You're right, conservative. It IS absolutely absurd that the Administration sent the suggestion that fast food workers be reclassified as manufacturers for consideration.
It's also fortunate that nobody was dumb enough to listen to whatever dolt suggested it and the idea never went anywhere.
The problem with Access is that it's built for morons. Morons in the context of database management, anyway, if not morons in general.
For example, here are some irritating things my boss does with Access because Access is for people who don't need a database, or don't know how to use one:
He uses autonumbers for primary keys EVERYWHERE instead of tying the keys to relevant data.
He creates databases of one table with no relationships or constraints what-so-ever. That is, he puts a flat text file / spreadsheet into the database and then makes a form for it rather than just putting it in a damn spreadsheet to begin with.
He creates databases of a dozen tables with no relationships or constraints what-so-ever. Ah yes, trying to figure out what's in them, what should be in them, and what shouldn't be in them is always GREAT fun. There's nothing like using a relational system to store data in a non-relational way.
He tells me to create spreadsheets to track large amounts of related data and then argues with me when I say that if the information is related, it should go in a database for easier manipulation and reporting.
I like the "well he was elected.... technically" argument for this. Well, here's another one for you then: "technically", your vote doesn't mean shit, and you might just as well shove that ballot slip up your ass as cast it. Since the electoral college is all that counts, "technically" going to vote is a complete waste of time.
Funny how stupid an argument can be while still being "technically" correct.
Good idea. While we jump ship on longstanding, battle tested specs, let's abandon some other tried and true systems for new whizbang gadgets in a flurry of misunderstanding and ignorance. For example, let's drop internal combustion engines immediately and force everyone onto HPVs tonight. I'm sure that the theoretical benefits will outweigh the reasonably well understood shortcomings of the current technology in a way that makes this sudden jump acceptable, right?
Yes, bouncing from one flashy technology to another like a ping pong ball in a washing machine is always a much better strategy than gradually moving from one system to another.
I have a 386 with locks on it. The case has special screws that require vendor-specific tools to open, so I broke the casing around it. There is nowhere to install a CD-ROM. PCI? What's that? Did you know Win 3.11 has pretty much no exploitable vulnerabilities anymore?
Oh yea... did I mention my 1.2MHz 6507 over here? I'm gonna network that biznitch in too.... nobody gonna hack that!
...so they should NOT be trying to dictate to the business what to do.
And the pointy-haired business dolts shouldn't be blaming the IT group when some dumbass's 5 character, dictionary password is stolen and cracked and they lose $1.5 million worth of productive time because of it.
If I walk up to the pointy-haired boss, and I say "okay, fine, I understand that the information being protected by this system is not sensitive, but cracking this system can open attack vectors to xyz systems, and the y system DOES have sensitive information, and the moron looks at me and says "I have too many passwords to memorize, and who's going to attack THIS system anyway"... well, the problem really isn't on my head at this point. That's EXACTLY what happened with this situation. He said "The information is not really confidential" and I said "but this system opens attack vectors to other places". The response was, in short "the people using this system are idiots, they'll never figure out how to crack it". I responded in kind: "I used to BE one of those idiots, if you'll remember, and that's why you have me doing this work so cheap. And I'm standing here today telling you that I can get you the admin password to this building's LAN. What's to say somebody like me with less scruples isn't out there in that pool of 'idiots' right now?"
On top of that, an 'idiot' in that particular pool of users that just happens to NOT be an idiot is a HUGE potential risk based on my assesment, because that particular pool has a very high turnover and low job satisfaction rate. If somebody with a little bit of clue gets pissed off and gets an idea, they could cause a lot of damage.
This did not phase the pointy-haired wonders. They simply chanted the mantra that it was either SEP, that nobody would try it, or that the information wasn't sensitve enough to warrant strong passwords.
I will turn in my badge the day the shit hits the fan and I will laugh the whole way home because I have documented, in hard copy, all of these "decisions".
There's a difference between having a sysadmin that's insane and having one that understands reasonable protections based on the content being protected and the overall position of the system in question. If a single compromise could result in a $200 million dollar loss of sensitive information, maybe forcing people who access that info to use a 12 character password that's not vulnerable to a dictionary attack isn't such a bad idea, hmm?
Yet, I see it all the time: some stupid suit thinks they know better and wants to be exempt from the policy. Dysfuntion exists at every level, but when it runs rampant in people with authority, you have a real problem. What amazes me is that the excuse from these boneheads is always the same when something goes wrong: "well, I'm a MANAGER, I handle BUSINESS DECISIONS. You don't expect me to understand your technical mumbo jumbo, do you!?"
