WHY did this get modded up? This is a TROLL ACCOUNT. I'm willing to bet this an article text troll. Not only that, the server is NOT going to be slashdotted on this story. Do mods not even read the damn posts they moderate anymore?
Microsoft doesn't WANT to fight Eolas. Eolas can't even dent their $40B bank account. Internet Explorer is the most outdated browser that's still "actively" developed and it STILL rules the web. Even if Microsoft really did have to yank embedded plugin support out of their browser, they'd make a fuss that everyone else has to as well. End result? They can afford licenses for embedding and groups like Opera, Mozilla, etc. can't. Even more fuel for Microsoft's fire.
Because we all know that typing skills equate directly to a person's capability to understand complex world affairs! It doesn't matter how much you've looked into and thought about the matter, if you happen to have large hands (and we all know what that means, don't we small hands?) and can't type particularly well - YOU'RE AN IDIOT!
Of course, you don't even know why I have that in my signature. As a result, your response is ridiculously off base from the purpose of the sig or my feelings on the subject of the war in Iraq. Therefore, you must not even be competent enough to comment on Slashdot posters' sigs, much less world affairs.
Some people post AC because they actually have to. Some to troll. You do it because you're an idiot, apparently.
And, of course, I'm not going to fix it now just to be a pest.
Oh, by the way. You're not qualified to comment on the situation because you typoed:
...now where the have the freedom...
The have the freedom? What the hell does that mean? Did someone beat you with the idjit stick as a child?
Oh, I've no doubt that it's a matter of paperwork that fired him, I'm just saying that it appears to be without a particularly good reason. I'm also aware that they don't HAVE to have a good reason in WA (or in PA where I work, for that matter) to fire you so long as it's not a matter of some sort of recognized bigotry. I'm just saying that it's not smart. It makes the other employees wonder about management and the company. Granted - not so much given that he's a temp, but still, it hurts morale anytime someone gets fired and it's not obvious why they were or if they should have been. It also makes people outside the company who might want to work there wonder about it.
This sort of thing comes back to haunt companies when an economy picks up and jobs start openeing up with less people to fill them. People have more choice and freedom about going to another company they percieve as better and the smarter employees pack up and go. You don't have that problem in times such as these, but it doesn't mean it won't cause a stir in the future if this is a regular habit.
Glad I don't work for you... typical management attitude: it's easier to simply execute the offender - no matter how minor the offense - than explain why you have such a seemingly silly policy in place to begin with.
From what I can see, I don't really understand how the firing was justified*. There could've been other infractions involved that he isn't telling us, he may have had previous problems, whatever. But if this is all that happened, I get the impression he was fired because of clueless management and nothing more. It doesn't appear that he visually identified the building or it's relation to other buildings on the campus, so I see no real security risk. Maybe some minor potential risks for people who are already familiar with the campus, but nothing more.
Let's review the (apparent) facts here:
He didn't knock the company.
He didn't visually identify any discernible portion of the campus.
It doesn't appear he did this on company time.
He didn't give away any secrets or inside information.
Explain to me again, then, how his firing is justified as opposed to simply warning him, asking him to remove the building identification, and explaining why it was important to the company that this process be followed?
Certainly Microsoft can ditch him in a heartbeat if they want, but it still seems to me like it was just lazy, incompetent management that did it* That kind of behavior can't be good for the morale of the other employees.
* Disclaimer: the entire post is made on the assumption that the one-sided story we're getting is not missing any important information and is 100% true. Any deviation from this assumption could significantly change my opinion on the matter.
If this guy had past problems, that's one thing. If he just made an honest mistake though, I don't see what the big deal is. If you can't really tell what the building looks like or where it is in relation to othe buildings on the campus, I think it would've been much more appropriate to sit down and explain to the guy why they don't want him saying where he works, etc. Honestly, I'd have never thought about the potential (albeit, very minor) security risks such a photo might pose to the actual campus and to the business if I hadn't read some other posters' takes on the "issue". The idea that management has that they need to hold their employees responsible for things they don't tell them is ridiculous (of course, maybe this was all explained in great detail - I don't know).
However, it looks to me like it's just a bunch of management browbeaters clubbing a baby seal they'd rather just splatter than train - same as pretty much any other company out there. Of course, being Slashdot, we have to have an inflammatory headline that suggest Microsoft is Evil Incarnate for this (they're Evil Incarnate for other reasons:)... never mind that many, many other companies do the same sort of thing and worse every single day.
