people bitten by spiders don't generally become ultra-powerful
Well, I don't know about that. The last time a spider dropped on me, I jumped 4 feet in the air in an incredible surge of power. I can only imagine how much further I could have jumped if it had bit me.
I don't know about "U" (forgive the pun), but mixing O, I, 0 and 1 (oh, eye, zero and one) in strings of identifying digits is a bad idea, particularly in real-world situations where the string will have to be read off a dirty tag in poor lighting. Font selection is also often poorly done for printing and punching such things. Which is why (in part) the MICR font is used on checks... to reduce transcription error.
As far as I'm concerned, no ID string should use I, O and S since they can be easily confused for 0, 1 and 5 in adverse conditions (i.e. most real-world situations). And while you're doing that, if you can spare the digit-width, get rid of other things that a dirt-smudge can threaten... which may be why the "U" is omitted.
If SSNs began to be issued in the 1930s, that means that about 1 Human lifetime has passed. If about 150 million lived in America then, and about 300 million today, then about 150 million were issued for births. Since the variance due to immigration should have folded into the 150 million existing extra people, then that sounds like a firm estimate of how many SSNs have been used. So, about 15% of the "available" set.
You must be talking about an escape sequence, which will allow a much larger space of definition, although those definitions will be more fluidly defined due to the very nature of extension.
For instance, a bit can be taken from the existing set, which if 1, indicates "an extended code follows". Then you can add as much as you want, since it's just a freakin' data stream.
Realistically, anything that causes a car company to alter its design, specifically to redesign to accomodate a change in standards, is something they'll complain about. However, if they can leverage the change into something "featuriffic" for the customer -- like being able to design your own watchpoints in the car's codespace and other stuff like that -- then they can merrily design it up and just as merrily make it into a good-paying option.
Whaaaat? That's nonsense. And the next thing you're going to point out is that somehow using a subcontractor implies far less control over inventory, service quality, and endlessly et freakin' cetera.
Sarcasm aside, any executive who takes this step is abiding by the rules of Fatal Cost Cutting (a.k.a. Extreme Outsourcing). It's a great way to cash out now and then crash your business later (after you've jumped and popped your golden parachute).
This is a bad business meme and it will have to just play itself out in all the customer agony the results. It sure is funny to hear all this "core competence" bullshit being passed around, and also see people startup the idea of, say, having shippers perform computer-repair work of any kind.
Hey, wait, don't go away. You must be sitting on a gold mine of data about how the American CIA goes around spreading sweetness and light, in contrast to the "Liberal Media" who tries to dig up irrelevancies like assassinations and terrorist plots (I think those damned Libs dug up another one in South America recently about how the CIA planned airliner attacks to use fear to support the then-current regime... hey, wait, that sounds straaaaangely familiar).
No, really, if you've some documentation that demonstrates how something like "rebuilding Iraq's electrical infrastructure" is so much better than the "bombing and shooting 10s of thousands of Iraqis" that made it necessary, then I'll be very glad to educate myself on it.
Peace, bro. No, really, I mean it: let there be peace.
(Sorry for the delay, I was away for the weekend.)
Losing credibility and pissing people off are irrelevent to the truth. The truth is Americans in general are perfectly comfortable with attacking other countries that they deem are animalistic and evil... and invariably African, Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern countries qualify. Bush's "Axis of Evil" was only his attempt to sell the idea of authorized murder (in Iraq alone, 10s of thousands of people with invariably darker skin) to America's ~80% White population; what a shock, they bought!
The rest of the world well understands this. That Americans refuse to acknowlege their own Imperial behavior is also irrelevent.
You may not like the term Imperial America, but methinks thou dost protest too much. America like any Empire has stationed its troops around the world in groups of 100s to 100Ks (who needs annexation when you effectively occupy the place anyway?). What do you think a nuclear carrier group is for, defense? No, it's for "steaming" across the world and attacking other countries... WHICH IS AN IMPERIAL ACT. America just likes to dress up its murderous intentions and actions by playing the "Humanitarian" card. Killing "Communists" is still murder. Killing "Terrorists" is still murder. Killing "Tyrants" is... waaaait for it: STILL MURDER. All we have to do is wait for the next label to be applied to some group that America wants DEAD.
