I think the "system" is rigged to take advantage of people and to keep them down. Consumer credit is incredibly easy to get, and we are constantly bombarded by advertising and other media pushing the consumer lifestyle. "Buy now, don't pay till 2008", why wait if you can put it on your VISA now. Some of my younger relatives are living check to check with 2 or 3 maxed out credit cards because they want to have their parents lifestyle now. They have to have the new furniture and the big TV and the trip to Cabo San Lucas _NOW_. Each month they pay just the minimum balance on their cards, at %18+ per year. The scary part is they see nothing wrong with this at all, they think this is normal. They don't see that they are in a trap they may never dig themselves out of. Retirement savings - none. Savings for their kids education - none. Chance of owning their own home - zero. They are going to be part of the first generation since World War One that will end up less well off than their parents.
The credit card companies are exploiting these people and their foolishness, and they are making obscene profits doing it. The goverment isn't going to step in, because consumer spending is what keeps the economy ticking. Meanwhile we are mortgaging our kids future to pay for shiny toys we want but don't really need.
Actually I think they paid about $460k to move here.
I should add some data. We are talking about Vancouver BC, which has insanely high priced housing. Prices have been going up 15% to 20% annually for about 7 or 8 years. At the time this happened, about three years ago, a house in $blue_collar_ville was worth about $225k, a house in $my_neighborhood was about $450k and a very_exclusive_area like West Vancouver started at about $750k. $My_neighborhood is hardly exclusive. I would call it middle class or maybe in some parts upper middle class. Most of the houses are 30+ years old. It does have decent schools and low crime.
Today a house in $blue_collar_ville is worth about $375k, a house in $my_neighborhood is about $650k and West Vancouver is about $1.2M. I have no idea how somebody just starting out can afford to buy a house, even with 2 incomes.
I agree that life is not fair and that as you say, sometimes "stupid people rise to positions of power while smart, hard working people barely get by". A lot of things happen to people that they have no control over. Factories close, jobs get offshored, fisheries collapse, mines run out of ore. Smart hardworking people end up broke and desperate.
But, and here is my point, a lot of people end up where they are, not because of misfortune, but as a result of their own decisions. I think we are getting too philosophical and abstract here so maybe an example is in order.
My brother and his roommate, both from comfy middle class homes, both finished high school, both got a 2 year diploma from a community college, both found decent entry level jobs in industrial sales, both earning about the same salary. Roommate buys a new Camaro. Camaro costs $600/month loan plus $ 150/month insurance. Brother buy used POS Datsun B210. Costs $600 one time plus $75/month insurance. After 3 years brother has saved up $24000 and buys fixer-upper house. Camaro is now paid off and worth less than half what it was new. Fast forward 5 years. Brother has paid off mortgage, house is worth double what it was bought for. Roommate still renting, basically living paychek to paycheck, price of houses have gone up so much they may forever be out of his reach. My brother is not any smarter or harder working or luckier than his roommate. They both had exactly the same opportunities, the difference in outcomes was entirely due to the decisions they made.
I agree that "the system" is indeed rigged. It is designed to keep stupid people down. It is especially effective at keeping stupid people who make bad decisions down. People who live according to their wants instead of their needs. People who can't think long term, but are more concerned about immediate gratification.
Of course, in your worldview, people are not responsible for their own decisions. Its "the system" thats keeping them down. What a pathetic self defeating ideology.
I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed, eat a lump of cold poison, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad would kill us, and dance about on our graves singing "Hallelujah"
Our new neighbors moved into our white collar suburb, from a not too distant blue collar suburb. They went from owning, clear title, a big 4 bedroom house, to buying a much smaller house with a $250k mortgage. The wife couldn't stay home with the kids any more, and had to go back to work full time, the kids into afterschool day care and the husband switched shifts so he could be home when the kids got up.
I couldn't figure out why they would go through all this just to get into a neighborhood they could barely afford. Then the mom explained that at the school they moved away from, parent volunteers had to clean the kids playground every morning and pick up all the discarded needles and used condoms before the kids came out to play.
Sometimes it isn't about the SUV and the plasma TV.
