Couldn't we just say that since Pluto was granted planetary status that its size defines the criteria for becoming a planet? Anything smaller than Pluto is not a planet and anything larger is a planet?
It really seems very subjective to me and this way, we could all move on with our lives.
A whole lot of Mac users have one or two apps that they have to use for work, that aren't available for the Mac. Also, anyone designing a web site pretty much has to test it with Internet Exploder. Boot Camp is the alternative to wasting desk space for a Dell.
Actually, those people are much better served by emulation software. Having to reboot for one application or, worse, a quick check of a web site modification with one application is not suited for dual-booting. I'd rather have two computers on my desk. No, for me, like many Mac users, I have one app that is Mac only and I want to launch it within OSX just like Classic apps do (at worst).
That's not to say that dual-booting isn't without merrits to me. I like games so I might DB for that. OTH, with all of the viruses, spyware and other crap, I might just get an Xbox360 or PS3 so as not to have to deal with it.
Bringing this OT, Forte Agent news reader was really nice and so was Auction Chief. I haven't found anything quite as good for the Mac. Other than those two apps and games, I'm happy with my Mac at home. At work, Minitab is the one app that keeps me on Windows.
Its only an illegal monopoly if they use their posistion to stop competition. There's nothing that says they can't be the only one producing consoles...
Even if MS bought out Sony, they would still have to worry about competition from these guys
OK, here is the reason why we struggle to make things better. Someone decides that "their way" to fix things is what needs to be done. Case in point:
This is clearly a situation where strong federal leadership is needed. If Americans are on board with reducing global warming, then let's make reduced fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions a reality by:
Why? If Americans are on board, we don't need federal leadership. We will do it ourselves. We will buy hybrids instead of SUVs, recycle, reuse etc etc.
- mandating higher MPGs in automobiles
Higher MPG does not always equate to lower emissions. We are trying to solve the problem of lower emissions. My 2005 Subaru STI gets the same fuel economy my 1977 Cordoba did. Do you think they produce the same emissions? Clearly not.
- granting huge tax credits for solar heating/electric panels on private and commercial buildings
Step right up and get Bob's bargain solar panels. They don't do much and even if they did, that forrest you live in wouldn't let them work anyway but you can save a fortune on your taxes. You don't reduce taxes to incent, you increase tax to reduce incentive.
- mandating solar equipment for ALL federal buildings
How much impact is that really going to have? Who's going to pay for that? You just cut the tax base giving incentives to solar panel users and now the cost of doing anything solar has gone through the roof (NPI) from the increased demand. How effective are solar panels in reducing emissions? Don't forget, we will generate emissions building, delivering, and installing these things and we will do it again when they need repairs. Now, instead of doing Cost/Benefit analysis we'll need to do an Emission/Benefit Analysis. Maybe it's a good idea but do we have any data to support it?
- mandating a switch to ethanol or methanol biofuels for federal fleets
At what expense? Who will pay for it? Could the Federal Fleet just use more efficient cars? Would that help enough?
- grant tax breaks for anyone switching to biofuels
One line is creating increased expense to the government, the next is about giving tax breaks. When do we get to the new deficit? How about increasing gas tax to incent people to buy more fuel efficient vehicles?
- aid to cities that want to build or expand public transportation
Our city has great public transportation. No one uses it. We even have a little skyway monorail that the feds helped pay for. No one uses that either. It would be great for emissions if it were used. Now it just makes things worse because we all drive just the way we used to and the new skyway creates its own emissions too.
- aid to cities to convert existing buses to biofuels
Great, now all of our empty busses have been converted to biofuels. No one rides them and we have generated even more expense to the givernment.
- massage research into alternative energy
We have alternative sources of energy, we just don't use them. Finding yet another source of energy that doesn't make financial sense probably won't help much.
- end the war in Iraq to free up the funds for the above initiatives
How? Let's assume that we all agree that the war in iraq is bad, just for the sake of argument. I think there might be some serious issues with an economic policy that prohibited military conflict due to financial constraints cause by our war on Global Warming?
The federal government is the agent that can mandate the conditions necessary to make this stuff a reality.
