Hey, guy? Emmanuel Goldstein was a capitalist (The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism). Big Brother was the communist (Ingsoc = English Socialist Party). Funny how people turn things around to fit what they believe instead of what things actually mean. (Spoiler alert: it turns out that Big Brother invented Emmanuel Goldstein.)
Well, I came for some insight, and instead there are eleven posts above me trashing the United States. So here's some actual thinking instead of the usual Two Minutes Hate.
China does indeed make very little from its manufacturing. The Chinese bemoan the fact that they're making so much for the world and getting so little in return. The reason is lack of brands - Chinese people just don't see brands as being important. They don't trust anything that they can't hold in their hands, and you wouldn't either if you had just emerged from fifty years of enforced poverty under a radical leftist government. Another problem is the rampant theft of IP and cutthroat domestic competition. Foreign brands have much of the high end, and Chinese companies are forced to viciously compete on price at the low end. And hey, if you do invest in R&D, Chinese IP laws are so weak that you'll get ripped off - why make money for someone else?
Suppose there was a phone that did everything the iPhone did, but didn't have the Apple logo on the outside. It wouldn't be nearly as popular, because there are plenty of people willing to pay $$$ for anything with that logo on it. Indeed, American companies come to China to make money, and make it they do. Apple is making money hand over fist with the iPhone. The Chinese get the scraps. Companies like KFC and Nike are kicking ass in China's domestic market.
The part about innovation is spot-on: the Chinese simply don't have that culture of "fixin' things" like we do. The usual attitude is to wait around for the government to do something. I've had my product copied so many times when it would have just been easier (and more educational) for the company to make its own damn product. Who knows, they might have made a better one instead of an inferior copy. But they'll never know because they just can't see past the end of their noses.
"In no event shall Microsoft be liable for any damages whatsoever, even in the event of fault (including negligence)."
-- Windows XP Professional license agreement
What would those points be, exactly? You've never read the book, you just saw the word "mercenary" and you're trying to insist something that isn't true. Blackwater are the equivalent of Renaissance mercenaries? That is simply uneducated, period. Do they rampage across the United States looting cities and holding wealthy citizens for ransom? Does the mayor of Detroit hire Executive Outcomes to invade Michigan, who then hires Blackwater in defense? Does the CEO of DynCorp hide out in South Jersey with his army, demanding to be hired by Bloomberg otherwise he'll invade the city? Ignorant, ignorant, ignorant. But typical of the contemporary style of argument that relies on assertion and "everyone knows that's true" as its only means.
You don't even know (of course, never having read the book) that Machiavelli, in his book The Prince which we are talking about now, STRONGLY RECOMMENDS AGAINST HIRING MERCENARIES. Machiavelli hated mercenaries, considered them a scourge, and advocated armies of citizens instead. Does "the draft" ring a bell?
I can see you've never read The Prince, you just heard the keyword "mercenary" and clicked into slashbot mode. Sigh. It's not me that says this about the condottieri, it's pretty much every book reviewer everywhere from the 16th century on. Please, for the love of all that is holy, read the God-damned book and get an education. Thanks.
The chapters on mercenaries refer to Italian conditierri and are regarded as obsolete, of historical interest only. You might consider that the disuse of mercenaries led to the draft, a great evil. The other chapters on human nature are as valid as they've ever been.
It's a good thing that only the United States of America has an intelligence service. It's even better that they are the only ones who use deception in the course of their activities. Hey, what's that I hear about deception being an essential part of ethical journalism? Everyone, look, a balloon up in the sky!
PS is a street magician an actual CIA employee with a security clearance?
Wikipedia was blocked before in China, and there is no reason to assume it won't be blocked again. Hardly worth it to contribute to something that won't benefit the people.
Chinese people don't need, nor want foreigners talking about the interior affairs of their country.
How much more can we write about Louis Pasteur or the Treaty of Worms or Heilongjiang? Wikipedia has had a ton of stuff poured into it and doesn't really need new contributors. Not surprising they're trying to drive contributors off. One thing I've learned in life, when people are being dicks they're doing it for a reason that benefits them.
I don't see how it's racist at all. I'm sure it is in some aspect (everything is) but I'm just not seeing it in the GP comment. And Facebook/Twitter/etc are hardly "elite", in fact they are the unwashed masses. What's next, pogroms against grouphug users?