Fight that all you want, the documentation makes your complaints like unto the bleating of a sheep. America is a sick and vicious Empire, like ALL Empires. Working to oppose other Empires (USSR, China, etc.) does not justify all the death and misery that America's military and CIA has brought to the world. Stomping out Communism did not justify the $30 billion CIA murder machine.
Your willful ignorance of that, and implied viciousness in supporting it, are just pathetic. But don't shut up. No, we need to know exactly who you sick fucks are. Keep talking so we know what an Ugly American really looks like. The worst thing with America's Imperial attitude was that people tried to hide it, and at least we can credit the butchers in the Bush Administration with the honesty to admit they want to kill towelheads.
As several other posters have well pointed out, it's the oil, dummy. The American Army is running all over Afghanistan (remember that pipeline Unocal wanted to build?) and Iraq and you still say you need "proof". Theft requires no deed or official declarations of intent. So, it's long since time you stopped believing your own culture's outrageous propaganda. It's also morally necessary to get the Oil Barons out of the political arena before some other oil-rich sovereign nation falls under their attack.
World Threat
Iran? Kuwait? We were using world terms, and you're pulling border strife out of your ass as proof? GWB, Rice and others were using terms that clearly stated Iraq intended to attack America with these so-called WMDs. They were either wrong (hard to believe, since they had a $30 billion intel network at their disposal) or lying. It's become quite evident that it was the latter instance.
As far as world threat goes, the United States is the leading terrorist nation. The CIA's exploits around the world are well documented (however much Americans wish to avoid knowing); American troops were deployed worldwide in 10s of thousands well before 911; and American attacks on other countries are also well documented (the most egregious being, attacking Iraq twice in 12 years). When it comes to a world threat, the USA surely knows one when it sees it, since IT IS ONE ITSELF... but that taints its view and puts it into moral peril when attempting to judge.
As for Israel... I've told my Congresscritters expressly that supporting Israel is a vast mistake and it has too much influence in the Congress (not to mention, the Exec. Branch). Being Israel's ally is one thing; being its remotely-controlled military arm is quite another. Israel should fight its own wars with people it has serious differences with, and with whom it continues to battle.
"Mistakes Were Made"
Oh, screw THAT. I'm tired of hearing this from the criminal overclass, as if this exonerates them from all the murders they accomplish while they have their hands on power. Kissinger now has to check which countries he can visit safely... since he's under indictment in several for violation of Human rights. And that's how it should be; being American and powerful should not exempt you from accounting for your butchery.
Even now, having stomped irresponsibly over 2 ME countries without resolving the things they claimed they wanted to resolve, the American government and people can still win the rest of the world over to the idea of eradicating terrorism. However, this would mean diplomatic solutions that would involve two things the USA is so unwilling to accept:
The United States is not a world leader -- no one can be -- but a leading nation of several equals.
The United States has to respect the sovereignty of other nations and not attack them.
In time, even Iraq's legal apparatus could have been convinced to put the smack down on terrorist (basically, armed murderers with little hopes for the future) activity. But that's the long and painful course that leads to long-lasting results. And America wants nothing but short-term actions that lead to even shorter-term results. In short, America just wants to kill and subjugate.
Diplomacy and economic force can work wonders. But you'd have to see the results coming down the road. America has lost the vision required for this kind of thing.
Handing Back
Yes, the UK has proven time and again that it never really understands what (other people's) sovereignty is all about (recent Irish events more than prove that point). And this is happening in Iraq too, hence proving once again that America shares the UK imperial bug. Are you a sovereign nation when over 10
The withdrawal from airport security promises happened pretty soon after 911. Other than guardsmen with M-16s but no bullets, budgets were chopped, recruitment numbers were reduced, arming of pilots was stopped, and now (as you pointed out) agency actions are working toward returning things to normal... which is to say, wide open for a group of determined and funded terrorists. But, hey, it'll save the airlines some money, so we should just stop thinking about the topic right the f*ck now.
Some other poster in this thread alleged Hussein was guilty of criminal negligence (hence, invading all of Iraq was justified). Funny how those types of folk don't see the same thing in the trends of airport security. But we're the good guys, so it must be A-OK.
