"That says that 7 in 10 believe that it's "at least likely" that Saddam played some role. Which is a reasonable belief."
No, it's not. By all accounts, Saddam and Osama did not like each other (different religious factions to name one reason, there are others). What "some" people do believe, however, is that Al Qaueda had links to Iraq. Problem with that is, Al Qaeda has links to almost every country on earth, including the US (remember when Osama visited the US for medical treatment?). What is wrong with this, is that those saying these things (Bush and Co.) knew exactly what people would discern from their statements. They knew what they had to say in order to gain support from the masses. They did so quite well I might add. Saddam had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11, they had no weapons of mass destruction (should have left the inspectors in there to "make sure"), and Iraq had absolutely no means to attack us (we destroyed their military and country over the previous 10 years). No, we invaded for other reasons, but the allusion to those reasons would have kept us from invading. Ergo, PR machine in full force. And it worked. Yay us...
Um, they CHOSE to kill themselves on purpose. This took a great leap of "faith" on their part, spurred by their religion. More people have died due to religious beliefs (Christians especially) than any other cause in human history. This is a fact, get over it.
"True, but doing heroin doesn't give insight as to how to live your life, how to treat those around you and how to deal with life's unforeseen problems."
You are correct, living by normal, generally accepted morals does however. No need for religion. I'm agnostic and have been called the best Christian this person had known. I never told her I wasn't a Christian (or any other flavor of utterly faith based belief system), but it didn't matter. Suggesting that you need religion to know that "feeding the poor", is the right thing to do is quite silly. I give donation cards for the holidays, etc...
Point is, none of your assertions require a religion, but rather require sticking to generally accepted moral standards. Some do need them explained, either through a religion or through exhaustive (at times) philosophical discussion before they are accepted as "good". I simply had the latter. I'm a confirmed
Catholic and a Lutheran (long story), and am surrounded by highly religious people of all faiths, but I still find it to be a bit silly once critical thought is thrown into the mix. If you want to believe in a higher power, fine, but everything after that is pure fantasy to me. Rituals that would have the un-indoctrinated giggling in the corner could be found in almost any organized religion, and is used for solidification of power. Nothing more...
Funny, that's how they do it in almost every other democratic, industrialized country. Hell, in France if breakfast is cold they run to the streets with pickets, and you can bet tomorrow their eggs will be piping hot. In most of these states, the government is actually scared of it's people, which is how it should be...
But in the US, we've been marginalized with stupidity. We are absolutely void of critical thought. All we needs is a "support our troops" sticker, an American flag flying outside of our house, and a sound bite from a politician saying "you won't die if you vote for me", and the rest will be OK. Fear breeds consent, and "some" of our politicians use it to the max. In fact, it's catching on in other countries too.
If we brought critical thought to the countryside, I believe this would be a much better country (as far as politics/power go). Too many with voter's cards think that "kicking ass!" is how we win, which is the great ruse of our time (US), perpetrated by those currently in power...
You'd be surprised (or not...) by how many times I have heard this, and it mirrors my own experience. I purchased far more legal CDs when I was illegally downloading music. Not only was I introduced to more music that I normally wouldn't have heard, but I felt more "sure" of my purchases, making it easier to buy CDs. Without that overwhelming feeling of possible "buyers remorse", I was able to buy CDs much easier.
"The stuff you mentioned is basically just.. storage. You also mention calendars, web hosting, and e-mail. Google does all that too, of course. Except it does that part for free.
Last I checked Google just works, and I expect this will just work too, and it looks like it'll just work for less money.
Again, can't believe you were modded up for that... it's as if you "skipped" the rest that.Mac does, just like the parent did. Does it do those things like upload web pages with one click via apps like iLife (this is the big one... seems to be missing from your post)? I can have a brand new web page up in under 3 minutes, beautifully designed, with slideshows and video. Yes, in under 3 minutes, with all of my media at my fingertips. Will it give you video tutorials on how to use those applications? Does it sync bookmarks, passwords (keychain), third party applications? Does it give you a backup application that works with it too? Did you go to the link and see these things? Does it do one click gallery posting right from your photo or video applications (in this case iPhoto) nicely designed, without know ONE thing about the internets? Groups, iCards, Calendar publishing and synching, etc... all in one place, with one click.