I'm not arguing with you people anymore after this. This entire thread has highlighted one thing: SUV owners can't jusfity their purchases. Therefore, I continue to maintain that they were made out of snobby self-importance and disregard for other people. I've been attacked as being an "eco-elitist" even though I clearly stated my main complaint wasn't their environmental impact. Everyone else has basically said "cuz I wanna" because they're from the gimme-generation that's been doted on from day one and has come to believe it deserves comfort and satiation as a part of being alive (god I hate those fucking people...).
Kids: Minivan. Spacious. Unless you're a damned Mormon or the wife was on mutant hormones or something, I find it highly unlikely that a Minivan won't suffice for a normal size family. Last one I was in, in fact, had more space than the last SUV I was in.
Spacious: No dice. You're convenience of elbow room isn't more important than anyone else's safety. If that's the case, then I'm going to start driving my Mustang GT at 145MPH everywhere I go. I'm going to slalom in and out of traffic with total disregard for everyone else. I'm going to make jackrabbit, tire spinning starts off every light regardless of the inbound roads ahead and other traffic. Why? Because if you're elbow room justifies a car-crushing vehicle that could total a small truck in a minor collision, then my getting places a few minutes faster justifies the potential devastation my reckless, high speed driving can cause. No difference in spirit. Your vehicle has roominess, mine has power and handling. Each offers potential convenience at the expense of other people's safety. If I slam the side of your SUV at 110 MPH, flip it, it bursts into flame, and your wife and kids burn alive - too bad. It was worth it for all the times I got where I was going a few minutes faster.
You need large child safety seats...
That is COMPLETELY unrelated to the debate. Very few (if any) people I've ever met thought that the mandates on child safety seats are reasonable (why expect anything else from career politicians?), so the problem isn't the vehicle, it's the ridiculous laws that wind up requiring 4 and a half foot, 95 lb. 9 year olds in child seats. Poorly conceived laws don't justify putting other people at risk. And, to suggest that you can't put 3 normal size kids in the back bench of a midsize car at the same price as an SUV is idiotic.
Say you purchase a '04 Toyota Highlander. With 4WD, it's about $25.5K (before tax, tags, and delivery) with no other options and the I4 engine. Seats 5. You can get an '04 All-Weather AWD Subaru Outback Wagon that seats 5 AND has significant cargo room for about 1500 less. If you can't fit a family of 5 into that vehicle, maybe the biggest problem with your kids isn't so much that their SEATS are taking up so much space as they are...
Looking over the interior numbers: if you and your family really are so ridiculously large that the difference between the car and the truck as far as interior room is that big a deal, maybe you should look into a gym membership instead of worrying about a truck...
And besides, we STILL come down to the point that YOUR comfort doesn't outweigh anyone else's safety. If you have to be slightly cramped for a half hour drive, too freaking bad. Boo hoo, I'm really crying for you. Small price to pay if it means somebody won't get rolled over by some idiot playing monster truck so they could stretch the legs a bit.
If everyone else is driving too fast, it's dangerous not to keep up with them. Given the vehicle's highly capable steering system, (upgraded) braking, and suspension, it's safer for me to travel moderately faster and keep the surrounding verhicles far enough away from me than it is to risk idiots cutting in and out of lanes to get around me and causing a collision.
On regular roadways where I only have one or two lanes, I just let idiots stay behind me and fume that I'm only driving 35 or 45 or whatever the limit is. If they continue to tail me, I just keep slowing down further and further until they back off.
Thank you. You have more clearly illustrated the fact that of the matter than I ever could:
We need to keep our noses out of places where they do not belong.
And that's it: these idiots buy and use these things without considering the potentially devastating consequences they may have on other people. If you come flying up behind me and tail me in a giant Excursion when I'm already 10 over the limit and I have two kids and the girlfriend in the car, that's not my business? To ANYONE who's so goddamn conceited they would argue with that: Fuck you, you self-centered piece of shit. And that's my immediate response to any such argument. Not only is it my motherfucking business when it's "just" some moron in a car, but it's twice as bad when it's a vehicle that more than doubles the odds of killing the two kids in the back seat. You'd do well remember that... because if you don't keep in mind that you aren't the only person on earth, and you're not entitled to comfort and "prestige" at the expense of other people's safety (or, at all for that matter), you might find yourself faced with someone who will bring it all into focus in a big hurry, and with a lot of hurt.