{sigh} So much Limbaugh-esque mythology, so little time.
A significant factor in Afghanistan and Iraq was oil. You assert price as some sort of proof against it. But price increases are to the benefit of the producers, which the Bush family have been known to dabble in from time to time. As well as their family friends, the House of Saud.
The whole issue of invading an oil-rich country is to control it for the current set of Oil Barons. Bush's administration is packed with folks like that. (Duh.) Price is simply not an issue.
Iraq was no world threat. About the only sovereign place that would really find Iraq threatening was Israel. And the last time I checked, Israel wasn't the 51st American state, and had no legal representation in any American legislature. If there's anything to be said for American fears of being controlled by foreign interests, then why won't we deal with Israeli influence upon the American military?
As for criminal negligence, you are in direct hypocritical peril considering how much of that charge can be levelled at the American CIA, FBI and military command (specifically the Commander in Chief, whom you may have heard of) when 911 was being planned and executed. Libya is far more at fault for harboring terrorists, but after Bush's speeches on Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Iran and North Korea, you'll note a sound basis to my skepticism about Bush's due diligence. At any rate, any lax policy in Iraq about terrorist assholes cannot justify: invading Iraq, killing tens of thousands of her citizens (remember, she had an army, not of terrorists, but of Iraqi citizens who were defending against invaders), and taking control of her infrastructure.
The summary of my statements here would revolve around the idea that America attacked Iraq twice in 12 years for no valid reason. America cannot make the case that it was acting in self-defense, since Iraq made no moves onto American territory. And as for WMDs, we only have to look at Israel to speculate on the term "double standard".
Face facts, Ace: you've been bamboozled into thinking that America's assaults in the Middle East are not the Imperialist moves that they actually are. Perhaps when you find that you can't even afford to bury your own war-dead sons, then you'll wake up to realize the murderous and barbaric culture that you had been supporting.
Sure, for a fee, on an expensive phone, with a system that reverts to the number pad since there are 82 Michael Smiths in NYC, etc.
The post office still has no idea who Michael Joseph Smith is in NYC, but sure does understand 1304 East Westside Avenue, Suite 13. Addresses are "teh bomb"... since they never move, they always work.
Don't get me wrong. The USPS hasn't ever been particularly motivated to keep track of Michael Joseph Smith SSN 123-45-6789, and Mr. Smith probably never wanted to be tracked down like that anyway. It's possible for a tech-heavy telco to try to make it easier for one customer to locate another. But with opt-ins and opt-outs being as they are, and how they are likely to continue, the adoption of such connection methods seems a rarity.
All this seems morally perilous. If Linux is in the backoffice of some court, it would be particularly hazardous for it to officially judge against Linux in some broad way that illegalizes their usage of it. In this fashion, I'm sure many judges arrive home to find their brood up/downloading MP3s at record paces.
My point is that the whole thing should mean something to the judiciary. The MP3 downloading thing has ramifications on fair use. Hence, the use of OSS should strike them similarly.
But in the broader sense, you are correct. The judiciary should rule on points of law and not particularly ones of public opinion.
It surprised me that de-fizzed Coca Cola was one of the major drinks used during long-distance marathons. The beneficial components are water, caffeine, sugar and phosphorus. Water, Coke and Gatorade are apparently the Holy Trinity.
Your prediction of kickbacks is insightful. However, you failed to note that kickbacks -- being a species of bribe -- are particularly apt to grow with time. Not only that, but kickbacks alter market perception, which usually means that they reset the price point lower. And as the bribes grow, the price point slips further.
Yes, as you pointed out, if Microsoft resorts to kickbacks, then their end is nigh. It may take 8 years, but it will happen.
Re:Concerns: government wasting money on open sour
on
When Think Tanks Attack
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· Score: 5, Interesting
Get some facts before ranting to the extent you did.
