Read it many years ago, in fact my first semester of undergrad. I'm still a libertarian. Why?
I do not believe that Government is the answer to a lot a problem, certainly not the federal government.
Taxes should be used to fund the government and (federal) government should be limited to areas such as forign diplomacy, defense, and infrastructure. Taxes are not to be used to redistribute wealth based on income from group to another group.
The Department of Education should be scrapped. All it has done is produce too many rules, burocaracy, and the quality of educatin in the United States continues to decline. I am now in Grad School for political science and continually have freshman students that have no idea how municipal governments function or what a referendum is or that Dick Durbin is the Senior Senator of Illinois (where I am), not Barak Obama. What the hell ever happened to "Civics classes" in this country? Hell, half of them think municipal means a furry animal from Australia! (Although I had to take a step back when I realized that many in this College Freshman class were born AFTER the Berlin Wall fell. To them the USSR never existed.)
Same for the IRS (Go to a Value Added Tax/National Sales tax/Fair tax). Again, taxes should be collected to fund the government, not play Robin Hood.
Smoke and drink what you want. But if you get behind the wheel impaired, and kill someone, you loose the privilege to drive forever! (Ask the Germans about driving drunk on the Highway)
People have a right to privacy. That means what goes on to their bedroom is none of my, and by extention, the government's damned business. Period.
No one has the "right" to get married. Gay, straight, or otherwise. No where in the Bill of Rights do I see the word "marriage" in any form or fashion. So Gay Rights folks, you've got it wrong. But, hey, I like to tick off all sides so let's take this a step further: Marriage in the eyes of the state is really nothing more than a joint property contract. From that perspective, does it really matter if it's man and woman or woman and woman, or man and man? No I don't think so. So here's what we do, what to get married in a good ole Bible Thumping Church: do it. But instead of signing a "Marriage Licenses" call it "A Domestic Partnership" for everyone! Two guys and want to live together and with ability to share things like insurance policies, etc. Fine, form a Domestic Partnership. Marriage is a sacrament, not a legal right.
Now that's not to say that all government is bad. I like the FDA, FTC, NTSB, FAA, and even the DMV...sometimes. Not everyone should be allowed to jump into the cockpit of a plane and fly around. Same with driving a car, and damn it, I'd like to know that the Asprin I take is reasonable safe (unless it comes from China these days) But I believe that people should have the freedom to live as they choose so long as it doesn't affect other people. That also includes the ability to fail!
Oh and Social Security. Did you know a loophole in a law in the early 1980's allowed several county governments to withdraw their employees from the Social Security system? This was in Texas and they ran like hell. So what did the county do? They took still deducted the same percentage as Social Security would have taken and instead invested it into personal a retirement savings account for that employee. And you know what happened? Did they end going broke and have nothing less? No! As they now retire they are getting about three times what they would be drawing per month on Social Security. Hell, many are now making more in retirement per month than they did when they were working! Yet when Bush and company suggest taking 1% of what you pay into social security all hell breaks loose. Okay, then let's compare Pensions in Europe (the bastion of none free think socialism) and Chile. Better yet, I'll let you all look that one up.
And finally, enough with all this Demcroracy bullshit. Democracy is
I've run across a myrid of folks who have specialized applications for their business that have had all kinds of trouble. Like a couple clients that use medical billing software. The serverside runs on Server 2003, no troubles. But the client/workstation apps won't run on Vista period. Very bad when you have to purchase a new PC for the office to replace one that died and all you can find is Vista. The software company says it will be at least another 4 - 6 months before their software that is Vista compatitable gets all the certs from the government to handle medicare and other transactions...so...
I first bought an iBook when OS 10.2 came out. I needed a laptop that just worked before going over to Europe for a semester and I remember getting strange looks as the crazy american kid (later in the semester 3 more mac users revealed themselves) with the Mac. But I was switching from PC/Linux to OSX because it was the cake (Unix goodnes) and icing too (MS Office, Photoshop, etc.)
Now that I am back in Grad School, they're everywhere and put my powerbook to shame. Eventually when OSX 10.5 is released I'm upgrading, likely to a Macbook.