Uh, no dumbass.... I expect you to sit back, STFU, and let me do my job. You HIRED me to do this so you didn't HAVE to understand the technical mumbo jumbo... remember?
I'm sure not all management is like this, but from my vantage point, most of it is. It's so much easier for them to point fingers after the shit hits the fan than it is to sit down and work with the technical people from the start, I suppose. This whole story is probably a good example of that. I tried to get these bozos to pay for some of our front line people to take classes on preventing social engineering attacks. Something like 90 people would have been enrolled to the tune of $25K. They refused. So, to make my point, I told my buddy to get into the veeps office. Sure as all hell, he did it without raising any eyebrows... they thought it was a "cute trick" and still didn't sign anyone onto the class because they don't think anyone would ever try it with us. I then tried to point out that while WE might not have anything particularly valuable, we do act as interface to a much larger International that DOES have a lot of valuable assets that competitors and crooks would love.. no dice. Idiots, says I. Idiots. They hire people to do things they don't understand, then tell them how to do it anyway. That's like hiring a builder to build your house, then hanging over them all the time and telling them they're doing it wrong.
Depends what type of password they're asking for. I can imagine my boss giving up some of his real passwords for a bribe because he thinks "big deal... that one's not protecting anything sensitive anyway". Except, that comes down to him not understanding that whole "weakest link in the defenses" problem. Yea, maybe THAT password isn't, but what does that give a malicious user access to that could be abused elsewhere? What apps level attacks are we now vulnerable to? What databases could be stolen? Could the attacker now impersonate you to get more information from other people?
Management and business types, and of course home users, don't think security is a big complex model. They think "oh, we have a firewall... we're safe" and that's the end of it.
Does that surprise you? If you can throw money at a problem and that costs you less than getting in the fight, that's what you should do, as a company. It's not like they're strapped for cash.
Besides, the plaintiff is under no obligation to take a settlement offer, so they must have found the terms acceptable based on their complaint.
Mmmm... no. Typical lease mileage limits are either 12k or 15k a year. If things REALLY REALLY REALLY go your way, you MIGHT be able to pull out a 17k a year lease, but that's not likely.
The 12k a year lease is typical as it leaves most people paying for around 1500 to 3000 miles "extra" per year.
The only way you'll ever see me with a lease is if it's a car that's almost certainly not going to depreciate beyond it's buy amount when the lease ends. That way, I can just buy the car and I might actually have a vehicle that's worth more than what I have left to pay on it. This works for things like Hondas and BMWs, but even that's really iffy.
I noticed you got marked as flamebait so perhaps people agree with me more than you?
No, that just means that complete and total idiots get mod points and run around modding people up they agree with and modding people down they don't rather than modding based on the value of the post to creating an intelligent discussion. Of course, I have no qualms with the moderation in this case, because I didn't write the post to start intelligent conversation, though I think a slightly more intelligent mod would have simply passed on it since all the quality posts are already pushed up in this discussion. But then, it's like I said: there are so many people here now, that an awful lot of stupid people with agendas get mod points.
You know, I had an interesting conversation with a state worker yesterday at a dinner. He was talking about wasteful spending within the state government, and he related an interesting quote from one of the directors: "You know if [the state] was a private corporation, we'd bankrupt by now the way they spend money". He related tales of weekly meetings where tax dollars were spent on large, catered luncheons in ballrooms at the Hilton which resulted in one hour of discussion and three hours of socializing. He related tales of artificial jobs that came and went, often at high salaries, as internal favors to friends and family. He related tales of overpriced contractors who promised everything and delivered nothing... and KEPT GETTING REHIRED.
I don't know what it's like in the U.K., but here in the U.S., we are basically giving our money to some of the most corrupt individuals in society.
Oh, what's the you say? Run for office? Ha. You're a funny man (woman... whatever..). And, where would I get the cash to do that? Where would I get the cash to buy permits to shout from my soapbox in protest? Where am I supposed to find anyone who's clued in enough to what's going on to care? I tell people these things, and they shrug their shoulders like its to be expected that these theiving scoundrels should waste our money.
I have no problem with taxes being spent on USEFUL projects. Invading foriegn countries for oil is not a useful project. Studies of beaver migration patterns over the last ten years is not a useful project. Three lane highway projects for stretches of land that see maybe 150 cars a day is not a worthwhile way to spend MY MONEY.
