capitalism seems to give the most people the most opportunity to make their lives into whatever it is they want.
Don't forget the part about placing value judgements on people based upon how much, or little, they made for themselves. It might look wide and free, like the sea, but there is a very fixed path to follow; freedom isn't real if all options but one have negative consequences attached.
And if the violence in Afghanistan has a "relevance of 0" then why the fuck did you say that increasing violence in the Middle East is a justification for war? Have you ever heard of the "Iraq-Iran War?" Go learn about it. Does that not count as violence that far surpasses anything 1994-2004 has seen?
Or is "violence" only considered violence when it is done against a Christian/Westerner? That is the impression I get from your words.
What the fuck is going on in this country? Anyone in the bottom 99% who believe that their interests align in any way with the top 1% (yes, the dichotomy is rapidly becoming that wide) is smoking some incredibly good crack.
Self-deception? It's far more pleasant to go through life thinking that you could be the next Donald Trump, Bill Gates, or J. Lo, than it is to realize that you are and will always be a peasant-consumer. Just look at the people who play the Lottery, or who love the shows where a superstar is discovered, out of a huge mass of untalented humanity.
Don't underestimate the human ability to ignore inconvenient facts, I guess.
repeat after me: my interests are not the same as those of the rich
Unforunately, at least 40% of the population disagrees. They believe, perhaps unconciously, that if they align themselves with the interests of the rich, goodness will trickle down to them, or they will eventually be recognized and rewarded for their loyalty. They (or more precisely, their children) will rise into the Society of the Rich. This is how poor immigrants are deceived into becoming Republicans (besides their religious conservatism, but that is another story).
Might as well call yourself a dog waiting for scraps at Master's table. But then again, I must just be a liberal unionloving pinko....what do I know.
I may be presuming too much but I would think that a computer professional is likely smart enough to negotiate their own contract. If you aren't getting paid enough or you haven't negotiated an overtime scale than that's your fault.
You presume too much. If geeks were 'smart' in the way you suggest, then they would be salesmen, not engineers. Interviewing is a marketing process, not a technical process. Competence, grooming, charisma, physical beauty, rapport, past experience, background check, formal education.....and then regional employment levels, business priorities, the latest WSJ market forecast, outsourcing trends, a golf buddy's recommendations.....all of these things influence one's employment. Surely you do not think that computer proficiency and "smarts" can overcome all of these variables?
Why would you want to abdicate responsibility to a union anyway? Soon enough they will do something you don't like and than you have no way out.
And you cannot say exactly the same thing about working for a corporation? In both cases there is a way out, namely, quitting. It may not be a feasible option, but it just cold economic fact.
Since for the last 12 years, Iraq has been taking shots at our troops and defying the UN at every step of the way, they have shown to the rest of the middle east that America is just like a tired cat, fuck with it it will take a small swipe and go back to sleep. As a result, violence in the middle east has increased over the last 12 years.
Does your violence include the first Shia rebellion of 1918? (That would be Iraqis, angrily throwing out British troops). Does your violence include the formation of Israel, and the many wars that followed? Does it include the artificial separation of Pakistan and India, for colonial control? How about the whole Soviet-Afghanistan conflict, in which the US created the monster called Osama Bin Laden? Lets not forget who gave Saddam Hussein his weapons (but he was a GOOD tyrant then, right?).
Shall we go back even further, to the many Crusades which pitted Moslem against Christian? There has always been conflict in that part of the world...and alot of it is caused by Western Civilizations, the most recent and powerful of which is the United States.
Once again, do you have anything to offer besides weak neocon justifications?
I do not like elected officials who lie about life-or-death matters. I do not like human beings who play with the lives of others in a callous, self-righteous fashion. I do not like people who use pretend accents to seem more 'homey.' I do not like executives who base diplomacy on gut reaction. I do not like unknowlegdable leaders who depend upon advisors to tell them what to do. I do not like hypocritically religious people. I do not like people who encourage hatred against fellow Americans if they happen to be homosexual (see point above).
But other than that, what's wrong with Bush? I'm sure he means well.
This thought probably didn't cross your mind, but if you replace the word "US" in your second paragraph with "United Nations" then it would probably be a much better example.