No it doesn't, of course. If you are a strapped for cash, web tech geek with nothing but time to spend, then sure, use Google... but for the "rest" of the world (90% of us), that just wants it to work without knowing anything about how it works (my mother certainly does not want to learn HTML or anything about web hosting, that's for sure...), then this is by far, the best around. Period, and it's worth every penny.
Holy bejeesus, I can't believe you got modded up for that completely misleading comment. It's not $99 just for storage, it's also email, one-click publishing of web pages and photo pages. Groups. Automatic calander, bookmark, address book, email and some third party syncing. Easy Mac and PC (and Web) access to upload and download from anywhere, video tutorials, backup application, etc... the list is very long.
One of the biggest reasons for spending $500-$600 dollars on a PS3 is that it plays BluRay. Period. If there are poeple out there that would actually buy a gaming console for that much for no other reason that it says "Sony" on the box, without nearly as many refined games as the X-Box, or as fun as some on the Wii then they have far too much money on their hands, and they are too dumb to realize it.
BluRay players alone are still around $500. That's the only reason to pay that much for a PS3.
Seriously, that stat seems highly dubious to me...
You can buy a fully loaded, upgradable computer with Dual 2.66 Xeons and a NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT graphics card with 256MB memory for $240!?! Holy shit! Where?
Silliness aside (and that was beyond silly), the iMac is for a certain audience. You sound like you want a Mac Pro but can't afford one. Fine. I want a Corvette and I also cannot afford one. Join the club...
You just said 10 things that an iMac buyer wouldn't even know what they meant. Point is made. BTW, you are using a Pro machine (POWERBook, not an iBook, just like MacBook is to the MacBook PRO). The iMac is not a pro machine. Just like you can't, and never could, do those things with the consumer line of notebooks from Apple. It's always been this way.
"Even laptops have drive bays and PC Card slots ya know, and there's no reason (not even looks) why iMacs couldn't have these features."
Actually, that is the reason. It would definitely have to be much bigger, and with more "holes" in it. Have you ever seen the inside of one of these? There isn't any room for an ant to crawl in them... A couple of drive bays and expansion slots would make the thing twice as big. The iMac's core buyer does not care for these features anyway, and the sleek design is a huge part of their appeal. Period. For those that want those other features, Apple offers the Mac Pro. It's that simple...
How in the world is this trolling? Sorry, but that made me laugh....
Troll? Seriously? Ah well, gotta love/. and the fact that "everyone" has a chance to get some mod points at times..., even "them".
Fear of the unknown isn't proof of malevolence. Now realize that if they could have wiped us out, then realize that they haven't and move on...
"Maybe we should be glad if we're too insignificant to be noticed just yet. (We certainly don't have our act together, at any rate.)"
Many have theorized this is exactly what is going on. They are waiting to see (without intervention) if we are a fit species before making any significant contact. Otherwise it would be like giving a 4 year old a hand grenade ("interstellar space travel and a ray gun!? yeeeeeehaaaaaawwww!!!). I certainly do not think we are going to pass the test, but who knows...
They've visited us numerous times, and throughout our Earth's history (humans are relatively very young, and have only been around for a very small portion of time). But, for any semblance of proof, start at this non-profit organization. Then, read the hundreds of very well referenced books, talk to the thousands of witnesses, watch the videos, see the images. You can even cut out 99% of the stuff you find on the subject. Cut out the questionable sources that would make any illogical skeptic proud, and you would still have overwhelming evidences. You can even go into the in depth investigation of these by scientist doing nothing more than trying to get us closer to a truth.
There is in fact a cover-up, it's largely to blame for the missing "proof", and this has been known for decades to many of us. But, there will always be those that choose to believe that these ignorant beings are going to just fly around like bees without any regard for the humans that might be able to see them and ask "why haven't they landed in my front yard? I won't believe until then...", etc... There is far more evidence than what would be needed to prove their existence in a court of law, handily, easily, without question, over and over again. That should be good enough for most, but alas it is not.
