"The good news is that now we'll all find out who is right. Are those who warn of the dire consequences of unilateralism, pre-emptive war, environmental destruction etc etc. just being whiny, or not?"
That's reasonable thinking, therefor not applicable to the situation. Take for instance Iraq. Right, Iraq.
The consequences of an invasion had been foretold many times before. By players from all colours and religions, so this is not some "Liberal whining".
We are there now, a region that's less stable, and less viable, more fundamentalist, and strangely with less liberty for its inhabitants. Yes, a puzzler, but suddenly women and girls who like to live are finding they will have to wear shrowds and hide everything.
Also, a region that introduces more weapons to the general population and its neighbours, most of US manufacture, but also lots of old stockpiles.
Also between here and twenty years a region that most likely will go through a very violent reshuffeling of its borders.
All in all, a risky business, the right spot for diplomacy, the wrong spot for war, especially pre-emtive, illegal war, especially when it also redraws former alliances and puts a divide in "the west".
Any mention of this by US citizens are suspect. They must be unpatriotic or not realistic.
Any mention of this by non US citizens are also suspect, and slightly vulgar. We must have no backbone, no gratitude, we must love Saddam (remember? the CIA's pet for many years) and worse, we must be French (remember? the first and for a long time only nation that helped the US to its independence and even gave it the fucking statue of liberty?)
And of course, very much underestimated by us non US citizens: there's not a thing Americans won't do in the name of God (like training murderers to put machine-guns through hospitals and pregnant women and calling it "Foreign Aid") TO SUPPORT A WAR-TIME PRESIDENT.
So to come back to your point: no, at least we won't find out who's right. Most people in the know already know, but nobody at the rudder now will ever acknowledge anything, and the general population will keep fighting for its right to be ignorant, god bless.
Everybody knows Kyoto is too little too late, slightly unfair and open to debate. That's not the point. The US is not open to debate, end of story. Every scientist on the subject also knows that human influence now puts the earth through something that could "possibly" have dire consequences. This is not really contested anymore, the fight goes on in the fringes and the political arena, but the last five years things have changed, most "unbelievers" have come around. That doesn't mean dick to a crowd that thinks it's not accountable. People will never find out, imo that's a very naive way of looking at things. We already know more than enough to draw some conclusions, and scientists will undoubtably keep score. But "the people"?
You'd think the iPod'd be dead and gone by now, no?
Yesterday, I saw the iPod and the mini, and a shitheap of other players. Man, that's an education. It seems you can't discuss taste, well, I happen to disagree, but sheer beautiful simplicity is hard to beat, that's for sure.
Even more fun: having a salesman show the features. Every time he says "it can do this" you go "OK, show me". No wonder the iPod is still alive and well...
Call me old fashioned, but I would never trust a system that a) didn't give me a paper confirmation of my vote b) wouldn't give a visual printout to be put in the ballot
Given the past election, I can't understand how the land of the free can put up with a system that doesn't provide either. I've heard the reasons for not providing printout, they were plain stupid and not technically challenging at all. OK, I prefer a paperless office, and quite like trees, but still...
And why oh why is voting not compulsory? Democracy is not a right, it's a hard-won system of self government that implies some democratic duties to its part-takers. One of them is to go out and f*cking vote once every four years. If you don't, you don't participate and forsake your rights. Which is exactly what is happening now, but that's another story altogether.
Imo the US of A spends too much time defending its right to be ignorant and stupid.
I've read most of the posts, some are hilarious, and the fact that Mac stories get such reply does tell something (not sure what, but whatever).
I like Philips stuff. Most of their things are easily understood and have some clever and really useful functions you don't find on other equipment. I like Volvo, they concentrate on things I happen to think important too, like safety and comfort.
In the same way, I like the Mac. I won't go into that, suffice it to say it makes me do things I can't quite do on a PC and lets me have fun doing it.
In the end, they're all machines, things, stuff. Not worth dying for, not worth my undying allegeance, but I can enjoy having them.
All this cult stuff is for other people.
Thank you.
Re:Everyone uses a mac today
on
The Cult of Mac
·
· Score: 1
OK, this is a "me too" post, but still...
Cool, right ON!, very nicely put. Very astute. I've looked at that same sentence and had the same thoughts, but wouldn't have been able to put it just like that - including the aside at the end.
Re:Mac users are a freaking cult
on
The Cult of Mac
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
"My company distributes a product that is not compatible with Macs. Not our fault, we tried to work with Apple to get them to raise their standards in some specific areas, but they're not interested right now. No big deal. Since Mac users can't use our stuff, we don't want them hounding our sales people about it, so we don't let them on our website."
This reminds me of the joke about the bad salesman who goes "For the last time, we don't have this in stock!" when the hundredth customer comes in to ask for the same thing.