Ridiculous...you must not know too many people that have SUVs.
Soooo... my argument is ridiculous because you are one of the few people - who I mentioned - who actually uses the capabilities provided by the vehicle?
Uh.. yea... that makes... umm... ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE AT ALL!
I live within visible distance of 6 households who own truck-like vehicles over 4000 pounds. I have NEVER seen any ONE of those vehicles:
In the snow.
Dirty.
Towing anything.
Moving more than 4 people at once.
Offroad.
And I'm reeeeaaalllll sorry... but if you buy a vehicle like that only to go grocery shopping, you're not even smart enough to HAVE a drivers license, much less make an intelligent car-buying decision.
I'm real happy for you that you actually are one of the rare SUV owners (who happens to actually own a REAL SUV unlike most of these other idiots... Cayenne? Give me fucking break...) who uses the vehicle, but that doesn't satiate my hatred for the overwhelming majority who purchased them to keep up with the Jonses in the least.
And, if that's not true, I pose this question: vehicles with those sorts of capabilities have been around for nearly half a century for public consumption. Am I supposed to believe that in the last 5-6 years huge numbers of upper-middle and upper class people just magically needed these capabilities all of a sudden? I think not.
It's not even a matter of purchasing a vehicle for fuel efficiency, it's a matter of common sense. The folks who howl at the top of their lungs to try and defend their house-on-wheels purchase miss the point entirely or just don't want to admit (or just don't care) that what they did was incredibly, inexcusably stupid and suggests they have the IQ of a dead muskrat while on car lots.
If you don't NEED (or want) to go stomping through 3 feet of water, up 25 degree rocky inclines, and through 2 feet of snow on a regular basis, you don't NEED an SUV. Even the losers who whine about driving in 6 inches of snow with their SUV just don't get it. There's plenty of 4WD and AWD cars out there that are cheaper, faster, safer, easier to maintain, and handle light and moderate offroad and bad weather duty just fine. My one friend had a 4WD Tempo for about a year. It handled wet, grassy hills, snow, ice, and mud just fine.
If you NEED a vehicle for the family, a minivan is safer, cheaper, equally as versatile, and better on gas.
If you NEED to haul a boat or something similar every great once in awhile, borrow or rent a truck or SUV WHEN YOU NEED IT. There's no sense in driving a truck/SUV/van like a car for 90% of your mileage.
There are certainly the rare few who can justify an SUV/Van/Truck purchase - I know some. They have jobs that require the power of a Dodge Ram or the versatility and all-weather capability of a Suburban (actually, I know a guy who has a Durango solely because he lives in the boonies in a steep-sloping valley and doesn't usually get plowed out for days - he drives the Durango occasionally if it's the only vehicle available and to keep it from locking up in the summer, then drives it most of the winter).
Face it SUV-owners: most of you are fad following losers with no imagination or individuality. I recall a mere decade ago when SUVs were the prime requisite of mud-stomping hicks and were frowned upon by the "new elite businessperson" in favor of Lexus, BMW, and Mercedes sedans. They're a fad - I've yet to question one person who could successfully justify his/her SUV purchase. Stupid. And I will (and occasionally do) maintain that in the face of anyone who can't give me a good reason for their decision.
Oh... and I'm not against them so much for their gas-wasting ways, though that's definitely one reason I don't like them. I'm against them because the people who are dumb enough to buy them without cause aren't smart enough to drive them safely. Bigger vehicle = more responsibility. But, they mostly drive just as recklessly as everyone else anyway. In fact, I kept track for awhile, and I saw nearly twice as many people in SUVs driving recklessly (significantly over the speed limit, rapid lane changes, pulling out in front of people, etc.) as in cars. Although that could certainly be regionalized, I doubt it.
Uh.. yea... because it's not like we have anything that can be used to track us now. Like IP addresses cross referenced to logfiles. Nope, nothing like that around anywhere.
Yea, because people who can't handle a simple patch procedure are going to understand the subtle stupidity of Windows Messenger. I can see my e-mail now...