The pro-wealthy weighting of America's tax system isn't fashion, it's fact. The tax system in America is so Byzantine that the wealthy and corporate take monstrous advantage of it time and time again. This is opposed to the wage-earner who is assaulted by a mandatory system he can't afford to escape through the hiring of a tax accountant. For instance, can YOU (British even so) park your assets offshore while parking your expenses onshore, escaping taxation while also piling deductions under your tax system? Can YOU pay a relative 1% fee to a tax accountant to draft an opinion letter outlining how all that asset movement is legal? Can YOU move compensation from tax-deferred instrument to tax-free account, eventually escaping all taxation on it? Can YOU escape taxation by being so diversely embodied that you simply end up paying yourself?
Enron (an egregious example, certainly) managed to use the tax system so well -- creating almost 900 partnerships for tax-dodging purposes -- that for the last 5 years of its existence, it had no yearly tax liability for 4 of them.
Just because a middle-class person can rack up enormous debts and play a little with his income tax return, doesn't mean that the wealthy and corporate aren't escaping away with billions.
As a Brit, you may find the book dreadfully dull due to its American focus, but go out right now and obtain:
"Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich--and Cheat Everybody Else" by David Cay Johnston
As far as I'm concerned, exposees like Johnston's only illustrate that the American tax system is arranged for the collapse of the American Empire. The complexity, and lack of enforcement in fixing it, are fatal wounds. When tax frauds can happen much, much faster than they can be stopped, then tax frauds will become the usual. When tax dodges can happen for the wealthy equivalent of pocket change, and the very mentality of fraud settles in, then eventually the wealthy will pay no taxes.
P.S. I own no stock and voluntarily participate in no benefits program (a la 401(k)) of any kind... thanks for asking, Ace.
The original sentiment revolved around the mistaken belief of security through obscurity. If people can see the code and plans, then it can't be secure. People who write code and deal with encryption know better, but those are the minority.
Taking a basis from your summary, you have proven once again how economists demonstrate that they are responsive to the people who can afford to hire them: corporations, universities and government. They are not responsive to the common man, and have little to do with (real) small business.
The first thing missed in your summary was the proper tense. The logic should center around the past tense, in that people have already DONE the things in OSS that can then be taken advantage of. This is the same social functionality of pirating a copy of Windows 95, and it carries the same financial benefits.
Hence, despite economist squirming, any OSS program can be grabbed by anyone and simply used.
But what happens after that is even more telling. Much software in use was written (and is maintained) under a contract with a group of programmers. Let's assume (as this economist does) that the Tragedy of the Volunteer happens... you have grabbed an OSS program that no one wants to develop any more. But, you can start a fresh contract with a local programming company by using that basis. Result: You saved the cost of its development, and in fact can choose the point of re-entry when it suits you (i.e. when the static program's faults begin to cost you too much in lost productivity).
In conclusion, economists are just elitist whores -- hired liars -- and we must always put their comments in context and to the test of real fiscal sense. I dimly recall that in 2001, one of the Fed board of governors said in a news conference that people should just go out, buy an SUV, and stop worrying. That easily failed the test of real fiscal sense, and we should be applying that method all the time.
Re:Concerns: government wasting money on open sour
on
When Think Tanks Attack
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Of course. Giving the wealthy even more wealth is the epitome of fiscal common sense these days, and in fact it has always been the undercurrent assumption of economic health. Look at GWB's recent tax cuts; they were gift-wrapped in the usual trickle-down rhetoric.
Monopolies and ultra-wealthy are returning to favor; the legions of stockholders are stamping their feet for those things, due to the stock bribes they've taken in the last 12 years. I don't expect much from elitist think tanks therefore. The only bright ray in this is that Linux isn't free, it's free-as-in-no-license-cost, and that's very compelling in this new age of artificial scarcity.
It no longer matters how much a salary is when management can gladly fire people with a few minutes notice for no reason.
Having lived that life, I can say it matters a great deal if you have a "save" mentality rather than a "spend" one. Enormous savings can paper over any likely unemployment hole.
Taking the risk of assumption, I have little sympathy for the grads who are pursuing the dream of tenure. $12K/yr during the grad student (... let's be honest: "indentured servant") phase is just an investment for a much better future.
Wanna swap facts? I'm in Toledo OH and the $28K+benefits (soon to be torched by outsourcing) can't compare to the alleged $43K (no bennies?) of the Detroit area that I saw in the report. I'd love to know how to get over $40K for my type of work (computer tech) just 1hr north of Toledo. Frankly, I think there's a bullshit factor of at least $5K in there somewhere.
