It's well known that the US is one of the most religious countries on the face of the earth.
Discounting most of the middle-east, maybe. There are countries where you have to pay a tax if you're not of the state-sponsored religion.
Maybe we're one of the most Christian countries on the face of the earth. I have no problem with that statistic, because it's true. The vast majority of Americans believe in one form of Christianity or another. But Islam, Buddhism, etc, are "religions."
How do we stack up % wise with India?
What about Asia? They have spirituality and religion.
We're just more religious than Europe. But we're "more" a lot of things than Europe. (This is not a "we're better than Europe" post in any way. Just acknowledging that there are differences.)
If the government takes any action to get you fired for saying something, they have violated the First amendment in the Bill of rights and broken the law.
Um. You're going to have to back that up, because there are many things you are not allowed to say if you work for the government. Knowledge you have is not just allowed to be freely shared.
The First Amendment is designed to prevent government abuse. It does not guarantee the right to work for the government regardless of what you say.
It doesn't matter what the contract you signed says, it does not mean the government can break the law.
You're kidding, right? Following the terms of a legally binding contract -- signed by both parties -- as a condition of employment is breaking the law? I am guessing YANAL, or a government employee.
Thank you for making this post. I realize there are mistakes everywhere and that we're not perfect, but a lot of people are seriously stretching how bad the United States is.
It's a breath of fresh air on slashdot to see someone else of a like mind. So many posts are just "Abu Ghraib! Torture! Bush is taking our rights!" (while the last has merit, a lot of misunderstanding goes on, and exaggerating)
I guess I came off harsher than intended because of the way I feel someone as educated as surgical staff, and well paid, should do well. 1 in 10,000? Well, that's quite good, and I shouldn't have sounded so harsh about it.
I wasn't suggesting we not have redundant messages. Hence the title starting with "Okay."
Personally, if given the choice between RFID and not during a surgery on me? I'd go RFID.
Considering the side effects of leaving a clamp in a person: surgeons sure as hell better know how many clamps.
Generally, as far as my knowledge of this goes, the doctor isn't reaching out and grabbing the tools himself -- a nurse stands nearby. I'm not a surgeon. I'm just giving my opinion.
but I don't want to be operated on by someone who, with the aid of other surgeons and nurses, can't count.
Camden, as in, New Jersey? Which is the second hardest state to get a gun permit in?
I'll have to look up statistics, because I'm pretty sure it was recently I heard Chicago was topping the murder rate per capita. It was most certainly since 1988. If not, I apologize for my error, but the Camden thing is sort of the same point.
In well over half the United States, you can get a permit to legally carry a gun concealed. Thirty-five of the fifty. (see here for a list) Shall issue means unless they have some reason NOT to grant the permit (retardation, felony conviction, mental illness), the state shall issue it.
Shockingly enough! Chicago and DC, two cities that absolutely ban this practice, are always the top two on the list of murders in the US. You are not even legally allowed to own a hand gun in either place.
So yeah, if you want to carry a gun, and you're not crazy, mentally retarded, or a violent felon -- I say it is nobody else's goddamned business. Just don't carry it while drinking, and please remember the gun safety rules:
1. Always treat a gun as though it is loaded.
2. Do not point a gun at something you don't want dead or destroyed.
3. Finger OFF the trigger unless you are fully prepared to fire.
4. Be sure of your target -- what it is, what's in front of it, and what's behind it.
Guns, in and of themselves, are inanimate objects with deadly consequences. I'm not saying "guns don't kill people, people kill people" because that's not true. The bullet is the part that kills.;)
You don't even need the deal to be in place for this to be Bullshit.
I'm a writer, and I back my work up constantly. USB flash drive, CDs, print outs, and e-mailing it to myself. I occasionally e-mail drafts to friends for a proof read, as well. This is just basic, no money involved, writing to write stuff.
If you add money to the occasion, print outs and CDs in a safe deposit box somewhere. Multiple drafts, even.
If Tor offered me a $2.7M advance on a novel, I'd be backing that shit up at the end of every chapter. Period, end of story. Off site, hard copies in addition to discs.