OMG! I'VE BEEN HACKED! lol!!! OM!G JIT SAYS SOMETHIGN ABOUT WORMS YOU HAVE TO COME FIX MY COMPUTER I DONT KNOW WHAT'S WRONG! LOL!!!!
Yes, yes, of course - you're sooooo smart that you've extrapolated the point far beyond where it actually stops and stepped into the bounds of assumption independant of reason and the original spirit of the speech.
Maybe if you hadn't assumed that my post was with the intent to offer a "cure all" for society's many ills and had simply read it for what it really is - a point about how the "little guy" can actually make (him|her)self heard on almost a fair playing field for the first time in history - you wouldn't sound like a total jackass right now. In fact, if you'd actually stopped to think before your fingers went flying across the keyboard, you might note that I haven't placed my opinion on the matter anywhere in the post. You have absolutely no idea if I even think that it's a good idea that the Little Guy has a voice.
You know what I really hate? People who try to tell me what I think. This is especially true on Slashdot. You've read how many of my posts and know what about my views of politics, society, etc.? That's right - not a damn thing. Yet, you still see yourself fit to judge my views on those issues and interpret them even when they haven't been stated?
Man you people get on my freaking nerves sometimes...
Do you dislike your representative? Campaign to have them removed. Do you dislike a certain law that might be passed? Campaign to have it killed.
Soooo... you're point is that I'm suggesting a communist state because I'm pointing out that we, the "little people", can, for pretty much the first time in history, do the things you just said we should on a large enough scale to make a difference without resorting to violence?
Care to explain when it hasn't been? Perhaps when people were being drafted and shipped to Vietnam, as - I quote - "meat"? Perhaps when streets burned and protestors rioted to give the black community equal rights as humans and citizens?
Or, was it not a dark time during slavery? Or while non-WASPs and women were being persecuted at the birth of this country? Or, let's step out of the U.S. During slavery in the U.K.? In Africa? During the times when serfs were squashed under the thumbs of opressive theocracies?
Perhaps, maybe, it wasn't a dark time before the veneer of "civilization" took hold? When the strong ruled by might alone - brutish fist and club?
It has ALWAYS been a dark time for the little guy. You miss something important though...
If the little guy can get organized, it can actually fight back now. All the little guys and gals are networked. We can MAKE our wills heard if we simply put the effort into it. How many people here know how to Google bomb? We could overrun Google with our own decentralized propaganda in a month. That's a small example of what could be accomplished if the little guys and gals all worked together to a common end. We can make people listen to the little guy for the first time in history without widespread violence and upheaval.
It's still a dark time for the little guy... but it's certainly never been brighter.
Regarding your comment: it's a childish retaliation against another poster's.sig that appears (the link is broken so I'm going from the link text) to down France about it's quite obvious ties to Iraq. You know.. the whole "Pot calling the Kettle black thing"?
So no, it's not news that the fundamentalist USA supported secular Iraq in a war against fundamentalist Iran.
Gee... and we wonder why so many Muslims in that part of the world think we're just a bunch of marauding, Koran-hating Christian crusaders. Mm mm... no mixed messages coming from THIS side of the ocean... noooooooo.
Here's a tip for anybody thinking about replying to start an argument over Iraq:
I don't care. Bush fucked the whole thing up from the beginning by "going it alone" and now it's too late, so we'll just have to slog through it.
And vote that asshole out of office when the elections come around. "Bring em on". Yea fucker... bring em right on in to the White House and see how big you are then. Tough talk from a military deserter... goddamn idiot. "Bring em on"... yea, as long as it's not YOU and YOUR kids that are meeting them on the field.... right?
Slashdot Mirror
WHY did this get modded up? This is a TROLL ACCOUNT. I'm willing to bet this an article text troll. Not only that, the server is NOT going to be slashdotted on this story. Do mods not even read the damn posts they moderate anymore?
Or... considering that I just replied to myself by accident, maybe we're both going as lobotomized retards this Halloween...
You're going as a lobotomized retard for Halloween, aren't you?
I'll give you a few years to consider fully what I said. It MIGHT sink through your thick skull eventually. But, I'm not going to hold my breath.
