To paraphrase a jurist I heard on the radio recently, the 2nd Amendment isn't our great bulwark against tyrany, the 1st Amendment is.
Yep. Your right to free speech and free expression will do wonders against jack-booted thugs with supressed sub-machine guns and gas grenades.
Ah, time to get modded "troll" again, which seems to happen whenever someone isn't rabidly anti-gun around here. But I guess I can live with that; at least we both still have our rights to freedom of expression... well, for the most part anyhow.
More to the point, guns, be they a fundamental American right or not, kill vastly greater numbers of innocents each year than video games.
Ok, three HUGE problems with the above statement.
First off, guns DO NOT kill anyone. Whatever belligerant little shit that claims a gun killed anyone is an idiot. PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE. A gun is an INANIMATE OBJECT, that does not move, fire, hunt people down, or make decisions on its own.
Second, guns are tools used to SAVE thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of lives a year (perhaps not all from imenent death, but also from rape, beatings, etc) when used for defense.
The other problem being the assertion that they may not be fundamental rights. The Bill of Rights does not grant rights, it does not bestow rights that someone at the time thinks we should have. Instead, it enumerates rights that ALL people have ALWAYS had and ALWAYS will have. I simply fail to see how someone could say "be they a fundamental American right or not" and still insist that the 1st amendment is rock-solid no-debate, 100% a right that all American citizens have. You either acknowldge that we all have the inherant rights listed in the Bill of Rights, or not. There really isn't picking and choosing without invalidating them all.
Now, normally, when I am victimized by a crime, I am justified in defending myself. Mailblocks, however, is saying "You can't defend yourself against this crime, because we own the intellectual property for the methods of defense"?!?!
Kinda like US gun-control ain't it? The government is saying "You have no right to protect yourself from violent crimes, because we don't trust you with guns."Even people who shoot in self-defense tend to be brought up on all sorts of charges that you wouldn't get stuck with if it was your intent to go commit a crime the whole time (way to go Legal System, reward them criminals!).
As a side note, something has been rotten in the sate of our legal system for a very long time now...
Yeah yeah yeah, bitch and moan about people being selfish. Its not ever going to change. Society itself is just a bunch of selfish people who decided that they get more out of a cooperative socieity then they put into it. You just need to face the fact that people wouldn't do a damned thing if they didn't something in return (even that generosity is only done because it makes you feel good inside).
Don't belive me? If you paid taxes (assuming you are an American), but didn't get to drive on any roads, the 911 operators blacklisted your number, you were only allowed into private schools, couldn't vote, etc. etc., would you still be willing to pay your taxes?
Good point. But it isn't just carrying capacity that makes a car so useful. What will all of these people in this wonderful car-free city do if they want to visit anyplace outside of the city?
50 miles or so is out of bike range, but kinda insane to take a plane ride. Or what if you want to visit the country and do some hiking? It isn't as though busses just go to random parts out it the hills to make drops of 1 or 2 hikers. And then of course there are the late night journies, where your public transit might no longer be running (or if you are a women might be rather dangerous at 3am). So basically you get trapped in your city, and have far less freedom of movement and less versatile modes of transportation for all but the most simple point-a to point-b short-distance scenarios; not something I'd look forward to.
How is google going to search for blog-like sites?
Since I'll bet nobody here really knows how google will determine what is a blog site and what is not, your question cannot be answered. One thing I can say, however, is that if your site does get lumped in with blog sites, and not real news sites, then it'll be time for you to change the layout of those pages if you want to keep your google rating. I'll also bet that a very small fraction of real news sites have a format so close to blogging sites that they can't be told apart. With such a minority, I'd hardly call googles move a "Bad Idea".
Life is a series of changes, and you gotta keep up.
Wow, this is scary. The exact same points can be re-written slightly to describe our (US) gov't.
- The President is just a shill for party politicians. - This is a govenment that is used to gouging citizens and wielding strict control over freedoms. - They consider themselves at the top of the food chain, and fight anyone that intrudes into their political gain and power. - They consider citizens as sheep to be shorn. - They consider themselves above the law, even going so far as to believe they can make the law.