But this past week has been hell. I've had to use a Dell laptop because of a specific application that is Windows only (will not mention any names 3D Studio Max). Every time I go to click the track pad mouse button I end up going for the middle out of habbit and hit the right mouse button...Any idea how annoying that is...
That being said, it's the first time I've really gotten to use XP Pro (thank god it's not Vista) and it's not quite as bad as say Vista. Everyone that has a Vista Laptop at school hate it. Half their applications don't work and word spreads quickly. As someone said, it has more to do with Vista really, really sucking, that more and more kids are to college this year with a Mac. But don't rule out the "coolness ipod trendy factor other". Especially amoungst the girls where they think it's a fashion acessory to go with their iPods...now if the Macbook only came in pink!
Last time I checked, it was the Russians and French that was selling the reactors to Iran. So while they maybe putting it together, it's not a home grown design.
When the show first aired it seemed like it was always being preempted by the end of football games and I frankly never got into the series until it appeared on Adult Swim. Also I was in college at the time and time was some I did not have a lot of. But the show replaced the 10PM news in my apartment and the show is still funny.
I have to agree, it is one of the most successful missions in NASA's history, yet it brings me back to that notion that if you just let robots do the work, nobody cares: funding continues to shrink etc.. I mean how many people out there in the world really even know these little rovers are still working on mars? How many care?
Chavez may have been elected in a democratic election, but so was Hitler and so was Bush. What do you call shutting down opposition media outlets and replacing them with state run propaganda pieces? Or taking over industries at the whim of the state? Last time I checked, it's rather hard to have a democracy when the opposition is forceable silenced.
I agree. As I said, it was a lark to see what some of the people I knew were up to these days, but it's not anything that interests me that often. I kept up with 8 people from college. (and 4 are married to another). We even get together once every two years for a weekend somewhere. But that's getting harder as people are married and starting to have kids. Then there are some of us loosers who spent 5 years working and then went back to graduate school.
The last game I was interested in buying was Falcon 4.0: Allied force or whatever it was called. But I was on Mac and it's a PC game. I remember how cool Falcon 4.0 was with the bugs and how a version with a working campaign engine would be. I think that came out in 2005...
Ubi killed the Clancey games turing them into arcadish shooters instead of tactical games. Same with Ghost Recon.
Frankly I didn't know anything about facebook other than the name until a couple weeks ago until an old college buddy and I were IMing. He was chatting about some of the old faces and names from our graduating class including some of my ex-college flings, etc. I poked around for 5 minutes on a lark, found it to be a nigh bit frustrating on getting access to groups, etc. and said the hell with it.
But my friend kept going on and on and on about who was on it, what they were doing, John Smith is now a Lawyer, Jane Doe is getting her MD, Bob married Suzie, etc.. Seemed like most of the folks on there wanted to brag about something. Whether it was family and how happy they were, or look at my killer job and car, etc.. I just guess I don't care enough to really make the time to add a page or whatever it is you do. I don't have time. I'm busy writing on slashdot while I wait for video clips to render.
I know a lot people, especially women in the 20ies, who love the WII but never really played video games before. My best friend's wife wanted one for her birthday...and she is one of those extremely high maintence girly girls that normally wants a new Coach purse or a day at the Spa. But this year she wanted a Wii. It's a great party box.
But one problem is that a lot of Linux desktop users _are_ whiny discontents. This still isn't going to get a lot of people to suddenly and magically shift to Linux. For the vast majority of computer users, the simple fact they can't go to Big Box Mart and get software and hardware off the shelf if they need it is a major factor. While support is a lot better than it used to be, there is still a lot of stuff that won't work without some tinkering by the end user. Most people don't have the time to go search out and see, "Well will latest model XYZ printer/scanner work with my computer?"
I spent 3 solid years with Linux as a desktop from 1999-2002 mainly for web development/testing. But my sound card never worked, no scanner support, printer didn't work (HP 710 series), etc. So I had a dual boot to separate HDD's with Windows NT & later Win 2k Pro. I was sold on Unix being a superior platform, but Linux was a hassle and just as much, if not more, than windows sometimes. This was back when I had time to tinker with computers. I know things have gotten better, but still, can I go buy that Canon scanner and know 100% it will work?