If you want cynical, consider this:
Microsoft doesn't WANT to fight Eolas. Eolas can't even dent their $40B bank account. Internet Explorer is the most outdated browser that's still "actively" developed and it STILL rules the web. Even if Microsoft really did have to yank embedded plugin support out of their browser, they'd make a fuss that everyone else has to as well. End result? They can afford licenses for embedding and groups like Opera, Mozilla, etc. can't. Even more fuel for Microsoft's fire.
Because we all know that typing skills equate directly to a person's capability to understand complex world affairs! It doesn't matter how much you've looked into and thought about the matter, if you happen to have large hands (and we all know what that means, don't we small hands?) and can't type particularly well - YOU'RE AN IDIOT!
Of course, you don't even know why I have that in my signature. As a result, your response is ridiculously off base from the purpose of the sig or my feelings on the subject of the war in Iraq. Therefore, you must not even be competent enough to comment on Slashdot posters' sigs, much less world affairs.
Some people post AC because they actually have to. Some to troll. You do it because you're an idiot, apparently.
And, of course, I'm not going to fix it now just to be a pest.
Oh, by the way. You're not qualified to comment on the situation because you typoed:
The have the freedom? What the hell does that mean? Did someone beat you with the idjit stick as a child?
...and most of it is still sitting in my Inbox at work right now.
Oh, I've no doubt that it's a matter of paperwork that fired him, I'm just saying that it appears to be without a particularly good reason. I'm also aware that they don't HAVE to have a good reason in WA (or in PA where I work, for that matter) to fire you so long as it's not a matter of some sort of recognized bigotry. I'm just saying that it's not smart. It makes the other employees wonder about management and the company. Granted - not so much given that he's a temp, but still, it hurts morale anytime someone gets fired and it's not obvious why they were or if they should have been. It also makes people outside the company who might want to work there wonder about it.
This sort of thing comes back to haunt companies when an economy picks up and jobs start openeing up with less people to fill them. People have more choice and freedom about going to another company they percieve as better and the smarter employees pack up and go. You don't have that problem in times such as these, but it doesn't mean it won't cause a stir in the future if this is a regular habit.
Patents and copyrights aren't bad, the abuses of them are.
Oh, wait. That's Block 0: the rational individual block.
Glad I don't work for you... typical management attitude: it's easier to simply execute the offender - no matter how minor the offense - than explain why you have such a seemingly silly policy in place to begin with.
From what I can see, I don't really understand how the firing was justified*. There could've been other infractions involved that he isn't telling us, he may have had previous problems, whatever. But if this is all that happened, I get the impression he was fired because of clueless management and nothing more. It doesn't appear that he visually identified the building or it's relation to other buildings on the campus, so I see no real security risk. Maybe some minor potential risks for people who are already familiar with the campus, but nothing more.
Let's review the (apparent) facts here:
- He didn't knock the company.
- He didn't visually identify any discernible portion of the campus.
- It doesn't appear he did this on company time.
- He didn't give away any secrets or inside information.
Explain to me again, then, how his firing is justified as opposed to simply warning him, asking him to remove the building identification, and explaining why it was important to the company that this process be followed?Certainly Microsoft can ditch him in a heartbeat if they want, but it still seems to me like it was just lazy, incompetent management that did it* That kind of behavior can't be good for the morale of the other employees.
* Disclaimer: the entire post is made on the assumption that the one-sided story we're getting is not missing any important information and is 100% true. Any deviation from this assumption could significantly change my opinion on the matter.
If this guy had past problems, that's one thing. If he just made an honest mistake though, I don't see what the big deal is. If you can't really tell what the building looks like or where it is in relation to othe buildings on the campus, I think it would've been much more appropriate to sit down and explain to the guy why they don't want him saying where he works, etc. Honestly, I'd have never thought about the potential (albeit, very minor) security risks such a photo might pose to the actual campus and to the business if I hadn't read some other posters' takes on the "issue". The idea that management has that they need to hold their employees responsible for things they don't tell them is ridiculous (of course, maybe this was all explained in great detail - I don't know).
However, it looks to me like it's just a bunch of management browbeaters clubbing a baby seal they'd rather just splatter than train - same as pretty much any other company out there. Of course, being Slashdot, we have to have an inflammatory headline that suggest Microsoft is Evil Incarnate for this (they're Evil Incarnate for other reasons :)... never mind that many, many other companies do the same sort of thing and worse every single day.