Well ok, that last point is only half scary, they are supposed to pass laws, just not consider themselves above all the laws. But the alarming trend is that they make laws to keep themselves in power, not to help the public.
Anyone that hasn't grasped the fuedal relationship between the music industry and it's customers by now, isn't going to get it at all, so further 'evidence' that there is a problem is just so much more sand on the beach.
s/music industry/government s/customers/citizens
Guess it only makes sense the music industry (and others) act this way. They see the government do it every day with great effect, and the people of this country are yet to do jack about it.
...certainly an anti-spam bill would violate said rights.
Like HELL! If I tie a note to a brick and throw it through your window, I cannot stand behind my 1st Amendment right to free speech. The fact of the matter is that SPAM is unwanted messages that costs you time and money, much like fixing that window will cost you time and money. Where is the violation of rights for not allowing people to spam?
Sure, we're part of the ecology, but it dosn't mean to say that everything we then do in the ecology is a good, natural thing to happen.
Uh, what? If we are a part of nature (and I'd have to say we are) then EVERYTHING we do is natural. Maybe not "good" (who the hell decides "good" and "bad" here anyhow?), but it sure as hell is natural.
When a beaver makes a dam, its all natural and "good". When a man makes a dam, HOLY SHIT LOOK AT THAT ABNORMAL ABOMINATION! Get your head out of your ass. We are animals. The only difference between us and a shit flinging monkey is a few abstract ideas.
I'm not saying we shouldn't take care of our environment. I am all for saving our biodiversity and keeping the air/water/earth clean. I don't want to live in a shithole. But that doesn't make anything we do unnatural, it just means we have a little bit of sense about what is going on and can choose to do things differently if we please. I bet if that beaver knew any better he'd make up some concrete and block the whole river. But the beaver doesn't know any better, and yet we do. Still, doesn't change the fact that we are both animals doing natural things that animals do.
In the end if we nuke the entire planet 100 times over, it is nothing but nature continuing on as it has for all of time.
Why this got moderated up who knows... OT is what I'd have given it. But to reply:
While undoubtedly civilians will die in a war, there are two points to be made here:
1) You'd be a fool to think all those deaths were by US bombs alone. Sadam has been known to blame his own military mishaps (perhaps even bomb his own people if they get in his way) on the US. To put it in another point of view: it would be like the US calling a friendly fire incident an Iraqi attack. The point being those numbers are suspect. Sadam kills thousands of people every week (every day?) that he does not like, so where is the relation between these new deaths and 9/11? These could easily be a continuation of Saddams own murder-spree.
2) Only time will tell if Iraq is truly liberated at the end of this offensive, but suffice it to say the intent is there. Whereas the 9/11 attacks were in no way aimed at helping Americans break free of a murderous, genocidal, oppresive regime.
Compare apples to appales, I say.
Next time you're watching the bombs explode on CNN, remember how you felt on 9/11, and realize that the same thing is happening in Iraq, right now.
And has been for upwards of 10 years now. This reminds me of a saying I saw, though I cannot remember where now: "Do dead Iraqis only count if they are killed by the US?"
I felt devestated to see such a loss of life on 9/11. I do not like seeing peaceful citizens of Iraq being killed now. All the more reason to be taking care of things now so that the people of Iraq no longer have to put up with being killed en-masse by a dictator.
How was the parent modded as "funny"? Aside from the "overzeaslous digital media companies" part (which is more opinion than an absolut fact) the rest of the proposed warning would be fair and accurate.
I sure don't think it is funny that I can be prosecuted for trying to fix something that is broke...
...The Supreme Court ruled against police using passive detection methods such as heat radiation without a search warrant. By your logic, they should have been able to - since if you didn't want them to use such a method you should've prevented the heat from irradiating out from your walls.
Lets compare apples to apples, m'kay? They can't use passive detection because you are IN YOUR OWN HOME. If you want to make this comparison it would go more like: You can't expect to walk into a police station and demand that nobody look at you and perhaps recognize you as a wanted criminal. See how that much more closely follows the rational that you can't beam a signal into somebody's home and demand that nobody listen to that signal?