Fermi's paradox is simply partly due to the cover-up, partly due to these beings being intelligent (don't want them to see us? no problem...), and partly due to people just not wanting to realizing the information that is out there for perusal. Nothing more...
With current technological advances being exponential, it is perfectly conceivable that we will find ways to survive on a logistical and technological level.
Far more worrisome is whether we as a species are able to overcome basic human nature. Greed for want of power has almost wiped us out already, and I'm sure it will happen again. Now consider that the ability to, and the amount of people that would like to have that power is also becoming exponential.
"What the hell is a person supposed to do when they're in the bush for a few days and they can't swap out their old battery with a charged one?"
Dude, if you're in the bush, and have nothing else in the way of communication outside of a cell phone with no way to charge it (or to be plugged in just to use if the battery did all of a sudden, at the worst time possible not hold any charge at all anymore), then I would have to sipmly call that evidence of Classic Darwinism, but not much more. I certainly wouldn't blame the cell phone manufacturer.
So, an extra purchase means they are equal? Interesting logic...
"Are you being obtuse? Palms have had a touch screen since they came out over ten years ago."
... that you must use with a stylus. Nice try... but no cigar.
"I don't know what you are talking about, but TCPMP seems to play my OGGs just fine from any of my SD cards, which I've been using since I had a Palm m500. It's also handy to take the SD card from my digital camera and upload the pictures to my webserver via my Treo."
Cool, now you and the other guy that needs to do that can high five each other.
"Yeah, it's about 75% the size of the iPhone's screen. Not too shabby, especially considering that it came out on the market years ago."
The screen is far to small to watch movies on. Again, nice try. It's not nearly as bright either.
Does it run on OS X? "No; that's one of the reasons I like it:)"
Well, that's just dumb. I seriously am not sure what that means.
etc... etc... etc... I can sit here and explain rare minutiae of anything that a small minority of actual users would need, and say that it sucks because it doesn't have it. In the same breath I can explain all the things that the iPhone does far better (and nicer, cleaner, more intuitive, etc...) for the other 95% of us. You claim he's an Apple fanboy, I claim you are clinging to your Treo as if it's the only thing you have ever loved in your life, and others are trying to say something is better, and you don't like it. No sir, you do not like it one bit!
Sorry, but that's what you sound like to me. I'll take the fanboy blurb any day over that.
You are a greedy, un-Christian (obviously), immoral person. Using basic health-care as a deterent to being "poor" is beyond evil. I'm sorry, but I like freedom more than your ability to become rich. I am OK with paying more taxes to ensure health care for all. The benefits far outweigh the greedy's want for more (that would be you my friend).
If you are rich, you will get the best treatment possible. If you are a regular working person, with normal health care coverage, you will have many people in the chain doing everything they can do to NOT provide you with service. Welcome to your "dream world". It's insane, and you are completely unaware of it... shame. You're a kid of the 80's, aren't you...
BTW, you're wrong. When someone claims bankruptcy to pay for health bills (by the way, health bills are the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the US... nice), the government doesn't step in and pay for them dummy. The hospital takes a hit (which ACTUALLY means they just make less money), the patient pays what they can while moving into squalor, no matter how hard they've worked their entire lives, and you get to buy a BMW instead of a Volvo because they didn't take taxes out of your paycheck to help pay for it.
Do not, ever, say we hold a higher moral stance in this country. It's people like you that have dragged the US into the depths of moral depravity. Good show...
Your post makes no logical sense whatsoever. If you prefer, read a book on the subject. If you are just smart enough to not trust yourself because you tend to believe all that you hear and are therefore unable to make informed decisions and formulate opinions from them (*ahem* critical thought), then yes, stay away from all knowledge. It will obviously do you no good anyway.
Slashdot Mirror
"That says that 7 in 10 believe that it's "at least likely" that Saddam played some role. Which is a reasonable belief."
