This is just the latest in a long line of data losses/leaks. I find it difficult to believe that these are isolated events. I am forced to ask myself what there is to be gained from such frequent blatant breaches of data security. It seems to me that this and the previous incidents will be used to justify the creation of the upcoming UK government database. This is the usual MO when a government wants to do something unpopular, it first engineers events and the public perception in such a way that when the unpopular action is taken it is welcomed by the majority.
I for one welcome our current overlords and their new and improved ministry of information![/sarcasm]
I'm 35 and an avid (Linux) gamer. I don't go into game shops because: they don't sell Linux games, they don't sell the kinds of games I like, they try and sell me stuff I don't want, they are full of annoying kids (often that includes the staff). Come to think of it I don't think many of my game playing friends go into those shops either.
but I do trust that what they're telling me on CNN is accurate to the best of their knowledge
I agree, it's what they don't tell you, and the emphasis and the presentation that causes it to be unbiased. Modern propaganda techniques have little use for something as unsophisticated as a plain lie.
I strongly suspect that Islamic terrorism has very little to do with the real reason for the increasingly authoritarian state. I think most people who actually form their own opinions already know this. I am also very aware that large power structures (governmental or otherwise) tend to seek to extend and entrench their power at the expense of individual liberty, this is a process that has been going on since the development of agriculture ~20k years ago.
It seems that this process has accelerated (in my native UK at least) since the 80s. If you had told the average man-in-the-street in 1980 that in 20 years there would be 'security' cameras watching you pretty much everywhere you go, that you could be held indefinitely without trial or charge, and all the other stuff we have now, I doubt he would believe you. And yet here we are.
It may be that there is more to this than the usual extension of power. Perhaps what we are seeing is a preparation for the eventual effects of climate change, although the end of the cold war certainly had a part to play. Things like famine and natural disasters weaken central authority, people are less likely to do what they are told when the established order cannot provide them with the necessities of life. By laying the foundations of a totalitarian police state now, the powers will have become accepted as just the way it is by the majority by the time the government needs to use them to quell food riots or demonstrations against forced resettlement. It seems that many have no quarrel with such restrictive legislation already, even here on/. (which generally supports Freedom) there are those that speak up in favour of the curtailment of our liberty. The current world economic situation may well be part of this process, it certainly seems as if it has been engineered, but I'll save that rant for another day:)
Please note that I'm not saying that this is the reason, just a hypothesis.
Historically most people and any animal I've heard of reproduced as soon as possible, old fart mating doesn't really make sense. People are actually reproducing at an older age(TRUE)...we get autism(*WILD SPECULATION*).
My son was born when I was 24 and he's autistic. From the information I have available it seems the rise in autism is caused by a combination of increased diagnosis and some as yet undiscovered (probably man-made) environmental factor.
Stupid people have more kids, raise them to be stupid.
Smart people have fewer kids, raise them to reproduce responsibly(less).
Would you suggest then that catholic Christians are more stupid than protestant Christians? There are many things that influence family size, and intelligence seems to me to be a minor one. If there is any evidence you can produce to support these statements I'd like to see it.
I've been arguing that we have stopped evolving in a normal way for the past couple of decades due to our increased control over the environmental factors that used to act as evolutionary drivers. We have eliminated the wolves, bears and other competitors. We had made great progress in medicine, I am the son of a type 1 diabetic, had my father been born 15 years earlier he would have died long before I was born. If we are still evolving then I strongly suspect most of the selectors are now man-made.
The feature list of the Pandora is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for when it comes to mobile computing. Small enough to fit in my hip pocket, while having most of the features of a full blown laptop. It makes very good sense to me.
I have a GP2X (in fact 2, and a break out box, and other goodies) and while I wish the Wiz and GPH the best of luck I'll be going with the Pandora myself. GPH have been guilty of some horrendous design decisions (particularly with the break out box), flagrant GPL violations (probably unintentional) and misunderstandings of their customer base (in the west at least).
The Pandora project was instigated and is run by the prime movers in the GP2X community and as such I expect it will be of much higher quality than the Wiz.
Personally I have the greatest respect for the police as keepers of the peace and defenders of the weak, it's a hard and often thankless job. It is unfortunate that they also have the role of enforcing the decrees of our magnificent leaders, because it is this role that causes people to justly hate them. Of course there are evil and sadistic people who gravitate to law enforcement as they enjoy the power it gives them over others, but this is not how the ones I have met struck me.
As for the story itself, it's not at all surprising given the drastic decline in Freedom over the past couple of decades. Personally I own a balaclava and a "hoodie" bearing the words "I'm a terrorist" just to spite our fascist masters.
I didn't say it was good or bad, just in line with human nature. That's not a debateable point, imnsho. It's just plain fact.