Sigh...
I'm not arguing with you people anymore after this. This entire thread has highlighted one thing: SUV owners can't jusfity their purchases. Therefore, I continue to maintain that they were made out of snobby self-importance and disregard for other people. I've been attacked as being an "eco-elitist" even though I clearly stated my main complaint wasn't their environmental impact. Everyone else has basically said "cuz I wanna" because they're from the gimme-generation that's been doted on from day one and has come to believe it deserves comfort and satiation as a part of being alive (god I hate those fucking people...).
Kids: Minivan. Spacious. Unless you're a damned Mormon or the wife was on mutant hormones or something, I find it highly unlikely that a Minivan won't suffice for a normal size family. Last one I was in, in fact, had more space than the last SUV I was in.
Spacious: No dice. You're convenience of elbow room isn't more important than anyone else's safety. If that's the case, then I'm going to start driving my Mustang GT at 145MPH everywhere I go. I'm going to slalom in and out of traffic with total disregard for everyone else. I'm going to make jackrabbit, tire spinning starts off every light regardless of the inbound roads ahead and other traffic. Why? Because if you're elbow room justifies a car-crushing vehicle that could total a small truck in a minor collision, then my getting places a few minutes faster justifies the potential devastation my reckless, high speed driving can cause. No difference in spirit. Your vehicle has roominess, mine has power and handling. Each offers potential convenience at the expense of other people's safety. If I slam the side of your SUV at 110 MPH, flip it, it bursts into flame, and your wife and kids burn alive - too bad. It was worth it for all the times I got where I was going a few minutes faster.
You need large child safety seats...
That is COMPLETELY unrelated to the debate. Very few (if any) people I've ever met thought that the mandates on child safety seats are reasonable (why expect anything else from career politicians?), so the problem isn't the vehicle, it's the ridiculous laws that wind up requiring 4 and a half foot, 95 lb. 9 year olds in child seats. Poorly conceived laws don't justify putting other people at risk. And, to suggest that you can't put 3 normal size kids in the back bench of a midsize car at the same price as an SUV is idiotic.
Say you purchase a '04 Toyota Highlander. With 4WD, it's about $25.5K (before tax, tags, and delivery) with no other options and the I4 engine. Seats 5. You can get an '04 All-Weather AWD Subaru Outback Wagon that seats 5 AND has significant cargo room for about 1500 less. If you can't fit a family of 5 into that vehicle, maybe the biggest problem with your kids isn't so much that their SEATS are taking up so much space as they are...
Looking over the interior numbers: if you and your family really are so ridiculously large that the difference between the car and the truck as far as interior room is that big a deal, maybe you should look into a gym membership instead of worrying about a truck...
And besides, we STILL come down to the point that YOUR comfort doesn't outweigh anyone else's safety. If you have to be slightly cramped for a half hour drive, too freaking bad. Boo hoo, I'm really crying for you. Small price to pay if it means somebody won't get rolled over by some idiot playing monster truck so they could stretch the legs a bit.
You obviously don't drive on the highway...
If everyone else is driving too fast, it's dangerous not to keep up with them. Given the vehicle's highly capable steering system, (upgraded) braking, and suspension, it's safer for me to travel moderately faster and keep the surrounding verhicles far enough away from me than it is to risk idiots cutting in and out of lanes to get around me and causing a collision.
On regular roadways where I only have one or two lanes, I just let idiots stay behind me and fume that I'm only driving 35 or 45 or whatever the limit is. If they continue to tail me, I just keep slowing down further and further until they back off.
Win2k3 running IIS 6.0 serving Linux distro ISOs?
And my head begins to spin....
If (when?) the server goes down, will they blame "Linux"?
Thank you. You have more clearly illustrated the fact that of the matter than I ever could:
We need to keep our noses out of places where they do not belong.
And that's it: these idiots buy and use these things without considering the potentially devastating consequences they may have on other people. If you come flying up behind me and tail me in a giant Excursion when I'm already 10 over the limit and I have two kids and the girlfriend in the car, that's not my business? To ANYONE who's so goddamn conceited they would argue with that: Fuck you, you self-centered piece of shit. And that's my immediate response to any such argument. Not only is it my motherfucking business when it's "just" some moron in a car, but it's twice as bad when it's a vehicle that more than doubles the odds of killing the two kids in the back seat. You'd do well remember that... because if you don't keep in mind that you aren't the only person on earth, and you're not entitled to comfort and "prestige" at the expense of other people's safety (or, at all for that matter), you might find yourself faced with someone who will bring it all into focus in a big hurry, and with a lot of hurt.