You want to talk about blinders? Let's talk about how I never see 24% of my pay. Let's talk about socialism for a moment. Let's talk about my money going to 35 year olds with lung cancer who decided to start smoking despite the known health effects. Let's talk about my money going to support people who "can't" work vs. those who actually can't. People like the father of one of my friends, a guy who had trouble moving due to back spasms, but could have certainly held a basic office job in a chair. Let's talk about my money being used to capture, prosecute, and incarcerate drug "offenders" who were picked out of their parent's basement for... get this.. the horrible crime of smoking a fucking joint (what a horrible drain on society this loser must be, what, with him sitting in the basement listening to Led Zeppelin on his parent's dime all day). Let's talk about my money going to Iraq, a country that we constantly embargoed despite the fact that it clearly wasn't working. Then, we blew the shit out of it, and now we're responsible for fixing it.
Yea yea, I know "blah blah blah" you should complain to your officials. Fuck that. Last time I sent anything to someone I got ignored by one person and I got a fucking autoresponse from the other saying that if I was a contributor, I could reach the son of a bitch at such and such a number. Who would you like me to complain to? The local officials? The guys who cut the mic on anyone they don't feel like listening to? How about a state official? The guys who froze pay hikes on all the state workers and accepted their automatic hike in the midst of a budget crisis they caused?
Oh my, such an intelligent and thought-provoking response. My mind is now burning with the realization of how foolish I was for thinking the government was wasting my money. My entire world has been turned upside down by your powerful intellect. I've renounced my religion. Wait, I didn't have one... I think you made me a Unitarian. I see now that I'm merely blinkered and foolish, and that people with so much to say mustn't waste time responding to me....
... or, wait. Did you just suddenly come to the realization that all of my complaints were valid and the government really is abusing the tax scheme at all levels, and now you can't think of a way to respond? If I'm such a fool, then surely you would have no trouble refuting each of my complaints and showing why they're not valid reasons to believe that taxes are over-collected and wasted on the people who decide what to do with them?
Ah yes, so you see one extreme: we should have no taxes, and defend it with another extreme: taxes provide xyz services and are Good Things.
Allow me to put it into the right frame for those of us who look at our tax system and feel like throwing up. I pay taxes for roads. Okay, so why is it that I can think of three potholes on my 14 mile trip home that are large enough to potentionally cause significant wheel, tire, or drivetrain damage? Why can I think of six spots in my general area, off the top of my head, where the road is so uneven that braking on it will pull the car to the curb if you don't stay close to the double yellows? Why can I think of one spot where there is a nine and a half foot strip of one lane where the ENTIRE LANE is stripped to gravel?
I have a volunteer fire service up the road that raises most of its funds for the small community it serves through donations. It derives a small amount of income from local taxes, but not enough that it would be in trouble if they suddenly got cut off.
Military? Defend me from what? The Canadians? The Mexicans? People from Ohio? The big scary ter'rists that the military would be an unbelievably ineffectual defense against anyway? Funny how we have this big bad standing army to protect us and the only thing it ever seems to be doing is policing other countries that can't solve their own problems and invading foreign nations. When was the last time we had a standing army that defended our soil against invasion? Anybody? Hello?
What about the social security tax on my checks? Most of the "greatest generation" is gone and, frankly, I don't think the generations after that did a whole hell of a lot as a group. I don't really feel like supporting them, and I DEFINITELY don't feel like supporting a bunch of aging baby-boomers that have been doing nothing as a collective but sucking resources for the last 15 years anyway. The odds that I'll see any of that money with the way the government treats it and the next generation to collect it is going to hit it are slim to none. Why should I feel any obligation to keep paying it? You think I would if I thought I could get away with ripping it off? HAH! Ditto on medicaire!
Income tax... so the government can buy $1200 hammers and funnel $1185 of that into some black box project that I probably have no interest in supporting? So Congress can vote through bullshit pork-barrel highway bills full of funny money for pet projects in their districts to get their saggy, festering carcasses reelected year after year?
I also pay sales tax when I buy a car, when I sell it that person pays sales tax. I'm taxed for working in a place I don't live in, I'm taxed for property I supposedly own (actually, I rent, but when I buy a house, I will be), I have to pay for any number of compulsory government red-tape-"services" like licensing, registrations, and permits.
Fuck that. The government can get down on its knees and suck my nuts. The way those assholes waste money they deserve to tax me the way I deserve to be supreme ruler of the Universe. Just because taxes CAN be collected *in moderation* for worthwhile social projects doesn't mean they are. The tax system is out of control and since it was ripe for abuse from the beginning, it's being abused now.
Awwww.... whassa matter? Are you the original poster and now you're pissed off because I got your nonsense "Insightful" mods slapped silly? Ooo.. you read some Noam Chomsky once, huh? Watch me bow down to your obviously superior grasp of legal and social issues because you happened to read a book by somebody with insight into them. Hey, I read Plato once, am I fucking philospoher now?