Anyone with any data at all that is even remotely precious to them will want more than one copy.
I'm not saying Sony's never made a profit, never meant to imply that, I just meant over the last two or so years; I get that some of that is the PS3 R&D (and soon, I imagine, hype and ad campaigns).
I think the main reason homebrewers are buying the PSP is because of the popularity; I hadn't even heard about the GP2X outside of a mention in Wired until recently, and then only on Slashdot or from the guy I know who bought a PSP primarily to run old system emulators on. The PSP is capable, and it's out there.
I think Sony is fighting a losing fight. It won't be the first time they have.
Khaed evades the point: if we order our soldiers to sacrifice their lives in a war, then we should be willing to make sacrifices like paying a surchage on gasoline to finance the war effort. Khaed then takes this point and creates a strawman, suggesting that all of us should go to Iraq to fight.
Um. Dude, you just pulled the gas surcharge thing out of your ass. And you chose gas specifically because of the hysteria around gas prices. I don't guess that qualifies as a "straw man" but it does qualify, to me, as "making shit up." If you can do it, I can make fun of it by suggesting we all go to Iraq.
Anyone who says, "I support the war in Iraq", but who refuses to make any sacrifice to support that war is an arrogant hypocrite.
There are no sacrifices needed. That's the point. There's no shortage of anything (except bullets, sort of). The only thing that's really still killing soldiers in Iraq: Assholes planting IEDs along patrol routes, and then coming out with AKs.
I'm not going to respond to the Bush/science thing because I don't support Bush's stance on stem cells. I was simply pointing something out.
Clearly LYING about invading a sovereign country is not justified by the fact that that country does bad stuff.
False. If you go back and read the things said about invading Iraq, Bush never solely said it was WMD -- only the media did. I'm not saying it was bias, but rather that was their "omg teh drama" story (see: Scott Peterson, the occasional Pretty Kidnapped Girl stories). He mentioned a few other reasons -- including helping Iraqis.
Irony called. It says it's sorry you missed it.
I think you're missing something. I'm very specifically talking about those who paint all of our soldiers, or all Republicans, based on a few. I did not say "All Democrats." I said extreme left, meaning the people like the AC.
really just quite stupid. did you notice that his post is +5?
So why does he have to post anon?
a complete non-sequitur.
And "because we're not paying $4 for gas, people don't support the war" isn't?
Selling at a loss is Sony's fault. People want to do home brew stuff. They should be able to do home brew stuff -- they bought the hardware.
Now that it's been made clear Sony is going to make it a bastard to have homebrew games/etc, I imagine people who want to do said thing won't buy a PSP. They'll buy a GP2X (or whatever it's called).
Just because you run NES games on your PSP doesn't mean you're not buying PSP games. Watch Sony make it so that new games won't run on 1.5 anymore, if they haven't already. Then they're basically saying "You can do one but not the other."
They should've just sold something extra to make home brewing easier. "Make your own game!"
Selling at a loss and then relying on games is a stupid policy. If Sony and Microsoft didn't have huge empires in other areas, their games divisions would be screwed over. If I recall they lost money over the last few years overall (except when Halo 2 came out).
Why does the same American government that sends soldiers to be permanently mutilated in Iraq refuse to allow the full range of stem cell research that could, one day, re-grow the limbs torn apart by pointless, wasteful war?
There is no ban. There simply is no federal funding.
More fundamentally, why does the American government send soldiers off to sacrifice their lives in Iraq when most Americans, including American politicians, refuse to make any sacrifice for the sake of that war?
What, are all 300 million of us supposed to pack up and go to Iraq? Because that would seriously drain their already limited resources. This is World War II, there aren't tons of shortages. Was FDR supposed to get machine gun mounts on his wheelchair? Lincoln didn't fight in the Civil War, his sons didn't fight. I'm not trying to compare the Iraq war to these, but rather point out: Politicians rarely sacrifice. War or not. We're in debt but they still vote themselves a raise. Like they need it.
When the average American refuses to support a surcharge on gasoline (to bring its cost to $4.00 per gallon) to pay for the bloody war in Iraq, why the hell should Washington insist that soldiers sacrifice their lives?