Yes, because we all know how effective the UN can be with the resources and authority that the member states allow it. UN airstrikes against tyrant strongholds are the very definition of "Shock and Awe," I know.
Refresh my memory. Who is planning a mission to the Chad/Sudan region, geopolitically considered to be the least useful place on earth -- the US, or the UN? Do you, in all of your presumed geopolitical knowledge, know the strategic value of Sudan that I am unaware of? If you do not, then.....your arguement is bunk. Sorry.
This war was about stability, Iraq being an unstable and powerful country is a dangerous mix. Iraq was powerful because they were rich. Iraq was rich because they had oil. It would be no different if they were rich from Industry, Oil, or some other natural resource.
Yes, the war is about stability: the status quo of American dominance. What is the hallmark of a nation destroyed and rebuilt by the United States? What do Japan, Germany, and South Korea have in common?
Military bases. Thousands of American soldiers ready to respond to any crises in the local Theater of Operations. If this whole Iraq thing works out, the United States is going to have a better friend than Israel in the Middle East. It is not going to need Saudi Arabia or Jordan or Turkey for the next military exercise; it will have a true ally (or true lackey, depending on your point of view) from which to launch planes.
Unless thrown out by force, the US military is going to have a permanent presence in Iraq in the coming decades. Just wait and see.
we're not going to take shit from people, and we're starting with those that have given us shit.
So you really don't give a fsck about freedom in rest of the world. So long as everyone recognizies that we (America) are the Alpha Male, you are satisfied. So tell me, are you truly a human being? You sound like a monkey; they are obsessed with dominance games and throwing feces at their enemies, just like you.
Oh, and thanks for illustrating my point with such a disgusting point of view.
It does not prove that you can learn; at least, not outside of the sciences. It proves that you can follow direction, prioritize tasks, handle stress, and regurgitate information. All useful skills in an employee, yes, but definately nothing to do with learning ability.
Ah, good. Enough to disqualify for Medicaid. The first serious medical problem in you or your spouse will destroy you pathetic fortune; so much for living forever.
I'd honestly like to know, why is letting 1000 some odd children die because some asshat tyrant can't be trusted better than having a fifth as many die, while granting freedom and independance?
Ah, I see you are attacking the problem with utilitarian ethics. Consider this: The time and resources spent saving those '1000 children' in Iraq might have saved 10,000 children in north or central Africa. There are men far more evil than Saddam Hussein running around in the world today, and we collectively care little about them.
I'm sorry, but your emotional appeal is nothing more than a very weak justification. If the US actually cared about 'freedom and independance' it would not limit itself to helping strategically important countries while abandoning the useless places to misery and death.
Here some anecdotal evidence. Blue-collar factory workers in Rome, NY could buy a car with less than a month's salary at the start of the '50s. This is, as you noted, laughably untrue today.
How many posters in this thread had to troubleshoot their system to get their audio device working? If each one of us simply wrote down the steps we took in solving the problem, posted it as plain text on a web page, then a simple search of Google would return step-by-step instructions for most devices in existence.
If such resources had not existed when I began my ALSA-kernel adventures, I would have surely been lost. Let's return the favor to the community at large; even the beginning user can contribute to Linux in this fashion...instead of passively waiting for godlike C hackers and bearded demidevelopers to fix the problem for them. That kind of dependent thinking will not be good for Linux in the long-term.
Linux might have a weakness, but I doubt it is support for sound.
It is not sound support, per se. Rather, I am beginning to suspect that the modularized nature of the sound system is just blowing peoples' minds. Kernel compilation, ALSA drivers, and.conf are just too scary for the neophyte, or for the user that does not yet grasp the *NIX topology/philosophy. If the distro installer does not get the sound configuration perfect, then the beginner is left with no idea what to do. At this point, the tenacious settle in for many, many hours of Internet reading. The rest return to the familiar, safe OS.
Now whether or not Linux should be designed for "the rest" is a different matter. I happen to think not; but at the very least, we should think about making sound issues easier for the tenacious learner.
It's not about whether I trust Google's intentions. So long as Google is an American company, or more precisely so long as its headquarters exist in *any* country, there's a danger that the government of said country can bully them into giving up all the information they have on anybody.