I'll tell you what, why don't you go scarf your mushrooms and smoke your dope and leave the important issues up to someone who actually knows what the fuck they're talking about. Just because you're a pothead and you make broad statements about past situations of which you almost certainly can't understand the magnitude, doesn't mean you have any fucking clue how the real world works. You smoke pot and speed on the freeway whenever you feel like it? Well, when you get picked up for possession or charged with manslaughter for hitting a bus full of children at 80mph, I hope your mommy and daddy come bail you out.
If you care to come join the rest of us who understand action, reaction, and consequence, do feel free to put down the blunt and the book and start doing some of your own thinking. Otherwise, stop pretending that anybody gives a rat's ass what you have to say about things just because you think you're cool. Go impress some fifteen year olds with your cool, outlaw attitude and leave the rest of us who have some experience in reality alone.
It's not bullshit, but it is a common misconception. Government workers DO pay taxes just like everyone else. However, many of them also get a bunch of perks that more than offset that. For example, a lot of my state assemblymen are driving around in $35,000 cars that I helped to pick up most of the cost of. A lot of them are picking up suits and shoes on my dime. They're picking up meals, flights, and hotel rooms... on my hard earned money. They're redecorating their offices with my money. On top of all that, I'm helping to pay them more than twice my annual salary so that they can bicker like stupid little children with the governor and not put a budget through until it's almost time for the next year's budget talks to start.
When it's all said and done, you may still have to pay your taxes, yes, but it sure ain't gonna hurt to sit in a government position picking up perks on everyone else's tab.
Taking a cam corder into a movie theater is breaking the law, and deserves to be punished.
Assuming I keep the movie, and all other provisions, etc
So... you defend the law by only following it when it's convenient and you defend your actions by saying you'll accept the consequences IF they ever come and subject to provisions you invent?
How the fuck is this insightful? You can't selectively follow and defend laws based on your own personal convenience and have any credibility. If they're going to waste the public's money dragging people with camcorders from the theatre into a police cruiser, then they ought to do the same to you for using your internet connection to do exactly the same thing: violate copyright. The mechanism for infringement is irrelevant.
Look, I'm sorry to just go ad hominem on this guy's ass, but that was a stupid post, and this person is stupid for posting it.
Clearly, the 'War on Copyright Violation' is following the successful strategy used for the War on Drugs, with significant resources of technology and police time mobilised to send violators to jail for a long time.
Hey, Jack: Fuck you. If you want to start using my public resources to prosecute your insanity, I want to start fucking prorating my taxes with you.
These people are off their fucking rockers! Since when did it become part of the common interest to send copyright violators (when they pick someone up in the theatre with a scabbard, an eyepatch and a goddamn parrot on their shoulder, I'll call them pirates) "to jail for a long time".
That reminds me of the old Looney Tunes cartoon with Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam. Bugs goes across the M/D line and Sam starts shooting at him in a Confederate War get up. It turns out that nobody told Sam the war was over and the Confederacy lost.
I'm on an airplane a week it seems like and you'd think the'yd be able to go 'oh yeah, he flys with us all the time so lets not randomly search his ass because he's got a ticket that goes to one city but leaves from another' or things like that.
Uh.. that's kind of the premise and that's why it's a totally useless system. It directs searches toward people who are "more likely" to be terrorists. If you take 10 flights a month and never even so much as set off a metal detector, odds are you're not a terrorst, right? So you don't get "randomly" searched that often.
So, explain to me then: what exactly is to stop a terrorist with a game plan from doing the same thing? It's a lot like karma-whoring. They just fly the flights without raising suspicions enough times, and then when the big day comes, they get on the plane without any raised eyebrows and *boom*. Bye bye birdy. It's a very simply attack on the security model, and all it requires is money and a little patience. Both of these are things the ter'rists have.
Yea, sure makes me feel safe. I'm glad they implement these things, then collect the data in a sneaky, underhanded way, and to top it off, they're only guaranteed to keep total idiots off the plane.
Ah yes. The old "Let's compare the security of programs that Microsoft makes against every hackjob program out there under the GPL or BSD license that might be exploited across a good dozen distributions."
While we're at it, lets fail to consider that there's no such thing as an exploit-free system that still does something useful, and let's not consider the other critical part of security: response and patch times.
In other news, there are a lot more apples in the world than oranges when you compare every apple in the world against the oranges in Utah.
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You're right, conservative. It IS absolutely absurd that the Administration sent the suggestion that fast food workers be reclassified as manufacturers for consideration.
It's also fortunate that nobody was dumb enough to listen to whatever dolt suggested it and the idea never went anywhere.
The problem with Access is that it's built for morons. Morons in the context of database management, anyway, if not morons in general.