What the hell are you on about? I've never heard anything of this. I certainly don't recall that being put forth to a nation wide vote. And Soldiers signed up knowing they could get sent to war. You can't just sign up for the college money.
In World War II, the entire nation sacrificed for the just cause of the war effort. Clearly, we have no just cause in Iraq. Nearly no one supports the Iraq War.
That is just stupid. I can't even begin to explain why comparing sacrifice that was needed for the effort to sacrifice that isn't is a dumbass argument. How about this comparison: More soldiers died in one day of fighting for an island in the Pacific Ocean in World War 2 than have died in Iraq in three years. More soldiers died at Normandy than have died in about ten years. Almost half a million American soldiers died in World War II. In Iraq, it's around 2500.
Most of those are killed by sneaky bastards with IEDs, not Germans and Japanese who are in uniform and readily identify themselves.
Tell that about "no just cause" to the Iraqis who are allowed to vote without being afraid of their families sent to Saddam's rape rooms if they don't vote for Saddam.
We should count most Republicans in the "no one" category. Most Republicans also refuse to support a surcharge to pay for the war. Their mouth says, "I support the war." However, their wallet says, "I oppose the war." Their wallet tells the truth.
This, again, is a load of shit. You're using a very broad stroke. Imagine if I said "Most liberals hate our troops because they villify them for the actions of a few."
Or all those celebrities who said they didn't need the tax break -- hell, why don't they give all that money to charity?
Well, hell. I guess broad strokes are what the extreme left paint with, because that's what happens. Five or ten marines in Haditha, five or ten soldiers in Abu Ghraib, and suddenly 100,000+ soldiers are all evil child killing rapist monsters.
As opposed to the wonderful "Minute Men" who fight said soldiers (Michael Moore's words). The "evolutionaries" (Moore again) who will blow up children just to kill one soldier.
For all your talk, you don't even have the balls to post with an actual account. I guess you don't REALLY want to oppose the war, because you won't use your slashdot account and risk karma. I wonder -- the military votes strongly Republican and so do military families. I guess Republicans ARE sacrificing, and more than just money.
I'm not saying there aren't mistakes in Iraq, and I'm not saying it's going hunky dory. There have been fuck ups. But it's going a damn sight better than a lot of people realize. Talk to someone who has actually been there -- Michael Yon, perhaps.
What most people want to do with the system is to make it run illegally downloaded games, most of them meant for other systems and many still being made and sold by their rightsholders.
Kind of like emulators for PCs. So should Windows try and keep me from running Snes9x?
I'm not saying that anyone who plays games a lot is addicted. I play games for long periods of time sometimes myself. I sat and played Vice City for over five hours before, and I know I've played RPGs longer -- especially during the summers when I was younger. Just not regularly. Certainly not enough to die from it (which is, I believe, the cause for these restrictions). Maybe I just get bored with games easy (5+ hours a day? In a week I'm going to be sick of looking at it and sick of the music and/or sounds coming from it).
However, if you get to the point where you freak out if someone takes the game away, you have a problem. If you can't put it down, that's an addiction. Would it really hurt to only game for 20-30 hours a week? 'Cos you're only awake for around 112 (give or take a dozen depending on your personal sleep needs and habits). Leave some time for porn, too.;)
Drat. If I had a mustache to twirl I would, and hatch a diabolical scheme to take over the world. Or some such. I'm not a good supervillain yet. Oh well, at least a fellow geek has won your affections.
Slashdot Mirror
It's well known that the US is one of the most religious countries on the face of the earth.
Discounting most of the middle-east, maybe. There are countries where you have to pay a tax if you're not of the state-sponsored religion.
Maybe we're one of the most Christian countries on the face of the earth. I have no problem with that statistic, because it's true. The vast majority of Americans believe in one form of Christianity or another. But Islam, Buddhism, etc, are "religions."
How do we stack up % wise with India?
What about Asia? They have spirituality and religion.
We're just more religious than Europe. But we're "more" a lot of things than Europe. (This is not a "we're better than Europe" post in any way. Just acknowledging that there are differences.)