Yes, the government is getting very good at mandating conditions and most on/. are quick to recall that we are the land of the free, government intrusion is bad....
Our government should be encouraging new direction not forcing it. Besides, this all began with "If Americans are on board with reducing global
I think you are missing the point. Even if Lotus is a closed, proprietary system, linux isn't. O.K. so what you say.
Getting a non-windows server environment supported in an enterprise greatly increases the liklihood of moving away from proprietary protocols and methods of connecting to said environment.
Right now, our enterprise is MS biatch (sorry, I can't think of any other way of explaining it that so perfectly illustrates our IT and MS). My Mac (bought under the radar) doesn't properly display our Intranet (all sites developed exclusively for Windows IE), my Mac cannot connect to Exchange Servers (anything on the servers that might allow me to connect using entourage is turned off) and here is the big one, my Mac cannot connect to many internal sites as I am not authorized unless I use the old Mac version of IE because of the way we authenticate.
Everything is designed with MS standards and protocols and we turn nothing on to support any other platform. Perhaps (maybe?) if we had a non-MS server we might have to actually support an open standard or two. The day that happens is the day I (hopefully) gain a little more functionality.
Open isn't about the application, it's about the environment. Besides, doesn't Lotus support other platforms? Exchange doesn't, not really.
I share some of the same concerns most of you on/. have voiced in attempts to be funny or express your contempt for all things government.... I despise the "harmful to minors" line that is guaranteed to be abused eventually, if not immediately. But I sympathize with some of them on some thoughts. I have a very young child and watching him grow up I start to think about his use of the Internet and my earlier experiences. I remember going to Whitehouse.com looking for government docs or Gamefaq.com (or something very similar to gamefaqs.com but not quite) looking for help with a game I was playing only to discover some pretty hardcore porn. The game site was worse because, back then, I didn't have a pop-up blocker (and I'm not sure anyone else did either) and about 20 windows with other porn sites popped up immediately and every time I closed one, another opened. I had to force quit IE to get away. While both of these sites appear to be gone or radically changed over the years, they epitomized, to me and many others, the worst of the Internet. It wasn't about free speech (and I'll focus more on the gamefaqs take-off here) it was about deception. It was built specifically to capture those who errantly left out an s at the end of their url and followed by, essentially, capturing your web browser and popping up new windows every time you tried to leave, a practice I'm sure most/.'ers detested as much as everyone else.
Spare me your lectures on the importance of free speech. I believe in the constitution and do not want to see our rights taken away but I can empathize with many of these people and don't believe this is driven entirely out of desire for political gain (though I am sure some may be doing it for just that reason).
All of that being said, we do not allow our children to go to XXX or NC17 rated movies. We don't show our harshest TV shows on Saturday mornings (or even in the day). I believe these have been largely self regulated decisions by the industry (though the FCC seems to be re-asserting its power lately) and that's why it's O.K. with most everyone while making it law upsets us.
Do you think the government would have stayed out of it had they not regulated themselves?(Rhetorical question, just think about it)
Does the porn industry regulate itself?(Rhetorical question, just think about it)
Some change is likely to come. Obviously (well it should be obvious) we cannot take away our right to free speech but this isn't just about free speech. We already know that I cannot go into a Jewish neighborhood and start preaching the hate of Hitler. I would be guilty of inciting violence. Free speech has its limits and unlike topless bars it is pretty easy for kids (or anyone) to accidentally find themselves somewhere they never intended to go.
So, with all of the brain power at/. what honest and helpful recommendations can you come up with as an alternative? I don't like limiting our free speech and I don't like the Feds forcing libraries to be filtered (but it's OK if the local government or Library Director dictates it) but neither do many like these kinds of sites. Is there an alternative or is this just part of the price we pay for our freedom?
Please, use your intelligence to give some real answers to a tough question. Remember, if you say it is the price of freedom and 67% of Americans disagree, you may well lose that freedom.
By that logic, nobody owns anything which is subject to taxation.
No, by that logic nobody owns anything which is subject to recurring taxation. Big difference.
As far as the property tax goes, would you be willing give it up knowing that it would result in no police, no fire department, no town water supply (subsidized by taxes, the balance billed), no street repair, no school system, and on and on?
