If 90% of the population just doesn't care than you don't have a democracy, you have an oligarchical dictatorship.
Are you sure what you have now is "True Democracy" ?
How responsive is your "representative" in the government ?
How much access do you have to those who supposed to "represent your interest" ?
The so-called "Democracy" that many Western countries have are all illusions - designed in such a way to fool and pacify the masses into believing that what they have is "Democracy"
It's the "Elites" that are running the show, not you, not me, not the Johns on the street
It's time to wake up and smell the coffee beans, my friend !
At the beginning of the "Information Superhighway" - at least that was what they called "Internet" back then - there were a lot of people pulling cables and starting local ISPs
At that time, competition was fierce, and everyone tried to one-up each others, on price, on service, on usage, et cetera, to attract new customers
While the competition was fierce, there was a feeling of comradery and responsibility amongst the ISPs, and they did respect the "Freedom & Equality" spirit of the Net
But that golden era was not to last, for big and established players from the telephone and cable industries (AT&T / Comcast), with deep pockets, out-maneuvered the smaller players - and that's what we have today, an oligopolistic structure of the ISPs
As oligarchs go, the big players got so much power that they get to do almost everything they want to do - and as we have all witnessed - not even the government has power to reign them in
Without fossil fuel, where can we get electricity?
Nuke plants that we have today (2nd to 3rd generation) produce to much radioactive wastes, and no one has built any 4th gen nuke plants yet
Eventually, when the fossil fuel runs out, all future inhabitants on this planet will have to go back to the old ways to move - like walking, or riding a horsey, or something like that
In 2011, the global sale of pharmaceuticals totalled 956 billion dollars, and it was predicted (back in 2011) that the figure to hike another 70 billion dollars or so, for 2012
If Microsoft got what it demands, that ARM devices that runs Win 8 be permanently locked, then the only option that I have, as a consumer, is to NOT BUY THAT DEVICE
No point of supporting dictatorial regime, be it political dictatorial, or hardware dictatorial
wasn't there a bit that said the farther in the future you go, the more accurate the prediction? For example, you couldn't predict that a group of soldiers would do something horrific next month, but you could predict that a year from now hostilities would begin... the same ones partially caused by previously mentioned incident
The longer you extend the time frame, the longer your prediction will come true - for example:
If one predicts that an air plane will crash today, killing hundreds, that prediction might have a very slim chance of becoming true
But if one predicts that event to happen sometimes in the next decades...
Off the shelf components are dirt cheap, slap on Linux
True, off-the-shelf components are comparatively cheaper
True, Linux, in principle, is free, as in Free Beer
But that does not mean the combination of off-the-shelf components and Linux is the best there is
Proprietary hardware / software combo may carry a very high price tag, but, when we are talking about enterprise level computing, or computing in the level of data-centers, there are times proprietary equipments make more sense than off-the-shelf components - in term of stability, performance, and/or energy efficiency
I am all for open-source, but my own experience in the computing scene - especially in large-scale deployment - tells me that the best option there is might not be the cheapest option
A. Many so-called "prescription drugs" are NOT classified as "prescription drugs" in many countries, including China
B. In countries such as China, one can purchase "prescription drugs" (those that _have_been_classified_ as prescription drugs) without any prescription, thus, such sales do not end up under your "under-one-trillion prescription drug expenditure globally" figure
"... and so I assumed that the time would come when there would be a science in which things could be predicted on a probabilistic or statistical basis"
The LA Times TFA described is mere an extension - by tapping on the powerful computing ability that we have today, and by tapping on the enormous databases that are being gathered (and kept) by private/corporate/governmental agencies around the world, including Facebook, FBI, and so on
1) The global prescription drug revenue is not even $1 trillion
Oh, this _is_ cute !!
First of all, the total expenditure of LEGAL drugs is MUCH MORE than mere "prescription drugs" bills
For example over-the-counter non-prescription drugs, such as Aspirin, are still being made by oligopolies of the Legal Drug Industry, such as Bayer
Although there are generic brands of Aspirin, Bayer is still raking in truckloads of $$$ from Aspirin
Another example - Many drugs expenditures are not included under your "under 1 trillion dollar global prescription drug expenditure" category because they are being used in hospitals (for example, anesthesiological drugs that are being used in surgical theatre), by military medics in conflict areas around the world, prescription drugs that are being sold to American buyers in border towns in Mexico, and so on
And secondly, your "under one trillion dollar" figure is suspicious, at best - because the figure you quote is only from USA/Europe/Japan.
You have conveniently omitted the figure from countries such as India, or the whole African continent, or China, or Latin America
Those countries may not be spending as much on "prescription drugs" simply because a lot of those so-called "prescription drugs" are not classified under the "prescription" criteria in many countries around the world.
When people read "drug cartel" they think of "illicit drugs", such as cocaine, meth, ice, and so on
But who _are_ the real drug cartel ?
Ever been to hospital lately ?
Ever wonder why the hell everything there is so expensive ?