See the difference? If these people were cracking signals by breaking into the actual satilite, then it should be illegal. As it is they are using something that was sent TO THEIR PROPERTY. Not only that, but your body heat going through walls is something you would have to activly try to STOP. Whereas the satellite people had to actively try to START sending signals, not the other way around. It is up to them to not send those signals places they don't want them to be used.
I can see the arguments both ways, and I don't like the DMCA in the slightest (and suspect that the people involved in this case could have been prosecuted under other laws), but the whole "quit beaming at me" argument is absolutely absurd.
"Quit beaming at me" isn't absurd at all. As an above poster put it, if someone throws a brick through your window and you pick it up, you sure as hell shouldn't be charged with stealing that brick, no matter who it eminated from.
Still don't buy the argument? Then perhaps I'll move in nextdoor to you, beam my own radio signal all around the block, and if I ever find out you tuned into my private subscriber radio station I'll have yer ass in the slammer.
Kinda off topic and reactionary at first... but hear me out.
The kind of corporate ownership of our gov. and our lives that you talk about is precisely why the 2nd ammendment is so damned important. Everyone seems to think that since things are fairly OK (and even that is VERY debatable) right now, that we can just ditch all our nations privatly owned guns.
Now I certainly do not advocate running down to Hollywood and blowing anyone off the face of the planet. But think of this; when these corporations finally go too far in the eyes of Joe public, and they effectivly own 90% of our national government, our guns will be our last hope. When the RIAA/MPAA/M$/oil giant/whoever comes up with their 70% income tax because you damned well just owe them for your continued right to live, then the public can band together and say "You know what, come and get it, bitches. If you really want a dime out of my account you can come pry it from my cold, dead hands."
Just a thought. Because whether or not you want to belive it, that is the way things will be in the future if we don't stop the continued infiltration of the US gov. by corporate thugs.
Some people can even connect to other networks without leaving their own house (some California houses are really close together).
Yup. I live in Northern Cali, and one of my roommates just got a wireless card for his laptop. When he first put it in we forgot that our wireless access point was turned off at the time... but guess what. Windows detected another access point somewhere around here and set up the card to use it. We were surfing the net and downloading a few files to test the connection, which was plenty fast and reliable.
Until wireless networks are secured tracking by IP can be an easy thing to avoid.
Not to start a flame war or anysuch mayhem, but honestly I don't see this game or the always mentioned Star Wars Galaxies game getting too far. Both these games will get great intial turnout, I would expect, simply due to the already successful marketing of their names. But beyond that they have relatively little to offer.
For my money, a game like ShadowBane (also from UbiSoft) will truly rock the market and gain players that will stick. As will Planetside , the first first-person shooter MMOG, at least that I know of.
At least these companies have their bases covered. When Myst dies a silent death UbiSoft will be sitting pretty atop the cash cow that ShadowBane will become, and Sony will keep things running with Planetside and of course the neverending run of EQ.
"...I can't help but wonder what the potential things that could go wrong with designing a CPU are, such as software incompatibilities etc."
And I cannot help but wonder why a country that is taking a great step like this -- designing their own processors for mainstream use -- would worry about such things as having to rewrite some software.
Seriously now, if they dislike/distrust current chipmakers, what the fuck would they care about interoperating with MS software? And any open source software they need can just be patched for their platform.
"10 percent of police who are shot are shot with their own guns".
Ok but now think about this... if a cop gets shot with his own gun it would lead that most likely he was either: a) incapacitated in some other respect and could have been stangled/beaten/knifed/etc... b) struggling with somebody and actidentally discharged his firearm into himself... c) was suprised and had someone draw the gun from his own holster (what good is that cable now? You don't need to stand 5' away to shoot someone)
Now sure there are other situations, of course. But think about this: if the officer's gun had this new tech on it would those 10% of shot police officers have gotten away just fine? I seriously doubt it. I think them being shot with their own gun was just the end result of a larger conflict that had ended badly for the officer to begin with.
I actually think this _could_ be a good idea for law enforcement guns... maybe have the grips keyed to only allow those on the force to fire them. But for your average gun owning American this is just one more step to keep the criminals armed and the masses helpless (or more precisely keep the masses dependent on our dear government).
