So if you don't want to hire people who say they did it all by themselves you won't be hiring anyone who's a team player or anyone who wants to share the knowledge.
I agree with your sentiment, but you fail to see the value in accomplishment of smaller projects that you can actually do all by yourself.
I don't fail to see that value at all. It's just that I don't think that it's going to work out well in a team environment to bring in people who are all about working alone.
MOST business projects today are large enough that they require multiple developers. Even if they don't, you do not want a superstar who wants to hoard the knowledge and the glory. It's fine that you've created compilers and game clones by yourself, but I wouldn't choose to interview you (or not0 based on that alone.
I have been lead on several projects and modules. I've even been in the position of being the only one to fully understand a system or module. I've rarely been the only one who ever worked on a system and I would never EVER claim it was all me. There is ALWAYS someone else involved, even if I was the guy who put it all together AND I will actively try to spread the knowledge so that if I'm hit by a bus you don't have to re-write the damn thing.
So if you don't want to hire people who say they did it all by themselves you won't be hiring anyone who's a team player or anyone who wants to share the knowledge. You'll only get arrogant unprofessional jerks who think they're irreplaceable and actively try to make themselves irreplaceable. Good luck with that!
Try hiring people who can say they've been lead on a project, been the guy on the floor on the implementation weekend etc. If their old boss could count on their technical and people skills chances are so can you.
The key advantage of the spreadsheet approach is the ability to go back and check that I've entered the right things after the fact is worth the extra key presses. You can correct a complex problem just by finding the error and fixing it without re-keying. I have to admit accuracy isn't my forte. I'm the kind of guy that would make one silly mistake in a complex calculation at school and bollox it up.
As for an Octave tutorial, I'm no expert here. Google is your friend, and I'll bet there's good information on the Octave site too. My Calculus is very very rusty. I managed to do an Astronomy masters where calculus was optional. It was geared to teaching at school and introductory college level. But I didn't do it with the aim of a career change. I did it because I wanted to know more about the subject.
Don't forget to check out other options. 3 that I've come across that were interesting to play with were Maxima (still current), Mupad (no longer offered I'm sad to learn as I type this) and Xplore (old one man project, no longer supported). I've used Xplore since the DOS days though and used it at uni so while I don't regularly fire it up I have a soft spot for it, and it was simple.
I've never met an app that felt as natural for handling pure computational tasks, and I have never needed to place a call from my calculator. Sometimes, purpose-built hardware is just better.
It's called a spreadsheet. Repeatable. Entered formulae can be reviewed for errors or modified at will. Graphs are limited but good for what they do. Sorry no calculus, imaginary numbers, matrix algebra or other specialised or advanced math. Now I won't deny that spreadsheet use from a phone sucks, but I'm surprised so many people still cling to their old gadgets when there are infinitely better solutions.
As long as calculus isn't involved, a spreadsheet is best. I did an Astronomy masters (finished 2002) and significantly cut down my time doing assignments involving simple algebra by using a spreadsheet. It was a distance course. We also had open book exams, and were permitted to use any calculation tools we wished. The only rule for assignments and exams was no collaboration.
Advantages of a spreadsheet: Repeatable. You can see your work and modify or correct mistakes at will. Graphs are limited but easy. Both statistical and scientific functions. Time saved can be used to do simple checking (plugging the answer back into the question).
Reverse polish is good on old style calculators for exactly 2 reasons: 1) You have the limited input and output of a calculator keyboard and screen. 2) You more closely mirror what a turing machine/computer is doing, so if you're trying to understand one it's a good way to get closer to the architecture
Reason 1 disappears if you spend most of your time sitting in front of a relatively modern computer. Reason 2 has less to do with the calculation than it has to do with IT and computer science. And once you have a good understanding, you're just reinforcing that same knowledge.
Spreadsheets are excellent but have no native ability to solve or graph calculus equations. For that I would use a math package. Octave and SciLab can be had for free. Matlab, Maple, and Mathematica for more money if you're serious.
It is clear that the operation in parenthesis occurs first so 6/2(1+2) becomes 6/2(3) or 6/2x3. The question then is do you multiply or divide first. The precedence I learned in school was multiply, divide, add, subtract (mnemonic "My Dear Aunt Sally") so that would be 6/6 or 1.
I was always taught that multiplication and division were of equal precedence since they are equivalent operations algebraically. Dividing by 2 is the same as multiplying by half. Addition and subtraction also have equal precedence since adding -2 is the same as subtracting 2. I wasn't taught any mnemonic. (Mnemonics can be useful if correct but I'd call that one silly).
