If I'm not mistaken: isn't it true that NONE of the countries that signed on to the Paris Climate Accord are anywhere NEAR their current goals? If I'm right, then how can the EU claim what they're claiming here?
So long as corporations are more-or-less in charge of this, there won't be ANY chance of our species reversing the damage done to Earths' climate. They'll keep focusing on the money like they always do, and pay 'lip service' to the whole climate thing, just enough to make people think they give a damn. Meanwhile all they care about is making money while they're still alive, and to Hell with 'future generations', it's their problem.
To use the word 'wasteful' with regard to the 'American' way of life is not totally accurate; I'd use the term 'conspicuous consumption' instead.
All I have to do is drive around the city where I live and look at the billboards, and the people (especially women) walking down the street, to see how high our standard of living is in comparison to so many other parts of the world, and it's not hard at all to understand why so many other countries hate the U.S. as much as they do. We flaunt our prosperity here in the U.S., and some days it makes me feel dirty because I know damned well it's all built on the backs of 3rd-world countries paying their workers a pittance, in order to provide the U.S. with high-quality goods at a cheap price.
Some countries, especially ones for whom EU rules and laws have never set well with them, might look upon the UK leaving as a signal that it's time to bail out themselves. Consider that the solidarity that the EU represents is almost as important to Europe as NATO when it comes to the outside forces that would threaten EU countries (namely Russia).
If there's no EU by 2050, there likely won't be a NATO by 2050, and we'll also likely either have Soviet Union 2.0, or be on the bloody brink of it by then -- assuming Putin has his way. Or, maybe, we'll get lucky, and the rest of Russia will have had enough of Putin and his bullshit by then (seeing some early signs of that, maybe) and he'll 'become suddenly gravely ill and mysteriously die', in which case his plans of the re-conquest of Europe will become irrelevant, or at least get put on hold for another few decades. The EU may be a hot mess but at least there's some half-assed consensus going on there. Also keep in mind that Brexit was just as likely engineered by Russian influence as not, the UK being a charter member of the EU, and also a charter member of NATO; stirring up the UK like that is a major piece of the puzzle, if your goal is to remove the barriers that prevent you from re-establishing your empire, just like creating chaos and internal division within the U.S. is another major piece of that puzzle.
Yep. "Guilty until proven innocent", or perhaps so far as "Guilty without any chance of being proven innocent".
China will love this idea and will steal it.
..no, that's not what I'm asking for, and so far as I knew, there was some coordination between the UL and the government. Guess I was wrong? No matter. Maybe there should be, so far as 'cybersecurity' is concerned. They are behind the times, and maybe we need to fix that.
I should get out of the habit of responding to ACs, but..
Haven't you noticed? Even Fox is calling Trump out on some of his bullshit now. The End Is Nigh for Trump. I see 'single digit approval ratings' in Trumps' future..
There's hundreds, maybe thousands of voices, all with credentials to back them up, that are saying it's right and correct, against his 'word', backed by nothing credible at all. Human-caused global climate change is a Real Thing, and all the denial in the Universe won't change that or bury the evidence anymore. Sadly we may likely not be able to stop it at all now, so we may all be doomed. But I'll be damned if we're not going to smack the shit out of all the deniers who, through their inaction, helped make it inevitable.
The Great White Males in this country, who are all aging and long since having become calcified in their ways and attitudes, have been subjected to womens' rights, LGBTQ rights, gay marriage being legalized, women in positions of power, LGBTQ in positions of power, transgender people living out in the open and using bathrooms not corresponding to what their birth certificates say, and, finally, an African American POTUS for 8 years. What they want is to turn the clock back to the mid 1940's, when things were 'sane' (so far as they're concerned), because all the above is so far outside their comfort zone now, that they're practically peeing their pants every single day from the anxiety of being subjected to these things (and more) that they just can't wrap their heads around and accept. Some people don't want progress, some people just want things to stay precisely the way they've always been and never change, regardless of whether that's actually good or not. Ironically, there are quite a few women of the same vintage as these Great White Males who feel exactly the same as they do -- because they are of a generation that was indoctrinated from birth to believe that what the men-folk want is what they're supposed to want, too, and that 'thinking for themselves' will just get them in trouble -- so they just tow the line.