For example, here are some irritating things my boss does with Access because Access is for people who don't need a database, or don't know how to use one:
- He uses autonumbers for primary keys EVERYWHERE instead of tying the keys to relevant data.
- He creates databases of one table with no relationships or constraints what-so-ever. That is, he puts a flat text file / spreadsheet into the database and then makes a form for it rather than just putting it in a damn spreadsheet to begin with.
- He creates databases of a dozen tables with no relationships or constraints what-so-ever. Ah yes, trying to figure out what's in them, what should be in them, and what shouldn't be in them is always GREAT fun. There's nothing like using a relational system to store data in a non-relational way.
- He tells me to create spreadsheets to track large amounts of related data and then argues with me when I say that if the information is related, it should go in a database for easier manipulation and reporting.
Access must die. Evil wanking POS.(1) We settled on Sybase.
(4) Investors realized nothing was making it to market and too much was being spent, and company went under.
Heh... you could've just combined steps 1 and 4, and skipped 2 and 3 altogether, and the story still would've made perfect sense.
I like the "well he was elected.... technically" argument for this. Well, here's another one for you then: "technically", your vote doesn't mean shit, and you might just as well shove that ballot slip up your ass as cast it. Since the electoral college is all that counts, "technically" going to vote is a complete waste of time.
Funny how stupid an argument can be while still being "technically" correct.
Good idea. While we jump ship on longstanding, battle tested specs, let's abandon some other tried and true systems for new whizbang gadgets in a flurry of misunderstanding and ignorance. For example, let's drop internal combustion engines immediately and force everyone onto HPVs tonight. I'm sure that the theoretical benefits will outweigh the reasonably well understood shortcomings of the current technology in a way that makes this sudden jump acceptable, right?
Yes, bouncing from one flashy technology to another like a ping pong ball in a washing machine is always a much better strategy than gradually moving from one system to another.
Pussy. :-)
I have a 386 with locks on it. The case has special screws that require vendor-specific tools to open, so I broke the casing around it. There is nowhere to install a CD-ROM. PCI? What's that? Did you know Win 3.11 has pretty much no exploitable vulnerabilities anymore?
Oh yea... did I mention my 1.2MHz 6507 over here? I'm gonna network that biznitch in too.... nobody gonna hack that!
w00t! I'm so pathetic...
It's TAPES. Backup TAPES.
As often as this joke goes around, the funny part is that everytime I see it, it's been mangled in a new way...
And the pointy-haired business dolts shouldn't be blaming the IT group when some dumbass's 5 character, dictionary password is stolen and cracked and they lose $1.5 million worth of productive time because of it.
If I walk up to the pointy-haired boss, and I say "okay, fine, I understand that the information being protected by this system is not sensitive, but cracking this system can open attack vectors to xyz systems, and the y system DOES have sensitive information, and the moron looks at me and says "I have too many passwords to memorize, and who's going to attack THIS system anyway"... well, the problem really isn't on my head at this point. That's EXACTLY what happened with this situation. He said "The information is not really confidential" and I said "but this system opens attack vectors to other places". The response was, in short "the people using this system are idiots, they'll never figure out how to crack it". I responded in kind: "I used to BE one of those idiots, if you'll remember, and that's why you have me doing this work so cheap. And I'm standing here today telling you that I can get you the admin password to this building's LAN. What's to say somebody like me with less scruples isn't out there in that pool of 'idiots' right now?"
On top of that, an 'idiot' in that particular pool of users that just happens to NOT be an idiot is a HUGE potential risk based on my assesment, because that particular pool has a very high turnover and low job satisfaction rate. If somebody with a little bit of clue gets pissed off and gets an idea, they could cause a lot of damage.
This did not phase the pointy-haired wonders. They simply chanted the mantra that it was either SEP, that nobody would try it, or that the information wasn't sensitve enough to warrant strong passwords.
I will turn in my badge the day the shit hits the fan and I will laugh the whole way home because I have documented, in hard copy, all of these "decisions".
There's a difference between having a sysadmin that's insane and having one that understands reasonable protections based on the content being protected and the overall position of the system in question. If a single compromise could result in a $200 million dollar loss of sensitive information, maybe forcing people who access that info to use a 12 character password that's not vulnerable to a dictionary attack isn't such a bad idea, hmm?
Yet, I see it all the time: some stupid suit thinks they know better and wants to be exempt from the policy. Dysfuntion exists at every level, but when it runs rampant in people with authority, you have a real problem. What amazes me is that the excuse from these boneheads is always the same when something goes wrong: "well, I'm a MANAGER, I handle BUSINESS DECISIONS. You don't expect me to understand your technical mumbo jumbo, do you!?"