Phone companies will light up the fiber when it makes fiscal sense to do so. Nobody, ESPECIALLY not a phone company who would stand to profit significantly from cheap fiber, is purposely NOT using this stuff.
Uhhhh, by waiting to use these lines until a later time, whether for good or for bad, they are in fact "purposely NOT using this stuff."
Science will always go on, leagal or not, because it has to, it is part of human nature...
That has got to be one of the biggest loads of horseshit I've ever heard. I compel you to logically (actually I'd settle for any argumentative method just about) prove that science is a part of human nature. It is made up. A figment of our collective imagination. Not that it doesn't have its uses, but part of human nature that will inevitably go on? MY ASS!
The rest of the sentence isn't that great either
really, and I truly can't understand why it got modded up...
but it's not worth it if it does not benifit mankind.
Take that right there and apply it everything done here on Earth and well... you end up with a planet going the way it is right now. Straight into the shitter. I'm not even some whacked out eco-save-the-whales-at-all-costs-oil-is-satan-frea k, but honestly that point of view is fucking bullshit.
I only ask 2 things - make sure I know it's only your opinion (unless you have iron clad, set in stone hard proof to back up your statements) and don't lie to me just to further your point.
Riiiiight. Well there goes publishing any scientific information. Since when has anything in science been "iron clad, set in stone..."? Answer: never! It is just a best damned guess based on available facts and current perspectives. Really now, where do you draw the line of what is "truth" and what are "lies" and who gets to decide this? The law you described is pretty much the same as the anti-hate laws of the EU, it was just described differenetly.
I simply do not get this installer hangup everyone seems to have. Debian was the 2nd linux install I ever did when I started trying to use linux, some 4 years ago now. The first was a nice graphical RedHat install... which led to a system I barely understood and never used. A few months later I found Debian, and thought I'd give linux another whirl. Let me tell you I am so glad that I did.
It was keyboard based simple installer... and opposite of what other people seem to think it was faster, easier, and far more fun than any GUI piece of BS that other distros slap on their system. After installing Debian that first time I was hooked on linux for good. It barely took any searching the net to find what I needed to configure my new Debain system just the way I liked it, and the installer, my how that installer stayed out of my way and just let me get to the installing and configuring of the system that _I WANTED_. Not the system that some anonymous developers thought I would need.
For me Debian was really much more simple to understand, let me do what I wanted without fuss, didn't try to push anything on me, and quite frankly is the only reason I got hooked on linux.
Keep up the good work Debian, and no matter what some hairbrained reviewers and lazy Winblows users say, don't ever change you underlying principles. You make linux worth using.
I love all these wanna-be rightous posts about America being some evil, no-good, sell out, giant corporation, that I even saw compared with the Nazis. Fine, all well and good. Yep, America does indeed have its problems, and reaches too far sometimes (we'll not get into what I think is too far and what isn't). But for all you punk ass little fools crying foul in this little forum, why not stop blaming us when bad shit happens in your country...
Take your own damned advice, stand up to your government. Let them know that you think "Fuck America and its over-reaching power. Next time Bush tells you to prosecute some kid on our soil, tell him to shove it." But don't blame me when your poloticians crumble. I didn't vote for the fucker (Bush or your Leaders), and I do what I can to set things straight on my side, but short of millitary takeovers of your land it is ultimatly up to you to keep things straight on your end.
See, by the very fact that America can threaten your country with trade halts it shows the world that your poloticians are just as corrupt as America's. So go shove your rightous indignation. In a hundred years time America will either be a distant fucking memory of a facist land smacked down by the rest of the world, or we in America will own your fucking soul. Really the choice is up to you, but if it is the former, are you going to learn from our mistakes or is the EU or UN or some other organization just going to take Americas place as the bully of the world?
The way I've seen people flock to America for jobs and that capitalism that everyone here seems to "hate" I can't help but think that one bully will just replace the other, and all you fools on the other side of the pond will be pushing the new breed of Americans around, pretending that you are far more morally rightous than me, the lowly dirtbag US citizen that you have now become.
