The irony is that America is surprisingly Communist itself. An enormous number of Americans are supported by the government, when you consider all the people:
On welfare or government-paid disability;
Working for the federal government, or a state, or municipal government;
Working in the military;
Working for a business that gets government aid;
Farmers who receive government aid;
... and so on. America is very much a welfare state, and is very close to being a democratic communist state.
An amateur astronomer too? That stands side by side with ham radio for geekosity. Any science where amateurs can still discover new things has got definite geek-cred.
There've been a few articles about geocaching, although I haven't seen anything about it in a while.
The company on Slashdot? There's some very insightful and witty people on slashdot, but you have sift through a lot of trolls, wanks, and freaks to find them. Of course, the trolls, wanks, and freaks are interesting in and of themselves. You definitely get exposed to new viewpoints, opinions, and ideas here.
So the legends are true... there are truly geeky girls in the world.
Hah, I kid. After I got stomped in the grade 11 Waterloo Math Contest by a grade 10 girl, my doubts about the existence of geek girls were forever quelled.
That's exactly the kind of attitude governments and police forces take to civilian ownership of encryption software. But it's not their place to decide what tools I should or should not have.
But a gun is indeed a tool. Just because you don't like what that tool is intended to do doesn't mean that it isn't a tool.
I don't like guns -- in fact, my instinct is to agree with you about abolishing guns. Guns disgust me. I don't even like being near police officers, knowing that they are carrying a lethal and destructive tool. But you know what? It's no more my place to tell gun nuts that they're wrong than it's their place to tell me that I can't encrypt my mash notes to my girlfriend.
Guns do have recreational uses, and there's nothing that makes hunting any worse than any other form of animal killing. Meat from wild animals is actually the ultimate cruelty-free food. Countless animals are killed whenever a field is plowed or threshed, whereas a single moose or deer can feel a number of people.
A year in jail?! He could have blinded those pilots, and he could have caused the deaths of hundreds of people! That kind of reckless mischief is serious businss. It warrants at least five or six years, especially since he did it repeatedly.
Agreed. It's time to start trotting out one of the America's greatest political quotes of all time again;
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" -- Franklin Roosevelt.
It's absolutely timeless wisdom.
Is the whole "illegal combatant" deal based on something? Is there an international treaty that spells out how these things work? I'm not doubting you, I'm just curious.
That's why my post clearly mentions a sensible directory structure. By allowing you to concentrate your search on just portion of the directory tree, you can grep through your files quite quickly. And I'd like to see a desktop search engine handle a regex.
They really ought to come standard with Windows -- they do so much to enhance the usability of windows, at least for power users. I can't think of anything funnier than the day Microsoft begins marketing Gnu/Windows.
With Gnu and a sensible directory structure, who needs a desktop search engine? Using Grep, Find, and Locate, it's easy to construct extraordinarily powerful searches using regexes. It takes a little longer to learn, but you don't have to deal with spyware and resource-hogging services.
Welcome to the real world. The disabled are NOT welcome ANYWHERE.
Most companies just hire a few people with irrelevant disabilities that don't actually impinge on their ability to work -- like people who require a wheelchair. That way can they show off the fact that they don't discriminate, without having to actually employ anyone whose productivity would be below average.
People with real disabilities, like severe schizophrenia, a learning impairment, or even plain old major depressive disorder, simply can't get good jobs. They're doomed to spend their lives in janitorial positions and the service industry, going from job to job because they can't hold down even such these simple positions. If the person is otherwise intelligent (and there are certainly lots of intelligent people with schizophrenia, depression, and other mental disorders), this is a death sentence.
You ass. Are you honestly saying that me organizing a volcano eruption party would be a bad idea? Just because we plan to camp on the side of Mount Saint Helens and watch it erupt, doesn't mean we're stupid. After all, we'll have plenty of time to get out of the was of the blast.
It's people like you who ruin all the best social activities. House-fire parties, mudslide-surfing, blasting-cap biting. Suck lemons, ass.
Ahh, well played. It is indeed the patent system that is problematic, not to mention the application of patents to fields where they are clearly not appropriate (such as genetics, software, and business methods).
Patents definitely ARE bad. It's a nice idea, but it doesn't work out in the real world. Like the most famous well intentioned idea -- communism -- it does nothing more than create an oppressive oligopoly.
Most of the Gnu OS is available for Windows in various forms. Installing Cygwin turns a normal Windows box into a serious power user's machine.
You really can't go wrong running Gnu/Windows. Hah! I wonder what RMS would think of the idea of Gnu/Windows?
Seriously though, Cygwin is awesome. My CompSci professors usually recommend that students install Cygwin for working on their assignments (since our assignments have to compile on the school's unix machines).
I DO just use Gnu/Linux. But that doesn't mean I can't feel contempt for people who waste money on inferior products.
I feel the same way about people who buy designer clothes or six different versions of the Star Wars DVD. Sure, it's their right to waste their money. But it's MY right to look down my nose at them for wasting their money.
What could possibly more horrible than FORCING people to work to live, when it's not necessary? I'd rather 95% of the population rot in front of a TV than force them to do busy-work that a robot could do better. When you force people to choose between labour and certain death, that's slavery. When a society requires that labour to function (as ours still does), it's an acceptable evil. When the society no longer requires labour, it's utterly abominable to still compell it.