I also worked at a software company that ported an app to Linux for a short period of time and all the Linux crowd did was complain. "It only works on RH. It' won't work on RH with my custom hacked uber kernel. Why don't you support XYZ distro. I would use it if it was free." This was 2001 and early 2002 and it REALLY turned me off Linux and the community. Plenty of good folks out there in Linux land and on the server side of things, it's a different story. Especially when replacing older, extremely expensive Unix boxes. And most of those folks I've worked with in the back room data centers have been 100% professionals. But the user "community" is filled with in ordinate number of people who like to do nothing more than complain.
When Apple released OSX 10.2 I saw the chance of "Hey all the nifty stuff of OS Unix AND commercial software support." And I wasn't the only one. I knew, and still know, more Linux people that switched to Mac than window users that switched for desktop/laptop support. Hell, I've even noticed that Office Depot now carries, although be it small, software selection for the Mac. It was the "Cake and eat it too" OS. Not only that, but Mac's have gotten the reputation of "plug it in and it works". Especially on the laptop side. (which back in 2002 Linux and notebooks usually didn't get along too well.)
As part of deal with Gates and company buying 25% of Apple in non-voting shares a few years back, Apple has use of the MS patent library as part of the deal. Technically MS owns the patent to the jogging dial thingy on the iPod too, but since the terms of the deal...
"Hi I'm a PC"
"And I'm a Mac." Mac sees PC with phone in hand, watching a 3rd person. "So what you doing?"
"SHHH! I'm collecting data on that user over there. And phoning hom." *to person on other end* "Yeah, he's reading a news site. No, it's not MSNBC. Is he allowed to do that? Confirm or deny?"
Actually this off topic, but the "Militia" is defined under the US Code as any US Citizen or resident male between 17 - 45 with or without prior miltary experience, to age 64 with prior military experience, and all female members of the national gaurd. So technically, every man 17 - 45 is part of that "Well Regulated Militia"
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Read it many years ago, in fact my first semester of undergrad. I'm still a libertarian. Why?
I do not believe that Government is the answer to a lot a problem, certainly not the federal government.
Taxes should be used to fund the government and (federal) government should be limited to areas such as forign diplomacy, defense, and infrastructure. Taxes are not to be used to redistribute wealth based on income from group to another group.
The Department of Education should be scrapped. All it has done is produce too many rules, burocaracy, and the quality of educatin in the United States continues to decline. I am now in Grad School for political science and continually have freshman students that have no idea how municipal governments function or what a referendum is or that Dick Durbin is the Senior Senator of Illinois (where I am), not Barak Obama. What the hell ever happened to "Civics classes" in this country? Hell, half of them think municipal means a furry animal from Australia! (Although I had to take a step back when I realized that many in this College Freshman class were born AFTER the Berlin Wall fell. To them the USSR never existed.)
Same for the IRS (Go to a Value Added Tax/National Sales tax/Fair tax). Again, taxes should be collected to fund the government, not play Robin Hood.
Smoke and drink what you want. But if you get behind the wheel impaired, and kill someone, you loose the privilege to drive forever! (Ask the Germans about driving drunk on the Highway)
People have a right to privacy. That means what goes on to their bedroom is none of my, and by extention, the government's damned business. Period.
No one has the "right" to get married. Gay, straight, or otherwise. No where in the Bill of Rights do I see the word "marriage" in any form or fashion. So Gay Rights folks, you've got it wrong. But, hey, I like to tick off all sides so let's take this a step further: Marriage in the eyes of the state is really nothing more than a joint property contract. From that perspective, does it really matter if it's man and woman or woman and woman, or man and man? No I don't think so. So here's what we do, what to get married in a good ole Bible Thumping Church: do it. But instead of signing a "Marriage Licenses" call it "A Domestic Partnership" for everyone! Two guys and want to live together and with ability to share things like insurance policies, etc. Fine, form a Domestic Partnership. Marriage is a sacrament, not a legal right.