No difference. The games are exactly alike. Except soccer is played on grass and hockey on ice. And an ice rink is just over half the length and width of a soccer pitch. And hockey players move with twice the speed of soccer players. Also hockey games will feature 10 times as many shots on goal, and 5 times as many goals as a soccer game. Oh yeah and in soccer full body contact is banned, where in hockey it is mandatory. Other than that, no difference.
So, according to you both of these sentences mean the same thing, because morons sometimes confuse "effect" with "affect"? Because, hey, there is no "right" or "wrong" words any more, and any common usage is valid?
Arrogance? Sorry, but "people will die if I screw up" is reality for engineers. Arrogance would be thinking that you will never make a mistake. All my work is checked, double checked and then checked again, because in fact people _will_ die if I screw up. I've seen exactly two unsafe systems make it into service in 20 years and I still get the shakes when I think about what could have happened if we hadn't caught them in time. (Google "Clapham Junction Disaster" for a hint).
You should have smiled politely and then, with all your might, kicked him in the balls. (What the hell, he's not using them anyway.) Some people just need to have things explained to them in a language they can understand.
At my last workplace, if you left your PC logged on and walked away without locking it, the other techies would send an email for you, coming from your email account, and bearing your signature. Typical topics included "I am a women trapped in a man's body", "the boss is a jerk and can kiss my ass" and the always popular "coming out of the closet". Typically this would be broadcast to the entire department.
As an interesting exercise, let us substitute $men for $women and $female_dominated_profession for $male_dominated profession. Example: nursing for engineering, and lets see how the rhetoric sounds.
"It is self-evident that the low number of men in nursing is the result of systematic discrimination against men by the sexist women who dominate the profession. Without affirmative action, the entrenched and dominant female hierarchy will never allow men to compete as equals. Hospitals should stop hiring female nurses until the number of men and women working in the profession are the same."
You don't need to tell us. Your charming use of compund nouns (railwayridingsimulations) reveals your nationality most clearly. As a descendant of Germans, I think English would be more fun if we also adopted this form. e.g. My Computingmachinewhichservesfilesforthemostpartporn ographic just crashed again.
The word you want is DUCT as in DUCT tape. Of course there is a company called "Duck" that makes "Duck Tape" which is actually duct tape, which no doubt adds to the confusion.
Yes, Duct tape can contain nucular explosions. Duct tape can be used for anything*!
* except taping ducts; it's no good at all for that.
Switching from Lotus 123 to Excell caused me the same heartburn. Everything worked but it JUST DIDN'T FEEL RIGHT. Took me a long time to get used to it. And, no, I have not forgiven.
"And what part of "do not have anything to do with" do you not understand? If you have only approved content in your possession (you created or someone else created and said it was OK)? Then DRM is absolutely irrelevent."
Apparently, I do not understand any part of it. I think you are saying that if I don't have any DRM-ed files then DRM doesn't affect me. This seems self evident.
What set off my bogometer, and what I was commenting on, was this particular phrase. -
"DRM is irrelevent to those who don't possess or have any intention of possessing illegal copyrighted content."
This is not true! There are many known instances where DRM affects "those who don't possess or have any intention of possessing illegal copyrighted content", generally by preventing legal fair use in a futile attempt to prevent illegal use.
"DRM is irrelevent to those who don't possess or have any intention of possessing illegal copyrighted content."
Wow, is that statement ever wrong. As wrong as could be. "None more wrong"
Generally DRM only affects legitimate users. If I buy a copy protected CD I get the DRM. If I download the same music from shareaza - No DRM. DRM is very relevant when it prevents legal purchasers of content from legitimate "fair use" of that content. If DRM means I can't rip the CD I just bought to put the music on my MP3 player, or make a backup copy of my kid's DVDs then it is most certainly relevant.
On the other hand DRM is at most an inconvenience to hackers , pirates and other users of "illegal copyrighted content" . I can't think of one form of copy protection that hasn't been cracked.
Slashdot Mirror
I think the "system" is rigged to take advantage of people and to keep them down. Consumer credit is incredibly easy to get, and we are constantly bombarded by advertising and other media pushing the consumer lifestyle. "Buy now, don't pay till 2008", why wait if you can put it on your VISA now. Some of my younger relatives are living check to check with 2 or 3 maxed out credit cards because they want to have their parents lifestyle now. They have to have the new furniture and the big TV and the trip to Cabo San Lucas _NOW_. Each month they pay just the minimum balance on their cards, at %18+ per year. The scary part is they see nothing wrong with this at all, they think this is normal. They don't see that they are in a trap they may never dig themselves out of. Retirement savings - none. Savings for their kids education - none. Chance of owning their own home - zero. They are going to be part of the first generation since World War One that will end up less well off than their parents.