Uh, no dumbass.... I expect you to sit back, STFU, and let me do my job. You HIRED me to do this so you didn't HAVE to understand the technical mumbo jumbo... remember?
I'm sure not all management is like this, but from my vantage point, most of it is. It's so much easier for them to point fingers after the shit hits the fan than it is to sit down and work with the technical people from the start, I suppose. This whole story is probably a good example of that. I tried to get these bozos to pay for some of our front line people to take classes on preventing social engineering attacks. Something like 90 people would have been enrolled to the tune of $25K. They refused. So, to make my point, I told my buddy to get into the veeps office. Sure as all hell, he did it without raising any eyebrows... they thought it was a "cute trick" and still didn't sign anyone onto the class because they don't think anyone would ever try it with us. I then tried to point out that while WE might not have anything particularly valuable, we do act as interface to a much larger International that DOES have a lot of valuable assets that competitors and crooks would love.. no dice. Idiots, says I. Idiots. They hire people to do things they don't understand, then tell them how to do it anyway. That's like hiring a builder to build your house, then hanging over them all the time and telling them they're doing it wrong.
Depends what type of password they're asking for. I can imagine my boss giving up some of his real passwords for a bribe because he thinks "big deal... that one's not protecting anything sensitive anyway". Except, that comes down to him not understanding that whole "weakest link in the defenses" problem. Yea, maybe THAT password isn't, but what does that give a malicious user access to that could be abused elsewhere? What apps level attacks are we now vulnerable to? What databases could be stolen? Could the attacker now impersonate you to get more information from other people?
Management and business types, and of course home users, don't think security is a big complex model. They think "oh, we have a firewall... we're safe" and that's the end of it.
Does that surprise you? If you can throw money at a problem and that costs you less than getting in the fight, that's what you should do, as a company. It's not like they're strapped for cash.
Besides, the plaintiff is under no obligation to take a settlement offer, so they must have found the terms acceptable based on their complaint.
That's what (+5 Funny) + (-6 Overrated) and Underrated are for.
Mmmm... no. Typical lease mileage limits are either 12k or 15k a year. If things REALLY REALLY REALLY go your way, you MIGHT be able to pull out a 17k a year lease, but that's not likely.
The 12k a year lease is typical as it leaves most people paying for around 1500 to 3000 miles "extra" per year.
The only way you'll ever see me with a lease is if it's a car that's almost certainly not going to depreciate beyond it's buy amount when the lease ends. That way, I can just buy the car and I might actually have a vehicle that's worth more than what I have left to pay on it. This works for things like Hondas and BMWs, but even that's really iffy.
I noticed you got marked as flamebait so perhaps people agree with me more than you?
No, that just means that complete and total idiots get mod points and run around modding people up they agree with and modding people down they don't rather than modding based on the value of the post to creating an intelligent discussion. Of course, I have no qualms with the moderation in this case, because I didn't write the post to start intelligent conversation, though I think a slightly more intelligent mod would have simply passed on it since all the quality posts are already pushed up in this discussion. But then, it's like I said: there are so many people here now, that an awful lot of stupid people with agendas get mod points.
You know, I had an interesting conversation with a state worker yesterday at a dinner. He was talking about wasteful spending within the state government, and he related an interesting quote from one of the directors: "You know if [the state] was a private corporation, we'd bankrupt by now the way they spend money". He related tales of weekly meetings where tax dollars were spent on large, catered luncheons in ballrooms at the Hilton which resulted in one hour of discussion and three hours of socializing. He related tales of artificial jobs that came and went, often at high salaries, as internal favors to friends and family. He related tales of overpriced contractors who promised everything and delivered nothing... and KEPT GETTING REHIRED.
I don't know what it's like in the U.K., but here in the U.S., we are basically giving our money to some of the most corrupt individuals in society.
Oh, what's the you say? Run for office? Ha. You're a funny man (woman... whatever..). And, where would I get the cash to do that? Where would I get the cash to buy permits to shout from my soapbox in protest? Where am I supposed to find anyone who's clued in enough to what's going on to care? I tell people these things, and they shrug their shoulders like its to be expected that these theiving scoundrels should waste our money.
I have no problem with taxes being spent on USEFUL projects. Invading foriegn countries for oil is not a useful project. Studies of beaver migration patterns over the last ten years is not a useful project. Three lane highway projects for stretches of land that see maybe 150 cars a day is not a worthwhile way to spend MY MONEY.