Now that's not to say that all government is bad. I like the FDA, FTC, NTSB, FAA, and even the DMV...sometimes. Not everyone should be allowed to jump into the cockpit of a plane and fly around. Same with driving a car, and damn it, I'd like to know that the Asprin I take is reasonable safe (unless it comes from China these days) But I believe that people should have the freedom to live as they choose so long as it doesn't affect other people. That also includes the ability to fail!
Oh and Social Security. Did you know a loophole in a law in the early 1980's allowed several county governments to withdraw their employees from the Social Security system? This was in Texas and they ran like hell. So what did the county do? They took still deducted the same percentage as Social Security would have taken and instead invested it into personal a retirement savings account for that employee. And you know what happened? Did they end going broke and have nothing less? No! As they now retire they are getting about three times what they would be drawing per month on Social Security. Hell, many are now making more in retirement per month than they did when they were working! Yet when Bush and company suggest taking 1% of what you pay into social security all hell breaks loose. Okay, then let's compare Pensions in Europe (the bastion of none free think socialism) and Chile. Better yet, I'll let you all look that one up.
And finally, enough with all this Demcroracy bullshit. Democracy is
I've run across a myrid of folks who have specialized applications for their business that have had all kinds of trouble. Like a couple clients that use medical billing software. The serverside runs on Server 2003, no troubles. But the client/workstation apps won't run on Vista period. Very bad when you have to purchase a new PC for the office to replace one that died and all you can find is Vista. The software company says it will be at least another 4 - 6 months before their software that is Vista compatitable gets all the certs from the government to handle medicare and other transactions...so...
I first bought an iBook when OS 10.2 came out. I needed a laptop that just worked before going over to Europe for a semester and I remember getting strange looks as the crazy american kid (later in the semester 3 more mac users revealed themselves) with the Mac. But I was switching from PC/Linux to OSX because it was the cake (Unix goodnes) and icing too (MS Office, Photoshop, etc.)
Now that I am back in Grad School, they're everywhere and put my powerbook to shame. Eventually when OSX 10.5 is released I'm upgrading, likely to a Macbook.
But this past week has been hell. I've had to use a Dell laptop because of a specific application that is Windows only (will not mention any names 3D Studio Max). Every time I go to click the track pad mouse button I end up going for the middle out of habbit and hit the right mouse button...Any idea how annoying that is...
That being said, it's the first time I've really gotten to use XP Pro (thank god it's not Vista) and it's not quite as bad as say Vista. Everyone that has a Vista Laptop at school hate it. Half their applications don't work and word spreads quickly. As someone said, it has more to do with Vista really, really sucking, that more and more kids are to college this year with a Mac. But don't rule out the "coolness ipod trendy factor other". Especially amoungst the girls where they think it's a fashion acessory to go with their iPods...now if the Macbook only came in pink!
Judge Orders TorrentSpy to Turn Over RAM June 14t, 2007 http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/06/14/18 0222
Hey you insensitive clots! You left out the Military Industrial Complex!
Last time I checked, it was the Russians and French that was selling the reactors to Iran. So while they maybe putting it together, it's not a home grown design.
When the show first aired it seemed like it was always being preempted by the end of football games and I frankly never got into the series until it appeared on Adult Swim. Also I was in college at the time and time was some I did not have a lot of. But the show replaced the 10PM news in my apartment and the show is still funny.
Hey, after I get my Law Degree, I can do both! Bada-bom....Ching....
Ducks and cover.
I have to agree, it is one of the most successful missions in NASA's history, yet it brings me back to that notion that if you just let robots do the work, nobody cares: funding continues to shrink etc.. I mean how many people out there in the world really even know these little rovers are still working on mars? How many care?
After coming home from a party I read this as "CERN Searches for GOLD Particles." Thought to myself, WTF?
Chavez may have been elected in a democratic election, but so was Hitler and so was Bush. What do you call shutting down opposition media outlets and replacing them with state run propaganda pieces? Or taking over industries at the whim of the state? Last time I checked, it's rather hard to have a democracy when the opposition is forceable silenced.