If anyone needs further illustration on this point, I suggest referring to Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson. Folow the narrative threads dealing with The Vault, its reasons for existing, and what others do to stop its creation.
Quit acting like you need to help people cope with their addiction to television. Ironically people who use this argument are often recreational illegal drug smokers. It's all about entertainment folks, don't judge people for the kind they like best.
'Illegal drug smokers' is itself a judging statement. If that form of entertainment is punishable by prison, then is it not acceptable for its practioners to point out the double standard that exists? TV addiction is socially sanctioned, and hence most of the population is unaware that it a Bad Thing the in same way drugs are Bad Things.
Either terribly addictive pasttimes are allowed, or they are not. Society needs to make the decision, but in the mean time you can stop perpetrating the double standard.
Oooh! Oooh! It's the year that Linux is finally going to take over the desktop... again. Just like 1997 was. And 1998. Oh, and 1999. 2000? 2001? 2002? 2003? Sensing a trend?
Who made these announcements? The 1998 article on a Linux "e-zine" is not quite the same thing as an article in The Economist. One audience consists of geeky hobbyists; the other includes the intelligent, wealthy, and powerful. The message might not have changed in all these years, but it is reaching increasingly important people every day.
I'm surprised at how many slashdotters are so non-chalant towards Google's complete lack of respect for privacy.
A good rule of thumb: Never, ever slander the names of Google or Apple on Slashdot. They are Righteous companies, and such blaspheming will only see your posts descend to the nether reaches of -1dom.
Problem is that I no longer trust the "trustworthy" news sources.
Balance out your US news by reading opposition news. I suggest Al-Jazeera. Despite what Donald Rumsfeld may claim, their journalism is no more biased than one of Rupert Mudorch's outfits. The quality of news varies, from hastily written reactionary news to deep and knowledgable analysis of geopolitics (and neoconservatism in particular). The political cartoons are quite incisive and worth checking out as well.
I find that getting doses of propaganda from each side tends to nullify each other's effect, leaving me able to figure out the truth more accurately.
In Manhattan, midtown parking rules are not realistic for the amount of logistical traffic businesses generate. Every building receives deliveries from FedEx, UPS, Airborne, or the like, and shipping trucks are omnipresent in the urban landscape. There is quite literally no space for these trucks to stop; waiting for a nearby space to open would take an unprofitable amount of time, so the drivers stop illegally.
Now the NYPD has an entire division of "Traffic Enforcement" officers. These officers are stationed block by block in the densest parts of the city, and immediately ticket parking violations (minimum fine raised recently to $100+). I estimate that the NYPD generates $1000 in ticket revenue per week from traffic to my one building alone. Imagine totaling that amount for the whole city over the course of a year? The drivers haved joked that the NYPD courteously offers the shipping companies an annual flat rate. I can easily see this being the case.
But wait, what does parking have to do with traffic? These same stationary Traffic officers also ticket cars in traffic (Not wearing a seltbelt? Pull over). Turns are strategically prohibted; you can usually see multiple officers policing these profitable locations. I see at least a dozen drivers ticketed in a busy hour.
I suppose these are not scientific results, but they are first-hand observations (a few years of cigarette breaks). Believe them, or not.
Slashdot Mirror
Don't forget the part about placing value judgements on people based upon how much, or little, they made for themselves. It might look wide and free, like the sea, but there is a very fixed path to follow; freedom isn't real if all options but one have negative consequences attached.
And if the violence in Afghanistan has a "relevance of 0" then why the fuck did you say that increasing violence in the Middle East is a justification for war? Have you ever heard of the "Iraq-Iran War?" Go learn about it. Does that not count as violence that far surpasses anything 1994-2004 has seen? Or is "violence" only considered violence when it is done against a Christian/Westerner? That is the impression I get from your words.
Self-deception? It's far more pleasant to go through life thinking that you could be the next Donald Trump, Bill Gates, or J. Lo, than it is to realize that you are and will always be a peasant-consumer. Just look at the people who play the Lottery, or who love the shows where a superstar is discovered, out of a huge mass of untalented humanity.