You want to talk about blinders? Let's talk about how I never see 24% of my pay. Let's talk about socialism for a moment. Let's talk about my money going to 35 year olds with lung cancer who decided to start smoking despite the known health effects. Let's talk about my money going to support people who "can't" work vs. those who actually can't. People like the father of one of my friends, a guy who had trouble moving due to back spasms, but could have certainly held a basic office job in a chair. Let's talk about my money being used to capture, prosecute, and incarcerate drug "offenders" who were picked out of their parent's basement for... get this.. the horrible crime of smoking a fucking joint (what a horrible drain on society this loser must be, what, with him sitting in the basement listening to Led Zeppelin on his parent's dime all day). Let's talk about my money going to Iraq, a country that we constantly embargoed despite the fact that it clearly wasn't working. Then, we blew the shit out of it, and now we're responsible for fixing it.
Yea yea, I know "blah blah blah" you should complain to your officials. Fuck that. Last time I sent anything to someone I got ignored by one person and I got a fucking autoresponse from the other saying that if I was a contributor, I could reach the son of a bitch at such and such a number. Who would you like me to complain to? The local officials? The guys who cut the mic on anyone they don't feel like listening to? How about a state official? The guys who froze pay hikes on all the state workers and accepted their automatic hike in the midst of a budget crisis they caused?
Oh my, such an intelligent and thought-provoking response. My mind is now burning with the realization of how foolish I was for thinking the government was wasting my money. My entire world has been turned upside down by your powerful intellect. I've renounced my religion. Wait, I didn't have one... I think you made me a Unitarian. I see now that I'm merely blinkered and foolish, and that people with so much to say mustn't waste time responding to me....
... or, wait. Did you just suddenly come to the realization that all of my complaints were valid and the government really is abusing the tax scheme at all levels, and now you can't think of a way to respond? If I'm such a fool, then surely you would have no trouble refuting each of my complaints and showing why they're not valid reasons to believe that taxes are over-collected and wasted on the people who decide what to do with them?
Ah yes, so you see one extreme: we should have no taxes, and defend it with another extreme: taxes provide xyz services and are Good Things.
Allow me to put it into the right frame for those of us who look at our tax system and feel like throwing up. I pay taxes for roads. Okay, so why is it that I can think of three potholes on my 14 mile trip home that are large enough to potentionally cause significant wheel, tire, or drivetrain damage? Why can I think of six spots in my general area, off the top of my head, where the road is so uneven that braking on it will pull the car to the curb if you don't stay close to the double yellows? Why can I think of one spot where there is a nine and a half foot strip of one lane where the ENTIRE LANE is stripped to gravel?
I have a volunteer fire service up the road that raises most of its funds for the small community it serves through donations. It derives a small amount of income from local taxes, but not enough that it would be in trouble if they suddenly got cut off.
Military? Defend me from what? The Canadians? The Mexicans? People from Ohio? The big scary ter'rists that the military would be an unbelievably ineffectual defense against anyway? Funny how we have this big bad standing army to protect us and the only thing it ever seems to be doing is policing other countries that can't solve their own problems and invading foreign nations. When was the last time we had a standing army that defended our soil against invasion? Anybody? Hello?
What about the social security tax on my checks? Most of the "greatest generation" is gone and, frankly, I don't think the generations after that did a whole hell of a lot as a group. I don't really feel like supporting them, and I DEFINITELY don't feel like supporting a bunch of aging baby-boomers that have been doing nothing as a collective but sucking resources for the last 15 years anyway. The odds that I'll see any of that money with the way the government treats it and the next generation to collect it is going to hit it are slim to none. Why should I feel any obligation to keep paying it? You think I would if I thought I could get away with ripping it off? HAH! Ditto on medicaire!
Income tax... so the government can buy $1200 hammers and funnel $1185 of that into some black box project that I probably have no interest in supporting? So Congress can vote through bullshit pork-barrel highway bills full of funny money for pet projects in their districts to get their saggy, festering carcasses reelected year after year?
I also pay sales tax when I buy a car, when I sell it that person pays sales tax. I'm taxed for working in a place I don't live in, I'm taxed for property I supposedly own (actually, I rent, but when I buy a house, I will be), I have to pay for any number of compulsory government red-tape-"services" like licensing, registrations, and permits.
Fuck that. The government can get down on its knees and suck my nuts. The way those assholes waste money they deserve to tax me the way I deserve to be supreme ruler of the Universe. Just because taxes CAN be collected *in moderation* for worthwhile social projects doesn't mean they are. The tax system is out of control and since it was ripe for abuse from the beginning, it's being abused now.
Awwww.... whassa matter? Are you the original poster and now you're pissed off because I got your nonsense "Insightful" mods slapped silly? Ooo.. you read some Noam Chomsky once, huh? Watch me bow down to your obviously superior grasp of legal and social issues because you happened to read a book by somebody with insight into them. Hey, I read Plato once, am I fucking philospoher now?