If the government takes any action to get you fired for saying something, they have violated the First amendment in the Bill of rights and broken the law.
Um. You're going to have to back that up, because there are many things you are not allowed to say if you work for the government. Knowledge you have is not just allowed to be freely shared.
The First Amendment is designed to prevent government abuse. It does not guarantee the right to work for the government regardless of what you say.
It doesn't matter what the contract you signed says, it does not mean the government can break the law.
You're kidding, right? Following the terms of a legally binding contract -- signed by both parties -- as a condition of employment is breaking the law? I am guessing YANAL, or a government employee.
Thank you for making this post. I realize there are mistakes everywhere and that we're not perfect, but a lot of people are seriously stretching how bad the United States is.
It's a breath of fresh air on slashdot to see someone else of a like mind. So many posts are just "Abu Ghraib! Torture! Bush is taking our rights!" (while the last has merit, a lot of misunderstanding goes on, and exaggerating)
I guess I came off harsher than intended because of the way I feel someone as educated as surgical staff, and well paid, should do well. 1 in 10,000? Well, that's quite good, and I shouldn't have sounded so harsh about it.
I wasn't suggesting we not have redundant messages. Hence the title starting with "Okay."
Personally, if given the choice between RFID and not during a surgery on me? I'd go RFID.
Simple solution.
A small device the nurse clicks a button on for each tool. Or have someone who *does* just count if it's that big of a surgey.
I'm not saying "don't put RFID chips on them" or anything of the sort.
Just, y'know, surgeons should learn to count. Or at least the nurse handing them their instruments.
Considering the side effects of leaving a clamp in a person: surgeons sure as hell better know how many clamps.
Generally, as far as my knowledge of this goes, the doctor isn't reaching out and grabbing the tools himself -- a nurse stands nearby. I'm not a surgeon. I'm just giving my opinion.
but I don't want to be operated on by someone who, with the aid of other surgeons and nurses, can't count.
Just count the damn instruments.
Really. Car mechanics count screws.
I count the screws when putting a computer together or doing work in it. I keep up with where each one goes.
It didn't take me over eight years of college to figure this kind of thing out.
"Okay, doctor, we used five clamps, but we only have four. We must have left one..."
Duh? I mean, hello? You're a doctor. You're getting paid more than ninety percent of the population.
Learn to count.
Thank you for serving.
Camden, as in, New Jersey? Which is the second hardest state to get a gun permit in?
I'll have to look up statistics, because I'm pretty sure it was recently I heard Chicago was topping the murder rate per capita. It was most certainly since 1988. If not, I apologize for my error, but the Camden thing is sort of the same point.
Yes, I should have mentioned that.
I've always wanted two six shooters on my hip, just for the reaction.
In well over half the United States, you can get a permit to legally carry a gun concealed. Thirty-five of the fifty. (see here for a list) Shall issue means unless they have some reason NOT to grant the permit (retardation, felony conviction, mental illness), the state shall issue it.
;)
Shockingly enough! Chicago and DC, two cities that absolutely ban this practice, are always the top two on the list of murders in the US. You are not even legally allowed to own a hand gun in either place.
So yeah, if you want to carry a gun, and you're not crazy, mentally retarded, or a violent felon -- I say it is nobody else's goddamned business. Just don't carry it while drinking, and please remember the gun safety rules:
1. Always treat a gun as though it is loaded.
2. Do not point a gun at something you don't want dead or destroyed.
3. Finger OFF the trigger unless you are fully prepared to fire.
4. Be sure of your target -- what it is, what's in front of it, and what's behind it.
Guns, in and of themselves, are inanimate objects with deadly consequences. I'm not saying "guns don't kill people, people kill people" because that's not true. The bullet is the part that kills.
You don't even need the deal to be in place for this to be Bullshit.
I'm a writer, and I back my work up constantly. USB flash drive, CDs, print outs, and e-mailing it to myself. I occasionally e-mail drafts to friends for a proof read, as well. This is just basic, no money involved, writing to write stuff.
If you add money to the occasion, print outs and CDs in a safe deposit box somewhere. Multiple drafts, even.