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To paraphrase a jurist I heard on the radio recently, the 2nd Amendment isn't our great bulwark against tyrany, the 1st Amendment is.
Yep. Your right to free speech and free expression will do wonders against jack-booted thugs with supressed sub-machine guns and gas grenades.
Ah, time to get modded "troll" again, which seems to happen whenever someone isn't rabidly anti-gun around here. But I guess I can live with that; at least we both still have our rights to freedom of expression... well, for the most part anyhow.
Scientific Studies Made Simple... you only need 1 data to draw a logical conclusion.
More to the point, guns, be they a fundamental American right or not, kill vastly greater numbers of innocents each year than video games.
Ok, three HUGE problems with the above statement.
First off, guns DO NOT kill anyone. Whatever belligerant little shit that claims a gun killed anyone is an idiot. PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE. A gun is an INANIMATE OBJECT, that does not move, fire, hunt people down, or make decisions on its own.
Second, guns are tools used to SAVE thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of lives a year (perhaps not all from imenent death, but also from rape, beatings, etc) when used for defense.
The other problem being the assertion that they may not be fundamental rights. The Bill of Rights does not grant rights, it does not bestow rights that someone at the time thinks we should have. Instead, it enumerates rights that ALL people have ALWAYS had and ALWAYS will have. I simply fail to see how someone could say "be they a fundamental American right or not" and still insist that the 1st amendment is rock-solid no-debate, 100% a right that all American citizens have. You either acknowldge that we all have the inherant rights listed in the Bill of Rights, or not. There really isn't picking and choosing without invalidating them all.
Kinda like US gun-control ain't it? The government is saying "You have no right to protect yourself from violent crimes, because we don't trust you with guns."Even people who shoot in self-defense tend to be brought up on all sorts of charges that you wouldn't get stuck with if it was your intent to go commit a crime the whole time (way to go Legal System, reward them criminals!).
As a side note, something has been rotten in the sate of our legal system for a very long time now...Yeah yeah yeah, bitch and moan about people being selfish. Its not ever going to change. Society itself is just a bunch of selfish people who decided that they get more out of a cooperative socieity then they put into it. You just need to face the fact that people wouldn't do a damned thing if they didn't something in return (even that generosity is only done because it makes you feel good inside).
Don't belive me? If you paid taxes (assuming you are an American), but didn't get to drive on any roads, the 911 operators blacklisted your number, you were only allowed into private schools, couldn't vote, etc. etc., would you still be willing to pay your taxes?
No? You selfish bastard.
Good point. But it isn't just carrying capacity that makes a car so useful. What will all of these people in this wonderful car-free city do if they want to visit anyplace outside of the city?
50 miles or so is out of bike range, but kinda insane to take a plane ride. Or what if you want to visit the country and do some hiking? It isn't as though busses just go to random parts out it the hills to make drops of 1 or 2 hikers. And then of course there are the late night journies, where your public transit might no longer be running (or if you are a women might be rather dangerous at 3am). So basically you get trapped in your city, and have far less freedom of movement and less versatile modes of transportation for all but the most simple point-a to point-b short-distance scenarios; not something I'd look forward to.
How is google going to search for blog-like sites?
Since I'll bet nobody here really knows how google will determine what is a blog site and what is not, your question cannot be answered. One thing I can say, however, is that if your site does get lumped in with blog sites, and not real news sites, then it'll be time for you to change the layout of those pages if you want to keep your google rating. I'll also bet that a very small fraction of real news sites have a format so close to blogging sites that they can't be told apart. With such a minority, I'd hardly call googles move a "Bad Idea".
Life is a series of changes, and you gotta keep up.
Wow, this is scary. The exact same points can be re-written slightly to describe our (US) gov't.
- The President is just a shill for party politicians.
- This is a govenment that is used to gouging citizens and wielding strict control over freedoms.
- They consider themselves at the top of the food chain, and fight anyone that intrudes into their political gain and power.
- They consider citizens as sheep to be shorn.
- They consider themselves above the law, even going so far as to believe they can make the law.
Well ok, that last point is only half scary, they are supposed to pass laws, just not consider themselves above all the laws. But the alarming trend is that they make laws to keep themselves in power, not to help the public.