So if you want to be algebraically consistent, precedence isn't the real issue at all. The real issue is whether you calculate left to right or right to left for equivalent precedence. Do you do the division first (left to right) or multiplication first (right to left). Either makes sense algebraically but the usual convention is left to right, just like we write our sentences left to right.
This is indeed how most modern calculating systems work. Type =6/2*(1+2) into either Excel or Open Office calc and you get 9. (Use the original form =6/2(1+2) and both will offer to auto-correct to insert the multiplication symbol, since neither t support the shorthand of dropping the multiplication symbol)
But we do agree that the best thing to do is be unambiguous and add brackets everywhere. Either 6/(2(1+2)) or (6/2)(1+2) Even better though not as compact 6/(2*(1+2)) or (6/2)*(1+2)
Would someone inform me of what changes to make regarding stopping the plugin from redirecting traffic every 15 pages? Or even provide a link to a version of the plugin that doesn't do that? http://mafiaafire.com/wall-of-text.php#s
It's the mafiaafire plugin. Of course it's gonna take a cut.
...season to season. They're signed for something like 7 seasons. Even though the show has gone down hill it still has it's moments.
I think Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons are going to be just fine post Big Bang, but if you've heard Kaley Cuoco's rendition of "Somewhere over the rainbow", you'll realise that her career is headed for a big a black hole once the show ends
1) Other manufacturers can be bad, so Apple should be too
No but ragging on the one which actually comes out ahead of most, if not all, manufacturers in terms of official support is disingenuous.
You're kidding me, right? This is the same manufacturer that's famous for selling a phone that drops out if you hold it wrong, and screens that scratch if you look at them harshly.
I've had few things from Apple and their support is my #2 reason for disliking them. My #1 reason is lockdown and crippling in order to sell the next model. #3 is their draconian control of the sales channels.
Every product I've owned or used at work from Apple has given me nothing but trouble. Just junk, and their customer service stinks. Apple is NOT geek friendly, is NOT stylish and does NOT provide good support.
The data wasn't sync the users folder was the file just happened to be in it. HEY IDIOT THAT"S WHY ITS CALLED A BACKUP.
If it's temp data it DOESN't NEED TO BE BACKED UP. See, I can yell too.
The irony is fanboys such as yourself are this abusive and don't get modded down, but anyone daring to criticise the great Apple (all hail!) gets modded into oblivion. I'm not the idiot here.
Yeah clearly that data needs to be synchronised to iTunes
OK, one last time for the cheap seats: Apple syncs everything as part of an iPhone backup. They do this so that when you restore from backup you get the device back to its backed up state (kinda the point), temporary files included. When you actually look at a backup all manner of cache files are included. It is not only a backup of data, it's a backup of device state.
Yeah? They sync firmware?
What about licenses and DRM which tie purchases to device, meaning restoring to a different device you can lose your data. (Don't care if it allos 2, or 3 or 5 devices....bottom line if you have trouble with your phone you can lose more than the worth of the phone).
You're living in fanboy fantasy land! It's rotten tomatoes from the cheap seats.
Security? Jesus....Considering what it takes to get on a plane bound for, well, Earth, i can only imagine...
On site endoscopy?
Whether you're a believer or believe it's fiction I'm not familiar with a tradition in which Jesus does those, or any security work for that matter. If you want a high profile security officer, try an ex-wrestler or ex-footballer.
there's your enforcement. It's surprisingly hard to kill a human being when they don't have access to guns or tall buildings...
It's surprisingly easy to kill yourself if you're sufficiently motivated. Even padded cells are sometimes not enough. Clearly you've never considered suicide in any detail. This is not necessarily a bad thing. (I'm not saying I have either).
First, it's 2011. Most OEM's support android phones for months, not years.
Second, people like you are looking for something to qq about. you would complain if your water was wet.
Shut up.
I see so you arguments are: 1) Other manufacturers can be bad, so Apple should be too 2) People should never complain 3) You like to abuse and bully people
I bet you'd defend Apple if they went around with squads killing people and committing atrocities. Brand loyalty is for suckers.
I must be the only person who thought that feature was nice. Given that it's not shared with anybody, it is nothing but useful for me.
When I go on vacation or someplace interesting, I drag along a GPS logger so I know where I've been, and I can geolocate my pictures. I have to take another device in my backpack and keep it charged etc. If my phone did that, I'd be happy as hell. There are apps for that, but they suck serious battery. This low resolution database would be a nice compliment to to the GPS logger.