You are asking me like I have a choice, I don't. If I were free, I might. Besides, you assume that this money can only come from property tax. How about sales tax? How about licenses? How about Auto Registrations? Be creative. We are taxed a thousand different ways, I oppose one of them. Well more than one but not all of them.
And I hate to sound like a broken record, but if you think we pay too much tax, try living in Europe or Canada for a while. I promise you that'll change your mind quickly.
No, it won't. Knowing that someone or everyone has it worse than me will not stop me from striving to make my life or my family's lives better. I am not content to hear that someone else in some particular fashion has it worse off than me so stop complaining or trying to be better. Are you?
Welcome to civilization. I wouldn't consider being dependent on others for some of the necessities of life giving up your freedom. You're free to get those necessities from someone else, or try to provide your own; nothing is stopping you.
Actually, this is what the whole slashdot story is about, governments and corporations trying to stop us from just that. Many people believe that giving up their right to own a DVD is a loss of freedom. Wiretapping everyone only hurts more than just the guilty etc etc. These are all freedoms. For some reason, owning land apparently isn't one of them in your opinion.
Take that to the logical extreme; if I understand you correctly, you'd be perfectly happy with a tax-free home and a subsistence farm, and you'd be willing to trade the ability to express yourself?
No, you don't understand me correctly. I'd be perfectly happy if I had it all. I don't. If I had a choice, I'd choose the right to own my land over abolishing the DMCA, Copyright Extension Act and the other host of BS laws to protect businesses and limit our ownership and Intellectual Freedom (bringing us back on-topic). I don't. That's the missing freedom. Actually, come to think of it, I might be willing to give up voicing my opinion on/. if I and my descendants were granted permanent property tax immunity. I don't know but that's not a possibility and I don't like it.
Doesn't sound like living to me; sounds like purgatory. Food and shelter are required to live; freedom of expression and to share ideas make life worth living.
But that's your opinion and you're entitled to it but it isn't mine and it isn't others so don't be so quick to criticize our desire for freedom when it doesn't match your ideal lifestyle. Sounds like you would have us sacrifice our freedom to live in a world that you believe is better. Believe it or not, some people can be happy with nothing more than their freedom (and nothing less). Many of the people who first colonized our country wanted nothing more. I don't think they set sail believing they were headed for purgatory.
My point in all of this rambling is that we have lost all sots of freedom. Some we lost so long ago and so quietly that we don't even recognize it as freedom anymore. I believe that your response to one of the posts exemplifies this. One day, we might just have a chance to solve some of these problems that so many of us at/. agree upon but the cure may be worse than the disease if we don't understand what is important and why. You seem to feel that believing freedom is tied to owning property is "pathologically materialistic" and that it "needs an attitude adjustment". He freely expressed himself and you wan
Of course socialism doesn't truly protect the most important of all rights: the right to earn and keep property...there is one benefit that you may be overlooking: nobody is subjected to the violence of poverty.
If you truly consider that the most important right of all, above every other right, you're pathologically materialistic and need an attitude adjustment.
Speaking of "attitude adjustment" your response sounds pretty harsh. You might want to better understand WHY people believe they are never free if they do not own property. I need air, water, food and shelter. I think that's the minimum requirement for survival. If I buy property, sink a well, grow some crops I become truly free. I may not have a TV or Slashdot but I can be free.
Unfortunately, here in America, I can buy a house on some land and do all of that but still not own property because my property tax will always force me to pay rent to the government (at least in my state). I would like to be free. Even if my life didn't change right away, it would still be freedom. I would know that if I lost my job (or through Eminent Domain) no one could ever kick me out of my home. Since my home is one of those basic necessities of life, I will never be truly free unless I truly own it otherwise I will always be dependent on someone else.
Does that make more sense? Freedom of expression and the freedom to share ideas are both very important but not as important as food and shelter.
I have an Xbox and I get Official Xbox Magazine, mostly for the demo discs but the reviews are useful too. Now admittedly, anything MS or Halo does is pure platinum and that you just have to accept/ignore. It's also true that when games first hit the scene they are almost always written up in a positive light. However, when they actually test the games for review purposes they have ripped on many of them pretty hard, even A list titles. I'm sure the makers of Sudeki spent a fortune advertising but when the game hit, it didn't get much respect.
