No. You want your base to be the biggest generation. Currently, that is the generation born in the 80s (Mostly mid to late 80s). So... your 18-24 demographic is EXACTLY who you want.
...I agree heartily, but were the United States is concerned, this will probably never happen. The brand of capitalism that currently drives the U.S. is not friendly to goods and services that are expected to last a long time. In the past, you could buy a TV and the company would guarantee it's picture tube for up to ten years. These days you're lucky to find a TV with a five year guarantee on the picture tube and in most cases you are forced into buying an extended warranty that you have to renew.
The way that homes were built in the early part of the 20th century, those homes could be expected to still last up to 100+ years. These days, the cheap 'lick em and stick em' jobs that people pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for are certain to start falling apart in 10-25 years. I know this because I used to work on some of them. The materials are not meant to last. Many of the homes develop probles with the plumbing, roof, even the electrical in some cases. A lot of these homes can't stand up to tornadoes as well as the old houses could. There was a neighborhood in a city south of me where all the bran new houses were torn apart by a tornado. These houses were built in the late 1980s and 1990s. Within a few blocks, there were a few old farm houses that were unscathed. My point is that houses these days are made of crap, more expensive and are not built to last. They are essentially disposable after one generation grows up in them (while having to fix problems).
This is all evidence of the disposable, recurring payment culture of the U.S. today. I exclude other countries even though many of them have the same problem, but to a lesser extent. Those other countries are fr more likely to try and build a long-lasting, open source infrastructure. When I was a kid in the 70s, recurring fees were rare other than utilities and mortgage or car payments. Today, you can get nearly anything for a recurring fee. Although all the fees themselves are small, they total to whopping bills if a person needs or wants all those goods and services. Whatever happened to the day when you could buy something and it was yours. 100%. No strings attached. No recurring fees. Just yours. Sure there are a few things, but keep in mind that recurring fee or not, they are not built to last. Durability is anathema to profit in the new American way. The idea of having long-lasting, open source/free software is going to have a lot of opponents in the American software business soley because there is money to be made.
Whoo boy. That's whacky! That's why I support gun control. I don't want untrained, non-professionals to be starting a revolution, even if they are on my side. There's too much of a chance for error. The gun nuts who *think* they know how to safely use guns, are exactly the same kind of people who use pirated copies of Photoshop and think they are artists or graphic designers. The only difference is that one of them can kill. The other only makes a fool out of himself.
Um... 2nd Amendment? How on god's earth would an American citizen remove our current governement in this day and age? Line up like the British soldiers in the American Revolution and expect the government to play in an honourable fashion I don't think so. The best the citizenry could achieve at this point is un ugly anarchy that would give us an America that resembles the one in that movie "The Postman". And we still wouldn't get rid of the government. It would still survive. Sorry, but the only thing the 2nd amendment + our current administration guarantees is death (or possible incarceration for treason) to anyone who decides to "take up arms". Welcome to the 21st century.
...any bets on how long it will take for Microsoft to try and copy the Wikipedia format and integrate it into their OS? Probably sometime after Google cleans their clock?;P
That issue is addressed by the fact that they do leave room for differences by stating the controversies or conflicts. They do this by noting that an entry is "controversial" or "disputed". See the entry on anti-zionism for a disputed entry. See the entry on fascism for a controversial entry. This approach is pretty fair as it does give others the opportunity to be represented. The other thing is that you can't beat the hypertext format for an encyclopedia. In a word, it rocks.