It is very much a debatable point. Are you arguing that Jesus, Buddah, Mandela, Ghandi and countless others are not human? It is my belief that it is you that subscribes to an inhumane philosophy.
Absolute horseshit. Capitalism aligns PERFECTLY with human nature. Human nature is to improve one's own lot in life as much as possible. Capitalism is to make as much profit for oneself as possible.
Most of the points you raise are fair and while I do not agree with them all they are well made and relevent to the discussion. Your view of human nature frightens me. Self interest may well be the default nature of the human animal, but not of the human being. A world in which everyone is interested only in persuing his or her own desires would be hell on earth, although admittedly it is encouraged by the dominant western religion (consumerism).
As for Adam Smith, he was a Christian. He lived in a world in which the Christian ethos was still pretty much universal and probably assumed his ideas would exist within that moral framework. I suspect he would be appalled that his work has been used to justify some very unchristian ideas.
IMO this is probably just mudslinging and rumormongering, and in it's own way an attempt to dishonestly effect the outcome of the upcoming US presidential election. Of course there's been a lot of smoke about rigged elections in the US for the last few years, it would be nice to have a smoking gun. If this is true then it's dynamite. Does anyone know of this rawstory.com? The site doesn't look 100% credible to me.
While I agree with pretty much everything you say I didn't want to offend the notoriously sensitive Apple users here, hence the brevity of my initial post;)
Agreed, while hygiene can be desirable for avoiding nasty bugs, a sterile environment is also bad and has been linked to the rise of conditions like asthma in recent years. Me, I'm a complete slob with terrible personal hygiene and I almost never catch colds or the like. I also won't take antibiotics unless I really need them.
That's an interesting link, I've yet to read it all but I feel I should point out that we do not have more free time than ever before, members most hunter-gather societies have significantly more free time than those of us in the (post) industrialised world.
We are well past the point where we should all be working 2 day weeks as mechanisation takes up the strain. Marx (correctly IMO) pointed out that capitalism tends to lead to overproduction which must be justified in some way. In Marx's time this was by expansion into new geographical areas. At the beginning of the 20th century Coca-Cola invented modern marketing in order to sell a self-image rather than an actual product. It seems to me that much of the complexity of modern life exists only to keep the mass busy.
In reference to the story, I'm not surprised. The UK has been becoming more like a dystopia for pretty much my whole life. I took a taxi home an hour or so ago. The driver told me I couldn't drink my bottle of orange juice in his car, not because he had a problem with it but if the 'taxi police' saw me then I would be fined. The government no longer serves the people, instead it is the master of the people.
Perhaps my view of Blade Runner is coloured by the fact I was the movie before reading the book, and having read the two 'sequals' that try to resolve some of the discrepancies between the film and book. I though the movie caught the sense of neglect and dereliction from the book (with kibble replaced by rain and common garbage) and to some extent the character of the main protagonist. I think that qualifies as 'some of the spirit'.
It's a shame really, while I accept that Dick's books are generally hard to translate to movies many of the attempts have dealt with this by rewriting the story.
Total Recall was not in any way true to the short story it was 'based on', 'inspired by' would be closer to the mark. Blade Runner kept some of the spirit of the book, and was IMO a pretty good movie. Screamers and Minority Report were pretty faithful adaptations. Hopefully Ubik won't be too mangled by Hollywood, I really enjoyed the book.
I'm a native of the UK. The vast majority of my ancestors have lived and died here since reliable records began and probably since before the Romans got here. Why should I move to avoid the insanity? It sometimes seems to me that idiotic rules are a product of nation states, where can I move to in order to be free of nation states?
A good point, well made. I accept that not all (perhaps not even most) revolutions result in a worse situation than that which prompted them, but I still believe that thinking in terms of revolution is most often not helpful.
The problem is evolution. Namely that tyranny doesn't come all at once in a democracy. It piles on like plaque, and the deeper it gets, the harder it becomes to shed.
I would not call this process evolution, stagnation, regression or decadence perhaps. I am struck by the realisation that tyranny is to democracy as bloat is to software.
While I agree with your sentiment I think your solution is unfeasible. While the mass remains docile and subservient true change (for the better) is unlikely to happen. If you truly feel this strongly then my advice would be as follows. Stop playing the corporate game, stop buying their products, minimise your income so you pay as little tax as possible. Align yourself with others who are doing the same, form communities for mutual support, strive for as much self sufficiency as possible.
Revolution is never the solution, it just changes which evil oligarchs are on the top of the pile. Instead strive for evolution. Hope that one day the mass does the same, at which point our glorious leaders will find themselves with no one to lead and their power will evaporate. Of course this will not happen in our life time, or even within the span of the current civilisation. Just because the right thing is impossible does not mean we should not attempt it.