No, it's not. By all accounts, Saddam and Osama did not like each other (different religious factions to name one reason, there are others). What "some" people do believe, however, is that Al Qaueda had links to Iraq. Problem with that is, Al Qaeda has links to almost every country on earth, including the US (remember when Osama visited the US for medical treatment?). What is wrong with this, is that those saying these things (Bush and Co.) knew exactly what people would discern from their statements. They knew what they had to say in order to gain support from the masses. They did so quite well I might add. Saddam had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11, they had no weapons of mass destruction (should have left the inspectors in there to "make sure"), and Iraq had absolutely no means to attack us (we destroyed their military and country over the previous 10 years). No, we invaded for other reasons, but the allusion to those reasons would have kept us from invading. Ergo, PR machine in full force. And it worked. Yay us...
"Actually what I find most amazing about the 9/11 Saddam link myth: The ONLY people I have ever met that believes it are liberals."
You need to get out more, and read this.
Um, they CHOSE to kill themselves on purpose. This took a great leap of "faith" on their part, spurred by their religion. More people have died due to religious beliefs (Christians especially) than any other cause in human history. This is a fact, get over it.
"True, but doing heroin doesn't give insight as to how to live your life, how to treat those around you and how to deal with life's unforeseen problems."
You are correct, living by normal, generally accepted morals does however. No need for religion. I'm agnostic and have been called the best Christian this person had known. I never told her I wasn't a Christian (or any other flavor of utterly faith based belief system), but it didn't matter. Suggesting that you need religion to know that "feeding the poor", is the right thing to do is quite silly. I give donation cards for the holidays, etc...
Point is, none of your assertions require a religion, but rather require sticking to generally accepted moral standards. Some do need them explained, either through a religion or through exhaustive (at times) philosophical discussion before they are accepted as "good". I simply had the latter. I'm a confirmed Catholic and a Lutheran (long story), and am surrounded by highly religious people of all faiths, but I still find it to be a bit silly once critical thought is thrown into the mix. If you want to believe in a higher power, fine, but everything after that is pure fantasy to me. Rituals that would have the un-indoctrinated giggling in the corner could be found in almost any organized religion, and is used for solidification of power. Nothing more...
Why?
Corroboration and multiple resources are always good, but Wiki isn't nearly as bas today as it seems.
Funny, that's how they do it in almost every other democratic, industrialized country. Hell, in France if breakfast is cold they run to the streets with pickets, and you can bet tomorrow their eggs will be piping hot. In most of these states, the government is actually scared of it's people, which is how it should be...
But in the US, we've been marginalized with stupidity. We are absolutely void of critical thought. All we needs is a "support our troops" sticker, an American flag flying outside of our house, and a sound bite from a politician saying "you won't die if you vote for me", and the rest will be OK. Fear breeds consent, and "some" of our politicians use it to the max. In fact, it's catching on in other countries too.
If we brought critical thought to the countryside, I believe this would be a much better country (as far as politics/power go). Too many with voter's cards think that "kicking ass!" is how we win, which is the great ruse of our time (US), perpetrated by those currently in power...
Kudos on your post...
"I can't wait for the Dell-Biobattery recall: My laptop popped, then began to digest itself on the desk."
...and then it turned into a Trapper Keeper®?
You'd be surprised (or not...) by how many times I have heard this, and it mirrors my own experience. I purchased far more legal CDs when I was illegally downloading music. Not only was I introduced to more music that I normally wouldn't have heard, but I felt more "sure" of my purchases, making it easier to buy CDs. Without that overwhelming feeling of possible "buyers remorse", I was able to buy CDs much easier.
"The stuff you mentioned is basically just.. storage. You also mention calendars, web hosting, and e-mail. Google does all that too, of course. Except it does that part for free.
.Mac does, just like the parent did. Does it do those things like upload web pages with one click via apps like iLife (this is the big one... seems to be missing from your post)? I can have a brand new web page up in under 3 minutes, beautifully designed, with slideshows and video. Yes, in under 3 minutes, with all of my media at my fingertips. Will it give you video tutorials on how to use those applications? Does it sync bookmarks, passwords (keychain), third party applications? Does it give you a backup application that works with it too? Did you go to the link and see these things? Does it do one click gallery posting right from your photo or video applications (in this case iPhoto) nicely designed, without know ONE thing about the internets? Groups, iCards, Calendar publishing and synching, etc... all in one place, with one click.
Last I checked Google just works, and I expect this will just work too, and it looks like it'll just work for less money.