Sheldon
First of all most of the juice an app draws in that situation will be drawn running the GPS on the phone. It shouldn't make a difference which app does that. The only way it could is if some apps turned off the GPS, logged then turned it back off vs always on. An app could be written for that too.
Secondly a tracklog that's only accurate to within a kilometer or two is next to useless for geolocating pictures. If you've ever went geocaching you'd realise that relocating something with 30m accuracy can get frustrating. I suppose if you were really disorganised it could at least tell you what city/country a picture was taken, but I'd much rather carry around a dedicated GPS - better signal coverage etc. (I did this on honeymoon in New Zealand...and we took thousands of pictures....I can tell you exactly where on the side of the road we stopped in some cases....and the GPS I used was not as good as the one I own now).
My understanding was that what was being logged was not the users' locations but rather that of the nearest cell tower or hotspot.
Your understanding is flawed. It wasn't logging the nearest cell tower or wifi. It was, based on location, downloading to the phone a list of nearby cell towers and wifi networks (from a crowdsourced database run by Apple) so that when the user used an app that requested the location of the phone, this cache could be used to quickly generate a rough estimate and speed up the GPS location. This is a very useful optimization for most of us and the fact that it allowed people to generate a very rough log of our locations over time was simply an unintended side effect.
In order to get that data a third party would have to either steal your phone or steal your iPhone backups from your computer. Either way, you would have bigger problems than a log file with your locations.
Or obtain your phone by subpoena.
In some cases it may be the entire intent of the excercise is to determine what your location has been.
My understanding was that what was being logged was not the users' locations but rather that of the nearest cell tower or hotspot. But whatever, hurf durf, Steve wuz spying on us.
OK, so you're justifying Apple tracking their users to within a few hundred yards.
What CAN'T you justify, fanboi?
I might be called a fanboi, but they were caching location data in what seemed like a logical manner to speed up location services.
Yeah clearly that data needs to be synchronised to iTunes. I'm pretty sure Apple employees could start shooting people at will and there would still be fanboys defending it "They're thinning out the herd. It's good for the community" or that they could randomly start stabbing people in the eye with a fork and the response would be "They're providing a community service by increasing awareness of disability". Sound ridiculous? It's already the case that when slave labor practices are brought to light you have thousands of fanboys ranting about raising the standard of living in developing countries and it's better than starving (as if paying a living wage were simply not an option).
I see this drivel all the time. Of course it's better to do harsh work than starve, but the option to do harsh work only exists because companies are not forced to provide better conditions and the population is so large that there is always someone willing to work under horrible conditions rather than starve. The only answer is to force companies to provide better minimum conditions. Developing countries can develop all they want but if the supply of workers is always larger than demand, left to their own devices, a countries working and living standards won't improve no matter how well the country does. Pure capitalism can't fix every problem any more than any other ideal. Some regulation is needed.
...where Judges are applying an understanding of the technical issues, common sense, and considering the situation of ordinary citizens?
The same world where bin Ladin is dead, democracy is sweeping the middle east like a sandstorm, Duke Nukem Forever will ship in June and the NDP are the official opposition in Canada.
2011 is pretty interesting so far.
Its all just a trap to lull us into a false sense of happiness before 2012 brings worldwide destruction and devastation.
Did you all miss the tsunamis, earthquakes, tornadoes and nuclear meltdowns? 2011 hasn't been all kittens and puppies.
for knowing every inane thought that crosses the mind of people I only vaguely care anything about.
I wonder how much information there is of any use at all to any intelligence agency. Government can find out who I'm married too and who my family is through other means. Most people play idiotic farmville like games, and friend anyone they've ever known that they don't find completely annoying. At worst they could dig up private or public information on who I've argued with, or what console I'm playing. I'm not so sure the information is of much use to them or that I care if they have it. Of course I'm not a criminal and don't go around bragging about doing illegal things - if I were I might be more concerned (then again I'd be an idiot so oblivious).
The only trouble is I'm finding *I* don't care about that information either...pffft.
Slashdot Mirror
So if you don't want to hire people who say they did it all by themselves you won't be hiring anyone who's a team player or anyone who wants to share the knowledge.
I agree with your sentiment, but you fail to see the value in accomplishment of smaller projects that you can actually do all by yourself.
I don't fail to see that value at all. It's just that I don't think that it's going to work out well in a team environment to bring in people who are all about working alone.
