Ashcroft hasn't exactly pursued a full court press on the MSFT antitrust stuff, either.
Remember, we are talking about a man who is sexually intimidated by cement. He's probably been busy with the thousands of other statues that need clothing.
I once saw a statistic in the Harper's digest that stated that the Pentagon cannot account for well over a trillion dollars in missing expenses. Now, in the real world, financial mis-management on this scale would be punishable by some serious prison time, but for the Petagon, it's just another "Ooops! Our bad!"
I once had a sig that read "It's easier to listen to a sycophant, than a critic", and, after reading the above I was reminded of a criminology book I once read (apologies for not being able to remember the title) that posited the theory of "right-brain thinking" as one of the principle sources of criminality in man. In right-brain theory (if it can be called a theory), individuals learn from early childhood that satisfying the ego comes first, above all else. This leads to a rigid adherence to a "me first" attitude in every aspect of life. In essence, right-brainers mature with little to no self restraint, living every day in a constant state of "gimme now!!!" possessiveness. Anyone that tries to "oppress" the selfish behavior is automatically perceived as the "enemy", while those that encourage it are blessed as companions in arms.
Reading about this Infinium nonsense, and thinking over what you wrote, made me wonder: could capitalism will prove to be the greatest curse that mankind ever brought on itself? Could we be creating generations of right-brainers, all feeding one another's egos for the sole purpose of eliminating all competition?
While I have to give props to Roblimo for having the courage to have a bit of satirical fun with this, it almost makes me want to cry to realize that things have gotten this absurd.
Has the business world become so totally detached from reality that they honestly believe that they shouldn't be criticised for something as blatantly bullshit as this? What kind of strange alternate reality is this company living in?
Hell, I PAID for Windows 9x/2000. And all I've been doing this past year is scraping off the mess on the hard drive from crap like Nimda/Code Red/Klex/MyDoom/etc. that exploits the stuff I paid for. That, and flinching like a soldier in Iraq everytime I see another article like this!
I once had to call SallieMae to figure out why my regular student loan payments had just suddenly increased after 4 straight years of steady decline. I dialed into their oh-so-thoughtfully designed voice mail monstrosity, and proceeded to get routed back and forth into SEVEN different voice mail sub-systems. Each time I was transferred, the new system would greet me with the classic lie, "Your call is important to us". After five minutes of trawling through this POS looking for a department that actually contained human inhabitants, I finally bellowed "HUMAN!!!!!" as loud as I could into the receiver.
Immediately, I heard a click, then lo and behold, a human voice said, "Thank you for calling SallieMae, how may I help you?"
Computing SHOULD be an appliance, it SHOULD be invisible.
But it ain't.
At least not yet, anyway. When that magical day does come, we'll all be happier geeks with better attitudes to our fellow man. Unfortunately, since computers do not act like, nor even look like standard household appliances, people should not be assuming they are such things.
Even when you buy a toaster, you are expected to learn how to plug it in and get it operational before you attempt to make toast. You learn this by reading a fscking manual. Whether you first read one at age three or age thirty, you have at least read something at some point in your life that tells you how to make toast (or, you have been taught by someone else who has read one. With computers though, its as if most people are as intimidated by the manual as they are the computer, so they do n't even make an initial effort. They tell themselves, "I'm not a techie, so I'm not going to understand it anyway", and thus is the un-trainable user mindset born.
Regardless of whether or not the tech failed to do his job, the Republicans were still peeking in areas they had no business peeking.
COnsider this analogy: Just because a locksmith installs a weak lock on someone's front door, that does not give everyone an automatic free pass to enter the house and treat themselves to a PB&J and a shower.
Slashdot Mirror
There's a typo in the link, here's the right one.
Remember, we are talking about a man who is sexually intimidated by cement. He's probably been busy with the thousands of other statues that need clothing.
My point exactly.
Seriously, though. Even black ops projects are listed in the budget, albeit not one the public ever sees.
FREEBIRD!!!!!!!