Doctors of course wants to get their fair share and over-charge the patients, but, if we dig deep enough, we see a culture of vulture in the medical industry - and the "LEGAL DRUG" industry is a very essential part of the Culture of Vulture
They always paint the picture of "It takes so and so billions to carry out the research" so "we need to charge so much and so much for the drugs to recover our cost"
Really?
The legal drug industry is a MULTI-TRILLION DOLLAR industry, dominated by several oligopolies, and because of it, drugs that would have cost mere cents to produce are being sold for hundreds and hundreds of dollars
No matter how big Google is, Google still can't take on the true "Drug Cartel". They are just too powerful !
I'll bet she talked this over with Larry, Sergei and Eric before she accepted the position. I'd even be suprised if she doesn't get a going away party and offers for assistance from most if not all of the Google execs.
Look at it this way ---
If Microsoft can do what it did to Nokia, why can't Google do the same thing to Yahoo?
At least, in Yahoo's case, it's in a worse shape than Nokia before the invasion of Microsoft's mole
Slashdot Mirror
If 90% of the population just doesn't care than you don't have a democracy, you have an oligarchical dictatorship.
Are you sure what you have now is "True Democracy" ?
How responsive is your "representative" in the government ?
How much access do you have to those who supposed to "represent your interest" ?
The so-called "Democracy" that many Western countries have are all illusions - designed in such a way to fool and pacify the masses into believing that what they have is "Democracy"
It's the "Elites" that are running the show, not you, not me, not the Johns on the street
It's time to wake up and smell the coffee beans, my friend !
At the beginning of the "Information Superhighway" - at least that was what they called "Internet" back then - there were a lot of people pulling cables and starting local ISPs
At that time, competition was fierce, and everyone tried to one-up each others, on price, on service, on usage, et cetera, to attract new customers
While the competition was fierce, there was a feeling of comradery and responsibility amongst the ISPs, and they did respect the "Freedom & Equality" spirit of the Net
But that golden era was not to last, for big and established players from the telephone and cable industries (AT&T / Comcast), with deep pockets, out-maneuvered the smaller players - and that's what we have today, an oligopolistic structure of the ISPs
As oligarchs go, the big players got so much power that they get to do almost everything they want to do - and as we have all witnessed - not even the government has power to reign them in
Why not try to create a better informed electorate?
While you may believe that a "better informed electorate" is the key to solve the problem, I'm telling you this fact:
90% of the human population just-don't-give-a-fuck about 90% of the things that happen around them
All they want is to have an easy life, get laid, and be fed
Most of them just do-not-care-enough to lift their little finger to make any change, unless their livelihood got threatened
I would imagine riding a horse is far less energy efficient than driving in a car running on biofuel
Before you want to stake that claim of yours, I would advise you to do a more thorough research on the total energy input in producing biofuel
I do know what I am talking about, in this regard
We have patrol bases in areas that have nothing but marijuana fields around them
I seriously doubt you've ever been to Afghanistan
People there don't plant marijuana there
The Afghan people cultivate poppy - and harvest the "juice" to make morphine, and ... heroin
Without fossil fuel, where can we get electricity?
Nuke plants that we have today (2nd to 3rd generation) produce to much radioactive wastes, and no one has built any 4th gen nuke plants yet
Eventually, when the fossil fuel runs out, all future inhabitants on this planet will have to go back to the old ways to move - like walking, or riding a horsey, or something like that
can I get a patent on filing stupid patents?
No, you can't
Simply because there has already been a lot of precedences
But you can try your luck on getting a patent on filing not-that-bright patents, since nobody has done that yet
... but I am old ...
Guess you ain't as old as me
Guess I ain't as tired as you
Okay, so your soon-to-be congress-woman candidate gets elected and becomes a real congress-woman
What she agrees to do now?
I mean, what can you expect _anyone_ in the Congress to do, while the USPO is protected by corporations, patent trolls, and the lawyer union?
Looks like many open-source hardware projects have stalled.
Case in point:
http://www.openfirmware.info/OpenBIOS
The latest download available is dated 2009-03-01
As for opencores.org the projects are scattered here and there
No point of supporting dictatorial regime, be it political dictatorial, or hardware dictatorial
Tell that to anybody who has ever bought a video game console
Believe it or not, not one single red cent of mine was ever used to purchase video game console
After a brief but extensive search online, I take back the "multi-trillion dollar industry" remark.