The magazine is far from perfect and you can pick on some of their choices but it sure isn't as bad as this guy makes out.
It's all about the source. Do you think MotorTrend, Gartner, CycleWorld, Times Automotive section in the newspaper is any different? Actually, I'd be surprised if too many/.ers are shocked at this.
I don't think it's just because they suck (though I agree that they are getting weaker and weaker). I know I'm not alone when I say that I have no interest in going to a theater to see a movie no matter how good it is. I wait for it to come out on video.
I've seen it posted ehre before so I won't take credit for the idea but the right people need to realize that fans demand their movies in new ways. Release a movie to video at the same time it hit the theaters and you will see a greater following. By the time it hits the shelves, I may have forgotten about it. That still is not enough to get me into a theater.
"If you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about."
You are probably right. I'll bet a lot of Jews said the same thing just before Hitler took over.
Come to think of it, I'll bet a lot of Russians said that right after Stalin took over too. Conservative estimates say at least 20,000,000 were doing something very wrong.
AUSG4 said "... makes reviews less necessary when everyone can review the game themselves."
Unless, of course, you don't own a 360 and are waiting for a good reason to buy one.
Unless, of course, there is truly nothing more to the game than what the demo holds.
I'm old fashioned, I guess, but I like reviews but it gives me a different perspective on things. It also gives me some insight into how well the game will sell and as someone who plays almost exclusively Live with friends, that is critical. If it is perceived to be lame and no one buys it but me, it will be lame to me as I will have no one to play.
xtal said
"If you want to do something postive for the planet, don't have children, or only have one."
In case you hadn't realized it, this is the slashdot crowd. We have that covered.
"Inspired by the most logical race in the universe, the Vulcans, breeding will be permitted once every 7 years. For many of you, this will mean much less breeding. For me, much, much more."
- Comic Book Guy
That must be some sort of SuperScientist. Do you really know any scientists who do NOT believe in God that remain open to the possibility that they are wrong?
I'll pull this from an earlier post which I'll take on faith really does come from Wikipedia.
Dark matter [wikipedia.org] is required by looking at galaxy rotation curves. Essentially, the rotation speed of galaxies is too fast given the mass that can be seen, so there must be some mass that doesn't emit light as conventional, baryonic matter does.
My translation: We expect the galaxies to rotate at a certain speed but they do not, therefore we believe that something else is affecting them. We can't see it but it must be there because we couldn't explain what we do see without its existance.
There are those who believe that the Universe is guided by the unseen hand of an intelligent creator. Place your faith in God and the miracles witnessed by some and you have Religion.
There are those who believe the Universe is guided by the unseen gravitational forces of Dark Matter. Place your faith in Dark Matter and the miracles witnessed by some and you have Science.
What about posting a story about the majority of Xbox 360 users that don't have any problems, instead of the (vocal) small percentage who do? Or maybe a story about the fast turnaround time of Xbox 360 tech support? (5-7 days for a brand new / fixed console, for a friend of mine)
I can honestly say that I have not had a single problem since I got my Xbox 360 on release day. (I am waiting on some games to push the hardware to its max, but that's a separate issue.)
That sounds like a great idea. While we are at it, what about the national media producing stories about the majority of high school students who didn't get shot in the classroom last yeat or the majority of Americans who didn't get killed in Iraq?
I can honestly say that I have neither been shot in HS nor killed in Iraq. What's up with this sensationalism anyway?
Slashdot Mirror
I use my Palm (Treo 650) Calendar more than anything. Is the best the coolest or the one you use the most?
On a related note, this would make a great Slashdot poll.
Slashdot mods have been doing this for quite some time. Pro-environmentalists get modded up, dissenters often seem to be ignored if they are lucky.
Couldn't we just say that since Pluto was granted planetary status that its size defines the criteria for becoming a planet? Anything smaller than Pluto is not a planet and anything larger is a planet?
It really seems very subjective to me and this way, we could all move on with our lives.
Guess again.