Extended warranties are simply ways for the stores to make extra money that they don't deserve. It's insurance. A gamble. Nothing more. When you pay, you are gambling that the equipment may not last. The first question you have to ask yourself is, "what exactly am I paying for if I am going to gamble that it WON'T last"? Personally, I've only gotten on extended home warranty for a 36" television that I bought in 1998. Guess what? It still works. I never needed the extended warranty. Luckily I didn't really have to pay for the extended warranty as the sales person tacked it on as part of the purchase price as an incentive to move an in store display item. Many of the electronics that I've bought over the years, I've been able to either fix myself, or the items have lasted a good long time. Extended warranties are just a waste of money unless you have extremely bad luck (a friend of mine seems to have things fall apart as soon as they get to his house no matter how careful he is) or just don't know how to treat your equipment properly. Realistically, if you buy something it should last no less than ten years. If it doesn't, then make sure to never buy that brand again. The idiots who like to get the "latest and greatest" by using these extended warranties are abusing the system. It wasn't meant to keep you in new toys, it was meant as insurance. If you have a laptop with a single pixel that doesn't work, live with it.
Clerk: "Have you considered our extended warranty"? Me: "Do you mean to tell me your products are so inferior that you can't guarantee them past 60-90 days? What the hell am I buying here"??? (Then I walk out)
Seemingly intelligent people tend to have more liberal viewpoints. Seemingly ignorant/naive/idealistic (they actually believe that the individual is capable of taking care of their own well being with no support systems) people tend to be libertarian. Seemingly deceived/stupid/selfish/greedy/small people tend to be republican. No really. Check out the number of pro-right people on any web forum and you'll see that most of them post from aol.com accounts. I'll surely get modded down as troll for this, but it's worth it to spread a little truth around to those that sorely need to hear it.
Iraq 2? We can't say that the bullshit in Iraq that Dubya started has finished until people stop getting their heads cut off, and attacks on the innocent stop. Sorry, but you can't just say "OK. We can stop now" when you've put your head in a noose that you made and stepped off the ladder. Iraq 2 is not over. One thing is clear though... you're a fucking idiot.
Bingo! I may have more liberal leanings, but I don't think there is anything wrong with REAL capitalism. The kind that originally made this country a great place. REAL capitalism isn't about making the most sales and dominating the market. It's about providing a good or service that really has value and keeping your customer satisfied. The criminal activites that masquerade as "capitalism" these days have made a travesty of the United States. It sickens me that so many people out there believe that they are part of something good when they support the purveyors of these activities. It also does my heart good to see that there are plenty of people who are, perhaps, starting to become a little more aware of how this country is being ruined.
...green dots are an audio solution. This smacks of freakish pseudoscience masquerading as real problems. Kind of like the gold plated power cords for stereos that cost audiophiles $180 each. The supposed reason that they improve sound is that gold has less resistance and therefore your amp will perform better if the electricity gets to it more readily. That's bullshit just like the zinc whisker issue.
It would be much cooler if you could just broadcast 100000 dB square waves at 30, 100, 500, 1200, 1600, 1800, 5000, 10000 and 15000 Hz. Keep it in alternating random cycles of.25 seconds each tone. That should do some kind of damage to the oaf's booming stereo. So you like Mudvayne, huh??? TAKE THIS!!! KERPLOW!!!
Whoa whoa... settle down there Twirlip. You're getting all hot and bothered now. That leads to irrational thought. Count to ten or something.
Look. It's all about balance. Since life is complicated, we'll talk about this in simple terms. Imagine a world where the resources were evenly split amongst all of it's citizens with much of the resource left over to account for some population growth. For the good of their fellow citizens, these people have agreed that they will take only what they need and give back what they don't. They have also agreed that when the population begins to increase to a treacherous point, they will forfeit the right to procreate until the population comes back down to manageable levels. The system works and it works well because people are truly responsible. But it's not "self responsibility" as a lot of libertarians like to rattle on about. It's global responsibility. The acknowledgement that each of their fellow citizens is their responsibility. It's a beautiful thing because it keeps everything balanced and in harmony.
