue in any way, and calling them 'roguelikes' because they use a console interface. It's a sign of a tiny mind that can't expand to embrace new concepts and seeks to explain everything in terms of its own limited, parochial worldview.
It's just a bunch of nincompoops playing games that aren't like Rogue in any way, and calling them 'roguelikes' because they use a console interface.
Sheesh, God forbid anyone actually try to play the game as it was intended, rather than use every bit of fun-draining information available on the net to make the game into an 'achievement' instead of 'fun'.
Greenpeace has an impressive number of scalps on its belt. A recent campaign against Nestle's Kit Kat chocolate bars resulted in the company changing the way it buys its materials. Clorox began using a new, more expensive way to transport chlorine after a FUD campaign from Greenpeace. Greenpeace successfully stopped a clean coal plant from being built in the UK, and its activists were cleared of any wrongdoing on the defence of 'lawful excuse' - claiming they shut the power station in order to defend property of a greater value from the global impact of climate change (the first time 'lawful excuse' was used in the context of climate change). Apple phased out PVC plastics due to Greenpeace's online campaign (it won a Webby award...see what I mean about their influential friends). Greenpeace got Argentina to ban the incandescent light bulb after a media campaign. Greenpeace got Spain, Sweden, Germany, Italy and Belgium to abandon nuclear power.
Whistle past the graveyard if you wish. But Greenpeace is powerful, and more importantly, has a lot of fellow travelers who will promote their agenda for free. Read the list of Greenpeace victories. It is long and impressive. Every victory was won in a developed country or the UN - the real sources of power in the world. You will note a total lack of victories in powerless areas like China, India, Africa, and so on.
a truly strict meritocracy is race, gender and culture-blind.
BZZT wrong. A truly strict meritocracy is indeed blind, and does not take any external factors into mind. It hires only those most qualified, which, due to America's discrimination towards blacks, results in substandard schooling for blacks. Thus, any African-Americans applying must receive extra points for not being white. What is Google's racial makeup, and how does it resemble America? Are there too many whites or Asians, as seems likely? Sometimes, a lowering of hiring standards is necessary to enjoy the full benefits of multiculturalism. This in no way reflects negatively on Google.
So...an evil American corporation (a triple redundancy) is making profit hand over fist. Hurray! Now how much did Apple pay to the US Government for the privilege of headquartering in America? $24,600,000,000 results in $8,610,000,000 in tax revenue for the federal government alone, not even counting state taxes, plus federal and state income taxes on Apple employees (which Steve Jobs evades by taking $1.00 in salary), plus any local taxes which Apple is liable for. How much did Apple actually pay? How much of their fair share did they evade by accounting tricks? A famous Nobel Peace Prize winner has said, "I do think at a certain point you've made enough money, but you know part of the American way is that you can just keep on making it if you're providing a good product or you're providing a good service." How much is enough for Apple, and when will they start writing checks to the US Treasury? Afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted!
Someone talented enough to build such a thing from LEGO(R) bricks is certainly talented enough to use real materials. Anyone who limits himself to LEGO(R) bricks is merely limiting his ideas to what a multinational corporation deems acceptable. What the hell kind of nonconformist does that?
PS never call them "legos". LEGO is a registered trademark, and LEGO(R) bricks are the components that the LEGO company produces. If you're going to conform, then bow to your corporate masters like Obama bowing to Hu Jintao.
Where is the racial modifier? Does Google not value diversity in hiring? A strict "meritocracy" is just a codeword for "whites only".
Does that actually happen? Maybe 50 years ago it was considered shameful, but that's back when homosexuality was considered shameful, too. Today, there is no stigma attached to receiving government money...in fact the children who have to pay for lunch would be looked on as suckers by the majority.
ED 209 was built by OCP...not the military...did you even watch Robocop?
Yeah. Like I said.
In days past, sysadmins were the "let's get things done!" people and the pointy-headed bosses and lusers were the "lawyers say we can't apply this totally obvious technical solution" types. Now, the tables have turned. Sucks, doesn't it?
"the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl"
I see what you did there! But there are parts missing...where's the "TEPCO is a corporation and all corporations are evil so this result was totally expected." The link text says, unveiled its plan for dealing with the crisis...don't you really mean "snowed the gullible media with its non-plan for handwaving away reality while paying no corporate income tax?" And where's the throwaway comment about capitalism failing? I mean, a dry recital of facts with a single opinion statement disguised in the middle is how things work these days, isn't it?
What's the point of a crisis like Fukushima if we don't take advantage of it to score points in favor of environmentalist anti-nuclear political objectives?
Disclaimer: as a dissident, I must be a paid shill of the nuclear companies, there is no other explanation for me speaking such heresy in public, nobody could possibly have a different opinion that the approved correct one.
...and the sysadmins are on the side of bureaucracy and stasis, and the lusers are on the side of "get things done". Quite a role reversal, isn't it?
What the hell? When Anonymous fires the low-orbit ion cannon, it comes down hard on evildoers. Why the fuck is Google on the other side of the fence now? I thought their motto is "don't be evil"? Why isn't Google offering LOIC as a feature in Chrome?
Funny, the death throes of capitalism have been preached since oh...about 1917 or so. To the barricades, comrades! Surely, communism won't kill 100,000,000 people in this century like it did last century. We'll get it right this time for sure!
Dictatorship. Of the proletariat. How can there be a dictatorship of the proletariat if the dictator isn't a proletarian? WTF dude, you are arguing against yourself...and losing.
"The scientific concept, dictatorship, means neither more nor less than unlimited power resting directly on force, not limited by anything, not restrained by any laws or any absolute rules. Nothing else but that."
-- Vladimir Lenin
"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites.
The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just round the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it.
Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power."
-- George Orwell, "1984"
"Where cultural progress is genuinely successful and ills are cured, this progress is seldom received with enthusiasm. Instead, they are taken for granted and attention focuses on those ills that remain."
-- Odo Marquard, Philosopher
Uh, you are aware that the British and nazis fought a war together, right? And that those same British even allied with communists AGAINST the nazis? Yeah, Lenin was a real proletarian, wasn't he?