Ridiculous...you must not know too many people that have SUVs.
Soooo... my argument is ridiculous because you are one of the few people - who I mentioned - who actually uses the capabilities provided by the vehicle?
Uh.. yea... that makes... umm... ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE AT ALL!
I live within visible distance of 6 households who own truck-like vehicles over 4000 pounds. I have NEVER seen any ONE of those vehicles:
- In the snow.
- Dirty.
- Towing anything.
- Moving more than 4 people at once.
- Offroad.
And I'm reeeeaaalllll sorry... but if you buy a vehicle like that only to go grocery shopping, you're not even smart enough to HAVE a drivers license, much less make an intelligent car-buying decision.I'm real happy for you that you actually are one of the rare SUV owners (who happens to actually own a REAL SUV unlike most of these other idiots... Cayenne? Give me fucking break...) who uses the vehicle, but that doesn't satiate my hatred for the overwhelming majority who purchased them to keep up with the Jonses in the least.
And, if that's not true, I pose this question: vehicles with those sorts of capabilities have been around for nearly half a century for public consumption. Am I supposed to believe that in the last 5-6 years huge numbers of upper-middle and upper class people just magically needed these capabilities all of a sudden? I think not.
It's not even a matter of purchasing a vehicle for fuel efficiency, it's a matter of common sense. The folks who howl at the top of their lungs to try and defend their house-on-wheels purchase miss the point entirely or just don't want to admit (or just don't care) that what they did was incredibly, inexcusably stupid and suggests they have the IQ of a dead muskrat while on car lots.
If you don't NEED (or want) to go stomping through 3 feet of water, up 25 degree rocky inclines, and through 2 feet of snow on a regular basis, you don't NEED an SUV. Even the losers who whine about driving in 6 inches of snow with their SUV just don't get it. There's plenty of 4WD and AWD cars out there that are cheaper, faster, safer, easier to maintain, and handle light and moderate offroad and bad weather duty just fine. My one friend had a 4WD Tempo for about a year. It handled wet, grassy hills, snow, ice, and mud just fine.
If you NEED a vehicle for the family, a minivan is safer, cheaper, equally as versatile, and better on gas.
If you NEED to haul a boat or something similar every great once in awhile, borrow or rent a truck or SUV WHEN YOU NEED IT. There's no sense in driving a truck/SUV/van like a car for 90% of your mileage.
There are certainly the rare few who can justify an SUV/Van/Truck purchase - I know some. They have jobs that require the power of a Dodge Ram or the versatility and all-weather capability of a Suburban (actually, I know a guy who has a Durango solely because he lives in the boonies in a steep-sloping valley and doesn't usually get plowed out for days - he drives the Durango occasionally if it's the only vehicle available and to keep it from locking up in the summer, then drives it most of the winter).
Face it SUV-owners: most of you are fad following losers with no imagination or individuality. I recall a mere decade ago when SUVs were the prime requisite of mud-stomping hicks and were frowned upon by the "new elite businessperson" in favor of Lexus, BMW, and Mercedes sedans. They're a fad - I've yet to question one person who could successfully justify his/her SUV purchase. Stupid. And I will (and occasionally do) maintain that in the face of anyone who can't give me a good reason for their decision.
Oh... and I'm not against them so much for their gas-wasting ways, though that's definitely one reason I don't like them. I'm against them because the people who are dumb enough to buy them without cause aren't smart enough to drive them safely. Bigger vehicle = more responsibility. But, they mostly drive just as recklessly as everyone else anyway. In fact, I kept track for awhile, and I saw nearly twice as many people in SUVs driving recklessly (significantly over the speed limit, rapid lane changes, pulling out in front of people, etc.) as in cars. Although that could certainly be regionalized, I doubt it.
Uh.. yea... because it's not like we have anything that can be used to track us now. Like IP addresses cross referenced to logfiles. Nope, nothing like that around anywhere.
Yea, because people who can't handle a simple patch procedure are going to understand the subtle stupidity of Windows Messenger. I can see my e-mail now...