You go on feeling superior because Apple doesn't go down on all fours to fix your problem, that makes beautiful business sense. Given your attitude, I'm sure they're very motivated to do so.
Afterthought: how do you treat Windows users who for some reason can't use your product? Like shit, or like customers?
Really, your generalisations and "people skills" are just the thing that gives COMPUTER users a bad name (not that I care, I don't try to sell them things).
Re:Not all Mac users are like this
on
The Cult of Mac
·
· Score: 1
"When will people start helping people to help them, and stop using it as an opportunity to show off? "
You think that's how it works? Mmmmm...
Anyway, back to the endless mac-PC debate: I find it infinitely more fun to help Mac users than PC users: 1) usually - not always - mac problems when fixed stay fixed 2) mac users generally are less resigned to things going wrong, and generally are more grateful, maybe because they don't take it for granted? 3) OK, I know the mac better. But still, it's a bitch to fix something that's broken the next day, or to try and fix something that shouldn't be broken in the first place, or to fix a fix. Patches that need patches and such...
And as far as the car analogy goes, Volvo's are pretty good value for money, I'd recommend one to anyone - while being tactful of the moment of course.
Re:It's not black and white...
on
The Cult of Mac
·
· Score: 1
Oh yeah? Oh yeah? Sez who!?!
hrmpf
(oh all right, you're partly, ok, mostly right, I guess...);-)
Yeah yeah, God gave Americans wars in order to teach them geography...
BTW, I'm not smoking, my man, but extremely in favour of - at the very least - legalisation of medical weed. And furthermore I think a de-penalisation coupled with good propaganda for the kiddies - not the "just say no" kind, that works only on Britney Spears - makes a lot more sense, it does in certain parts of the world (barring the low ghettos of Pakistan, of course).
(for everyone else: not directed at all Americans, just the, let us say, uninformed ones)
"...even for techie users the Mac is a clear status symbol"
That's interesting, I don't agree, and I'm sure lots of mac users don't. Here's my reply.
Do you use a mac?
Status symbol my ass. Really, look at the advertising campaign, and what you see is... marketing. Big surprise. Look at the Windows ads and what you see is... marketing. Look at the IBM Linux boy. What do you see?
Let me tell you my reason to use a mac: it's a joy to use. It doesn't sit before a window, or in the garden, almost nobody ever sees the computer, it's not a status symbol. I don't have an iPod - although I'm now tempted with the iPod Photo...
I have extensive (user-) experience with PC's and although I do agree XP and OS X aren't that far apart, I wouldn't buy a HOME computer if it had to be a PC, I'd happily learn to live without one.
The main differences are: one is nice and shiny, easy, non-obtrusive, useful, the other is a pain in the bottom.
And that's without taking into account that in order to do the stuff I do now just for fun, would become a quest for compatibility and GUI nightmare. Some of the things would come at too high a price and some wouldn't be possible at all.
Oh I don't know, since it stems from the same tradition. We're talking principle here, since no one would recognise the difference between a bunch of sperm cells or a bunch of developing "human" cells without a microscope and a PHD.
And a lot of "backward" people still consider it a sin to spill so to speak. Mostly the same people who consider it a sin to kill a human consisting of 35 cells.
But never mind, it's a terribly complicated issue - well it's not, but it leads to terribly complicated questions and feelings. Even though you're AC, I don't want to be too cute about it.
Clay shows properties that can be summed up as being alive. Should we revere clay, stop eating it or something the like?
I have a daughter, her stem-cells are crio-frozen. If at one time they're flushed through the toilet (god forbid), will that constitute murder?
I've read the problem is we abstract things and lose sight of the ethics. I think the problem is the reverse. Moral idiots claim 35 cells possess a soul and state doing something useful is against gods wishes.
Slashdot Mirror
"The good news is that now we'll all find out who is right. Are those who warn of the dire consequences of unilateralism, pre-emptive war, environmental destruction etc etc. just being whiny, or not?"
That's reasonable thinking, therefor not applicable to the situation. Take for instance Iraq. Right, Iraq.
The consequences of an invasion had been foretold many times before. By players from all colours and religions, so this is not some "Liberal whining".
We are there now, a region that's less stable, and less viable, more fundamentalist, and strangely with less liberty for its inhabitants. Yes, a puzzler, but suddenly women and girls who like to live are finding they will have to wear shrowds and hide everything.
Also, a region that introduces more weapons to the general population and its neighbours, most of US manufacture, but also lots of old stockpiles.
Also between here and twenty years a region that most likely will go through a very violent reshuffeling of its borders.
All in all, a risky business, the right spot for diplomacy, the wrong spot for war, especially pre-emtive, illegal war, especially when it also redraws former alliances and puts a divide in "the west".