Slashdot Mirror
people bitten by spiders don't generally become ultra-powerful
Well, I don't know about that. The last time a spider dropped on me, I jumped 4 feet in the air in an incredible surge of power. I can only imagine how much further I could have jumped if it had bit me.
I don't know about "U" (forgive the pun), but mixing O, I, 0 and 1 (oh, eye, zero and one) in strings of identifying digits is a bad idea, particularly in real-world situations where the string will have to be read off a dirty tag in poor lighting. Font selection is also often poorly done for printing and punching such things. Which is why (in part) the MICR font is used on checks ... to reduce transcription error.
... which may be why the "U" is omitted.
As far as I'm concerned, no ID string should use I, O and S since they can be easily confused for 0, 1 and 5 in adverse conditions (i.e. most real-world situations). And while you're doing that, if you can spare the digit-width, get rid of other things that a dirt-smudge can threaten
Check my logic.
If SSNs began to be issued in the 1930s, that means that about 1 Human lifetime has passed. If about 150 million lived in America then, and about 300 million today, then about 150 million were issued for births. Since the variance due to immigration should have folded into the 150 million existing extra people, then that sounds like a firm estimate of how many SSNs have been used. So, about 15% of the "available" set.
my title says 9,999,999 miles on it
I hope you changed the oil.
You must be talking about an escape sequence, which will allow a much larger space of definition, although those definitions will be more fluidly defined due to the very nature of extension.
For instance, a bit can be taken from the existing set, which if 1, indicates "an extended code follows". Then you can add as much as you want, since it's just a freakin' data stream.
Realistically, anything that causes a car company to alter its design, specifically to redesign to accomodate a change in standards, is something they'll complain about. However, if they can leverage the change into something "featuriffic" for the customer -- like being able to design your own watchpoints in the car's codespace and other stuff like that -- then they can merrily design it up and just as merrily make it into a good-paying option.
Whaaaat? That's nonsense. And the next thing you're going to point out is that somehow using a subcontractor implies far less control over inventory, service quality, and endlessly et freakin' cetera.
Sarcasm aside, any executive who takes this step is abiding by the rules of Fatal Cost Cutting (a.k.a. Extreme Outsourcing). It's a great way to cash out now and then crash your business later (after you've jumped and popped your golden parachute).
This is a bad business meme and it will have to just play itself out in all the customer agony the results. It sure is funny to hear all this "core competence" bullshit being passed around, and also see people startup the idea of, say, having shippers perform computer-repair work of any kind.
Hey, wait, don't go away. You must be sitting on a gold mine of data about how the American CIA goes around spreading sweetness and light, in contrast to the "Liberal Media" who tries to dig up irrelevancies like assassinations and terrorist plots (I think those damned Libs dug up another one in South America recently about how the CIA planned airliner attacks to use fear to support the then-current regime ... hey, wait, that sounds straaaaangely familiar).
No, really, if you've some documentation that demonstrates how something like "rebuilding Iraq's electrical infrastructure" is so much better than the "bombing and shooting 10s of thousands of Iraqis" that made it necessary, then I'll be very glad to educate myself on it.
Peace, bro. No, really, I mean it: let there be peace.
... but unfortunately, magic is required.
(Sorry for the delay, I was away for the weekend.)
... and invariably African, Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern countries qualify. Bush's "Axis of Evil" was only his attempt to sell the idea of authorized murder (in Iraq alone, 10s of thousands of people with invariably darker skin) to America's ~80% White population; what a shock, they bought!
... WHICH IS AN IMPERIAL ACT. America just likes to dress up its murderous intentions and actions by playing the "Humanitarian" card. Killing "Communists" is still murder. Killing "Terrorists" is still murder. Killing "Tyrants" is ... waaaait for it: STILL MURDER. All we have to do is wait for the next label to be applied to some group that America wants DEAD.
Losing credibility and pissing people off are irrelevent to the truth. The truth is Americans in general are perfectly comfortable with attacking other countries that they deem are animalistic and evil
The rest of the world well understands this. That Americans refuse to acknowlege their own Imperial behavior is also irrelevent.