So that's what brings us to where we have today: half the country votes for a loud-mouthed, ill-behaved, Great White Male for POTUS, because he represents past times when Everything Was Still Okay (or so they think; things actually kinda sucked in significant ways. You can't go back!). They stay safely in denial about all the nasty shit he's doing, because the alternative, so far as they're concerned, was so much worse -- and Trump is 'sticking it to the liberals' that they hate so much, so almost anything he does is okay by them, so long as they get their 'revenge' on the 'libtards' that have brought them so much angst and ruined their black-and-white little Pleasantville world.
I will give you this one bit of hope to hang on to though: The DNC now has control of the House of Representatives again; this is the beginning of the course correction that was inevitable. The needle is now starting to swing back left towards the middle. This will continue over the next 2 years, as Trump continues to show his ass to the country and the world, and all but his staunchest, most deep-in-denial voter base will abandon ship, not being able to hold their noses against the stink he's creating. So hang on for a while longer and keep voting Democrat -- or if you're not Democrat, at least vote for moderate Republicans, who have a brain, which is the back-door way to help the Course Correction happen.
Buddy, I understand and share your frustration about Trump, I want him gone too, but what you just posted is riding the razors' edge of the law against calling for the assassination of POTUS, and the Secret Service can and will find you and arrest/question/charge you. I'd advise you be more careful with what you imply in your posts; you can't continue to be part of the voice of opposition against this insane Administration we're being subjected to if you're in a prison cell.
On the one hand, at least some Google workers aren't as evil as Google itself has become. On the other hand, those Google workers better get their resumes in order, they'll need them in the near future. On the gripping hand*, at least we can see that Google is not evil through-and-through, there is some resistance to it.
* Been reading The Mote In God's Eye and The Gripping Hand by Niven and Pournelle again, that's where that reference comes from. Check them out if you like science fiction, they're good reads.
For fucks' sake, I fully understand that China is so corrupt and screwing us (and other countries) over, in more than just trade (militarily, human rights [comma, lack of], and so on, and so on) but there's got to be a better way to handle this than this.
Of course you also have to admit: we're like spoiled-assed kids in this country. Our overall high standard of living is because everything has been so damned cheap for so many decades. You all complain about the cost of an iPhone, but if it was produced 100% here in the U.S. (from the smallest component on up), it would cost several times as much I'm sure, assuming they'd produce them at all (might be too expensive to produce in any quantity). Before anyone jumps my shit for that: without U.S. companies using Chinese companies for production, Chinas' economy would probably be absolute shit. So it is a two-way street -- but still there's got to be a better way to deal with this than what Trump is doing. He keeps trying to run a country like it's a business -- and he's not a good businessman to start with (vis-a-vis, all his bankruptcies and failures), and it's just a bad idea to run a country like it's a business anyway. He's achieving the opposite of what was intended: he's costing Americans money, he's destroying American jobs, and he's running American companies out of business.
Do I have a better idea? No. If I did, I'd run for office. But someone else must have a better way to do this, and they're not stepping up -- or maybe they've been told to shut up.
They'd never allow it, they don't want any of the 1.4 billion to think there's any escape. If they had their way, I'm sure, they'd make everyone believe there is no life or world outside Chinese borders, only death, just to make them believe there's no choice other than to be good little automatons.
No, that's bullshit. Do they really know what the long-term effects of their actions will be? Rhetorical question, the answer is a resounding NO, they don't. They could be dooming those children to a life of suffering, perhaps an early death, too, so fuck you and the horse you rode in on.