Don't underestimate the human ability to ignore inconvenient facts, I guess.
===---===
Unforunately, at least 40% of the population disagrees. They believe, perhaps unconciously, that if they align themselves with the interests of the rich, goodness will trickle down to them, or they will eventually be recognized and rewarded for their loyalty. They (or more precisely, their children) will rise into the Society of the Rich. This is how poor immigrants are deceived into becoming Republicans (besides their religious conservatism, but that is another story).
Might as well call yourself a dog waiting for scraps at Master's table. But then again, I must just be a liberal unionloving pinko....what do I know.
===---===
You presume too much. If geeks were 'smart' in the way you suggest, then they would be salesmen, not engineers. Interviewing is a marketing process, not a technical process. Competence, grooming, charisma, physical beauty, rapport, past experience, background check, formal education.....and then regional employment levels, business priorities, the latest WSJ market forecast, outsourcing trends, a golf buddy's recommendations.....all of these things influence one's employment. Surely you do not think that computer proficiency and "smarts" can overcome all of these variables?
Why would you want to abdicate responsibility to a union anyway? Soon enough they will do something you don't like and than you have no way out.
And you cannot say exactly the same thing about working for a corporation? In both cases there is a way out, namely, quitting. It may not be a feasible option, but it just cold economic fact.
===--===
Does your violence include the first Shia rebellion of 1918? (That would be Iraqis, angrily throwing out British troops). Does your violence include the formation of Israel, and the many wars that followed? Does it include the artificial separation of Pakistan and India, for colonial control? How about the whole Soviet-Afghanistan conflict, in which the US created the monster called Osama Bin Laden? Lets not forget who gave Saddam Hussein his weapons (but he was a GOOD tyrant then, right?).
Shall we go back even further, to the many Crusades which pitted Moslem against Christian? There has always been conflict in that part of the world...and alot of it is caused by Western Civilizations, the most recent and powerful of which is the United States.
Once again, do you have anything to offer besides weak neocon justifications?
===---===
I do not like human beings who play with the lives of others in a callous, self-righteous fashion.
I do not like people who use pretend accents to seem more 'homey.'
I do not like executives who base diplomacy on gut reaction.
I do not like unknowlegdable leaders who depend upon advisors to tell them what to do.
I do not like hypocritically religious people.
I do not like people who encourage hatred against fellow Americans if they happen to be homosexual (see point above).
But other than that, what's wrong with Bush? I'm sure he means well.
===---===
Yes, because we all know how effective the UN can be with the resources and authority that the member states allow it. UN airstrikes against tyrant strongholds are the very definition of "Shock and Awe," I know.
Refresh my memory. Who is planning a mission to the Chad/Sudan region, geopolitically considered to be the least useful place on earth -- the US, or the UN? Do you, in all of your presumed geopolitical knowledge, know the strategic value of Sudan that I am unaware of? If you do not, then.....your arguement is bunk. Sorry.
===---===
Yes, the war is about stability: the status quo of American dominance. What is the hallmark of a nation destroyed and rebuilt by the United States? What do Japan, Germany, and South Korea have in common?
Military bases. Thousands of American soldiers ready to respond to any crises in the local Theater of Operations. If this whole Iraq thing works out, the United States is going to have a better friend than Israel in the Middle East. It is not going to need Saudi Arabia or Jordan or Turkey for the next military exercise; it will have a true ally (or true lackey, depending on your point of view) from which to launch planes.
Unless thrown out by force, the US military is going to have a permanent presence in Iraq in the coming decades. Just wait and see.
===---===
So you really don't give a fsck about freedom in rest of the world. So long as everyone recognizies that we (America) are the Alpha Male, you are satisfied. So tell me, are you truly a human being? You sound like a monkey; they are obsessed with dominance games and throwing feces at their enemies, just like you.
Oh, and thanks for illustrating my point with such a disgusting point of view.
===--===
Or just move to New York City, as the parent poster did. That is why he was offered 62K out of college, and why degreeless techs make 55K.
Just do not expect that salary to follow you outside of the Metroplex....