Slashdot Mirror
This is just the latest in a long line of data losses/leaks. I find it difficult to believe that these are isolated events. I am forced to ask myself what there is to be gained from such frequent blatant breaches of data security. It seems to me that this and the previous incidents will be used to justify the creation of the upcoming UK government database. This is the usual MO when a government wants to do something unpopular, it first engineers events and the public perception in such a way that when the unpopular action is taken it is welcomed by the majority.
I for one welcome our current overlords and their new and improved ministry of information![/sarcasm]
You gave the answer yourself: use a web interface and any phone with a browser.
I'm 35 and an avid (Linux) gamer. I don't go into game shops because: they don't sell Linux games, they don't sell the kinds of games I like, they try and sell me stuff I don't want, they are full of annoying kids (often that includes the staff). Come to think of it I don't think many of my game playing friends go into those shops either.
I agree, it's what they don't tell you, and the emphasis and the presentation that causes it to be unbiased. Modern propaganda techniques have little use for something as unsophisticated as a plain lie.
I strongly suspect that Islamic terrorism has very little to do with the real reason for the increasingly authoritarian state. I think most people who actually form their own opinions already know this. I am also very aware that large power structures (governmental or otherwise) tend to seek to extend and entrench their power at the expense of individual liberty, this is a process that has been going on since the development of agriculture ~20k years ago.
It seems that this process has accelerated (in my native UK at least) since the 80s. If you had told the average man-in-the-street in 1980 that in 20 years there would be 'security' cameras watching you pretty much everywhere you go, that you could be held indefinitely without trial or charge, and all the other stuff we have now, I doubt he would believe you. And yet here we are.
It may be that there is more to this than the usual extension of power. Perhaps what we are seeing is a preparation for the eventual effects of climate change, although the end of the cold war certainly had a part to play. Things like famine and natural disasters weaken central authority, people are less likely to do what they are told when the established order cannot provide them with the necessities of life. By laying the foundations of a totalitarian police state now, the powers will have become accepted as just the way it is by the majority by the time the government needs to use them to quell food riots or demonstrations against forced resettlement. It seems that many have no quarrel with such restrictive legislation already, even here on /. (which generally supports Freedom) there are those that speak up in favour of the curtailment of our liberty. The current world economic situation may well be part of this process, it certainly seems as if it has been engineered, but I'll save that rant for another day :)
Please note that I'm not saying that this is the reason, just a hypothesis.
That's not evolution, it's intelligent design :P
My son was born when I was 24 and he's autistic. From the information I have available it seems the rise in autism is caused by a combination of increased diagnosis and some as yet undiscovered (probably man-made) environmental factor.
Would you suggest then that catholic Christians are more stupid than protestant Christians? There are many things that influence family size, and intelligence seems to me to be a minor one. If there is any evidence you can produce to support these statements I'd like to see it.
We're all Devo
I've been arguing that we have stopped evolving in a normal way for the past couple of decades due to our increased control over the environmental factors that used to act as evolutionary drivers. We have eliminated the wolves, bears and other competitors. We had made great progress in medicine, I am the son of a type 1 diabetic, had my father been born 15 years earlier he would have died long before I was born. If we are still evolving then I strongly suspect most of the selectors are now man-made.
The feature list of the Pandora is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for when it comes to mobile computing. Small enough to fit in my hip pocket, while having most of the features of a full blown laptop. It makes very good sense to me.
I have a GP2X (in fact 2, and a break out box, and other goodies) and while I wish the Wiz and GPH the best of luck I'll be going with the Pandora myself. GPH have been guilty of some horrendous design decisions (particularly with the break out box), flagrant GPL violations (probably unintentional) and misunderstandings of their customer base (in the west at least). The Pandora project was instigated and is run by the prime movers in the GP2X community and as such I expect it will be of much higher quality than the Wiz.
Thank you, that's one of the best and most balanced comments I have seen here in some time.
I find it appropriate that the person who tells us Vista is wonderful is a comedian.
Personally I have the greatest respect for the police as keepers of the peace and defenders of the weak, it's a hard and often thankless job. It is unfortunate that they also have the role of enforcing the decrees of our magnificent leaders, because it is this role that causes people to justly hate them. Of course there are evil and sadistic people who gravitate to law enforcement as they enjoy the power it gives them over others, but this is not how the ones I have met struck me. As for the story itself, it's not at all surprising given the drastic decline in Freedom over the past couple of decades. Personally I own a balaclava and a "hoodie" bearing the words "I'm a terrorist" just to spite our fascist masters.
I didn't say it was good or bad, just in line with human nature. That's not a debateable point, imnsho. It's just plain fact.
