This is probably the height of intellectual mastubation for the likes of us, relatively wealthy, computer geeks. You think the millions of starving in the world care about PC's, or figuring out a way to get the local warlord to stop stealing food and medicine from the Red Cross.
While it is a worthy cause in the long run, we'd probably be better off using our time and money on more . . . immediate problems. I realize this is easier said than done, etc . . .
So, this guy is from Chicago.
You can't imagine the amount of press coverage it has gotten here. Some jacknuts millionare decides he's too bored with squashing the poor so he gets in a blimp and flies around the world.
Well, I work in IT, so I know first hand how damn frustrating it can be when you're trying help somebody with their PC, and they've got so much crap on there you can barely turn the thing on. Realplayer, AOL messenger, MSn and Yahoo Messengers (which don't go through defined ports anymore, they seek out any open port and use it), RealOne, blah, on and on with their Bonzai Buddies and all kinds of shit. It's just not good for the computers. At least most people have nwerwer PC's with w2k (thank god). But you'll run into the occasional 98 box with all that crap. Ech.
My point being as follows: People who put crap on their PC's at work definitely eat up time and resources. All those programs tend to do a number on the fluidity of a windows machine, and cost the company. Technically, people shouldn't be downloading music and IMing during office hours, but c'mon, everybody goofs off at work. It's the American Way. HOWEVER, I do not believe that blocking these nuisance sites is the answer. I'd rather see IT departments show a little soul, and try to explain to people (install the notions into their heads) that putting crap on your work PC is bad, bad for you, bad for the company, and just a waste of everyone's time:
"Important documents can crash and go bye-bye forever because of Bonzai Buddy. Take the knife that is your mouse pointer and plunge it into that awful little monkey's heart."
Or some-such. Either that or they can send me around like the Gestapo to everyone's PC. I'd rather not do that.
The point is: We can be responsible workers, and non of the B.S. would be necessary.
While at first glance, the court ruling made in California stating that forcing children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools seems ridiculous, it is based on some very serious issues.
First a little background on my position. My parents escaped the horrors of Iran, where Church and State became one, and as a result the freedom of millions of people was squashed, because of the rules of a specifc religious order. So, as an individual, I am adamant about the separation of Church and State.
Some might argue that the term God, as stated in the Pledge of Allegiance, is not specific to one church, and while that might be true, the notion of God is specific to the Judeo-Christian/Islamic tradition. Buddhists, Hindus, Shintos, and many other religions do not share the same notion of God. Therefore, the issue of Church and State does exist in this senario, because "God" narrows it down to a few religions being affiliated with the United States of America.
Even if the term "God" did not single out certain religions, it does single out atheists. Atheists have just as much a right to raise their children with their own beliefs as do any people who do believe in God. To force a child in a public school from atheist family, being raised as an atheist, to swear allegiance to a "nation under God" is simply unconstitutional. It would be like forcing children in public schools to swear to a "nation without God," regardless of their and their families beliefs.
So what? It's just a few atheist. Big deal. Why can't the leave the rest of us alone? I'll tell you why. The lesson that history tells us is this: First, if you are in the minority, you must fight with fervor for the fruition of all the rights allotted you by the society you live in. If you do not, you will perish, and must accept the blame for your own demise. Second, discrimination has never EVER simply stopped with one subculture. Take Nazi Germany, which slowly added more and more ethnicities to it's hitlist, so deviously and effectively that the nation itself barely noticed. If you don't think that can happen in America, look back just 40 years, when African Americans were being hung in the woods by citizens, and attack by police dogs in the streets.
What does that have to do with the Pledge of Allegiance? Well, once you intentionly disregard the rights of a single group/culture/ethnicity/belief system, you destroy the fabric of this nation. Now, I realize that this nation was built on protestant ideals, and that the founding fathers owned slaves and didn't think women should vote. However, as a nation, we have evolved from that. We have amended our Consitiution to declare that all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality or belief, are entitled to the same rights. One of those rights is the freedom from religious indoctrination.
So, perhaps all this talk of revoking the mandatory recitation of The Pledge of Allegience, at least as it is currently written, is not so silly afterall.
Mac OSX is pretty sweet, especially if you're down with BSD. IBM dropping Linux support isn't really that big of a surprise. While the IBM labtops are pretty solid (I have an A22m), they don't have a lot of the pretty little extras that makes labtops nice. Most people would be better off with a dell or some such.
As fas as I'm concerned, the labtops are for playing games in the living, and moving movies from the Pc in your room to the Tv in the living room.
Frankly, having worked for independant radio stations, I fear that the transmition of personal information via radio broadband will simply not be safe from the prying ears of big brothers. But that's just cause I really HATE the FCC
Take the better offer. Ask for a nicer title, too maybe, if it's not too late. Switching jobs isn't the hardest thing to do in the world, and they higher your pay is now, the higher it will be when you get work elsewhere. You can even stay with the company. A little assertive behavior every year or two can get you raises. If you know you're worth a raise, you sure as hell can convince your employer. Reasons Shmeasons I say. Take the money, be happy, and forget about all the nonesense.