====--=====
It does not prove that you can learn; at least, not outside of the sciences. It proves that you can follow direction, prioritize tasks, handle stress, and regurgitate information. All useful skills in an employee, yes, but definately nothing to do with learning ability.
===---===
Ah, good. Enough to disqualify for Medicaid. The first serious medical problem in you or your spouse will destroy you pathetic fortune; so much for living forever.
===---===
Ah, I see you are attacking the problem with utilitarian ethics. Consider this: The time and resources spent saving those '1000 children' in Iraq might have saved 10,000 children in north or central Africa. There are men far more evil than Saddam Hussein running around in the world today, and we collectively care little about them.
I'm sorry, but your emotional appeal is nothing more than a very weak justification. If the US actually cared about 'freedom and independance' it would not limit itself to helping strategically important countries while abandoning the useless places to misery and death.
===---===
====---====
If such resources had not existed when I began my ALSA-kernel adventures, I would have surely been lost. Let's return the favor to the community at large; even the beginning user can contribute to Linux in this fashion...instead of passively waiting for godlike C hackers and bearded demidevelopers to fix the problem for them. That kind of dependent thinking will not be good for Linux in the long-term.
====---====
It is not sound support, per se. Rather, I am beginning to suspect that the modularized nature of the sound system is just blowing peoples' minds. Kernel compilation, ALSA drivers, and .conf are just too scary for the neophyte, or for the user that does not yet grasp the *NIX topology/philosophy. If the distro installer does not get the sound configuration perfect, then the beginner is left with no idea what to do. At this point, the tenacious settle in for many, many hours of Internet reading. The rest return to the familiar, safe OS.
Now whether or not Linux should be designed for "the rest" is a different matter. I happen to think not; but at the very least, we should think about making sound issues easier for the tenacious learner.
===---===
If anyone needs further illustration on this point, I suggest referring to Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson. Folow the narrative threads dealing with The Vault, its reasons for existing, and what others do to stop its creation.
===---===
'Illegal drug smokers' is itself a judging statement. If that form of entertainment is punishable by prison, then is it not acceptable for its practioners to point out the double standard that exists? TV addiction is socially sanctioned, and hence most of the population is unaware that it a Bad Thing the in same way drugs are Bad Things.
Either terribly addictive pasttimes are allowed, or they are not. Society needs to make the decision, but in the mean time you can stop perpetrating the double standard.
===---===
Who made these announcements? The 1998 article on a Linux "e-zine" is not quite the same thing as an article in The Economist. One audience consists of geeky hobbyists; the other includes the intelligent, wealthy, and powerful. The message might not have changed in all these years, but it is reaching increasingly important people every day.
===--===
A good rule of thumb: Never, ever slander the names of Google or Apple on Slashdot. They are Righteous companies, and such blaspheming will only see your posts descend to the nether reaches of -1dom.
===---===
Checkinstall also handles vanilla .tgz packages, so you can add Slackware to that list.
===---===
Balance out your US news by reading opposition news. I suggest Al-Jazeera. Despite what Donald Rumsfeld may claim, their journalism is no more biased than one of Rupert Mudorch's outfits. The quality of news varies, from hastily written reactionary news to deep and knowledgable analysis of geopolitics (and neoconservatism in particular). The political cartoons are quite incisive and worth checking out as well.
I find that getting doses of propaganda from each side tends to nullify each other's effect, leaving me able to figure out the truth more accurately.
===---====
Now the NYPD has an entire division of "Traffic Enforcement" officers. These officers are stationed block by block in the densest parts of the city, and immediately ticket parking violations (minimum fine raised recently to $100+). I estimate that the NYPD generates $1000 in ticket revenue per week from traffic to my one building alone. Imagine totaling that amount for the whole city over the course of a year? The drivers haved joked that the NYPD courteously offers the shipping companies an annual flat rate. I can easily see this being the case.
But wait, what does parking have to do with traffic? These same stationary Traffic officers also ticket cars in traffic (Not wearing a seltbelt? Pull over). Turns are strategically prohibted; you can usually see multiple officers policing these profitable locations. I see at least a dozen drivers ticketed in a busy hour.
I suppose these are not scientific results, but they are first-hand observations (a few years of cigarette breaks). Believe them, or not.
===-===