The LEGAL DRUG INDUSTRY just broke the ONE-TRILLION-DOLLAR MARK on 2012
Based on the following report:
http://www.imshealth.com/portal/site/ims/menuitem.d248e29c86589c9c30e81c033208c22a/?vgnextoid=4d47d1822e678310VgnVCM10000076192ca2RCRD&vgnextchannel=437879d7f269e210VgnVCM10000071812ca2RCRD&vgnextfmt=default
In 2011, the global sale of pharmaceuticals totalled 956 billion dollars, and it was predicted (back in 2011) that the figure to hike another 70 billion dollars or so, for 2012
If Microsoft got what it demands, that ARM devices that runs Win 8 be permanently locked, then the only option that I have, as a consumer, is to NOT BUY THAT DEVICE
No point of supporting dictatorial regime, be it political dictatorial, or hardware dictatorial
wasn't there a bit that said the farther in the future you go, the more accurate the prediction? For example, you couldn't predict that a group of soldiers would do something horrific next month, but you could predict that a year from now hostilities would begin... the same ones partially caused by previously mentioned incident
The longer you extend the time frame, the longer your prediction will come true - for example:
If one predicts that an air plane will crash today, killing hundreds, that prediction might have a very slim chance of becoming true
But if one predicts that event to happen sometimes in the next decades
You get my drift
Off the shelf components are dirt cheap, slap on Linux
True, off-the-shelf components are comparatively cheaper
True, Linux, in principle, is free, as in Free Beer
But that does not mean the combination of off-the-shelf components and Linux is the best there is
Proprietary hardware / software combo may carry a very high price tag, but, when we are talking about enterprise level computing, or computing in the level of data-centers, there are times proprietary equipments make more sense than off-the-shelf components - in term of stability, performance, and/or energy efficiency
I am all for open-source, but my own experience in the computing scene - especially in large-scale deployment - tells me that the best option there is might not be the cheapest option
We are protecting oil pipelines in Afghanistan
Why was I never told that Afghanistan being an important oil producing country?
Let me repeat:
A. Many so-called "prescription drugs" are NOT classified as "prescription drugs" in many countries, including China
B. In countries such as China, one can purchase "prescription drugs" (those that _have_been_classified_ as prescription drugs) without any prescription, thus, such sales do not end up under your "under-one-trillion prescription drug expenditure globally" figure
Quoting Asimov:
"... and so I assumed that the time would come when there would be a science in which things could be predicted on a probabilistic or statistical basis"
What Asimov talked about, had actually been researched by many - in a principle known as "group dynamics" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_dynamics
The LA Times TFA described is mere an extension - by tapping on the powerful computing ability that we have today, and by tapping on the enormous databases that are being gathered (and kept) by private/corporate/governmental agencies around the world, including Facebook, FBI, and so on
1) The global prescription drug revenue is not even $1 trillion
Oh, this _is_ cute !!
First of all, the total expenditure of LEGAL drugs is MUCH MORE than mere "prescription drugs" bills
For example over-the-counter non-prescription drugs, such as Aspirin, are still being made by oligopolies of the Legal Drug Industry, such as Bayer
Although there are generic brands of Aspirin, Bayer is still raking in truckloads of $$$ from Aspirin
Another example - Many drugs expenditures are not included under your "under 1 trillion dollar global prescription drug expenditure" category because they are being used in hospitals (for example, anesthesiological drugs that are being used in surgical theatre), by military medics in conflict areas around the world, prescription drugs that are being sold to American buyers in border towns in Mexico, and so on
And secondly, your "under one trillion dollar" figure is suspicious, at best - because the figure you quote is only from USA/Europe/Japan.
You have conveniently omitted the figure from countries such as India, or the whole African continent, or China, or Latin America
Those countries may not be spending as much on "prescription drugs" simply because a lot of those so-called "prescription drugs" are not classified under the "prescription" criteria in many countries around the world.
I dated a robot
My girlfriend is a Hacker and looks like Angelina Jolie
Pics or it didn't happen !!
After what you describe Sony as:
put out almost nothing but shitty, proprietary crap for over a decade
music CDs install rootkits on computers
sue people who have committed no crime just to shut them up
You still trust the quality of girlfriend(s) that Sony might get for you?
When people read "drug cartel" they think of "illicit drugs", such as cocaine, meth, ice, and so on
But who _are_ the real drug cartel ?
Ever been to hospital lately ?
Ever wonder why the hell everything there is so expensive ?
Doctors of course wants to get their fair share and over-charge the patients, but, if we dig deep enough, we see a culture of vulture in the medical industry - and the "LEGAL DRUG" industry is a very essential part of the Culture of Vulture
They always paint the picture of "It takes so and so billions to carry out the research" so "we need to charge so much and so much for the drugs to recover our cost"
Really?
The legal drug industry is a MULTI-TRILLION DOLLAR industry, dominated by several oligopolies, and because of it, drugs that would have cost mere cents to produce are being sold for hundreds and hundreds of dollars
No matter how big Google is, Google still can't take on the true "Drug Cartel". They are just too powerful !
geeks are, by and large, pussies
Actually, human beings are, by and large, pussies
That honor does not belong exclusively to the geeks
On another tracks we were talking about what makes Geeks "Geeks" and how we are pounded by those unscrupulous scumbags
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2980545&cid=40659239
And the author is talking about the complete reverse
I do not know which one is more true-er, tho
I'll bet she talked this over with Larry, Sergei and Eric before she accepted the position. I'd even be suprised if she doesn't get a going away party and offers for assistance from most if not all of the Google execs.
Look at it this way ---
If Microsoft can do what it did to Nokia, why can't Google do the same thing to Yahoo?
At least, in Yahoo's case, it's in a worse shape than Nokia before the invasion of Microsoft's mole