MOST business projects today are large enough that they require multiple developers. Even if they don't, you do not want a superstar who wants to hoard the knowledge and the glory. It's fine that you've created compilers and game clones by yourself, but I wouldn't choose to interview you (or not0 based on that alone.
I have been lead on several projects and modules. I've even been in the position of being the only one to fully understand a system or module. I've rarely been the only one who ever worked on a system and I would never EVER claim it was all me. There is ALWAYS someone else involved, even if I was the guy who put it all together AND I will actively try to spread the knowledge so that if I'm hit by a bus you don't have to re-write the damn thing.
So if you don't want to hire people who say they did it all by themselves you won't be hiring anyone who's a team player or anyone who wants to share the knowledge. You'll only get arrogant unprofessional jerks who think they're irreplaceable and actively try to make themselves irreplaceable. Good luck with that!
Try hiring people who can say they've been lead on a project, been the guy on the floor on the implementation weekend etc. If their old boss could count on their technical and people skills chances are so can you.
The key advantage of the spreadsheet approach is the ability to go back and check that I've entered the right things after the fact is worth the extra key presses. You can correct a complex problem just by finding the error and fixing it without re-keying. I have to admit accuracy isn't my forte. I'm the kind of guy that would make one silly mistake in a complex calculation at school and bollox it up.
As for an Octave tutorial, I'm no expert here. Google is your friend, and I'll bet there's good information on the Octave site too. My Calculus is very very rusty. I managed to do an Astronomy masters where calculus was optional. It was geared to teaching at school and introductory college level. But I didn't do it with the aim of a career change. I did it because I wanted to know more about the subject.
Don't forget to check out other options. 3 that I've come across that were interesting to play with were Maxima (still current), Mupad (no longer offered I'm sad to learn as I type this) and Xplore (old one man project, no longer supported). I've used Xplore since the DOS days though and used it at uni so while I don't regularly fire it up I have a soft spot for it, and it was simple.
Here's the link for Maxima
http://maxima.sourceforge.net/
I've never met an app that felt as natural for handling pure computational tasks, and I have never needed to place a call from my calculator. Sometimes, purpose-built hardware is just better.
It's called a spreadsheet. Repeatable. Entered formulae can be reviewed for errors or modified at will. Graphs are limited but good for what they do. Sorry no calculus, imaginary numbers, matrix algebra or other specialised or advanced math. Now I won't deny that spreadsheet use from a phone sucks, but I'm surprised so many people still cling to their old gadgets when there are infinitely better solutions.
As long as calculus isn't involved, a spreadsheet is best. I did an Astronomy masters (finished 2002) and significantly cut down my time doing assignments involving simple algebra by using a spreadsheet. It was a distance course. We also had open book exams, and were permitted to use any calculation tools we wished. The only rule for assignments and exams was no collaboration.
Advantages of a spreadsheet: Repeatable. You can see your work and modify or correct mistakes at will. Graphs are limited but easy. Both statistical and scientific functions. Time saved can be used to do simple checking (plugging the answer back into the question).
Reverse polish is good on old style calculators for exactly 2 reasons:
1) You have the limited input and output of a calculator keyboard and screen.
2) You more closely mirror what a turing machine/computer is doing, so if you're trying to understand one it's a good way to get closer to the architecture
Reason 1 disappears if you spend most of your time sitting in front of a relatively modern computer.
Reason 2 has less to do with the calculation than it has to do with IT and computer science. And once you have a good understanding, you're just reinforcing that same knowledge.
Spreadsheets are excellent but have no native ability to solve or graph calculus equations. For that I would use a math package. Octave and SciLab can be had for free. Matlab, Maple, and Mathematica for more money if you're serious.
It is clear that the operation in parenthesis occurs first so 6/2(1+2) becomes 6/2(3) or 6/2x3. The question then is do you multiply or divide first. The precedence I learned in school was multiply, divide, add, subtract (mnemonic "My Dear Aunt Sally") so that would be 6/6 or 1.
I was always taught that multiplication and division were of equal precedence since they are equivalent operations algebraically. Dividing by 2 is the same as multiplying by half. Addition and subtraction also have equal precedence since adding -2 is the same as subtracting 2. I wasn't taught any mnemonic. (Mnemonics can be useful if correct but I'd call that one silly).
So if you want to be algebraically consistent, precedence isn't the real issue at all. The real issue is whether you calculate left to right or right to left for equivalent precedence. Do you do the division first (left to right) or multiplication first (right to left). Either makes sense algebraically but the usual convention is left to right, just like we write our sentences left to right.