You may not like the term Imperial America, but methinks thou dost protest too much. America like any Empire has stationed its troops around the world in groups of 100s to 100Ks (who needs annexation when you effectively occupy the place anyway?). What do you think a nuclear carrier group is for, defense? No, it's for "steaming" across the world and attacking other countries
Fight that all you want, the documentation makes your complaints like unto the bleating of a sheep. America is a sick and vicious Empire, like ALL Empires. Working to oppose other Empires (USSR, China, etc.) does not justify all the death and misery that America's military and CIA has brought to the world. Stomping out Communism did not justify the $30 billion CIA murder machine.
Your willful ignorance of that, and implied viciousness in supporting it, are just pathetic. But don't shut up. No, we need to know exactly who you sick fucks are. Keep talking so we know what an Ugly American really looks like. The worst thing with America's Imperial attitude was that people tried to hide it, and at least we can credit the butchers in the Bush Administration with the honesty to admit they want to kill towelheads.
Da Oil
As several other posters have well pointed out, it's the oil, dummy. The American Army is running all over Afghanistan (remember that pipeline Unocal wanted to build?) and Iraq and you still say you need "proof". Theft requires no deed or official declarations of intent. So, it's long since time you stopped believing your own culture's outrageous propaganda. It's also morally necessary to get the Oil Barons out of the political arena before some other oil-rich sovereign nation falls under their attack.
World Threat
Iran? Kuwait? We were using world terms, and you're pulling border strife out of your ass as proof? GWB, Rice and others were using terms that clearly stated Iraq intended to attack America with these so-called WMDs. They were either wrong (hard to believe, since they had a $30 billion intel network at their disposal) or lying. It's become quite evident that it was the latter instance.
As far as world threat goes, the United States is the leading terrorist nation. The CIA's exploits around the world are well documented (however much Americans wish to avoid knowing); American troops were deployed worldwide in 10s of thousands well before 911; and American attacks on other countries are also well documented (the most egregious being, attacking Iraq twice in 12 years). When it comes to a world threat, the USA surely knows one when it sees it, since IT IS ONE ITSELF
As for Israel
"Mistakes Were Made"
Oh, screw THAT. I'm tired of hearing this from the criminal overclass, as if this exonerates them from all the murders they accomplish while they have their hands on power. Kissinger now has to check which countries he can visit safely
Even now, having stomped irresponsibly over 2 ME countries without resolving the things they claimed they wanted to resolve, the American government and people can still win the rest of the world over to the idea of eradicating terrorism. However, this would mean diplomatic solutions that would involve two things the USA is so unwilling to accept:
In time, even Iraq's legal apparatus could have been convinced to put the smack down on terrorist (basically, armed murderers with little hopes for the future) activity. But that's the long and painful course that leads to long-lasting results. And America wants nothing but short-term actions that lead to even shorter-term results. In short, America just wants to kill and subjugate.
Diplomacy and economic force can work wonders. But you'd have to see the results coming down the road. America has lost the vision required for this kind of thing.
Handing Back
Yes, the UK has proven time and again that it never really understands what (other people's) sovereignty is all about (recent Irish events more than prove that point). And this is happening in Iraq too, hence proving once again that America shares the UK imperial bug. Are you a sovereign nation when over 10
The withdrawal from airport security promises happened pretty soon after 911. Other than guardsmen with M-16s but no bullets, budgets were chopped, recruitment numbers were reduced, arming of pilots was stopped, and now (as you pointed out) agency actions are working toward returning things to normal ... which is to say, wide open for a group of determined and funded terrorists. But, hey, it'll save the airlines some money, so we should just stop thinking about the topic right the f*ck now.
Some other poster in this thread alleged Hussein was guilty of criminal negligence (hence, invading all of Iraq was justified). Funny how those types of folk don't see the same thing in the trends of airport security. But we're the good guys, so it must be A-OK.
{sigh} So much Limbaugh-esque mythology, so little time.
A significant factor in Afghanistan and Iraq was oil. You assert price as some sort of proof against it. But price increases are to the benefit of the producers, which the Bush family have been known to dabble in from time to time. As well as their family friends, the House of Saud.