Again, can't believe you were modded up for that... it's as if you "skipped" the rest that
No it doesn't, of course. If you are a strapped for cash, web tech geek with nothing but time to spend, then sure, use Google... but for the "rest" of the world (90% of us), that just wants it to work without knowing anything about how it works (my mother certainly does not want to learn HTML or anything about web hosting, that's for sure...), then this is by far, the best around. Period, and it's worth every penny.
Holy bejeesus, I can't believe you got modded up for that completely misleading comment. It's not $99 just for storage, it's also email, one-click publishing of web pages and photo pages. Groups. Automatic calander, bookmark, address book, email and some third party syncing. Easy Mac and PC (and Web) access to upload and download from anywhere, video tutorials, backup application, etc... the list is very long.
.Mac. It just works.
Check it out.
I use it every day and love it. I have found no better coupling than iLife and
I remember reading an article where China had released a GM car copy even before GM had released it.
And what sort of support would you get for this phone or it's service?
One of the biggest reasons for spending $500-$600 dollars on a PS3 is that it plays BluRay. Period. If there are poeple out there that would actually buy a gaming console for that much for no other reason that it says "Sony" on the box, without nearly as many refined games as the X-Box, or as fun as some on the Wii then they have far too much money on their hands, and they are too dumb to realize it.
BluRay players alone are still around $500. That's the only reason to pay that much for a PS3.
Seriously, that stat seems highly dubious to me...
You can buy a fully loaded, upgradable computer with Dual 2.66 Xeons and a NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT graphics card with 256MB memory for $240!?! Holy shit! Where?
Silliness aside (and that was beyond silly), the iMac is for a certain audience. You sound like you want a Mac Pro but can't afford one. Fine. I want a Corvette and I also cannot afford one. Join the club...
You just said 10 things that an iMac buyer wouldn't even know what they meant. Point is made. BTW, you are using a Pro machine (POWERBook, not an iBook, just like MacBook is to the MacBook PRO). The iMac is not a pro machine. Just like you can't, and never could, do those things with the consumer line of notebooks from Apple. It's always been this way.
"Even laptops have drive bays and PC Card slots ya know, and there's no reason (not even looks) why iMacs couldn't have these features."
Actually, that is the reason. It would definitely have to be much bigger, and with more "holes" in it. Have you ever seen the inside of one of these? There isn't any room for an ant to crawl in them... A couple of drive bays and expansion slots would make the thing twice as big. The iMac's core buyer does not care for these features anyway, and the sleek design is a huge part of their appeal. Period. For those that want those other features, Apple offers the Mac Pro. It's that simple...
How in the world is this trolling? Sorry, but that made me laugh.... Troll? Seriously? Ah well, gotta love /. and the fact that "everyone" has a chance to get some mod points at times..., even "them".
*giggle*.
Fear of the unknown isn't proof of malevolence. Now realize that if they could have wiped us out, then realize that they haven't and move on...
"Maybe we should be glad if we're too insignificant to be noticed just yet. (We certainly don't have our act together, at any rate.)"
Many have theorized this is exactly what is going on. They are waiting to see (without intervention) if we are a fit species before making any significant contact. Otherwise it would be like giving a 4 year old a hand grenade ("interstellar space travel and a ray gun!? yeeeeeehaaaaaawwww!!!). I certainly do not think we are going to pass the test, but who knows...
They've visited us numerous times, and throughout our Earth's history (humans are relatively very young, and have only been around for a very small portion of time). But, for any semblance of proof, start at this non-profit organization. Then, read the hundreds of very well referenced books, talk to the thousands of witnesses, watch the videos, see the images. You can even cut out 99% of the stuff you find on the subject. Cut out the questionable sources that would make any illogical skeptic proud, and you would still have overwhelming evidences. You can even go into the in depth investigation of these by scientist doing nothing more than trying to get us closer to a truth.
There is in fact a cover-up, it's largely to blame for the missing "proof", and this has been known for decades to many of us. But, there will always be those that choose to believe that these ignorant beings are going to just fly around like bees without any regard for the humans that might be able to see them and ask "why haven't they landed in my front yard? I won't believe until then...", etc... There is far more evidence than what would be needed to prove their existence in a court of law, handily, easily, without question, over and over again. That should be good enough for most, but alas it is not.