If Tor offered me a $2.7M advance on a novel, I'd be backing that shit up at the end of every chapter. Period, end of story. Off site, hard copies in addition to discs.
Anyone with any data at all that is even remotely precious to them will want more than one copy.
I'm not saying Sony's never made a profit, never meant to imply that, I just meant over the last two or so years; I get that some of that is the PS3 R&D (and soon, I imagine, hype and ad campaigns).
I think the main reason homebrewers are buying the PSP is because of the popularity; I hadn't even heard about the GP2X outside of a mention in Wired until recently, and then only on Slashdot or from the guy I know who bought a PSP primarily to run old system emulators on. The PSP is capable, and it's out there.
I think Sony is fighting a losing fight. It won't be the first time they have.
Khaed evades the point: if we order our soldiers to sacrifice their lives in a war, then we should be willing to make sacrifices like paying a surchage on gasoline to finance the war effort. Khaed then takes this point and creates a strawman, suggesting that all of us should go to Iraq to fight.
Um. Dude, you just pulled the gas surcharge thing out of your ass. And you chose gas specifically because of the hysteria around gas prices. I don't guess that qualifies as a "straw man" but it does qualify, to me, as "making shit up." If you can do it, I can make fun of it by suggesting we all go to Iraq.
Anyone who says, "I support the war in Iraq", but who refuses to make any sacrifice to support that war is an arrogant hypocrite.
There are no sacrifices needed. That's the point. There's no shortage of anything (except bullets, sort of). The only thing that's really still killing soldiers in Iraq: Assholes planting IEDs along patrol routes, and then coming out with AKs.
This is going to cost me karma, but I have to post this, and I'm not doing it anon. I just don't care:
You're a douche bag.
I'm not going to respond to the Bush/science thing because I don't support Bush's stance on stem cells. I was simply pointing something out.
Clearly LYING about invading a sovereign country is not justified by the fact that that country does bad stuff.
False. If you go back and read the things said about invading Iraq, Bush never solely said it was WMD -- only the media did. I'm not saying it was bias, but rather that was their "omg teh drama" story (see: Scott Peterson, the occasional Pretty Kidnapped Girl stories). He mentioned a few other reasons -- including helping Iraqis.
Irony called. It says it's sorry you missed it.
I think you're missing something. I'm very specifically talking about those who paint all of our soldiers, or all Republicans, based on a few. I did not say "All Democrats." I said extreme left, meaning the people like the AC.
really just quite stupid. did you notice that his post is +5?
So why does he have to post anon?
a complete non-sequitur.
And "because we're not paying $4 for gas, people don't support the war" isn't?
Selling at a loss is Sony's fault. People want to do home brew stuff. They should be able to do home brew stuff -- they bought the hardware.
Now that it's been made clear Sony is going to make it a bastard to have homebrew games/etc, I imagine people who want to do said thing won't buy a PSP. They'll buy a GP2X (or whatever it's called).
Just because you run NES games on your PSP doesn't mean you're not buying PSP games. Watch Sony make it so that new games won't run on 1.5 anymore, if they haven't already. Then they're basically saying "You can do one but not the other."
They should've just sold something extra to make home brewing easier. "Make your own game!"
Selling at a loss and then relying on games is a stupid policy. If Sony and Microsoft didn't have huge empires in other areas, their games divisions would be screwed over. If I recall they lost money over the last few years overall (except when Halo 2 came out).
Why does the same American government that sends soldiers to be permanently mutilated in Iraq refuse to allow the full range of stem cell research that could, one day, re-grow the limbs torn apart by pointless, wasteful war?
There is no ban. There simply is no federal funding.
More fundamentally, why does the American government send soldiers off to sacrifice their lives in Iraq when most Americans, including American politicians, refuse to make any sacrifice for the sake of that war?
What, are all 300 million of us supposed to pack up and go to Iraq? Because that would seriously drain their already limited resources. This is World War II, there aren't tons of shortages. Was FDR supposed to get machine gun mounts on his wheelchair? Lincoln didn't fight in the Civil War, his sons didn't fight. I'm not trying to compare the Iraq war to these, but rather point out: Politicians rarely sacrifice. War or not. We're in debt but they still vote themselves a raise. Like they need it.