The whole issue of invading an oil-rich country is to control it for the current set of Oil Barons. Bush's administration is packed with folks like that. (Duh.) Price is simply not an issue.
Iraq was no world threat. About the only sovereign place that would really find Iraq threatening was Israel. And the last time I checked, Israel wasn't the 51st American state, and had no legal representation in any American legislature. If there's anything to be said for American fears of being controlled by foreign interests, then why won't we deal with Israeli influence upon the American military?
As for criminal negligence, you are in direct hypocritical peril considering how much of that charge can be levelled at the American CIA, FBI and military command (specifically the Commander in Chief, whom you may have heard of) when 911 was being planned and executed. Libya is far more at fault for harboring terrorists, but after Bush's speeches on Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Iran and North Korea, you'll note a sound basis to my skepticism about Bush's due diligence. At any rate, any lax policy in Iraq about terrorist assholes cannot justify: invading Iraq, killing tens of thousands of her citizens (remember, she had an army, not of terrorists, but of Iraqi citizens who were defending against invaders), and taking control of her infrastructure.
The summary of my statements here would revolve around the idea that America attacked Iraq twice in 12 years for no valid reason. America cannot make the case that it was acting in self-defense, since Iraq made no moves onto American territory. And as for WMDs, we only have to look at Israel to speculate on the term "double standard".
Face facts, Ace: you've been bamboozled into thinking that America's assaults in the Middle East are not the Imperialist moves that they actually are. Perhaps when you find that you can't even afford to bury your own war-dead sons, then you'll wake up to realize the murderous and barbaric culture that you had been supporting.
Sure, for a fee, on an expensive phone, with a system that reverts to the number pad since there are 82 Michael Smiths in NYC, etc.
... since they never move, they always work.
The post office still has no idea who Michael Joseph Smith is in NYC, but sure does understand 1304 East Westside Avenue, Suite 13. Addresses are "teh bomb"
Don't get me wrong. The USPS hasn't ever been particularly motivated to keep track of Michael Joseph Smith SSN 123-45-6789, and Mr. Smith probably never wanted to be tracked down like that anyway. It's possible for a tech-heavy telco to try to make it easier for one customer to locate another. But with opt-ins and opt-outs being as they are, and how they are likely to continue, the adoption of such connection methods seems a rarity.
All this seems morally perilous. If Linux is in the backoffice of some court, it would be particularly hazardous for it to officially judge against Linux in some broad way that illegalizes their usage of it. In this fashion, I'm sure many judges arrive home to find their brood up/downloading MP3s at record paces.
My point is that the whole thing should mean something to the judiciary. The MP3 downloading thing has ramifications on fair use. Hence, the use of OSS should strike them similarly.
But in the broader sense, you are correct. The judiciary should rule on points of law and not particularly ones of public opinion.
- An opinion letter from a tax accountancy has a going rate of about $50000.
- The minimum offshore account costs about $8000 just to setup.
- An offshore mailing address is about $20000 per year.
How many of those have you paid for, so far?It surprised me that de-fizzed Coca Cola was one of the major drinks used during long-distance marathons. The beneficial components are water, caffeine, sugar and phosphorus. Water, Coke and Gatorade are apparently the Holy Trinity.
Your prediction of kickbacks is insightful. However, you failed to note that kickbacks -- being a species of bribe -- are particularly apt to grow with time. Not only that, but kickbacks alter market perception, which usually means that they reset the price point lower. And as the bribes grow, the price point slips further.
Yes, as you pointed out, if Microsoft resorts to kickbacks, then their end is nigh. It may take 8 years, but it will happen.
Get some facts before ranting to the extent you did.
... thanks for asking, Ace.
The pro-wealthy weighting of America's tax system isn't fashion, it's fact. The tax system in America is so Byzantine that the wealthy and corporate take monstrous advantage of it time and time again. This is opposed to the wage-earner who is assaulted by a mandatory system he can't afford to escape through the hiring of a tax accountant. For instance, can YOU (British even so) park your assets offshore while parking your expenses onshore, escaping taxation while also piling deductions under your tax system? Can YOU pay a relative 1% fee to a tax accountant to draft an opinion letter outlining how all that asset movement is legal? Can YOU move compensation from tax-deferred instrument to tax-free account, eventually escaping all taxation on it? Can YOU escape taxation by being so diversely embodied that you simply end up paying yourself?