A whole lot of Mac users have one or two apps that they have to use for work, that aren't available for the Mac. Also, anyone designing a web site pretty much has to test it with Internet Exploder. Boot Camp is the alternative to wasting desk space for a Dell.
Actually, those people are much better served by emulation software. Having to reboot for one application or, worse, a quick check of a web site modification with one application is not suited for dual-booting. I'd rather have two computers on my desk. No, for me, like many Mac users, I have one app that is Mac only and I want to launch it within OSX just like Classic apps do (at worst).
That's not to say that dual-booting isn't without merrits to me. I like games so I might DB for that. OTH, with all of the viruses, spyware and other crap, I might just get an Xbox360 or PS3 so as not to have to deal with it.
Bringing this OT, Forte Agent news reader was really nice and so was Auction Chief. I haven't found anything quite as good for the Mac. Other than those two apps and games, I'm happy with my Mac at home. At work, Minitab is the one app that keeps me on Windows.
Its only an illegal monopoly if they use their posistion to stop competition. There's nothing that says they can't be the only one producing consoles...
Even if MS bought out Sony, they would still have to worry about competition from these guys
OK, here is the reason why we struggle to make things better. Someone decides that "their way" to fix things is what needs to be done. Case in point:
/. are quick to recall that we are the land of the free, government intrusion is bad....
This is clearly a situation where strong federal leadership is needed. If Americans are on board with reducing global warming, then let's make reduced fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions a reality by:
Why? If Americans are on board, we don't need federal leadership. We will do it ourselves. We will buy hybrids instead of SUVs, recycle, reuse etc etc.
- mandating higher MPGs in automobiles
Higher MPG does not always equate to lower emissions. We are trying to solve the problem of lower emissions. My 2005 Subaru STI gets the same fuel economy my 1977 Cordoba did. Do you think they produce the same emissions? Clearly not.
- granting huge tax credits for solar heating/electric panels on private and commercial buildings
Step right up and get Bob's bargain solar panels. They don't do much and even if they did, that forrest you live in wouldn't let them work anyway but you can save a fortune on your taxes. You don't reduce taxes to incent, you increase tax to reduce incentive.
- mandating solar equipment for ALL federal buildings
How much impact is that really going to have? Who's going to pay for that? You just cut the tax base giving incentives to solar panel users and now the cost of doing anything solar has gone through the roof (NPI) from the increased demand. How effective are solar panels in reducing emissions? Don't forget, we will generate emissions building, delivering, and installing these things and we will do it again when they need repairs. Now, instead of doing Cost/Benefit analysis we'll need to do an Emission/Benefit Analysis. Maybe it's a good idea but do we have any data to support it?
- mandating a switch to ethanol or methanol biofuels for federal fleets
At what expense? Who will pay for it? Could the Federal Fleet just use more efficient cars? Would that help enough?
- grant tax breaks for anyone switching to biofuels
One line is creating increased expense to the government, the next is about giving tax breaks. When do we get to the new deficit? How about increasing gas tax to incent people to buy more fuel efficient vehicles?
- aid to cities that want to build or expand public transportation
Our city has great public transportation. No one uses it. We even have a little skyway monorail that the feds helped pay for. No one uses that either. It would be great for emissions if it were used. Now it just makes things worse because we all drive just the way we used to and the new skyway creates its own emissions too.
- aid to cities to convert existing buses to biofuels
Great, now all of our empty busses have been converted to biofuels. No one rides them and we have generated even more expense to the givernment.
- massage research into alternative energy
We have alternative sources of energy, we just don't use them. Finding yet another source of energy that doesn't make financial sense probably won't help much.
- end the war in Iraq to free up the funds for the above initiatives
How? Let's assume that we all agree that the war in iraq is bad, just for the sake of argument. I think there might be some serious issues with an economic policy that prohibited military conflict due to financial constraints cause by our war on Global Warming?
The federal government is the agent that can mandate the conditions necessary to make this stuff a reality.
Yes, the government is getting very good at mandating conditions and most on
Our government should be encouraging new direction not forcing it. Besides, this all began with "If Americans are on board with reducing global
I think you are missing the point. Even if Lotus is a closed, proprietary system, linux isn't. O.K. so what you say.