This is indeed how most modern calculating systems work. Type
=6/2*(1+2)
into either Excel or Open Office calc and you get 9. (Use the original form =6/2(1+2) and both will offer to auto-correct to insert the multiplication symbol, since neither t support the shorthand of dropping the multiplication symbol)
But we do agree that the best thing to do is be unambiguous and add brackets everywhere.
Either 6/(2(1+2)) or (6/2)(1+2)
Even better though not as compact 6/(2*(1+2)) or (6/2)*(1+2)
No it's not, with five letters it's only 25% stronger.
You missed the joke. A month is 4 weeks hence the claim of it being 4 times as strong.
Ok, I'll bite... Mountain Dew increases blood pressure via caffeine...
It ain't just the caffeine
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12597970
http://www.emaxhealth.com/1275/cut-soft-drink-consumption-reduce-blood-pressure.html
Would someone inform me of what changes to make regarding stopping the plugin from redirecting traffic every 15 pages? Or even provide a link to a version of the plugin that doesn't do that?
http://mafiaafire.com/wall-of-text.php#s
It's the mafiaafire plugin. Of course it's gonna take a cut.
...season to season. They're signed for something like 7 seasons. Even though the show has gone down hill it still has it's moments.
I think Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons are going to be just fine post Big Bang, but if you've heard Kaley Cuoco's rendition of "Somewhere over the rainbow", you'll realise that her career is headed for a big a black hole once the show ends
So there may not be multiple big bangs. In which case their ability to survive is moot.
1) Other manufacturers can be bad, so Apple should be too
No but ragging on the one which actually comes out ahead of most, if not all, manufacturers in terms of official support is disingenuous.
You're kidding me, right? This is the same manufacturer that's famous for selling a phone that drops out if you hold it wrong, and screens that scratch if you look at them harshly.
I've had few things from Apple and their support is my #2 reason for disliking them. My #1 reason is lockdown and crippling in order to sell the next model. #3 is their draconian control of the sales channels.
Every product I've owned or used at work from Apple has given me nothing but trouble. Just junk, and their customer service stinks. Apple is NOT geek friendly, is NOT stylish and does NOT provide good support.
The data wasn't sync the users folder was the file just happened to be in it. HEY IDIOT THAT"S WHY ITS CALLED A BACKUP.
If it's temp data it DOESN't NEED TO BE BACKED UP. See, I can yell too.
The irony is fanboys such as yourself are this abusive and don't get modded down, but anyone daring to criticise the great Apple (all hail!) gets modded into oblivion. I'm not the idiot here.
Yeah clearly that data needs to be synchronised to iTunes
OK, one last time for the cheap seats: Apple syncs everything as part of an iPhone backup. They do this so that when you restore from backup you get the device back to its backed up state (kinda the point), temporary files included. When you actually look at a backup all manner of cache files are included. It is not only a backup of data, it's a backup of device state.
Yeah? They sync firmware?
What about licenses and DRM which tie purchases to device, meaning restoring to a different device you can lose your data. (Don't care if it allos 2, or 3 or 5 devices....bottom line if you have trouble with your phone you can lose more than the worth of the phone).
You're living in fanboy fantasy land! It's rotten tomatoes from the cheap seats.
Security? Jesus....Considering what it takes to get on a plane bound for, well, Earth, i can only imagine...
On site endoscopy?
Whether you're a believer or believe it's fiction I'm not familiar with a tradition in which Jesus does those, or any security work for that matter. If you want a high profile security officer, try an ex-wrestler or ex-footballer.
Good rule, I second that. Also, go easy on the medical requirement for participants... if I ever make it into space, I'll probably be old and broken.
And how do you think that body will react to 3-4G?
Nature rule, Daniel san.
there's your enforcement. It's surprisingly hard to kill a human being when they don't have access to guns or tall buildings...
It's surprisingly easy to kill yourself if you're sufficiently motivated. Even padded cells are sometimes not enough. Clearly you've never considered suicide in any detail. This is not necessarily a bad thing. (I'm not saying I have either).
First, it's 2011. Most OEM's support android phones for months, not years.
Second, people like you are looking for something to qq about. you would complain if your water was wet.
Shut up.
I see so you arguments are:
1) Other manufacturers can be bad, so Apple should be too
2) People should never complain
3) You like to abuse and bully people
I bet you'd defend Apple if they went around with squads killing people and committing atrocities. Brand loyalty is for suckers.
I must be the only person who thought that feature was nice. Given that it's not shared with anybody, it is nothing but useful for me.