A passport not only verifies your identity, but also your citizenship. It's why you either show that or a Social Security card when accepting a new job in the USA. Traveling with your birth certificate sounds like an incredibly bad idea - passports can be replaced at your local embassy, but without a birth certificate, you're in really bad shape. Are you taking the piss, or just intentionally misunderstanding?
That's why I'll take one look at it and go on to the next one. I've used enough crap software to know that I don't want my money depending on some hacker's never-to-be-finished software. Another warning sign is a cutesy name like "the GIMP" or "(this is not) Backup Buddy". Google is readily available to give any piece of software a unique, non-namespace-polluting name like Drupal or Joomla or Linux.
I wish the media would stop using the words "vanished" or "disappeared" in regards to missing persons or people who do not wish to be found. People do not vanish, they are there the whole time if you know where to look. The photoshopped stills accompanying the article are certainly no help. This confusion of thinking is really bad IMO.
I'm rather surprised he got into a hostel, the one I tried in Venice Beach a while back demanded a passport instead of the valid ID that I presented - evidently the desk clerk didn't like my looks (I was a wandering longhair at the time) and I was denied service, just like you hear the old stories about lunch counters or the new stories about British soldiers.
PS the classic counter-surveillance technique is three right turns in a row. If the same car is still in your rearview mirror, you can be pretty sure they're following you. Detecting surveillance is one thing, evading it quite another. Of course, these days they just stick a GPS tracker on your car, which is why you need to go into an underground structure and change vehicles.
Most Americans espeically in the mid west think anything even slightly spicy is way too hot. They put so much sugar and/or corn syrup in EVERYTHING in the US you can't hardly taste the actual food.
Wow, they're just like the Shanghainese! Unless you were just being a prick towards Americans. You mean you didn't know that many cuisines throughout the world are sweet and the local inhabitants don't grow spicy peppers because the terrain or soil isn't suitable? Or maybe, just maybe, the residents don't like spicy food? Who made this a rule? How, exactly, is spicy food "better"? Is it because that's what you're used to and get angry with anyone who disagrees?
These are tropes and an essential part of storytelling. Calling them "sad" just exposes how little you know, and makes you look like a total moron. Go back to consuming stories, and don't try to talk up to people who know more than you. Thanks, bye!
The regular decimal is an SI standard and its usage is preferred in China, India, Russia, America, Canada (the unimportant, non-French part), Mexico, all of South America, Africa, Australia, New Zealand...my fingers are getting tired. But hey, you've got Finland *and* Estonia on your standard. Good show!
You'd figure the holier-than-thou would be the ones to find out what the world's standard was and slavishly adhere to it, proclaiming all the while how superior it is, and how anyone who clings to an outdated system out of convenience or custom is a total moron. I can tell you firsthand the Chinese are baffled when it comes to decimals and commas being the wrong way around.
I knew there was someone waiting to be an asshole in the thread. Actually, I thought it was about some guy in England wanting to visit America, and I was prepared for the hatred. To my surprise, the thread was filled with useful, informative, kind comments. What happened to Slashdot, I thought...is it April Fool's Day?
But thanks for reaffirming my faith, sir. PS the guy at the link is a moron, you don't make jokes with immigration or customs officers. PPS his birth certificate wouldn't have helped him, why'd you say that?
What, you thought they ate poison fish and died? Jeez there wouldn't be any Japanese left. Here's my story of eating fugu:
Lived in Tokyo a while back, and of course I want to try the famous poisonous fugu fish. Come to find out, it's a delicacy (duh!) and like all delicacies it's incredibly expensive. Like $100-500 per person expensive. I know Tokyo is pricey but even that was a bit much for me. So, we shop around and find a place that's a mere $40 per person for a fixed price meal - what a stroke of luck! Of course as soon as we arrive there, it's not the nicest-looking restaurant and I immediately make the connection that this must be where the least-skilled or beginner fugu chefs work. Hurrah! For that little extra bit of danger in your meal. We order and it's three courses, skin, sashimi, and soup. The first course arrives and the pieces are STILL MOVING and twitching. I suppose that means it's fresh. I say to my dining companion: "You first!" She says, "no, YOU first!" and this goes on a bit until the fugu stops twitching. It's getting less fresh by the minute, and we finally agree to a suicide pact. Grabbing it with chopsticks, lifting it to the lips, any last requests? and down the hatch. Interesting but actually not that spectacular. The soup was probably the best. I'm glad I did it and I'm especially glad I didn't pay $250 for the two of us. Sort of like climbing Mount Fuji: it's something a man should do once in his life, but only a fool does it twice.