I think that's an excellent idea. Cheaters are only a nuissance when they're bothering newbies and non-cheaters. Diablo II at Battle.net is a big example. I never play net games because of all the character editing and when hacking that goes on. If all the cheaters could be sent to an alternative battle.net server, they could deal with each other, have their fun, and not bother anyone.
I
Not me. The simple fact of the matter is that record companies have been forcing their crappy music down our throats for years now. Between MTV, VH1, and the radio conglomerates, music companies have had a strangle hold on the music industry for decades now. They pick the bands they want to sell, put them on TV and radio, and wait for the public to buy as many CD's as they can. This isn't what one calls a healthy industry, and it's an abuse of the airwaves as well. With Peer to Peer programs so widely spread, people no longer need to buy albums, they can get them for free. And while technically it might be stealing, there sure as hell is nothing wrong with stealing from the music industry. The truly exciting thing about digital media and Peer to Peer networks is that all an independant musician needs to do is digitally record (or convert) his/her music, send mp3's to friends, family, etc. . . and make sure that their music gets out on Peer to Peer networks. If people truly enjoy music, they will purchase CD's. I've personally got gigs upon gigs of music, but I still buy CD's of bands I like and want to support. Hopefully, we're witnessing the fall of the music industry and the rise of the independent muscian. But knowing our capitalist system, more likely than not, laws will be made before such a thing happens.
I can think of nothing more worse than the idea that we can't even skip past the commercials. Next thing you know, they'll want to take the MUTE button off the the remote controls. I also find it funny that TV studios are willing to toss the word "thief" around.
This is why people don't care that using PtP's is stealing from Music, Movie, and TV companies. They're bastards.
Frankly, I take a certain amount of pride that the 3 fans in my box make. I don't know that I would want a noise dampener. I mean, it would be like building a Harley and then putting some kind of ridiculous muffler on it.
It seems to me that digital will be more a a circus freak show type attraction. People will want to see movies like Star Wars Episode 2 and Spiderman on an all digital platform, and they can do that. There's no need to see Undercover Brother in full digital glory.
I'm betting that within 10 years, most large theatres will have 1 or 2 digital projectors, and leave the rest at 35 mm. The one caveat to this is that people shell out big bucks to see special effects. I definitely made a long trek to see Star Wars at a digital theatre. Eventually, when the technology becomes cheaper, theatres will probably have more and more digital projectors. But for the immediate future, it'll be one to a theatre. . . I think.
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I just hope to god it's nothing like that lame-ass fox movie. I can't think of anything that was NOT Dr.Who more than that godawful piece of crap.
Then again, here's an article to prove my ass wrong_ 2078000/2078444.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/low/english/sci/tech/newsid
This is probably the height of intellectual mastubation for the likes of us, relatively wealthy, computer geeks. You think the millions of starving in the world care about PC's, or figuring out a way to get the local warlord to stop stealing food and medicine from the Red Cross.
While it is a worthy cause in the long run, we'd probably be better off using our time and money on more . . . immediate problems. I realize this is easier said than done, etc . . .
So, this guy is from Chicago. You can't imagine the amount of press coverage it has gotten here. Some jacknuts millionare decides he's too bored with squashing the poor so he gets in a blimp and flies around the world.
Well, I work in IT, so I know first hand how damn frustrating it can be when you're trying help somebody with their PC, and they've got so much crap on there you can barely turn the thing on. Realplayer, AOL messenger, MSn and Yahoo Messengers (which don't go through defined ports anymore, they seek out any open port and use it), RealOne, blah, on and on with their Bonzai Buddies and all kinds of shit. It's just not good for the computers. At least most people have nwerwer PC's with w2k (thank god). But you'll run into the occasional 98 box with all that crap. Ech. My point being as follows: People who put crap on their PC's at work definitely eat up time and resources. All those programs tend to do a number on the fluidity of a windows machine, and cost the company. Technically, people shouldn't be downloading music and IMing during office hours, but c'mon, everybody goofs off at work. It's the American Way. HOWEVER, I do not believe that blocking these nuisance sites is the answer. I'd rather see IT departments show a little soul, and try to explain to people (install the notions into their heads) that putting crap on your work PC is bad, bad for you, bad for the company, and just a waste of everyone's time: "Important documents can crash and go bye-bye forever because of Bonzai Buddy. Take the knife that is your mouse pointer and plunge it into that awful little monkey's heart." Or some-such. Either that or they can send me around like the Gestapo to everyone's PC. I'd rather not do that. The point is: We can be responsible workers, and non of the B.S. would be necessary.