I am curious what happens when your phone gets hacked. Or damaged. Or the power is out. Network is down somewhere along the path. etc. etc.
Simple answer: the Chinese government doesn't give a damn. They don't value human life, very much so their own citizens, so why should they care at all if anyone is 'inconvenienced'? If anyone complains, they're arrested and sent to 're-education camp' for daring to criticize the government for any reason. Someone goes hungry? Tough shit. Someone doesn't get their life-saving medication on time? They've got over a billion people, why should they care? You were defective anyway, probably not a productive-enough worker-drone. Of course if one of the Party officials gets inconvenienced, well then I'm sure that's totally different! Then there's an investigation into 'corruption' or somesuch, people get fired and arrested, operators get fined, and in general they scare the shit out of everyone involved.
To the Chinese government, their citizens are just 'work units'. If they could replace them all with robots, they would; you see that they're treated more and more like robots, so my claim is not hard to imagine. The elderly are not useful as worker-drones anymore, so why should they care if they live or die? More likely they want anyone past the age of being useful workers to just quietly die. Bonus points for truth and wisdom of elders not being passed on to subsequent generations; the State would much rather have no opposing viewpoints clouding the minds of the next generation of worker-drones; their programming must not be corrupted by ideas like 'freedom', 'privacy', 'free speech', 'democracy', and so on.
No doubt the pro-China trolls will come out the woodwork now to try to piss me off, maybe mod me down into the sub-basement of Slashdot, but you won't, and you can't rationally defend a shitty government like China has, not even if you're part of the Chinese government. They're assholes, plain and simple, and I feel sympathy and pity for the citizens of China, especially the newest generation, who will likely never understand that what they endure is wrong.
Slashdot Mirror
If I'm not mistaken: isn't it true that NONE of the countries that signed on to the Paris Climate Accord are anywhere NEAR their current goals? If I'm right, then how can the EU claim what they're claiming here?
So long as corporations are more-or-less in charge of this, there won't be ANY chance of our species reversing the damage done to Earths' climate. They'll keep focusing on the money like they always do, and pay 'lip service' to the whole climate thing, just enough to make people think they give a damn. Meanwhile all they care about is making money while they're still alive, and to Hell with 'future generations', it's their problem.
LOL 'American Capitalism' has become a cancer, especially to anyone living in the U.S.
To use the word 'wasteful' with regard to the 'American' way of life is not totally accurate; I'd use the term 'conspicuous consumption' instead.
All I have to do is drive around the city where I live and look at the billboards, and the people (especially women) walking down the street, to see how high our standard of living is in comparison to so many other parts of the world, and it's not hard at all to understand why so many other countries hate the U.S. as much as they do. We flaunt our prosperity here in the U.S., and some days it makes me feel dirty because I know damned well it's all built on the backs of 3rd-world countries paying their workers a pittance, in order to provide the U.S. with high-quality goods at a cheap price.
Some countries, especially ones for whom EU rules and laws have never set well with them, might look upon the UK leaving as a signal that it's time to bail out themselves. Consider that the solidarity that the EU represents is almost as important to Europe as NATO when it comes to the outside forces that would threaten EU countries (namely Russia).
If there's no EU by 2050, there likely won't be a NATO by 2050, and we'll also likely either have Soviet Union 2.0, or be on the bloody brink of it by then -- assuming Putin has his way. Or, maybe, we'll get lucky, and the rest of Russia will have had enough of Putin and his bullshit by then (seeing some early signs of that, maybe) and he'll 'become suddenly gravely ill and mysteriously die', in which case his plans of the re-conquest of Europe will become irrelevant, or at least get put on hold for another few decades. The EU may be a hot mess but at least there's some half-assed consensus going on there. Also keep in mind that Brexit was just as likely engineered by Russian influence as not, the UK being a charter member of the EU, and also a charter member of NATO; stirring up the UK like that is a major piece of the puzzle, if your goal is to remove the barriers that prevent you from re-establishing your empire, just like creating chaos and internal division within the U.S. is another major piece of that puzzle.