It is very much a debatable point. Are you arguing that Jesus, Buddah, Mandela, Ghandi and countless others are not human? It is my belief that it is you that subscribes to an inhumane philosophy.
Incompatible with human nature.
Absolute horseshit. Capitalism aligns PERFECTLY with human nature. Human nature is to improve one's own lot in life as much as possible. Capitalism is to make as much profit for oneself as possible.
Most of the points you raise are fair and while I do not agree with them all they are well made and relevent to the discussion. Your view of human nature frightens me. Self interest may well be the default nature of the human animal, but not of the human being. A world in which everyone is interested only in persuing his or her own desires would be hell on earth, although admittedly it is encouraged by the dominant western religion (consumerism).
As for Adam Smith, he was a Christian. He lived in a world in which the Christian ethos was still pretty much universal and probably assumed his ideas would exist within that moral framework. I suspect he would be appalled that his work has been used to justify some very unchristian ideas.
I know it's a little more expensive, but I'm holding out for one of these.
IMO this is probably just mudslinging and rumormongering, and in it's own way an attempt to dishonestly effect the outcome of the upcoming US presidential election. Of course there's been a lot of smoke about rigged elections in the US for the last few years, it would be nice to have a smoking gun. If this is true then it's dynamite. Does anyone know of this rawstory.com? The site doesn't look 100% credible to me.
While I agree with pretty much everything you say I didn't want to offend the notoriously sensitive Apple users here, hence the brevity of my initial post ;)
I suspect Apple is every bit as evil as Microsoft, just less successful.
Agreed, while hygiene can be desirable for avoiding nasty bugs, a sterile environment is also bad and has been linked to the rise of conditions like asthma in recent years. Me, I'm a complete slob with terrible personal hygiene and I almost never catch colds or the like. I also won't take antibiotics unless I really need them.
That's an interesting link, I've yet to read it all but I feel I should point out that we do not have more free time than ever before, members most hunter-gather societies have significantly more free time than those of us in the (post) industrialised world.
We are well past the point where we should all be working 2 day weeks as mechanisation takes up the strain. Marx (correctly IMO) pointed out that capitalism tends to lead to overproduction which must be justified in some way. In Marx's time this was by expansion into new geographical areas. At the beginning of the 20th century Coca-Cola invented modern marketing in order to sell a self-image rather than an actual product. It seems to me that much of the complexity of modern life exists only to keep the mass busy.
In reference to the story, I'm not surprised. The UK has been becoming more like a dystopia for pretty much my whole life. I took a taxi home an hour or so ago. The driver told me I couldn't drink my bottle of orange juice in his car, not because he had a problem with it but if the 'taxi police' saw me then I would be fined. The government no longer serves the people, instead it is the master of the people.
Perhaps my view of Blade Runner is coloured by the fact I was the movie before reading the book, and having read the two 'sequals' that try to resolve some of the discrepancies between the film and book. I though the movie caught the sense of neglect and dereliction from the book (with kibble replaced by rain and common garbage) and to some extent the character of the main protagonist. I think that qualifies as 'some of the spirit'. It's a shame really, while I accept that Dick's books are generally hard to translate to movies many of the attempts have dealt with this by rewriting the story.
Total Recall was not in any way true to the short story it was 'based on', 'inspired by' would be closer to the mark. Blade Runner kept some of the spirit of the book, and was IMO a pretty good movie. Screamers and Minority Report were pretty faithful adaptations. Hopefully Ubik won't be too mangled by Hollywood, I really enjoyed the book.
I'm a native of the UK. The vast majority of my ancestors have lived and died here since reliable records began and probably since before the Romans got here. Why should I move to avoid the insanity? It sometimes seems to me that idiotic rules are a product of nation states, where can I move to in order to be free of nation states?
A good point, well made. I accept that not all (perhaps not even most) revolutions result in a worse situation than that which prompted them, but I still believe that thinking in terms of revolution is most often not helpful.
I would not call this process evolution, stagnation, regression or decadence perhaps. I am struck by the realisation that tyranny is to democracy as bloat is to software.While I agree with your sentiment I think your solution is unfeasible. While the mass remains docile and subservient true change (for the better) is unlikely to happen. If you truly feel this strongly then my advice would be as follows. Stop playing the corporate game, stop buying their products, minimise your income so you pay as little tax as possible. Align yourself with others who are doing the same, form communities for mutual support, strive for as much self sufficiency as possible.
Revolution is never the solution, it just changes which evil oligarchs are on the top of the pile. Instead strive for evolution. Hope that one day the mass does the same, at which point our glorious leaders will find themselves with no one to lead and their power will evaporate. Of course this will not happen in our life time, or even within the span of the current civilisation. Just because the right thing is impossible does not mean we should not attempt it.