You and I both know that this kind of system is impossible in this world. But, the thing that makes you different from me, is that I actually strive to achieve this. This is why I work in a public library instead of for a corporation. I'm doing something for my fellow citizen. There are other people who agree with me and also try to achieve this. Doing this doesn't require wars or ugly politics, it just requires a few ounces of compassion. That is what you and your kind lack. You aren't interested in achieving balance. From your perspective, balance is a bad thing. You are interested in making things better for the people at the top and then throwing the scraps to the people beneath you. Then you tell them that they are so lucky to get those scraps. You use propaganda (yes, I used that word) to convince them that having a pickup truck and an AOL account is prosperity even if they live in a poisoned town and can't depend on anyone to improve the lives of their children. You see, that's the kind of lie that many Americans are having force fed to them. It's OK to be illiterate! It's OK to be uneducated! It's OK that you can't go to the library and learn something on your own! Who needs knowledge anyway when it's all too easy to use knowledge to escape from under the thumb of the culture of fear and lies that define corporate America? What little they are given is just enough to placate them, but never really satisfy them. However, they are starting to get restless. This is a good thing. I am eager to get more of these people to realize that they've been duped. Duped by the Bushes. Duped by the conservative mouthpieces of the internet, radio, television and print. And most of all, duped by people like you.
Twirlip, as much as it pains me to say this, you do seem to be an intelligent person. But you are all too eager to perpetuate propaganda (dammit, I can't seem to avoid that word when it comes to you)! That intelligence is wasted on a self-serving campaign that really DOESN'T have the well-being of other people at it's core. You tell people one thing but leave out all the other problems that come with that thing. As soon as someone disagrees with you, you suddenly become "tired" of that person or you call him a liar. Or worse yet, you don't respond. I find your lack of responses interesting as I believe it means that you are incapable of spinning those particular responses to your advantage. The user List of FAILURES is right. You are a failure. You really are a lot like that Comic Book Guy on the Simpsons. Arrogant (which you've admitted to in the past), partisan and completely selfish.
You should know better than this Trollip. Cite your source!! While that's a pretty nifty definition you've got there. Why don't you tell us where it comes from? Since I work in a library, if it came from a print source, I can always go and verify it. I'd be more than happy to do so.
A note on your definition. It sounds like a perfect description of Bill O'Reilly, Fox News, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, et al.
You can try to ignore me all you want, but it's not going to make me go away little man.
However, the "truth" and "lie" labels aren't the only measures of propaganda when it comes to complex matters of politics, business and government. As you like to say ad nauseum when you are losing an argument, "it just isn't that simple". Not only would propaganda lie. But propaganda also tries as hard as possible to conceal things that are damaging to it's instigators. This is something the current crop of Republicans and their spokespeople are extremely good at.
For example. In my state, the Republican governor has cut tons and tons of funding that went to public schools and libraries. He is also working to undermine another source of funding for libraries in my state (LLGSF). All of this is being done, ostensibly, to save money. The people who support this are telling people that it will lower their state taxes. They are trumpeting that message loud and clear so that people say, "Oh good! I won't have to pay as much now! I'm all for it!" However, they aren't telling people that it means their public libraries and schools will be even more poorly funded than before. They aren't telling people that libraries and schools will have to drop programs and cut back on hours. They aren't telling people that a good chunk of the population who do a very important job (teachers and librarians) are going to lose their jobs. So they aren't "lying" per say when they say that these funding cuts will result in lower taxes. But they are omitting when they don't tell people that they will experience a noticeable loss in quality of life. That omission is still propaganda. The right is far more guilty of it than the left.
True. But what does that have to do with honesty and fairness? If they are going to be honest and fair, then they would go after the employee. Oh.. I forgot, we're talking about American corporations.;P
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No. You want your base to be the biggest generation. Currently, that is the generation born in the 80s (Mostly mid to late 80s). So... your 18-24 demographic is EXACTLY who you want.
...I agree heartily, but were the United States is concerned, this will probably never happen. The brand of capitalism that currently drives the U.S. is not friendly to goods and services that are expected to last a long time. In the past, you could buy a TV and the company would guarantee it's picture tube for up to ten years. These days you're lucky to find a TV with a five year guarantee on the picture tube and in most cases you are forced into buying an extended warranty that you have to renew.