Why do you love the Communist Chinese government?
We still have enough nukes just in the U.S. to make the planet uninhabitable. What else do you want?
If they even invent one great thing, make one great discovery, then the Chinese government benefits.
FTFY.
'Nuff said?
Yep. "Guilty until proven innocent", or perhaps so far as "Guilty without any chance of being proven innocent".
China will love this idea and will steal it.
..no, that's not what I'm asking for, and so far as I knew, there was some coordination between the UL and the government. Guess I was wrong? No matter. Maybe there should be, so far as 'cybersecurity' is concerned. They are behind the times, and maybe we need to fix that.
I should get out of the habit of responding to ACs, but..
Haven't you noticed? Even Fox is calling Trump out on some of his bullshit now. The End Is Nigh for Trump. I see 'single digit approval ratings' in Trumps' future..
There's hundreds, maybe thousands of voices, all with credentials to back them up, that are saying it's right and correct, against his 'word', backed by nothing credible at all. Human-caused global climate change is a Real Thing, and all the denial in the Universe won't change that or bury the evidence anymore. Sadly we may likely not be able to stop it at all now, so we may all be doomed. But I'll be damned if we're not going to smack the shit out of all the deniers who, through their inaction, helped make it inevitable.
The Great White Males in this country, who are all aging and long since having become calcified in their ways and attitudes, have been subjected to womens' rights, LGBTQ rights, gay marriage being legalized, women in positions of power, LGBTQ in positions of power, transgender people living out in the open and using bathrooms not corresponding to what their birth certificates say, and, finally, an African American POTUS for 8 years. What they want is to turn the clock back to the mid 1940's, when things were 'sane' (so far as they're concerned), because all the above is so far outside their comfort zone now, that they're practically peeing their pants every single day from the anxiety of being subjected to these things (and more) that they just can't wrap their heads around and accept. Some people don't want progress, some people just want things to stay precisely the way they've always been and never change, regardless of whether that's actually good or not. Ironically, there are quite a few women of the same vintage as these Great White Males who feel exactly the same as they do -- because they are of a generation that was indoctrinated from birth to believe that what the men-folk want is what they're supposed to want, too, and that 'thinking for themselves' will just get them in trouble -- so they just tow the line.
So that's what brings us to where we have today: half the country votes for a loud-mouthed, ill-behaved, Great White Male for POTUS, because he represents past times when Everything Was Still Okay (or so they think; things actually kinda sucked in significant ways. You can't go back!). They stay safely in denial about all the nasty shit he's doing, because the alternative, so far as they're concerned, was so much worse -- and Trump is 'sticking it to the liberals' that they hate so much, so almost anything he does is okay by them, so long as they get their 'revenge' on the 'libtards' that have brought them so much angst and ruined their black-and-white little Pleasantville world.
I will give you this one bit of hope to hang on to though: The DNC now has control of the House of Representatives again; this is the beginning of the course correction that was inevitable. The needle is now starting to swing back left towards the middle. This will continue over the next 2 years, as Trump continues to show his ass to the country and the world, and all but his staunchest, most deep-in-denial voter base will abandon ship, not being able to hold their noses against the stink he's creating. So hang on for a while longer and keep voting Democrat -- or if you're not Democrat, at least vote for moderate Republicans, who have a brain, which is the back-door way to help the Course Correction happen.
Buddy, I understand and share your frustration about Trump, I want him gone too, but what you just posted is riding the razors' edge of the law against calling for the assassination of POTUS, and the Secret Service can and will find you and arrest/question/charge you. I'd advise you be more careful with what you imply in your posts; you can't continue to be part of the voice of opposition against this insane Administration we're being subjected to if you're in a prison cell.