The credit card companies are exploiting these people and their foolishness, and they are making obscene profits doing it. The goverment isn't going to step in, because consumer spending is what keeps the economy ticking. Meanwhile we are mortgaging our kids future to pay for shiny toys we want but don't really need.
Actually I think they paid about $460k to move here.
I should add some data. We are talking about Vancouver BC, which has insanely high priced housing. Prices have been going up 15% to 20% annually for about 7 or 8 years. At the time this happened, about three years ago, a house in $blue_collar_ville was worth about $225k, a house in $my_neighborhood was about $450k and a very_exclusive_area like West Vancouver started at about $750k. $My_neighborhood is hardly exclusive. I would call it middle class or maybe in some parts upper middle class. Most of the houses are 30+ years old. It does have decent schools and low crime.
Today a house in $blue_collar_ville is worth about $375k, a house in $my_neighborhood is about $650k and West Vancouver is about $1.2M. I have no idea how somebody just starting out can afford to buy a house, even with 2 incomes.
I agree that life is not fair and that as you say, sometimes "stupid people rise to positions of power while smart, hard working people barely get by". A lot of things happen to people that they have no control over. Factories close, jobs get offshored, fisheries collapse, mines run out of ore. Smart hardworking people end up broke and desperate.
But, and here is my point, a lot of people end up where they are, not because of misfortune, but as a result of their own decisions. I think we are getting too philosophical and abstract here so maybe an example is in order.
My brother and his roommate, both from comfy middle class homes, both finished high school, both got a 2 year diploma from a community college, both found decent entry level jobs in industrial sales, both earning about the same salary. Roommate buys a new Camaro. Camaro costs $600/month loan plus $ 150/month insurance. Brother buy used POS Datsun B210. Costs $600 one time plus $75/month insurance. After 3 years brother has saved up $24000 and buys fixer-upper house. Camaro is now paid off and worth less than half what it was new. Fast forward 5 years. Brother has paid off mortgage, house is worth double what it was bought for. Roommate still renting, basically living paychek to paycheck, price of houses have gone up so much they may forever be out of his reach. My brother is not any smarter or harder working or luckier than his roommate. They both had exactly the same opportunities, the difference in outcomes was entirely due to the decisions they made.
I agree that "the system" is indeed rigged. It is designed to keep stupid people down. It is especially effective at keeping stupid people who make bad decisions down. People who live according to their wants instead of their needs. People who can't think long term, but are more concerned about immediate gratification.
Of course, in your worldview, people are not responsible for their own decisions. Its "the system" thats keeping them down. What a pathetic self defeating ideology.
I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed, eat a lump of cold poison, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad would kill us, and dance about on our graves singing "Hallelujah"
Our new neighbors moved into our white collar suburb, from a not too distant blue collar suburb. They went from owning, clear title, a big 4 bedroom house, to buying a much smaller house with a $250k mortgage. The wife couldn't stay home with the kids any more, and had to go back to work full time, the kids into afterschool day care and the husband switched shifts so he could be home when the kids got up.
I couldn't figure out why they would go through all this just to get into a neighborhood they could barely afford. Then the mom explained that at the school they moved away from, parent volunteers had to clean the kids playground every morning and pick up all the discarded needles and used condoms before the kids came out to play.
Sometimes it isn't about the SUV and the plasma TV.
No difference. The games are exactly alike. Except soccer is played on grass and hockey on ice. And an ice rink is just over half the length and width of a soccer pitch. And hockey players move with twice the speed of soccer players. Also hockey games will feature 10 times as many shots on goal, and 5 times as many goals as a soccer game. Oh yeah and in soccer full body contact is banned, where in hockey it is mandatory. Other than that, no difference.
jumbo shrimp
microsoft works
american cheese
How will IBM effect Firefox?
How will IBM affect Firefox?