When I go on vacation or someplace interesting, I drag along a GPS logger so I know where I've been, and I can geolocate my pictures. I have to take another device in my backpack and keep it charged etc. If my phone did that, I'd be happy as hell. There are apps for that, but they suck serious battery. This low resolution database would be a nice compliment to to the GPS logger.
Sheldon
First of all most of the juice an app draws in that situation will be drawn running the GPS on the phone. It shouldn't make a difference which app does that. The only way it could is if some apps turned off the GPS, logged then turned it back off vs always on. An app could be written for that too.
Secondly a tracklog that's only accurate to within a kilometer or two is next to useless for geolocating pictures. If you've ever went geocaching you'd realise that relocating something with 30m accuracy can get frustrating. I suppose if you were really disorganised it could at least tell you what city/country a picture was taken, but I'd much rather carry around a dedicated GPS - better signal coverage etc. (I did this on honeymoon in New Zealand...and we took thousands of pictures....I can tell you exactly where on the side of the road we stopped in some cases....and the GPS I used was not as good as the one I own now).
My understanding was that what was being logged was not the users' locations but rather that of the nearest cell tower or hotspot.
Your understanding is flawed. It wasn't logging the nearest cell tower or wifi. It was, based on location, downloading to the phone a list of nearby cell towers and wifi networks (from a crowdsourced database run by Apple) so that when the user used an app that requested the location of the phone, this cache could be used to quickly generate a rough estimate and speed up the GPS location. This is a very useful optimization for most of us and the fact that it allowed people to generate a very rough log of our locations over time was simply an unintended side effect.
In order to get that data a third party would have to either steal your phone or steal your iPhone backups from your computer. Either way, you would have bigger problems than a log file with your locations.
Or obtain your phone by subpoena.
In some cases it may be the entire intent of the excercise is to determine what your location has been.
My understanding was that what was being logged was not the users' locations but rather that of the nearest cell tower or hotspot. But whatever, hurf durf, Steve wuz spying on us.
OK, so you're justifying Apple tracking their users to within a few hundred yards.
What CAN'T you justify, fanboi?
I might be called a fanboi, but they were caching location data in what seemed like a logical manner to speed up location services.
Yeah clearly that data needs to be synchronised to iTunes. I'm pretty sure Apple employees could start shooting people at will and there would still be fanboys defending it "They're thinning out the herd. It's good for the community" or that they could randomly start stabbing people in the eye with a fork and the response would be "They're providing a community service by increasing awareness of disability". Sound ridiculous? It's already the case that when slave labor practices are brought to light you have thousands of fanboys ranting about raising the standard of living in developing countries and it's better than starving (as if paying a living wage were simply not an option).
I wonder what good it would do them if they stick their toaster oven into my Nokia 6303c?
You have 64 cores. That's gonna run much hotter than a toaster oven....though probably not for long enough to make toast.
I see this drivel all the time. Of course it's better to do harsh work than starve, but the option to do harsh work only exists because companies are not forced to provide better conditions and the population is so large that there is always someone willing to work under horrible conditions rather than starve. The only answer is to force companies to provide better minimum conditions. Developing countries can develop all they want but if the supply of workers is always larger than demand, left to their own devices, a countries working and living standards won't improve no matter how well the country does. Pure capitalism can't fix every problem any more than any other ideal. Some regulation is needed.
...where Judges are applying an understanding of the technical issues, common sense, and considering the situation of ordinary citizens?
The same world where bin Ladin is dead, democracy is sweeping the middle east like a sandstorm, Duke Nukem Forever will ship in June and the NDP are the official opposition in Canada.
2011 is pretty interesting so far.
Its all just a trap to lull us into a false sense of happiness before 2012 brings worldwide destruction and devastation.
Did you all miss the tsunamis, earthquakes, tornadoes and nuclear meltdowns? 2011 hasn't been all kittens and puppies.
for knowing every inane thought that crosses the mind of people I only vaguely care anything about.
I wonder how much information there is of any use at all to any intelligence agency. Government can find out who I'm married too and who my family is through other means. Most people play idiotic farmville like games, and friend anyone they've ever known that they don't find completely annoying. At worst they could dig up private or public information on who I've argued with, or what console I'm playing. I'm not so sure the information is of much use to them or that I care if they have it. Of course I'm not a criminal and don't go around bragging about doing illegal things - if I were I might be more concerned (then again I'd be an idiot so oblivious).
The only trouble is I'm finding *I* don't care about that information either...pffft.