Enron (an egregious example, certainly) managed to use the tax system so well -- creating almost 900 partnerships for tax-dodging purposes -- that for the last 5 years of its existence, it had no yearly tax liability for 4 of them.
Just because a middle-class person can rack up enormous debts and play a little with his income tax return, doesn't mean that the wealthy and corporate aren't escaping away with billions.
As a Brit, you may find the book dreadfully dull due to its American focus, but go out right now and obtain:
"Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich--and Cheat Everybody Else" by David Cay Johnston
As far as I'm concerned, exposees like Johnston's only illustrate that the American tax system is arranged for the collapse of the American Empire. The complexity, and lack of enforcement in fixing it, are fatal wounds. When tax frauds can happen much, much faster than they can be stopped, then tax frauds will become the usual. When tax dodges can happen for the wealthy equivalent of pocket change, and the very mentality of fraud settles in, then eventually the wealthy will pay no taxes.
P.S. I own no stock and voluntarily participate in no benefits program (a la 401(k)) of any kind
The original sentiment revolved around the mistaken belief of security through obscurity. If people can see the code and plans, then it can't be secure. People who write code and deal with encryption know better, but those are the minority.
Taking a basis from your summary, you have proven once again how economists demonstrate that they are responsive to the people who can afford to hire them: corporations, universities and government. They are not responsive to the common man, and have little to do with (real) small business.
... you have grabbed an OSS program that no one wants to develop any more. But, you can start a fresh contract with a local programming company by using that basis. Result: You saved the cost of its development, and in fact can choose the point of re-entry when it suits you (i.e. when the static program's faults begin to cost you too much in lost productivity).
The first thing missed in your summary was the proper tense. The logic should center around the past tense, in that people have already DONE the things in OSS that can then be taken advantage of. This is the same social functionality of pirating a copy of Windows 95, and it carries the same financial benefits.
Hence, despite economist squirming, any OSS program can be grabbed by anyone and simply used.
But what happens after that is even more telling. Much software in use was written (and is maintained) under a contract with a group of programmers. Let's assume (as this economist does) that the Tragedy of the Volunteer happens
In conclusion, economists are just elitist whores -- hired liars -- and we must always put their comments in context and to the test of real fiscal sense. I dimly recall that in 2001, one of the Fed board of governors said in a news conference that people should just go out, buy an SUV, and stop worrying. That easily failed the test of real fiscal sense, and we should be applying that method all the time.
Of course. Giving the wealthy even more wealth is the epitome of fiscal common sense these days, and in fact it has always been the undercurrent assumption of economic health. Look at GWB's recent tax cuts; they were gift-wrapped in the usual trickle-down rhetoric.
Monopolies and ultra-wealthy are returning to favor; the legions of stockholders are stamping their feet for those things, due to the stock bribes they've taken in the last 12 years. I don't expect much from elitist think tanks therefore. The only bright ray in this is that Linux isn't free, it's free-as-in-no-license-cost, and that's very compelling in this new age of artificial scarcity.
It no longer matters how much a salary is when management can gladly fire people with a few minutes notice for no reason.
Having lived that life, I can say it matters a great deal if you have a "save" mentality rather than a "spend" one. Enormous savings can paper over any likely unemployment hole.
Taking the risk of assumption, I have little sympathy for the grads who are pursuing the dream of tenure. $12K/yr during the grad student (... let's be honest: "indentured servant") phase is just an investment for a much better future.
most people at Lake Wobegone to be above [...] average
It's K's politically-correct way of saying they have a couple of token minorities.
Wanna swap facts? I'm in Toledo OH and the $28K+benefits (soon to be torched by outsourcing) can't compare to the alleged $43K (no bennies?) of the Detroit area that I saw in the report. I'd love to know how to get over $40K for my type of work (computer tech) just 1hr north of Toledo. Frankly, I think there's a bullshit factor of at least $5K in there somewhere.