I once saw a statistic in the Harper's digest that stated that the Pentagon cannot account for well over a trillion dollars in missing expenses. Now, in the real world, financial mis-management on this scale would be punishable by some serious prison time, but for the Petagon, it's just another "Ooops! Our bad!"
Aren't a LOT of nations already producing thousands of mad men already? Do we really need any more?
Still though, this would make a great plot device for a James Bond movie.
I once had a sig that read "It's easier to listen to a sycophant, than a critic", and, after reading the above I was reminded of a criminology book I once read (apologies for not being able to remember the title) that posited the theory of "right-brain thinking" as one of the principle sources of criminality in man. In right-brain theory (if it can be called a theory), individuals learn from early childhood that satisfying the ego comes first, above all else . This leads to a rigid adherence to a "me first" attitude in every aspect of life. In essence, right-brainers mature with little to no self restraint, living every day in a constant state of "gimme now!!!" possessiveness. Anyone that tries to "oppress" the selfish behavior is automatically perceived as the "enemy", while those that encourage it are blessed as companions in arms.
Reading about this Infinium nonsense, and thinking over what you wrote, made me wonder: could capitalism will prove to be the greatest curse that mankind ever brought on itself? Could we be creating generations of right-brainers, all feeding one another's egos for the sole purpose of eliminating all competition?
While I have to give props to Roblimo for having the courage to have a bit of satirical fun with this, it almost makes me want to cry to realize that things have gotten this absurd.
Has the business world become so totally detached from reality that they honestly believe that they shouldn't be criticised for something as blatantly bullshit as this? What kind of strange alternate reality is this company living in?
No. But that's a nice thought . . .
I suspect one of them may be the musical stylings of a certain U.S Congressman.
Get your copy today!
Hell, I PAID for Windows 9x/2000. And all I've been doing this past year is scraping off the mess on the hard drive from crap like Nimda/Code Red/Klex/MyDoom/etc. that exploits the stuff I paid for. That, and flinching like a soldier in Iraq everytime I see another article like this!
. . . don't let it be John Goodman.
Hee Hee. With service like this, surely you can see how I became The Angry Mick . . .
I once had to call SallieMae to figure out why my regular student loan payments had just suddenly increased after 4 straight years of steady decline. I dialed into their oh-so-thoughtfully designed voice mail monstrosity, and proceeded to get routed back and forth into SEVEN different voice mail sub-systems. Each time I was transferred, the new system would greet me with the classic lie, "Your call is important to us". After five minutes of trawling through this POS looking for a department that actually contained human inhabitants, I finally bellowed "HUMAN!!!!!" as loud as I could into the receiver.
Immediately, I heard a click, then lo and behold, a human voice said, "Thank you for calling SallieMae, how may I help you?"
But it ain't.
At least not yet, anyway. When that magical day does come, we'll all be happier geeks with better attitudes to our fellow man. Unfortunately, since computers do not act like, nor even look like standard household appliances, people should not be assuming they are such things.
Even when you buy a toaster, you are expected to learn how to plug it in and get it operational before you attempt to make toast. You learn this by reading a fscking manual. Whether you first read one at age three or age thirty, you have at least read something at some point in your life that tells you how to make toast (or, you have been taught by someone else who has read one. With computers though, its as if most people are as intimidated by the manual as they are the computer, so they do n't even make an initial effort. They tell themselves, "I'm not a techie, so I'm not going to understand it anyway", and thus is the un-trainable user mindset born.
. . .called "Dingleberry"?
Regardless of whether or not the tech failed to do his job, the Republicans were still peeking in areas they had no business peeking.
COnsider this analogy: Just because a locksmith installs a weak lock on someone's front door, that does not give everyone an automatic free pass to enter the house and treat themselves to a PB&J and a shower.
Very cool, but:
God help us all if this ever happens. I shudder at the thought of a litigator with the tenacity of a Terminator . . .
Any ideas how long it's gonna take to defrag or format this bloody thing?
It's the landings that have always seemed a little too "dirty" for my taste.
So, just what type of chew toys does one buy for a robot dog?
As more and more laws of this nature emerge, I'm beginning to wonder if Poindexter's pet database isn't already in use?
Sadly, no. It's human pride.