Sorry...I just had to say that...
Bannanas are good. You should always bring a bananna to a party.
I agree. As I said, it was a lark to see what some of the people I knew were up to these days, but it's not anything that interests me that often. I kept up with 8 people from college. (and 4 are married to another). We even get together once every two years for a weekend somewhere. But that's getting harder as people are married and starting to have kids. Then there are some of us loosers who spent 5 years working and then went back to graduate school.
Ubi killed the Clancey games turing them into arcadish shooters instead of tactical games. Same with Ghost Recon.
Frankly I didn't know anything about facebook other than the name until a couple weeks ago until an old college buddy and I were IMing. He was chatting about some of the old faces and names from our graduating class including some of my ex-college flings, etc. I poked around for 5 minutes on a lark, found it to be a nigh bit frustrating on getting access to groups, etc. and said the hell with it.
But my friend kept going on and on and on about who was on it, what they were doing, John Smith is now a Lawyer, Jane Doe is getting her MD, Bob married Suzie, etc.. Seemed like most of the folks on there wanted to brag about something. Whether it was family and how happy they were, or look at my killer job and car, etc.. I just guess I don't care enough to really make the time to add a page or whatever it is you do. I don't have time. I'm busy writing on slashdot while I wait for video clips to render.
I know a lot people, especially women in the 20ies, who love the WII but never really played video games before. My best friend's wife wanted one for her birthday...and she is one of those extremely high maintence girly girls that normally wants a new Coach purse or a day at the Spa. But this year she wanted a Wii. It's a great party box.
Actually, MS Office for Mac works pretty darned well.
I spent 3 solid years with Linux as a desktop from 1999-2002 mainly for web development/testing. But my sound card never worked, no scanner support, printer didn't work (HP 710 series), etc. So I had a dual boot to separate HDD's with Windows NT & later Win 2k Pro. I was sold on Unix being a superior platform, but Linux was a hassle and just as much, if not more, than windows sometimes. This was back when I had time to tinker with computers. I know things have gotten better, but still, can I go buy that Canon scanner and know 100% it will work?
I also worked at a software company that ported an app to Linux for a short period of time and all the Linux crowd did was complain. "It only works on RH. It' won't work on RH with my custom hacked uber kernel. Why don't you support XYZ distro. I would use it if it was free." This was 2001 and early 2002 and it REALLY turned me off Linux and the community. Plenty of good folks out there in Linux land and on the server side of things, it's a different story. Especially when replacing older, extremely expensive Unix boxes. And most of those folks I've worked with in the back room data centers have been 100% professionals. But the user "community" is filled with in ordinate number of people who like to do nothing more than complain.
When Apple released OSX 10.2 I saw the chance of "Hey all the nifty stuff of OS Unix AND commercial software support." And I wasn't the only one. I knew, and still know, more Linux people that switched to Mac than window users that switched for desktop/laptop support. Hell, I've even noticed that Office Depot now carries, although be it small, software selection for the Mac. It was the "Cake and eat it too" OS. Not only that, but Mac's have gotten the reputation of "plug it in and it works". Especially on the laptop side. (which back in 2002 Linux and notebooks usually didn't get along too well.)
As part of deal with Gates and company buying 25% of Apple in non-voting shares a few years back, Apple has use of the MS patent library as part of the deal. Technically MS owns the patent to the jogging dial thingy on the iPod too, but since the terms of the deal...
No. It'in print and there for libel.
"Hi I'm a PC" "And I'm a Mac." Mac sees PC with phone in hand, watching a 3rd person. "So what you doing?" "SHHH! I'm collecting data on that user over there. And phoning hom." *to person on other end* "Yeah, he's reading a news site. No, it's not MSNBC. Is he allowed to do that? Confirm or deny?"
I can't decipher my own damn handwriting!
Actually this off topic, but the "Militia" is defined under the US Code as any US Citizen or resident male between 17 - 45 with or without prior miltary experience, to age 64 with prior military experience, and all female members of the national gaurd. So technically, every man 17 - 45 is part of that "Well Regulated Militia"