I'll tell you what, why don't you go scarf your mushrooms and smoke your dope and leave the important issues up to someone who actually knows what the fuck they're talking about. Just because you're a pothead and you make broad statements about past situations of which you almost certainly can't understand the magnitude, doesn't mean you have any fucking clue how the real world works. You smoke pot and speed on the freeway whenever you feel like it? Well, when you get picked up for possession or charged with manslaughter for hitting a bus full of children at 80mph, I hope your mommy and daddy come bail you out.
If you care to come join the rest of us who understand action, reaction, and consequence, do feel free to put down the blunt and the book and start doing some of your own thinking. Otherwise, stop pretending that anybody gives a rat's ass what you have to say about things just because you think you're cool. Go impress some fifteen year olds with your cool, outlaw attitude and leave the rest of us who have some experience in reality alone.
It's not bullshit, but it is a common misconception. Government workers DO pay taxes just like everyone else. However, many of them also get a bunch of perks that more than offset that. For example, a lot of my state assemblymen are driving around in $35,000 cars that I helped to pick up most of the cost of. A lot of them are picking up suits and shoes on my dime. They're picking up meals, flights, and hotel rooms... on my hard earned money. They're redecorating their offices with my money. On top of all that, I'm helping to pay them more than twice my annual salary so that they can bicker like stupid little children with the governor and not put a budget through until it's almost time for the next year's budget talks to start.
When it's all said and done, you may still have to pay your taxes, yes, but it sure ain't gonna hurt to sit in a government position picking up perks on everyone else's tab.
I could go rent it, but it's a pain in the ass.
Taking a cam corder into a movie theater is breaking the law, and deserves to be punished.
Assuming I keep the movie, and all other provisions, etc
So... you defend the law by only following it when it's convenient and you defend your actions by saying you'll accept the consequences IF they ever come and subject to provisions you invent?
How the fuck is this insightful? You can't selectively follow and defend laws based on your own personal convenience and have any credibility. If they're going to waste the public's money dragging people with camcorders from the theatre into a police cruiser, then they ought to do the same to you for using your internet connection to do exactly the same thing: violate copyright. The mechanism for infringement is irrelevant.
Look, I'm sorry to just go ad hominem on this guy's ass, but that was a stupid post, and this person is stupid for posting it.
Nitpick: that was Dogbert, the consultant's idea, not marketing's.
Clearly, the 'War on Copyright Violation' is following the successful strategy used for the War on Drugs, with significant resources of technology and police time mobilised to send violators to jail for a long time.
Hey, Jack: Fuck you. If you want to start using my public resources to prosecute your insanity, I want to start fucking prorating my taxes with you.
These people are off their fucking rockers! Since when did it become part of the common interest to send copyright violators (when they pick someone up in the theatre with a scabbard, an eyepatch and a goddamn parrot on their shoulder, I'll call them pirates) "to jail for a long time".
Fucking insanity...
That reminds me of the old Looney Tunes cartoon with Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam. Bugs goes across the M/D line and Sam starts shooting at him in a Confederate War get up. It turns out that nobody told Sam the war was over and the Confederacy lost.
Well, I'm glad we cleared that up.
I'm on an airplane a week it seems like and you'd think the'yd be able to go 'oh yeah, he flys with us all the time so lets not randomly search his ass because he's got a ticket that goes to one city but leaves from another' or things like that.
Uh.. that's kind of the premise and that's why it's a totally useless system. It directs searches toward people who are "more likely" to be terrorists. If you take 10 flights a month and never even so much as set off a metal detector, odds are you're not a terrorst, right? So you don't get "randomly" searched that often.
So, explain to me then: what exactly is to stop a terrorist with a game plan from doing the same thing? It's a lot like karma-whoring. They just fly the flights without raising suspicions enough times, and then when the big day comes, they get on the plane without any raised eyebrows and *boom*. Bye bye birdy. It's a very simply attack on the security model, and all it requires is money and a little patience. Both of these are things the ter'rists have.
Yea, sure makes me feel safe. I'm glad they implement these things, then collect the data in a sneaky, underhanded way, and to top it off, they're only guaranteed to keep total idiots off the plane.
Ah yes. The old "Let's compare the security of programs that Microsoft makes against every hackjob program out there under the GPL or BSD license that might be exploited across a good dozen distributions."
While we're at it, lets fail to consider that there's no such thing as an exploit-free system that still does something useful, and let's not consider the other critical part of security: response and patch times.
In other news, there are a lot more apples in the world than oranges when you compare every apple in the world against the oranges in Utah.