Fermi's paradox is simply partly due to the cover-up, partly due to these beings being intelligent (don't want them to see us? no problem...), and partly due to people just not wanting to realizing the information that is out there for perusal. Nothing more...
With current technological advances being exponential, it is perfectly conceivable that we will find ways to survive on a logistical and technological level.
Far more worrisome is whether we as a species are able to overcome basic human nature. Greed for want of power has almost wiped us out already, and I'm sure it will happen again. Now consider that the ability to, and the amount of people that would like to have that power is also becoming exponential.
My money is on us killing us.
Of course it's satire, some of these are hillarious...
What?
"What the hell is a person supposed to do when they're in the bush for a few days and they can't swap out their old battery with a charged one?"
Dude, if you're in the bush, and have nothing else in the way of communication outside of a cell phone with no way to charge it (or to be plugged in just to use if the battery did all of a sudden, at the worst time possible not hold any charge at all anymore), then I would have to sipmly call that evidence of Classic Darwinism, but not much more. I certainly wouldn't blame the cell phone manufacturer.
"There is wifi available for it"
:)"
So, an extra purchase means they are equal? Interesting logic...
"Are you being obtuse? Palms have had a touch screen since they came out over ten years ago."
... that you must use with a stylus. Nice try... but no cigar.
"I don't know what you are talking about, but TCPMP seems to play my OGGs just fine from any of my SD cards, which I've been using since I had a Palm m500. It's also handy to take the SD card from my digital camera and upload the pictures to my webserver via my Treo."
Cool, now you and the other guy that needs to do that can high five each other.
"Yeah, it's about 75% the size of the iPhone's screen. Not too shabby, especially considering that it came out on the market years ago."
The screen is far to small to watch movies on. Again, nice try. It's not nearly as bright either.
Does it run on OS X? "No; that's one of the reasons I like it
Well, that's just dumb. I seriously am not sure what that means.
etc... etc... etc... I can sit here and explain rare minutiae of anything that a small minority of actual users would need, and say that it sucks because it doesn't have it. In the same breath I can explain all the things that the iPhone does far better (and nicer, cleaner, more intuitive, etc...) for the other 95% of us. You claim he's an Apple fanboy, I claim you are clinging to your Treo as if it's the only thing you have ever loved in your life, and others are trying to say something is better, and you don't like it. No sir, you do not like it one bit!
Sorry, but that's what you sound like to me. I'll take the fanboy blurb any day over that.
"By the way, I said impeach both of them."
I did also. Why did you assume that I didn't? I guess that's what "stupid" people do I suppose... assume thing.
You are a greedy, un-Christian (obviously), immoral person. Using basic health-care as a deterent to being "poor" is beyond evil. I'm sorry, but I like freedom more than your ability to become rich. I am OK with paying more taxes to ensure health care for all. The benefits far outweigh the greedy's want for more (that would be you my friend).
If you are rich, you will get the best treatment possible. If you are a regular working person, with normal health care coverage, you will have many people in the chain doing everything they can do to NOT provide you with service. Welcome to your "dream world". It's insane, and you are completely unaware of it... shame. You're a kid of the 80's, aren't you...
BTW, you're wrong. When someone claims bankruptcy to pay for health bills (by the way, health bills are the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the US... nice), the government doesn't step in and pay for them dummy. The hospital takes a hit (which ACTUALLY means they just make less money), the patient pays what they can while moving into squalor, no matter how hard they've worked their entire lives, and you get to buy a BMW instead of a Volvo because they didn't take taxes out of your paycheck to help pay for it.
Do not, ever, say we hold a higher moral stance in this country. It's people like you that have dragged the US into the depths of moral depravity. Good show...
Your post makes no logical sense whatsoever. If you prefer, read a book on the subject. If you are just smart enough to not trust yourself because you tend to believe all that you hear and are therefore unable to make informed decisions and formulate opinions from them (*ahem* critical thought), then yes, stay away from all knowledge. It will obviously do you no good anyway.