The way that homes were built in the early part of the 20th century, those homes could be expected to still last up to 100+ years. These days, the cheap 'lick em and stick em' jobs that people pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for are certain to start falling apart in 10-25 years. I know this because I used to work on some of them. The materials are not meant to last. Many of the homes develop probles with the plumbing, roof, even the electrical in some cases. A lot of these homes can't stand up to tornadoes as well as the old houses could. There was a neighborhood in a city south of me where all the bran new houses were torn apart by a tornado. These houses were built in the late 1980s and 1990s. Within a few blocks, there were a few old farm houses that were unscathed. My point is that houses these days are made of crap, more expensive and are not built to last. They are essentially disposable after one generation grows up in them (while having to fix problems).
This is all evidence of the disposable, recurring payment culture of the U.S. today. I exclude other countries even though many of them have the same problem, but to a lesser extent. Those other countries are fr more likely to try and build a long-lasting, open source infrastructure. When I was a kid in the 70s, recurring fees were rare other than utilities and mortgage or car payments. Today, you can get nearly anything for a recurring fee. Although all the fees themselves are small, they total to whopping bills if a person needs or wants all those goods and services. Whatever happened to the day when you could buy something and it was yours. 100%. No strings attached. No recurring fees. Just yours. Sure there are a few things, but keep in mind that recurring fee or not, they are not built to last. Durability is anathema to profit in the new American way. The idea of having long-lasting, open source/free software is going to have a lot of opponents in the American software business soley because there is money to be made.
When Kay was talking about creativity and computers, I don't think this is what he had in mind. ;P
Whoo boy. That's whacky! That's why I support gun control. I don't want untrained, non-professionals to be starting a revolution, even if they are on my side. There's too much of a chance for error. The gun nuts who *think* they know how to safely use guns, are exactly the same kind of people who use pirated copies of Photoshop and think they are artists or graphic designers. The only difference is that one of them can kill. The other only makes a fool out of himself.
Um... 2nd Amendment? How on god's earth would an American citizen remove our current governement in this day and age? Line up like the British soldiers in the American Revolution and expect the government to play in an honourable fashion I don't think so. The best the citizenry could achieve at this point is un ugly anarchy that would give us an America that resembles the one in that movie "The Postman". And we still wouldn't get rid of the government. It would still survive. Sorry, but the only thing the 2nd amendment + our current administration guarantees is death (or possible incarceration for treason) to anyone who decides to "take up arms". Welcome to the 21st century.
...any bets on how long it will take for Microsoft to try and copy the Wikipedia format and integrate it into their OS? Probably sometime after Google cleans their clock? ;P
That issue is addressed by the fact that they do leave room for differences by stating the controversies or conflicts. They do this by noting that an entry is "controversial" or "disputed". See the entry on anti-zionism for a disputed entry. See the entry on fascism for a controversial entry. This approach is pretty fair as it does give others the opportunity to be represented. The other thing is that you can't beat the hypertext format for an encyclopedia. In a word, it rocks.
Story continued...
Me: "Cool. I saved my hard earned money once again and got what I wanted."
Moral of the story: I saved money so I could spend it on things that really matter instead of frittering it away to people who don't deserve it.
Actually, I do when it's worth it you troll. ;P
Extended warranties are simply ways for the stores to make extra money that they don't deserve. It's insurance. A gamble. Nothing more. When you pay, you are gambling that the equipment may not last. The first question you have to ask yourself is, "what exactly am I paying for if I am going to gamble that it WON'T last"? Personally, I've only gotten on extended home warranty for a 36" television that I bought in 1998. Guess what? It still works. I never needed the extended warranty. Luckily I didn't really have to pay for the extended warranty as the sales person tacked it on as part of the purchase price as an incentive to move an in store display item. Many of the electronics that I've bought over the years, I've been able to either fix myself, or the items have lasted a good long time. Extended warranties are just a waste of money unless you have extremely bad luck (a friend of mine seems to have things fall apart as soon as they get to his house no matter how careful he is) or just don't know how to treat your equipment properly. Realistically, if you buy something it should last no less than ten years. If it doesn't, then make sure to never buy that brand again. The idiots who like to get the "latest and greatest" by using these extended warranties are abusing the system. It wasn't meant to keep you in new toys, it was meant as insurance. If you have a laptop with a single pixel that doesn't work, live with it.