Getting a non-windows server environment supported in an enterprise greatly increases the liklihood of moving away from proprietary protocols and methods of connecting to said environment.
Right now, our enterprise is MS biatch (sorry, I can't think of any other way of explaining it that so perfectly illustrates our IT and MS). My Mac (bought under the radar) doesn't properly display our Intranet (all sites developed exclusively for Windows IE), my Mac cannot connect to Exchange Servers (anything on the servers that might allow me to connect using entourage is turned off) and here is the big one, my Mac cannot connect to many internal sites as I am not authorized unless I use the old Mac version of IE because of the way we authenticate.
Everything is designed with MS standards and protocols and we turn nothing on to support any other platform. Perhaps (maybe?) if we had a non-MS server we might have to actually support an open standard or two. The day that happens is the day I (hopefully) gain a little more functionality.
Open isn't about the application, it's about the environment. Besides, doesn't Lotus support other platforms? Exchange doesn't, not really.
Engine Theory: Suck, Squeeze, Bang, Blow.
That has to be the single most erotic comment I've ever seen on slashdot.
Sadly the Department of Homeland Security agrees and it will be struck from the server soon after Google's index has been commandeered.
...in Ultima I.
:(
I still remember how cool it was to go through space shooting tie fighters for gold and finding new planets.
I'm soooo old
I share some of the same concerns most of you on /. have voiced in attempts to be funny or express your contempt for all things government.... I despise the "harmful to minors" line that is guaranteed to be abused eventually, if not immediately. But I sympathize with some of them on some thoughts. I have a very young child and watching him grow up I start to think about his use of the Internet and my earlier experiences. I remember going to Whitehouse.com looking for government docs or Gamefaq.com (or something very similar to gamefaqs.com but not quite) looking for help with a game I was playing only to discover some pretty hardcore porn. The game site was worse because, back then, I didn't have a pop-up blocker (and I'm not sure anyone else did either) and about 20 windows with other porn sites popped up immediately and every time I closed one, another opened. I had to force quit IE to get away. While both of these sites appear to be gone or radically changed over the years, they epitomized, to me and many others, the worst of the Internet. It wasn't about free speech (and I'll focus more on the gamefaqs take-off here) it was about deception. It was built specifically to capture those who errantly left out an s at the end of their url and followed by, essentially, capturing your web browser and popping up new windows every time you tried to leave, a practice I'm sure most /.'ers detested as much as everyone else.
/. what honest and helpful recommendations can you come up with as an alternative? I don't like limiting our free speech and I don't like the Feds forcing libraries to be filtered (but it's OK if the local government or Library Director dictates it) but neither do many like these kinds of sites. Is there an alternative or is this just part of the price we pay for our freedom?
Spare me your lectures on the importance of free speech. I believe in the constitution and do not want to see our rights taken away but I can empathize with many of these people and don't believe this is driven entirely out of desire for political gain (though I am sure some may be doing it for just that reason).
All of that being said, we do not allow our children to go to XXX or NC17 rated movies. We don't show our harshest TV shows on Saturday mornings (or even in the day). I believe these have been largely self regulated decisions by the industry (though the FCC seems to be re-asserting its power lately) and that's why it's O.K. with most everyone while making it law upsets us.
Do you think the government would have stayed out of it had they not regulated themselves?(Rhetorical question, just think about it)
Does the porn industry regulate itself?(Rhetorical question, just think about it)
Some change is likely to come. Obviously (well it should be obvious) we cannot take away our right to free speech but this isn't just about free speech. We already know that I cannot go into a Jewish neighborhood and start preaching the hate of Hitler. I would be guilty of inciting violence. Free speech has its limits and unlike topless bars it is pretty easy for kids (or anyone) to accidentally find themselves somewhere they never intended to go.
So, with all of the brain power at
Please, use your intelligence to give some real answers to a tough question. Remember, if you say it is the price of freedom and 67% of Americans disagree, you may well lose that freedom.
If you want good games get the Revolution.
What's a Revolution?
By that logic, nobody owns anything which is subject to taxation.
/. if I and my descendants were granted permanent property tax immunity. I don't know but that's not a possibility and I don't like it.