When the average American refuses to support a surcharge on gasoline (to bring its cost to $4.00 per gallon) to pay for the bloody war in Iraq, why the hell should Washington insist that soldiers sacrifice their lives?
What the hell are you on about? I've never heard anything of this. I certainly don't recall that being put forth to a nation wide vote. And Soldiers signed up knowing they could get sent to war. You can't just sign up for the college money.
In World War II, the entire nation sacrificed for the just cause of the war effort. Clearly, we have no just cause in Iraq. Nearly no one supports the Iraq War.
That is just stupid. I can't even begin to explain why comparing sacrifice that was needed for the effort to sacrifice that isn't is a dumbass argument. How about this comparison: More soldiers died in one day of fighting for an island in the Pacific Ocean in World War 2 than have died in Iraq in three years. More soldiers died at Normandy than have died in about ten years. Almost half a million American soldiers died in World War II. In Iraq, it's around 2500.
Most of those are killed by sneaky bastards with IEDs, not Germans and Japanese who are in uniform and readily identify themselves.
Tell that about "no just cause" to the Iraqis who are allowed to vote without being afraid of their families sent to Saddam's rape rooms if they don't vote for Saddam.
We should count most Republicans in the "no one" category. Most Republicans also refuse to support a surcharge to pay for the war. Their mouth says, "I support the war." However, their wallet says, "I oppose the war." Their wallet tells the truth.
This, again, is a load of shit. You're using a very broad stroke. Imagine if I said "Most liberals hate our troops because they villify them for the actions of a few."
Or all those celebrities who said they didn't need the tax break -- hell, why don't they give all that money to charity?
Well, hell. I guess broad strokes are what the extreme left paint with, because that's what happens. Five or ten marines in Haditha, five or ten soldiers in Abu Ghraib, and suddenly 100,000+ soldiers are all evil child killing rapist monsters.
As opposed to the wonderful "Minute Men" who fight said soldiers (Michael Moore's words). The "evolutionaries" (Moore again) who will blow up children just to kill one soldier.
For all your talk, you don't even have the balls to post with an actual account. I guess you don't REALLY want to oppose the war, because you won't use your slashdot account and risk karma. I wonder -- the military votes strongly Republican and so do military families. I guess Republicans ARE sacrificing, and more than just money.
I'm not saying there aren't mistakes in Iraq, and I'm not saying it's going hunky dory. There have been fuck ups. But it's going a damn sight better than a lot of people realize. Talk to someone who has actually been there -- Michael Yon, perhaps.
The army has be
What most people want to do with the system is to make it run illegally downloaded games, most of them meant for other systems and many still being made and sold by their rightsholders.
Kind of like emulators for PCs. So should Windows try and keep me from running Snes9x?
If someone tried to make it I'd eat two bags of cheetos, smoke 3 packs a day and wash it all down with a few bottles of whiskey.
I can see it now, the next celebrity diet:
"The cheetos, cigarettes and whiskey diet. By Kevin Federline."
I'm not saying that anyone who plays games a lot is addicted. I play games for long periods of time sometimes myself. I sat and played Vice City for over five hours before, and I know I've played RPGs longer -- especially during the summers when I was younger. Just not regularly. Certainly not enough to die from it (which is, I believe, the cause for these restrictions). Maybe I just get bored with games easy (5+ hours a day? In a week I'm going to be sick of looking at it and sick of the music and/or sounds coming from it).
;)
However, if you get to the point where you freak out if someone takes the game away, you have a problem. If you can't put it down, that's an addiction. Would it really hurt to only game for 20-30 hours a week? 'Cos you're only awake for around 112 (give or take a dozen depending on your personal sleep needs and habits). Leave some time for porn, too.
Drat. If I had a mustache to twirl I would, and hatch a diabolical scheme to take over the world. Or some such. I'm not a good supervillain yet. Oh well, at least a fellow geek has won your affections.
Will you marry me? ;)
I always figured that's why it was called "work."