Anyone that hasn't grasped the fuedal relationship between the music industry and it's customers by now, isn't going to get it at all, so further 'evidence' that there is a problem is just so much more sand on the beach.
s/music industry/government
s/customers/citizens
Guess it only makes sense the music industry (and others) act this way. They see the government do it every day with great effect, and the people of this country are yet to do jack about it.
...certainly an anti-spam bill would violate said rights.
Like HELL! If I tie a note to a brick and throw it through your window, I cannot stand behind my 1st Amendment right to free speech. The fact of the matter is that SPAM is unwanted messages that costs you time and money, much like fixing that window will cost you time and money. Where is the violation of rights for not allowing people to spam?
Sure, we're part of the ecology, but it dosn't mean to say that everything we then do in the ecology is a good, natural thing to happen.
Uh, what? If we are a part of nature (and I'd have to say we are) then EVERYTHING we do is natural. Maybe not "good" (who the hell decides "good" and "bad" here anyhow?), but it sure as hell is natural.
When a beaver makes a dam, its all natural and "good". When a man makes a dam, HOLY SHIT LOOK AT THAT ABNORMAL ABOMINATION! Get your head out of your ass. We are animals. The only difference between us and a shit flinging monkey is a few abstract ideas.
I'm not saying we shouldn't take care of our environment. I am all for saving our biodiversity and keeping the air/water/earth clean. I don't want to live in a shithole. But that doesn't make anything we do unnatural, it just means we have a little bit of sense about what is going on and can choose to do things differently if we please. I bet if that beaver knew any better he'd make up some concrete and block the whole river. But the beaver doesn't know any better, and yet we do. Still, doesn't change the fact that we are both animals doing natural things that animals do.
In the end if we nuke the entire planet 100 times over, it is nothing but nature continuing on as it has for all of time.
Why this got moderated up who knows... OT is what I'd have given it. But to reply:
While undoubtedly civilians will die in a war, there are two points to be made here:
1) You'd be a fool to think all those deaths were by US bombs alone. Sadam has been known to blame his own military mishaps (perhaps even bomb his own people if they get in his way) on the US. To put it in another point of view: it would be like the US calling a friendly fire incident an Iraqi attack. The point being those numbers are suspect. Sadam kills thousands of people every week (every day?) that he does not like, so where is the relation between these new deaths and 9/11? These could easily be a continuation of Saddams own murder-spree.
2) Only time will tell if Iraq is truly liberated at the end of this offensive, but suffice it to say the intent is there. Whereas the 9/11 attacks were in no way aimed at helping Americans break free of a murderous, genocidal, oppresive regime.
Compare apples to appales, I say.
Next time you're watching the bombs explode on CNN, remember how you felt on 9/11, and realize that the same thing is happening in Iraq, right now.
And has been for upwards of 10 years now. This reminds me of a saying I saw, though I cannot remember where now: "Do dead Iraqis only count if they are killed by the US?"
I felt devestated to see such a loss of life on 9/11. I do not like seeing peaceful citizens of Iraq being killed now. All the more reason to be taking care of things now so that the people of Iraq no longer have to put up with being killed en-masse by a dictator.
- Get in, give democracy, get out.
How was the parent modded as "funny"? Aside from the "overzeaslous digital media companies" part (which is more opinion than an absolut fact) the rest of the proposed warning would be fair and accurate.
I sure don't think it is funny that I can be prosecuted for trying to fix something that is broke...
...The Supreme Court ruled against police using passive detection methods such as heat radiation without a search warrant. By your logic, they should have been able to - since if you didn't want them to use such a method you should've prevented the heat from irradiating out from your walls.
Lets compare apples to apples, m'kay? They can't use passive detection because you are IN YOUR OWN HOME. If you want to make this comparison it would go more like: You can't expect to walk into a police station and demand that nobody look at you and perhaps recognize you as a wanted criminal. See how that much more closely follows the rational that you can't beam a signal into somebody's home and demand that nobody listen to that signal?