Clerk: "Have you considered our extended warranty"?
Me: "Do you mean to tell me your products are so inferior that you can't guarantee them past 60-90 days? What the hell am I buying here"??? (Then I walk out)
Seemingly intelligent people tend to have more liberal viewpoints. Seemingly ignorant/naive/idealistic (they actually believe that the individual is capable of taking care of their own well being with no support systems) people tend to be libertarian. Seemingly deceived/stupid/selfish/greedy/small people tend to be republican. No really. Check out the number of pro-right people on any web forum and you'll see that most of them post from aol.com accounts. I'll surely get modded down as troll for this, but it's worth it to spread a little truth around to those that sorely need to hear it.
Iraq 2? We can't say that the bullshit in Iraq that Dubya started has finished until people stop getting their heads cut off, and attacks on the innocent stop. Sorry, but you can't just say "OK. We can stop now" when you've put your head in a noose that you made and stepped off the ladder. Iraq 2 is not over. One thing is clear though... you're a fucking idiot.
Keep in mind that the terminally stupid reproduce at an appalling rate. This explains why Britney Spears is a big deal.
Bingo! I may have more liberal leanings, but I don't think there is anything wrong with REAL capitalism. The kind that originally made this country a great place. REAL capitalism isn't about making the most sales and dominating the market. It's about providing a good or service that really has value and keeping your customer satisfied. The criminal activites that masquerade as "capitalism" these days have made a travesty of the United States. It sickens me that so many people out there believe that they are part of something good when they support the purveyors of these activities. It also does my heart good to see that there are plenty of people who are, perhaps, starting to become a little more aware of how this country is being ruined.
...green dots are an audio solution. This smacks of freakish pseudoscience masquerading as real problems. Kind of like the gold plated power cords for stereos that cost audiophiles $180 each. The supposed reason that they improve sound is that gold has less resistance and therefore your amp will perform better if the electricity gets to it more readily. That's bullshit just like the zinc whisker issue.
It would be much cooler if you could just broadcast 100000 dB square waves at 30, 100, 500, 1200, 1600, 1800, 5000, 10000 and 15000 Hz. Keep it in alternating random cycles of .25 seconds each tone. That should do some kind of damage to the oaf's booming stereo. So you like Mudvayne, huh??? TAKE THIS!!! KERPLOW!!!
Damn! And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling Jbreckens!
Whoa whoa... settle down there Twirlip. You're getting all hot and bothered now. That leads to irrational thought. Count to ten or something.
Look. It's all about balance. Since life is complicated, we'll talk about this in simple terms. Imagine a world where the resources were evenly split amongst all of it's citizens with much of the resource left over to account for some population growth. For the good of their fellow citizens, these people have agreed that they will take only what they need and give back what they don't. They have also agreed that when the population begins to increase to a treacherous point, they will forfeit the right to procreate until the population comes back down to manageable levels. The system works and it works well because people are truly responsible. But it's not "self responsibility" as a lot of libertarians like to rattle on about. It's global responsibility. The acknowledgement that each of their fellow citizens is their responsibility. It's a beautiful thing because it keeps everything balanced and in harmony.