/. agree upon but the cure may be worse than the disease if we don't understand what is important and why. You seem to feel that believing freedom is tied to owning property is "pathologically materialistic" and that it "needs an attitude adjustment". He freely expressed himself and you wan
No, by that logic nobody owns anything which is subject to recurring taxation. Big difference.
As far as the property tax goes, would you be willing give it up knowing that it would result in no police, no fire department, no town water supply (subsidized by taxes, the balance billed), no street repair, no school system, and on and on?
You are asking me like I have a choice, I don't. If I were free, I might. Besides, you assume that this money can only come from property tax. How about sales tax? How about licenses? How about Auto Registrations? Be creative. We are taxed a thousand different ways, I oppose one of them. Well more than one but not all of them.
And I hate to sound like a broken record, but if you think we pay too much tax, try living in Europe or Canada for a while. I promise you that'll change your mind quickly.
No, it won't. Knowing that someone or everyone has it worse than me will not stop me from striving to make my life or my family's lives better. I am not content to hear that someone else in some particular fashion has it worse off than me so stop complaining or trying to be better. Are you?
Welcome to civilization. I wouldn't consider being dependent on others for some of the necessities of life giving up your freedom. You're free to get those necessities from someone else, or try to provide your own; nothing is stopping you.
Actually, this is what the whole slashdot story is about, governments and corporations trying to stop us from just that. Many people believe that giving up their right to own a DVD is a loss of freedom. Wiretapping everyone only hurts more than just the guilty etc etc. These are all freedoms. For some reason, owning land apparently isn't one of them in your opinion.
Take that to the logical extreme; if I understand you correctly, you'd be perfectly happy with a tax-free home and a subsistence farm, and you'd be willing to trade the ability to express yourself?
No, you don't understand me correctly. I'd be perfectly happy if I had it all. I don't. If I had a choice, I'd choose the right to own my land over abolishing the DMCA, Copyright Extension Act and the other host of BS laws to protect businesses and limit our ownership and Intellectual Freedom (bringing us back on-topic). I don't. That's the missing freedom. Actually, come to think of it, I might be willing to give up voicing my opinion on
Doesn't sound like living to me; sounds like purgatory. Food and shelter are required to live; freedom of expression and to share ideas make life worth living.
But that's your opinion and you're entitled to it but it isn't mine and it isn't others so don't be so quick to criticize our desire for freedom when it doesn't match your ideal lifestyle. Sounds like you would have us sacrifice our freedom to live in a world that you believe is better. Believe it or not, some people can be happy with nothing more than their freedom (and nothing less). Many of the people who first colonized our country wanted nothing more. I don't think they set sail believing they were headed for purgatory.
My point in all of this rambling is that we have lost all sots of freedom. Some we lost so long ago and so quietly that we don't even recognize it as freedom anymore. I believe that your response to one of the posts exemplifies this. One day, we might just have a chance to solve some of these problems that so many of us at
Of course socialism doesn't truly protect the most important of all rights: the right to earn and keep property...there is one benefit that you may be overlooking: nobody is subjected to the violence of poverty.
If you truly consider that the most important right of all, above every other right, you're pathologically materialistic and need an attitude adjustment.
Speaking of "attitude adjustment" your response sounds pretty harsh. You might want to better understand WHY people believe they are never free if they do not own property. I need air, water, food and shelter. I think that's the minimum requirement for survival. If I buy property, sink a well, grow some crops I become truly free. I may not have a TV or Slashdot but I can be free.
Unfortunately, here in America, I can buy a house on some land and do all of that but still not own property because my property tax will always force me to pay rent to the government (at least in my state). I would like to be free. Even if my life didn't change right away, it would still be freedom. I would know that if I lost my job (or through Eminent Domain) no one could ever kick me out of my home. Since my home is one of those basic necessities of life, I will never be truly free unless I truly own it otherwise I will always be dependent on someone else.
Does that make more sense? Freedom of expression and the freedom to share ideas are both very important but not as important as food and shelter.