See the difference? If these people were cracking signals by breaking into the actual satilite, then it should be illegal. As it is they are using something that was sent TO THEIR PROPERTY. Not only that, but your body heat going through walls is something you would have to activly try to STOP. Whereas the satellite people had to actively try to START sending signals, not the other way around. It is up to them to not send those signals places they don't want them to be used.
I can see the arguments both ways, and I don't like the DMCA in the slightest (and suspect that the people involved in this case could have been prosecuted under other laws), but the whole "quit beaming at me" argument is absolutely absurd.
"Quit beaming at me" isn't absurd at all. As an above poster put it, if someone throws a brick through your window and you pick it up, you sure as hell shouldn't be charged with stealing that brick, no matter who it eminated from.
Still don't buy the argument? Then perhaps I'll move in nextdoor to you, beam my own radio signal all around the block, and if I ever find out you tuned into my private subscriber radio station I'll have yer ass in the slammer.
Oh wait. I thought that said "What Should I Do With My Wife."
Carry on, nothing to see here.
Kinda off topic and reactionary at first... but hear me out.
The kind of corporate ownership of our gov. and our lives that you talk about is precisely why the 2nd ammendment is so damned important. Everyone seems to think that since things are fairly OK (and even that is VERY debatable) right now, that we can just ditch all our nations privatly owned guns.
Now I certainly do not advocate running down to Hollywood and blowing anyone off the face of the planet. But think of this; when these corporations finally go too far in the eyes of Joe public, and they effectivly own 90% of our national government, our guns will be our last hope. When the RIAA/MPAA/M$/oil giant/whoever comes up with their 70% income tax because you damned well just owe them for your continued right to live, then the public can band together and say "You know what, come and get it, bitches. If you really want a dime out of my account you can come pry it from my cold, dead hands."
Just a thought. Because whether or not you want to belive it, that is the way things will be in the future if we don't stop the continued infiltration of the US gov. by corporate thugs.
Some people can even connect to other networks without leaving their own house (some California houses are really close together).
Yup. I live in Northern Cali, and one of my roommates just got a wireless card for his laptop. When he first put it in we forgot that our wireless access point was turned off at the time... but guess what. Windows detected another access point somewhere around here and set up the card to use it. We were surfing the net and downloading a few files to test the connection, which was plenty fast and reliable.
Until wireless networks are secured tracking by IP can be an easy thing to avoid.
Not to start a flame war or anysuch mayhem, but honestly I don't see this game or the always mentioned Star Wars Galaxies game getting too far.
Both these games will get great intial turnout, I would expect, simply due to the already successful marketing of their names. But beyond that they have relatively little to offer.
For my money, a game like ShadowBane (also from UbiSoft) will truly rock the market and gain players that will stick. As will Planetside , the first first-person shooter MMOG, at least that I know of.
At least these companies have their bases covered. When Myst dies a silent death UbiSoft will be sitting pretty atop the cash cow that ShadowBane will become, and Sony will keep things running with Planetside and of course the neverending run of EQ.
"...I can't help but wonder what the potential things that could go wrong with designing a CPU are, such as software incompatibilities etc."
And I cannot help but wonder why a country that is taking a great step like this -- designing their own processors for mainstream use -- would worry about such things as having to rewrite some software.
Seriously now, if they dislike/distrust current chipmakers, what the fuck would they care about interoperating with MS software? And any open source software they need can just be patched for their platform.
"10 percent of police who are shot are shot with their own guns".
Ok but now think about this... if a cop gets shot with his own gun it would lead that most likely he was either:
a) incapacitated in some other respect and could have been stangled/beaten/knifed/etc...
b) struggling with somebody and actidentally discharged his firearm into himself...
c) was suprised and had someone draw the gun from his own holster (what good is that cable now? You don't need to stand 5' away to shoot someone)
Now sure there are other situations, of course. But think about this: if the officer's gun had this new tech on it would those 10% of shot police officers have gotten away just fine? I seriously doubt it. I think them being shot with their own gun was just the end result of a larger conflict that had ended badly for the officer to begin with.
I actually think this _could_ be a good idea for law enforcement guns... maybe have the grips keyed to only allow those on the force to fire them. But for your average gun owning American this is just one more step to keep the criminals armed and the masses helpless (or more precisely keep the masses dependent on our dear government).