Any mention of this by US citizens are suspect. They must be unpatriotic or not realistic.
Any mention of this by non US citizens are also suspect, and slightly vulgar. We must have no backbone, no gratitude, we must love Saddam (remember? the CIA's pet for many years) and worse, we must be French (remember? the first and for a long time only nation that helped the US to its independence and even gave it the fucking statue of liberty?)
And of course, very much underestimated by us non US citizens: there's not a thing Americans won't do in the name of God (like training murderers to put machine-guns through hospitals and pregnant women and calling it "Foreign Aid") TO SUPPORT A WAR-TIME PRESIDENT.
So to come back to your point: no, at least we won't find out who's right. Most people in the know already know, but nobody at the rudder now will ever acknowledge anything, and the general population will keep fighting for its right to be ignorant, god bless.
Everybody knows Kyoto is too little too late, slightly unfair and open to debate. That's not the point. The US is not open to debate, end of story. Every scientist on the subject also knows that human influence now puts the earth through something that could "possibly" have dire consequences. This is not really contested anymore, the fight goes on in the fringes and the political arena, but the last five years things have changed, most "unbelievers" have come around. That doesn't mean dick to a crowd that thinks it's not accountable. People will never find out, imo that's a very naive way of looking at things. We already know more than enough to draw some conclusions, and scientists will undoubtably keep score. But "the people"?
It's not Bush's will, it's the will of "the people".
The world will just have to get used to bending over and being fucked sideways in the name of the lord and um freedom...
Compared to the competition, they look golden (imo)...
Cheers
You'd think the iPod'd be dead and gone by now, no?
Yesterday, I saw the iPod and the mini, and a shitheap of other players. Man, that's an education. It seems you can't discuss taste, well, I happen to disagree, but sheer beautiful simplicity is hard to beat, that's for sure.
Even more fun: having a salesman show the features. Every time he says "it can do this" you go "OK, show me". No wonder the iPod is still alive and well...
I'm not familiar with US voting. It just seemed so logical I presumed everybody had it...
Call me old fashioned, but I would never trust a system that
a) didn't give me a paper confirmation of my vote
b) wouldn't give a visual printout to be put in the ballot
Given the past election, I can't understand how the land of the free can put up with a system that doesn't provide either. I've heard the reasons for not providing printout, they were plain stupid and not technically challenging at all. OK, I prefer a paperless office, and quite like trees, but still...
And why oh why is voting not compulsory? Democracy is not a right, it's a hard-won system of self government that implies some democratic duties to its part-takers. One of them is to go out and f*cking vote once every four years. If you don't, you don't participate and forsake your rights. Which is exactly what is happening now, but that's another story altogether.
Imo the US of A spends too much time defending its right to be ignorant and stupid.
Hope is a wonderful thing. It moves mountains. Of course, so do heavy weaponry.
I've read most of the posts, some are hilarious, and the fact that Mac stories get such reply does tell something (not sure what, but whatever).
I like Philips stuff. Most of their things are easily understood and have some clever and really useful functions you don't find on other equipment. I like Volvo, they concentrate on things I happen to think important too, like safety and comfort.
In the same way, I like the Mac. I won't go into that, suffice it to say it makes me do things I can't quite do on a PC and lets me have fun doing it.
In the end, they're all machines, things, stuff. Not worth dying for, not worth my undying allegeance, but I can enjoy having them.
All this cult stuff is for other people.
Thank you.
OK, this is a "me too" post, but still...
Cool, right ON!, very nicely put. Very astute. I've looked at that same sentence and had the same thoughts, but wouldn't have been able to put it just like that - including the aside at the end.
"My company distributes a product that is not compatible with Macs. Not our fault, we tried to work with Apple to get them to raise their standards in some specific areas, but they're not interested right now. No big deal. Since Mac users can't use our stuff, we don't want them hounding our sales people about it, so we don't let them on our website."
This reminds me of the joke about the bad salesman who goes "For the last time, we don't have this in stock!" when the hundredth customer comes in to ask for the same thing.
You go on feeling superior because Apple doesn't go down on all fours to fix your problem, that makes beautiful business sense. Given your attitude, I'm sure they're very motivated to do so.
Afterthought: how do you treat Windows users who for some reason can't use your product? Like shit, or like customers?
Really, your generalisations and "people skills" are just the thing that gives COMPUTER users a bad name (not that I care, I don't try to sell them things).
"When will people start helping people to help them, and stop using it as an opportunity to show off? "
You think that's how it works? Mmmmm...
Anyway, back to the endless mac-PC debate: I find it infinitely more fun to help Mac users than PC users:
1) usually - not always - mac problems when fixed stay fixed
2) mac users generally are less resigned to things going wrong, and generally are more grateful, maybe because they don't take it for granted?