While at first glance, the court ruling made in California stating that forcing children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools seems ridiculous, it is based on some very serious issues. First a little background on my position. My parents escaped the horrors of Iran, where Church and State became one, and as a result the freedom of millions of people was squashed, because of the rules of a specifc religious order. So, as an individual, I am adamant about the separation of Church and State. Some might argue that the term God, as stated in the Pledge of Allegiance, is not specific to one church, and while that might be true, the notion of God is specific to the Judeo-Christian/Islamic tradition. Buddhists, Hindus, Shintos, and many other religions do not share the same notion of God. Therefore, the issue of Church and State does exist in this senario, because "God" narrows it down to a few religions being affiliated with the United States of America. Even if the term "God" did not single out certain religions, it does single out atheists. Atheists have just as much a right to raise their children with their own beliefs as do any people who do believe in God. To force a child in a public school from atheist family, being raised as an atheist, to swear allegiance to a "nation under God" is simply unconstitutional. It would be like forcing children in public schools to swear to a "nation without God," regardless of their and their families beliefs. So what? It's just a few atheist. Big deal. Why can't the leave the rest of us alone? I'll tell you why. The lesson that history tells us is this: First, if you are in the minority, you must fight with fervor for the fruition of all the rights allotted you by the society you live in. If you do not, you will perish, and must accept the blame for your own demise. Second, discrimination has never EVER simply stopped with one subculture. Take Nazi Germany, which slowly added more and more ethnicities to it's hitlist, so deviously and effectively that the nation itself barely noticed. If you don't think that can happen in America, look back just 40 years, when African Americans were being hung in the woods by citizens, and attack by police dogs in the streets. What does that have to do with the Pledge of Allegiance? Well, once you intentionly disregard the rights of a single group/culture/ethnicity/belief system, you destroy the fabric of this nation. Now, I realize that this nation was built on protestant ideals, and that the founding fathers owned slaves and didn't think women should vote. However, as a nation, we have evolved from that. We have amended our Consitiution to declare that all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality or belief, are entitled to the same rights. One of those rights is the freedom from religious indoctrination. So, perhaps all this talk of revoking the mandatory recitation of The Pledge of Allegience, at least as it is currently written, is not so silly afterall.
Has to be the funniest thing I've ever read. Soon, MSNBC will be reporting that playstation 2 and Gamecube have failed as gaming systems.
Mac OSX is pretty sweet, especially if you're down with BSD. IBM dropping Linux support isn't really that big of a surprise. While the IBM labtops are pretty solid (I have an A22m), they don't have a lot of the pretty little extras that makes labtops nice. Most people would be better off with a dell or some such. As fas as I'm concerned, the labtops are for playing games in the living, and moving movies from the Pc in your room to the Tv in the living room.
Frankly, having worked for independant radio stations, I fear that the transmition of personal information via radio broadband will simply not be safe from the prying ears of big brothers. But that's just cause I really HATE the FCC
Take the better offer. Ask for a nicer title, too maybe, if it's not too late. Switching jobs isn't the hardest thing to do in the world, and they higher your pay is now, the higher it will be when you get work elsewhere. You can even stay with the company. A little assertive behavior every year or two can get you raises. If you know you're worth a raise, you sure as hell can convince your employer. Reasons Shmeasons I say. Take the money, be happy, and forget about all the nonesense.
I think that's an excellent idea. Cheaters are only a nuissance when they're bothering newbies and non-cheaters. Diablo II at Battle.net is a big example. I never play net games because of all the character editing and when hacking that goes on. If all the cheaters could be sent to an alternative battle.net server, they could deal with each other, have their fun, and not bother anyone. I
Not me. The simple fact of the matter is that record companies have been forcing their crappy music down our throats for years now. Between MTV, VH1, and the radio conglomerates, music companies have had a strangle hold on the music industry for decades now. They pick the bands they want to sell, put them on TV and radio, and wait for the public to buy as many CD's as they can. This isn't what one calls a healthy industry, and it's an abuse of the airwaves as well. With Peer to Peer programs so widely spread, people no longer need to buy albums, they can get them for free. And while technically it might be stealing, there sure as hell is nothing wrong with stealing from the music industry. The truly exciting thing about digital media and Peer to Peer networks is that all an independant musician needs to do is digitally record (or convert) his/her music, send mp3's to friends, family, etc. . . and make sure that their music gets out on Peer to Peer networks. If people truly enjoy music, they will purchase CD's. I've personally got gigs upon gigs of music, but I still buy CD's of bands I like and want to support. Hopefully, we're witnessing the fall of the music industry and the rise of the independent muscian. But knowing our capitalist system, more likely than not, laws will be made before such a thing happens.
I can think of nothing more worse than the idea that we can't even skip past the commercials. Next thing you know, they'll want to take the MUTE button off the the remote controls. I also find it funny that TV studios are willing to toss the word "thief" around. This is why people don't care that using PtP's is stealing from Music, Movie, and TV companies. They're bastards.
Frankly, I take a certain amount of pride that the 3 fans in my box make. I don't know that I would want a noise dampener. I mean, it would be like building a Harley and then putting some kind of ridiculous muffler on it.
It seems to me that digital will be more a a circus freak show type attraction. People will want to see movies like Star Wars Episode 2 and Spiderman on an all digital platform, and they can do that. There's no need to see Undercover Brother in full digital glory. I'm betting that within 10 years, most large theatres will have 1 or 2 digital projectors, and leave the rest at 35 mm. The one caveat to this is that people shell out big bucks to see special effects. I definitely made a long trek to see Star Wars at a digital theatre. Eventually, when the technology becomes cheaper, theatres will probably have more and more digital projectors. But for the immediate future, it'll be one to a theatre. . . I think.