It's an acronym. It has no meaning, it's just an abbreviation of Micro-OptoMechanical Systems. Perhaps you were waiting for someone to make a totally contrived name, where they start with the name and make dumb words up to fit it? The sort of "acronym" that sounds hilarious the first time you say it, and gets progressively less funny each time?
There's a difference between "being put on ice in the hold" and "frozen like a brick". The first is essentially refrigeration, the second bursts the cell walls of the fish tissue and results in mushy, flavorless sushi. Freshness is paramount, and if it ain't fresh, then why even bother?
Slashdot Mirror
Hey, guy? Emmanuel Goldstein was a capitalist (The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism). Big Brother was the communist (Ingsoc = English Socialist Party). Funny how people turn things around to fit what they believe instead of what things actually mean. (Spoiler alert: it turns out that Big Brother invented Emmanuel Goldstein.)
Well, I came for some insight, and instead there are eleven posts above me trashing the United States. So here's some actual thinking instead of the usual Two Minutes Hate.
China does indeed make very little from its manufacturing. The Chinese bemoan the fact that they're making so much for the world and getting so little in return. The reason is lack of brands - Chinese people just don't see brands as being important. They don't trust anything that they can't hold in their hands, and you wouldn't either if you had just emerged from fifty years of enforced poverty under a radical leftist government. Another problem is the rampant theft of IP and cutthroat domestic competition. Foreign brands have much of the high end, and Chinese companies are forced to viciously compete on price at the low end. And hey, if you do invest in R&D, Chinese IP laws are so weak that you'll get ripped off - why make money for someone else?
Suppose there was a phone that did everything the iPhone did, but didn't have the Apple logo on the outside. It wouldn't be nearly as popular, because there are plenty of people willing to pay $$$ for anything with that logo on it. Indeed, American companies come to China to make money, and make it they do. Apple is making money hand over fist with the iPhone. The Chinese get the scraps. Companies like KFC and Nike are kicking ass in China's domestic market.
The part about innovation is spot-on: the Chinese simply don't have that culture of "fixin' things" like we do. The usual attitude is to wait around for the government to do something. I've had my product copied so many times when it would have just been easier (and more educational) for the company to make its own damn product. Who knows, they might have made a better one instead of an inferior copy. But they'll never know because they just can't see past the end of their noses.
Here's an interesting link on branding if you want further reading, and here is another.
PS please don't come and live overseas. It's very nice here and we don't need jackasses giving up on their own country polluting our nice communities.
"In no event shall Microsoft be liable for any damages whatsoever, even in the event of fault (including negligence)."
-- Windows XP Professional license agreement
So BBS users wrote CIA and army manuals? What? These aren't anarchy philes we're talking about here. They have and ordinary people are often shocked to find that Army manuals tell you how to kill people. "I read it, and those methods are so unfair! We are such horrible people!" I mean, you and I know that's a ridiculous attitude, but I'm not kidding when I tell you there are people out there who do have those reactions.
You don't even know (of course, never having read the book) that Machiavelli, in his book The Prince which we are talking about now, STRONGLY RECOMMENDS AGAINST HIRING MERCENARIES. Machiavelli hated mercenaries, considered them a scourge, and advocated armies of citizens instead. Does "the draft" ring a bell?
I can see you've never read The Prince, you just heard the keyword "mercenary" and clicked into slashbot mode. Sigh. It's not me that says this about the condottieri, it's pretty much every book reviewer everywhere from the 16th century on. Please, for the love of all that is holy, read the God-damned book and get an education. Thanks.
The chapters on mercenaries refer to Italian conditierri and are regarded as obsolete, of historical interest only. You might consider that the disuse of mercenaries led to the draft, a great evil. The other chapters on human nature are as valid as they've ever been.
PS is a street magician an actual CIA employee with a security clearance?
Chinese people don't need, nor want foreigners talking about the interior affairs of their country.
How much more can we write about Louis Pasteur or the Treaty of Worms or Heilongjiang? Wikipedia has had a ton of stuff poured into it and doesn't really need new contributors. Not surprising they're trying to drive contributors off. One thing I've learned in life, when people are being dicks they're doing it for a reason that benefits them.