So, according to you both of these sentences mean the same thing, because morons sometimes confuse "effect" with "affect"? Because, hey, there is no "right" or "wrong" words any more, and any common usage is valid?
Arrogance? Sorry, but "people will die if I screw up" is reality for engineers. Arrogance would be thinking that you will never make a mistake. All my work is checked, double checked and then checked again, because in fact people _will_ die if I screw up. I've seen exactly two unsafe systems make it into service in 20 years and I still get the shakes when I think about what could have happened if we hadn't caught them in time. (Google "Clapham Junction Disaster" for a hint).
You should have smiled politely and then, with all your might, kicked him in the balls. (What the hell, he's not using them anyway.) Some people just need to have things explained to them in a language they can understand.
I see.
Few women in engineering = systematic discrimination against women.
Few men in nursing = systematic discrimination against women.
Huh?
At my last workplace, if you left your PC logged on and walked away without locking it, the other techies would send an email for you, coming from your email account, and bearing your signature. Typical topics included "I am a women trapped in a man's body", "the boss is a jerk and can kiss my ass" and the always popular "coming out of the closet". Typically this would be broadcast to the entire department.
As an interesting exercise, let us substitute $men for $women and $female_dominated_profession for $male_dominated profession. Example: nursing for engineering, and lets see how the rhetoric sounds.
"It is self-evident that the low number of men in nursing is the result of systematic discrimination against men by the sexist women who dominate the profession. Without affirmative action, the entrenched and dominant female hierarchy will never allow men to compete as equals. Hospitals should stop hiring female nurses until the number of men and women working in the profession are the same."
Does that sound odd to you?
"I am from germany"
n ographic just crashed again.
You don't need to tell us. Your charming use of compund nouns (railwayridingsimulations) reveals your nationality most clearly. As a descendant of Germans, I think English would be more fun if we also adopted this form. e.g. My Computingmachinewhichservesfilesforthemostpartpor
Peace, Love, Eisbein and Sauerkraut.
I see! It all makes sense now. I need a Japanese girlfriend. Of course I do!
Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter!
LA LA LA LA. I CAN'T HEAR YOU. (fingers in ears)
Your's Truly
Every Mac Fanboy
Only a Sith deals in absolutes - Obi Wan Kenobi
The computer is in the home office so at night I can close the door when I surf "educational" websites. (if you get my drift)
Can't do that in the living room.
If you're taping ducks to ducts would you use duct tape or duck tape?
I looked on wiki and by jeez yer right. /properly chastised/
The word you want is DUCT as in DUCT tape. Of course there is a company called "Duck" that makes "Duck Tape" which is actually duct tape, which no doubt adds to the confusion.
Yes, Duct tape can contain nucular explosions. Duct tape can be used for anything*!
* except taping ducts; it's no good at all for that.
Switching from Lotus 123 to Excell caused me the same heartburn. Everything worked but it JUST DIDN'T FEEL RIGHT. Took me a long time to get used to it. And, no, I have not forgiven.
"And what part of "do not have anything to do with" do you not understand? If you have only approved content in your possession (you created or someone else created and said it was OK)? Then DRM is absolutely irrelevent."
Apparently, I do not understand any part of it. I think you are saying that if I don't have any DRM-ed files then DRM doesn't affect me. This seems self evident.
What set off my bogometer, and what I was commenting on, was this particular phrase. -
"DRM is irrelevent to those who don't possess or have any intention of possessing illegal copyrighted content."
This is not true! There are many known instances where DRM affects "those who don't possess or have any intention of possessing illegal copyrighted content", generally by preventing legal fair use in a futile attempt to prevent illegal use.
"DRM is irrelevent to those who don't possess or have any intention of possessing illegal copyrighted content."
Wow, is that statement ever wrong. As wrong as could be. "None more wrong"
Generally DRM only affects legitimate users. If I buy a copy protected CD I get the DRM. If I download the same music from shareaza - No DRM. DRM is very relevant when it prevents legal purchasers of content from legitimate "fair use" of that content. If DRM means I can't rip the CD I just bought to put the music on my MP3 player, or make a backup copy of my kid's DVDs then it is most certainly relevant.
On the other hand DRM is at most an inconvenience to hackers , pirates and other users of "illegal copyrighted content" . I can't think of one form of copy protection that hasn't been cracked.