OMG! I'VE BEEN HACKED! lol!!! OM!G JIT SAYS SOMETHIGN ABOUT WORMS YOU HAVE TO COME FIX MY COMPUTER I DONT KNOW WHAT'S WRONG! LOL!!!!
Attachment: "Latest Windows Security Update.exe"
Umm... All the people who develop websites in Dreamweaver MX and need to test them on IE. The poster never said he/she was actually going to use it...
Yes, yes, of course - you're sooooo smart that you've extrapolated the point far beyond where it actually stops and stepped into the bounds of assumption independant of reason and the original spirit of the speech.
Maybe if you hadn't assumed that my post was with the intent to offer a "cure all" for society's many ills and had simply read it for what it really is - a point about how the "little guy" can actually make (him|her)self heard on almost a fair playing field for the first time in history - you wouldn't sound like a total jackass right now. In fact, if you'd actually stopped to think before your fingers went flying across the keyboard, you might note that I haven't placed my opinion on the matter anywhere in the post. You have absolutely no idea if I even think that it's a good idea that the Little Guy has a voice.
You know what I really hate? People who try to tell me what I think. This is especially true on Slashdot. You've read how many of my posts and know what about my views of politics, society, etc.? That's right - not a damn thing. Yet, you still see yourself fit to judge my views on those issues and interpret them even when they haven't been stated?
Man you people get on my freaking nerves sometimes...
Do you dislike your representative? Campaign to have them removed. Do you dislike a certain law that might be passed? Campaign to have it killed.
Soooo... you're point is that I'm suggesting a communist state because I'm pointing out that we, the "little people", can, for pretty much the first time in history, do the things you just said we should on a large enough scale to make a difference without resorting to violence?
It's a dark time for the little guy. :(
Care to explain when it hasn't been? Perhaps when people were being drafted and shipped to Vietnam, as - I quote - "meat"? Perhaps when streets burned and protestors rioted to give the black community equal rights as humans and citizens?
Or, was it not a dark time during slavery? Or while non-WASPs and women were being persecuted at the birth of this country? Or, let's step out of the U.S. During slavery in the U.K.? In Africa? During the times when serfs were squashed under the thumbs of opressive theocracies?
Perhaps, maybe, it wasn't a dark time before the veneer of "civilization" took hold? When the strong ruled by might alone - brutish fist and club?
It has ALWAYS been a dark time for the little guy. You miss something important though...
If the little guy can get organized, it can actually fight back now. All the little guys and gals are networked. We can MAKE our wills heard if we simply put the effort into it. How many people here know how to Google bomb? We could overrun Google with our own decentralized propaganda in a month. That's a small example of what could be accomplished if the little guys and gals all worked together to a common end. We can make people listen to the little guy for the first time in history without widespread violence and upheaval.
It's still a dark time for the little guy... but it's certainly never been brighter.
Regarding your comment: it's a childish retaliation against another poster's .sig that appears (the link is broken so I'm going from the link text) to down France about it's quite obvious ties to Iraq. You know.. the whole "Pot calling the Kettle black thing"?
So no, it's not news that the fundamentalist USA supported secular Iraq in a war against fundamentalist Iran.
Gee... and we wonder why so many Muslims in that part of the world think we're just a bunch of marauding, Koran-hating Christian crusaders. Mm mm... no mixed messages coming from THIS side of the ocean... noooooooo.
Here's a tip for anybody thinking about replying to start an argument over Iraq:
I don't care. Bush fucked the whole thing up from the beginning by "going it alone" and now it's too late, so we'll just have to slog through it.
And vote that asshole out of office when the elections come around. "Bring em on". Yea fucker... bring em right on in to the White House and see how big you are then. Tough talk from a military deserter... goddamn idiot. "Bring em on"... yea, as long as it's not YOU and YOUR kids that are meeting them on the field.... right?
You shouldn't talk about Slashdot like that - it isn't nice.
Umm... right. I didn't realize I had a private jet or a limo, or that I'm an environmentalist or Arianna Huffington.
Are you one of the many clueless who buys an SUV without cause to? I've yet to meet anybody who I questioned who could justify their SUV purchase.
Incidentally - I drive a Mustang GT, looking into trading for a Corrolla if I can afford it. Thanks for asking.