I don't see how it's racist at all. I'm sure it is in some aspect (everything is) but I'm just not seeing it in the GP comment. And Facebook/Twitter/etc are hardly "elite", in fact they are the unwashed masses. What's next, pogroms against grouphug users?
A passport not only verifies your identity, but also your citizenship. It's why you either show that or a Social Security card when accepting a new job in the USA. Traveling with your birth certificate sounds like an incredibly bad idea - passports can be replaced at your local embassy, but without a birth certificate, you're in really bad shape. Are you taking the piss, or just intentionally misunderstanding?
That's why I'll take one look at it and go on to the next one. I've used enough crap software to know that I don't want my money depending on some hacker's never-to-be-finished software. Another warning sign is a cutesy name like "the GIMP" or "(this is not) Backup Buddy". Google is readily available to give any piece of software a unique, non-namespace-polluting name like Drupal or Joomla or Linux.
I'm rather surprised he got into a hostel, the one I tried in Venice Beach a while back demanded a passport instead of the valid ID that I presented - evidently the desk clerk didn't like my looks (I was a wandering longhair at the time) and I was denied service, just like you hear the old stories about lunch counters or the new stories about British soldiers.
PS the classic counter-surveillance technique is three right turns in a row. If the same car is still in your rearview mirror, you can be pretty sure they're following you. Detecting surveillance is one thing, evading it quite another. Of course, these days they just stick a GPS tracker on your car, which is why you need to go into an underground structure and change vehicles.
Wow, they're just like the Shanghainese! Unless you were just being a prick towards Americans. You mean you didn't know that many cuisines throughout the world are sweet and the local inhabitants don't grow spicy peppers because the terrain or soil isn't suitable? Or maybe, just maybe, the residents don't like spicy food? Who made this a rule? How, exactly, is spicy food "better"? Is it because that's what you're used to and get angry with anyone who disagrees?
These are tropes and an essential part of storytelling. Calling them "sad" just exposes how little you know, and makes you look like a total moron. Go back to consuming stories, and don't try to talk up to people who know more than you. Thanks, bye!
Certain demographics (such as young, black men) are also 'very highly over-represented' in prison.
You'd figure the holier-than-thou would be the ones to find out what the world's standard was and slavishly adhere to it, proclaiming all the while how superior it is, and how anyone who clings to an outdated system out of convenience or custom is a total moron. I can tell you firsthand the Chinese are baffled when it comes to decimals and commas being the wrong way around.
Hurrah for Google! Now Americans never have to learn another language again!
But thanks for reaffirming my faith, sir. PS the guy at the link is a moron, you don't make jokes with immigration or customs officers. PPS his birth certificate wouldn't have helped him, why'd you say that?
Lived in Tokyo a while back, and of course I want to try the famous poisonous fugu fish. Come to find out, it's a delicacy (duh!) and like all delicacies it's incredibly expensive. Like $100-500 per person expensive. I know Tokyo is pricey but even that was a bit much for me. So, we shop around and find a place that's a mere $40 per person for a fixed price meal - what a stroke of luck! Of course as soon as we arrive there, it's not the nicest-looking restaurant and I immediately make the connection that this must be where the least-skilled or beginner fugu chefs work. Hurrah! For that little extra bit of danger in your meal. We order and it's three courses, skin, sashimi, and soup. The first course arrives and the pieces are STILL MOVING and twitching. I suppose that means it's fresh. I say to my dining companion: "You first!" She says, "no, YOU first!" and this goes on a bit until the fugu stops twitching. It's getting less fresh by the minute, and we finally agree to a suicide pact. Grabbing it with chopsticks, lifting it to the lips, any last requests? and down the hatch. Interesting but actually not that spectacular. The soup was probably the best. I'm glad I did it and I'm especially glad I didn't pay $250 for the two of us. Sort of like climbing Mount Fuji: it's something a man should do once in his life, but only a fool does it twice.
Q: Why is starting a comment in the Subject: line incredibly irritating?
It's an acronym. It has no meaning, it's just an abbreviation of Micro-OptoMechanical Systems. Perhaps you were waiting for someone to make a totally contrived name, where they start with the name and make dumb words up to fit it? The sort of "acronym" that sounds hilarious the first time you say it, and gets progressively less funny each time?
There's a difference between "being put on ice in the hold" and "frozen like a brick". The first is essentially refrigeration, the second bursts the cell walls of the fish tissue and results in mushy, flavorless sushi. Freshness is paramount, and if it ain't fresh, then why even bother?