Phone companies will light up the fiber when it makes fiscal sense to do so. Nobody, ESPECIALLY not a phone company who would stand to profit significantly from cheap fiber, is purposely NOT using this stuff.
Uhhhh, by waiting to use these lines until a later time, whether for good or for bad, they are in fact "purposely NOT using this stuff."
Hah! Well thats just Democracy in action for ya. Oh wait...
Science will always go on, leagal or not, because it has to, it is part of human nature...
a k, but honestly that point of view is fucking bullshit.
That has got to be one of the biggest loads of horseshit I've ever heard. I compel you to logically (actually I'd settle for any argumentative method just about) prove that science is a part of human nature. It is made up. A figment of our collective imagination. Not that it doesn't have its uses, but part of human nature that will inevitably go on? MY ASS!
The rest of the sentence isn't that great either really, and I truly can't understand why it got modded up...
but it's not worth it if it does not benifit mankind.
Take that right there and apply it everything done here on Earth and well... you end up with a planet going the way it is right now. Straight into the shitter. I'm not even some whacked out eco-save-the-whales-at-all-costs-oil-is-satan-fre
I only ask 2 things - make sure I know it's only your opinion (unless you have iron clad, set in stone hard proof to back up your statements) and don't lie to me just to further your point.
Riiiiight. Well there goes publishing any scientific information. Since when has anything in science been "iron clad, set in stone..."? Answer: never! It is just a best damned guess based on available facts and current perspectives. Really now, where do you draw the line of what is "truth" and what are "lies" and who gets to decide this? The law you described is pretty much the same as the anti-hate laws of the EU, it was just described differenetly.
I simply do not get this installer hangup everyone seems to have. Debian was the 2nd linux install I ever did when I started trying to use linux, some 4 years ago now. The first was a nice graphical RedHat install... which led to a system I barely understood and never used. A few months later I found Debian, and thought I'd give linux another whirl. Let me tell you I am so glad that I did.
It was keyboard based simple installer... and opposite of what other people seem to think it was faster, easier, and far more fun than any GUI piece of BS that other distros slap on their system. After installing Debian that first time I was hooked on linux for good. It barely took any searching the net to find what I needed to configure my new Debain system just the way I liked it, and the installer, my how that installer stayed out of my way and just let me get to the installing and configuring of the system that _I WANTED_. Not the system that some anonymous developers thought I would need.
For me Debian was really much more simple to understand, let me do what I wanted without fuss, didn't try to push anything on me, and quite frankly is the only reason I got hooked on linux.
Keep up the good work Debian, and no matter what some hairbrained reviewers and lazy Winblows users say, don't ever change you underlying principles. You make linux worth using.
I love all these wanna-be rightous posts about America being some evil, no-good, sell out, giant corporation, that I even saw compared with the Nazis. Fine, all well and good. Yep, America does indeed have its problems, and reaches too far sometimes (we'll not get into what I think is too far and what isn't). But for all you punk ass little fools crying foul in this little forum, why not stop blaming us when bad shit happens in your country...
Take your own damned advice, stand up to your government. Let them know that you think "Fuck America and its over-reaching power. Next time Bush tells you to prosecute some kid on our soil, tell him to shove it." But don't blame me when your poloticians crumble. I didn't vote for the fucker (Bush or your Leaders), and I do what I can to set things straight on my side, but short of millitary takeovers of your land it is ultimatly up to you to keep things straight on your end.
See, by the very fact that America can threaten your country with trade halts it shows the world that your poloticians are just as corrupt as America's. So go shove your rightous indignation. In a hundred years time America will either be a distant fucking memory of a facist land smacked down by the rest of the world, or we in America will own your fucking soul. Really the choice is up to you, but if it is the former, are you going to learn from our mistakes or is the EU or UN or some other organization just going to take Americas place as the bully of the world?
The way I've seen people flock to America for jobs and that capitalism that everyone here seems to "hate" I can't help but think that one bully will just replace the other, and all you fools on the other side of the pond will be pushing the new breed of Americans around, pretending that you are far more morally rightous than me, the lowly dirtbag US citizen that you have now become.