I have an Xbox and I get Official Xbox Magazine, mostly for the demo discs but the reviews are useful too. Now admittedly, anything MS or Halo does is pure platinum and that you just have to accept/ignore. It's also true that when games first hit the scene they are almost always written up in a positive light. However, when they actually test the games for review purposes they have ripped on many of them pretty hard, even A list titles. I'm sure the makers of Sudeki spent a fortune advertising but when the game hit, it didn't get much respect.
/.ers are shocked at this.
The magazine is far from perfect and you can pick on some of their choices but it sure isn't as bad as this guy makes out.
It's all about the source. Do you think MotorTrend, Gartner, CycleWorld, Times Automotive section in the newspaper is any different? Actually, I'd be surprised if too many
I don't think it's just because they suck (though I agree that they are getting weaker and weaker). I know I'm not alone when I say that I have no interest in going to a theater to see a movie no matter how good it is. I wait for it to come out on video.
I've seen it posted ehre before so I won't take credit for the idea but the right people need to realize that fans demand their movies in new ways. Release a movie to video at the same time it hit the theaters and you will see a greater following. By the time it hits the shelves, I may have forgotten about it. That still is not enough to get me into a theater.
"If you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about."
You are probably right. I'll bet a lot of Jews said the same thing just before Hitler took over.
Come to think of it, I'll bet a lot of Russians said that right after Stalin took over too. Conservative estimates say at least 20,000,000 were doing something very wrong.
AUSG4 said "... makes reviews less necessary when everyone can review the game themselves."
Unless, of course, you don't own a 360 and are waiting for a good reason to buy one.
Unless, of course, there is truly nothing more to the game than what the demo holds.
I'm old fashioned, I guess, but I like reviews but it gives me a different perspective on things. It also gives me some insight into how well the game will sell and as someone who plays almost exclusively Live with friends, that is critical. If it is perceived to be lame and no one buys it but me, it will be lame to me as I will have no one to play.
xtal said "If you want to do something postive for the planet, don't have children, or only have one."
In case you hadn't realized it, this is the slashdot crowd. We have that covered.
"Inspired by the most logical race in the universe, the Vulcans, breeding will be permitted once every 7 years. For many of you, this will mean much less breeding. For me, much, much more."
- Comic Book Guy
Even about God?
That must be some sort of SuperScientist. Do you really know any scientists who do NOT believe in God that remain open to the possibility that they are wrong?
I'll pull this from an earlier post which I'll take on faith really does come from Wikipedia.
Dark matter [wikipedia.org] is required by looking at galaxy rotation curves. Essentially, the rotation speed of galaxies is too fast given the mass that can be seen, so there must be some mass that doesn't emit light as conventional, baryonic matter does.
My translation: We expect the galaxies to rotate at a certain speed but they do not, therefore we believe that something else is affecting them. We can't see it but it must be there because we couldn't explain what we do see without its existance.
That's Faith.
There are those who believe that the Universe is guided by the unseen hand of an intelligent creator. Place your faith in God and the miracles witnessed by some and you have Religion.
There are those who believe the Universe is guided by the unseen gravitational forces of Dark Matter. Place your faith in Dark Matter and the miracles witnessed by some and you have Science.
"So I suppose you are for punishing Ghandi? Or Martin Luther King, Jr? Or any one of many other civil disobedians.
This guy would have thrown Rosa Parks in jail just for telling her friends to get on the bus.
...why does MS obey the laws in China when they don't obey the laws in America?
Perhaps we can learn something from the Chineese.
...'cause I always thought Warp Engines were a "staple" of sci-fi.
What about posting a story about the majority of Xbox 360 users that don't have any problems, instead of the (vocal) small percentage who do? Or maybe a story about the fast turnaround time of Xbox 360 tech support? (5-7 days for a brand new / fixed console, for a friend of mine)
I can honestly say that I have not had a single problem since I got my Xbox 360 on release day. (I am waiting on some games to push the hardware to its max, but that's a separate issue.)
That sounds like a great idea. While we are at it, what about the national media producing stories about the majority of high school students who didn't get shot in the classroom last yeat or the majority of Americans who didn't get killed in Iraq?
I can honestly say that I have neither been shot in HS nor killed in Iraq. What's up with this sensationalism anyway?