3) OK, I know the mac better. But still, it's a bitch to fix something that's broken the next day, or to try and fix something that shouldn't be broken in the first place, or to fix a fix. Patches that need patches and such...
And as far as the car analogy goes, Volvo's are pretty good value for money, I'd recommend one to anyone - while being tactful of the moment of course.
Oh yeah? Oh yeah? Sez who!?!
;-)
hrmpf
(oh all right, you're partly, ok, mostly right, I guess...)
Loving to point out the obvious: the whole, yes, point of a search engine is that it's at least faster than going through your stuff yourself.
I'm not the most knowledgeable person around, but I'd say that excludes anything non-native, no? Maybe not, what do I know.
BTW, am I the only one who sometimes stands in his office, mumbling "search"? Now, that would be a power-tool...
BTW2, I don't think most ordinary users would prefer Google over Tiger's blitz und glitz...
Yeah yeah, God gave Americans wars in order to teach them geography...
BTW, I'm not smoking, my man, but extremely in favour of - at the very least - legalisation of medical weed. And furthermore I think a de-penalisation coupled with good propaganda for the kiddies - not the "just say no" kind, that works only on Britney Spears - makes a lot more sense, it does in certain parts of the world (barring the low ghettos of Pakistan, of course).
(for everyone else: not directed at all Americans, just the, let us say, uninformed ones)
"Is it me or does it seem like the US is quickly losing it's place as the center of the business world?"
Given the fact that the US has the biggest Arms Industry in the world, and knows how to ahem export it, that doesn't really scare Bush.
It might.
Oh, sorry, I get it, you try to be dismissive of those "liberal" quality of life and freedom things. Right. Oh well.
Meanwhile the world laughs at the fact that your voting system is under more scrutiny than most banana republics.
"...even for techie users the Mac is a clear status symbol"
That's interesting, I don't agree, and I'm sure lots of mac users don't. Here's my reply.
Do you use a mac?
Status symbol my ass. Really, look at the advertising campaign, and what you see is... marketing. Big surprise. Look at the Windows ads and what you see is... marketing. Look at the IBM Linux boy. What do you see?
Let me tell you my reason to use a mac: it's a joy to use. It doesn't sit before a window, or in the garden, almost nobody ever sees the computer, it's not a status symbol. I don't have an iPod - although I'm now tempted with the iPod Photo...
I have extensive (user-) experience with PC's and although I do agree XP and OS X aren't that far apart, I wouldn't buy a HOME computer if it had to be a PC, I'd happily learn to live without one.
The main differences are: one is nice and shiny, easy, non-obtrusive, useful, the other is a pain in the bottom.
And that's without taking into account that in order to do the stuff I do now just for fun, would become a quest for compatibility and GUI nightmare. Some of the things would come at too high a price and some wouldn't be possible at all.
Something to consider: America and Canada are not the rest of the world.
"Cyberspace will never be its own sovereign nation as long as the endpoints are rooted in the physical world. "
You're right!!!!
I'm releasing myself from these shackles now!
Now where's the powercor-
If I'd substitute your coffee for brown sludge, would you drink it?
Oh I don't know, since it stems from the same tradition. We're talking principle here, since no one would recognise the difference between a bunch of sperm cells or a bunch of developing "human" cells without a microscope and a PHD.
And a lot of "backward" people still consider it a sin to spill so to speak. Mostly the same people who consider it a sin to kill a human consisting of 35 cells.
But never mind, it's a terribly complicated issue - well it's not, but it leads to terribly complicated questions and feelings. Even though you're AC, I don't want to be too cute about it.
You got me there.
But are you suggesting I should feel guilty about masturbation as well?
btw, maybe a fun remark, but I'm quite serious.
Clay shows properties that can be summed up as being alive. Should we revere clay, stop eating it or something the like?
I have a daughter, her stem-cells are crio-frozen. If at one time they're flushed through the toilet (god forbid), will that constitute murder?
I've read the problem is we abstract things and lose sight of the ethics. I think the problem is the reverse. Moral idiots claim 35 cells possess a soul and state doing something useful is against gods wishes.
Show me your hotline to God.
"President George Bush Responds: ..."
We are fortunate in America to have the best health care system in the world
mwaaaaahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaah
Go ahead, believe him. Oh, and Holland is the capital of Belgium, the statue of liberty was made by mr. Liberty, a Godfearing American Quaker.
"if th ipod had issues like that this place would be going crazy with pro and anti apple wackos "
Yes, that's maybe because 92% of HD players out there are in fact iPods?
You can read all about it on CNET.
This aside, I find all those reports on locking up rather emotional myself...