You and I both know that this kind of system is impossible in this world. But, the thing that makes you different from me, is that I actually strive to achieve this. This is why I work in a public library instead of for a corporation. I'm doing something for my fellow citizen. There are other people who agree with me and also try to achieve this. Doing this doesn't require wars or ugly politics, it just requires a few ounces of compassion. That is what you and your kind lack. You aren't interested in achieving balance. From your perspective, balance is a bad thing. You are interested in making things better for the people at the top and then throwing the scraps to the people beneath you. Then you tell them that they are so lucky to get those scraps. You use propaganda (yes, I used that word) to convince them that having a pickup truck and an AOL account is prosperity even if they live in a poisoned town and can't depend on anyone to improve the lives of their children. You see, that's the kind of lie that many Americans are having force fed to them. It's OK to be illiterate! It's OK to be uneducated! It's OK that you can't go to the library and learn something on your own! Who needs knowledge anyway when it's all too easy to use knowledge to escape from under the thumb of the culture of fear and lies that define corporate America? What little they are given is just enough to placate them, but never really satisfy them. However, they are starting to get restless. This is a good thing. I am eager to get more of these people to realize that they've been duped. Duped by the Bushes. Duped by the conservative mouthpieces of the internet, radio, television and print. And most of all, duped by people like you.
Twirlip, as much as it pains me to say this, you do seem to be an intelligent person. But you are all too eager to perpetuate propaganda (dammit, I can't seem to avoid that word when it comes to you)! That intelligence is wasted on a self-serving campaign that really DOESN'T have the well-being of other people at it's core. You tell people one thing but leave out all the other problems that come with that thing. As soon as someone disagrees with you, you suddenly become "tired" of that person or you call him a liar. Or worse yet, you don't respond. I find your lack of responses interesting as I believe it means that you are incapable of spinning those particular responses to your advantage. The user List of FAILURES is right. You are a failure. You really are a lot like that Comic Book Guy on the Simpsons. Arrogant (which you've admitted to in the past), partisan and completely selfish.
You should know better than this Trollip. Cite your source!! While that's a pretty nifty definition you've got there. Why don't you tell us where it comes from? Since I work in a library, if it came from a print source, I can always go and verify it. I'd be more than happy to do so.
A note on your definition. It sounds like a perfect description of Bill O'Reilly, Fox News, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, et al.
You can try to ignore me all you want, but it's not going to make me go away little man.
...and does it really matter to 90% of the population who don't own a BMW?
Thank you. Trollip does this on a regular basis. He attempts to redefine words in ways that are useful to his textual effluvia.
However, the "truth" and "lie" labels aren't the only measures of propaganda when it comes to complex matters of politics, business and government. As you like to say ad nauseum when you are losing an argument, "it just isn't that simple". Not only would propaganda lie. But propaganda also tries as hard as possible to conceal things that are damaging to it's instigators. This is something the current crop of Republicans and their spokespeople are extremely good at.
For example. In my state, the Republican governor has cut tons and tons of funding that went to public schools and libraries. He is also working to undermine another source of funding for libraries in my state (LLGSF). All of this is being done, ostensibly, to save money. The people who support this are telling people that it will lower their state taxes. They are trumpeting that message loud and clear so that people say, "Oh good! I won't have to pay as much now! I'm all for it!" However, they aren't telling people that it means their public libraries and schools will be even more poorly funded than before. They aren't telling people that libraries and schools will have to drop programs and cut back on hours. They aren't telling people that a good chunk of the population who do a very important job (teachers and librarians) are going to lose their jobs. So they aren't "lying" per say when they say that these funding cuts will result in lower taxes. But they are omitting when they don't tell people that they will experience a noticeable loss in quality of life. That omission is still propaganda. The right is far more guilty of it than the left.
You're move.
True. But what does that have to do with honesty and fairness? If they are going to be honest and fair, then they would go after the employee. Oh.. I forgot, we're talking about American corporations. ;P
Ahh, the typical right-wing reponse.... Devoid of character an hiding behind shady anonymity in fear. Fear is thy middle name.
Please mod parent as Funny. Damn I wish I had mod points!