On the one hand, at least some Google workers aren't as evil as Google itself has become. On the other hand, those Google workers better get their resumes in order, they'll need them in the near future. On the gripping hand*, at least we can see that Google is not evil through-and-through, there is some resistance to it.
* Been reading The Mote In God's Eye and The Gripping Hand by Niven and Pournelle again, that's where that reference comes from. Check them out if you like science fiction, they're good reads.
How do we get them to knock this shit off?
..with it's throttle stuck wide open.
For fucks' sake, I fully understand that China is so corrupt and screwing us (and other countries) over, in more than just trade (militarily, human rights [comma, lack of], and so on, and so on) but there's got to be a better way to handle this than this.
Of course you also have to admit: we're like spoiled-assed kids in this country. Our overall high standard of living is because everything has been so damned cheap for so many decades. You all complain about the cost of an iPhone, but if it was produced 100% here in the U.S. (from the smallest component on up), it would cost several times as much I'm sure, assuming they'd produce them at all (might be too expensive to produce in any quantity). Before anyone jumps my shit for that: without U.S. companies using Chinese companies for production, Chinas' economy would probably be absolute shit. So it is a two-way street -- but still there's got to be a better way to deal with this than what Trump is doing. He keeps trying to run a country like it's a business -- and he's not a good businessman to start with (vis-a-vis, all his bankruptcies and failures), and it's just a bad idea to run a country like it's a business anyway. He's achieving the opposite of what was intended: he's costing Americans money, he's destroying American jobs, and he's running American companies out of business. Do I have a better idea? No. If I did, I'd run for office. But someone else must have a better way to do this, and they're not stepping up -- or maybe they've been told to shut up.
Don't you have a Klan meeting to go to?
They'd never allow it, they don't want any of the 1.4 billion to think there's any escape. If they had their way, I'm sure, they'd make everyone believe there is no life or world outside Chinese borders, only death, just to make them believe there's no choice other than to be good little automatons.
Fuck you and the horse you rode in in as well.
No, that's bullshit. Do they really know what the long-term effects of their actions will be? Rhetorical question, the answer is a resounding NO, they don't. They could be dooming those children to a life of suffering, perhaps an early death, too, so fuck you and the horse you rode in on.
Even if I landed gigs like that (wouldn't mind it a bit either) I still wouldn't watch most commcercials.
I am curious what happens when your phone gets hacked. Or damaged. Or the power is out. Network is down somewhere along the path. etc. etc.
Simple answer: the Chinese government doesn't give a damn. They don't value human life, very much so their own citizens, so why should they care at all if anyone is 'inconvenienced'? If anyone complains, they're arrested and sent to 're-education camp' for daring to criticize the government for any reason. Someone goes hungry? Tough shit. Someone doesn't get their life-saving medication on time? They've got over a billion people, why should they care? You were defective anyway, probably not a productive-enough worker-drone. Of course if one of the Party officials gets inconvenienced, well then I'm sure that's totally different! Then there's an investigation into 'corruption' or somesuch, people get fired and arrested, operators get fined, and in general they scare the shit out of everyone involved.
To the Chinese government, their citizens are just 'work units'. If they could replace them all with robots, they would; you see that they're treated more and more like robots, so my claim is not hard to imagine. The elderly are not useful as worker-drones anymore, so why should they care if they live or die? More likely they want anyone past the age of being useful workers to just quietly die. Bonus points for truth and wisdom of elders not being passed on to subsequent generations; the State would much rather have no opposing viewpoints clouding the minds of the next generation of worker-drones; their programming must not be corrupted by ideas like 'freedom', 'privacy', 'free speech', 'democracy', and so on.
No doubt the pro-China trolls will come out the woodwork now to try to piss me off, maybe mod me down into the sub-basement of Slashdot, but you won't, and you can't rationally defend a shitty government like China has, not even if you're part of the Chinese government. They're assholes, plain and simple, and I feel sympathy and pity for the citizens of China, especially the newest generation, who will likely never understand that what they endure is wrong.