I'll bet we can destroy the entire ozone layer for a fraction of the cost of one shuttle mission! Then we can use cheap ground-based telescopes to do UV imaging. And as an added benefit, it will kickstart the next stage of human mutation and evolution!
Slashdot Mirror
There've been a few articles about geocaching, although I haven't seen anything about it in a while.
The company on Slashdot? There's some very insightful and witty people on slashdot, but you have sift through a lot of trolls, wanks, and freaks to find them. Of course, the trolls, wanks, and freaks are interesting in and of themselves. You definitely get exposed to new viewpoints, opinions, and ideas here.
Hah, I kid. After I got stomped in the grade 11 Waterloo Math Contest by a grade 10 girl, my doubts about the existence of geek girls were forever quelled.
But a gun is indeed a tool. Just because you don't like what that tool is intended to do doesn't mean that it isn't a tool.
I don't like guns -- in fact, my instinct is to agree with you about abolishing guns. Guns disgust me. I don't even like being near police officers, knowing that they are carrying a lethal and destructive tool. But you know what? It's no more my place to tell gun nuts that they're wrong than it's their place to tell me that I can't encrypt my mash notes to my girlfriend.
Guns do have recreational uses, and there's nothing that makes hunting any worse than any other form of animal killing. Meat from wild animals is actually the ultimate cruelty-free food. Countless animals are killed whenever a field is plowed or threshed, whereas a single moose or deer can feel a number of people.
Or Doom on a graphing calculator. ;)
Ham radio people are are truly the geeks' geeks. The mad-science of it all truly inspires.
A year in jail?! He could have blinded those pilots, and he could have caused the deaths of hundreds of people! That kind of reckless mischief is serious businss. It warrants at least five or six years, especially since he did it repeatedly.
Agreed. It's time to start trotting out one of the America's greatest political quotes of all time again; "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" -- Franklin Roosevelt. It's absolutely timeless wisdom.
Is the whole "illegal combatant" deal based on something? Is there an international treaty that spells out how these things work? I'm not doubting you, I'm just curious.
Banning a tool is almost always a retarded move, be it a gun, a laser, encryption software, or a dvd copier.
That's why my post clearly mentions a sensible directory structure. By allowing you to concentrate your search on just portion of the directory tree, you can grep through your files quite quickly. And I'd like to see a desktop search engine handle a regex.
They really ought to come standard with Windows -- they do so much to enhance the usability of windows, at least for power users. I can't think of anything funnier than the day Microsoft begins marketing Gnu/Windows.
With Gnu and a sensible directory structure, who needs a desktop search engine? Using Grep, Find, and Locate, it's easy to construct extraordinarily powerful searches using regexes. It takes a little longer to learn, but you don't have to deal with spyware and resource-hogging services.
Most companies just hire a few people with irrelevant disabilities that don't actually impinge on their ability to work -- like people who require a wheelchair. That way can they show off the fact that they don't discriminate, without having to actually employ anyone whose productivity would be below average.
People with real disabilities, like severe schizophrenia, a learning impairment, or even plain old major depressive disorder, simply can't get good jobs. They're doomed to spend their lives in janitorial positions and the service industry, going from job to job because they can't hold down even such these simple positions. If the person is otherwise intelligent (and there are certainly lots of intelligent people with schizophrenia, depression, and other mental disorders), this is a death sentence.
Gasoline money, cannabis, or sexual favours? Man, that doesn't sound much like the Texas of song and story.
It's people like you who ruin all the best social activities. House-fire parties, mudslide-surfing, blasting-cap biting. Suck lemons, ass.
Or, for the more evolved, Gnu/Linux running on a G5. OS-X is nice for novices, but a Gnu OS is the only real operating system for pros.
Ahh, well played. It is indeed the patent system that is problematic, not to mention the application of patents to fields where they are clearly not appropriate (such as genetics, software, and business methods).
Patents definitely ARE bad. It's a nice idea, but it doesn't work out in the real world. Like the most famous well intentioned idea -- communism -- it does nothing more than create an oppressive oligopoly.
Hah! Hilarously scathing.
You really can't go wrong running Gnu/Windows. Hah! I wonder what RMS would think of the idea of Gnu/Windows?
Seriously though, Cygwin is awesome. My CompSci professors usually recommend that students install Cygwin for working on their assignments (since our assignments have to compile on the school's unix machines).
I feel the same way about people who buy designer clothes or six different versions of the Star Wars DVD. Sure, it's their right to waste their money. But it's MY right to look down my nose at them for wasting their money.
Microsoft's message is clear -- buy our software, and we'll hold you hostage with it. Thank god for Gnu, Linux, and BSD.
What could possibly more horrible than FORCING people to work to live, when it's not necessary? I'd rather 95% of the population rot in front of a TV than force them to do busy-work that a robot could do better. When you force people to choose between labour and certain death, that's slavery. When a society requires that labour to function (as ours still does), it's an acceptable evil. When the society no longer requires labour, it's utterly abominable to still compell it.
I'll bet we can destroy the entire ozone layer for a fraction of the cost of one shuttle mission! Then we can use cheap ground-based telescopes to do UV imaging. And as an added benefit, it will kickstart the next stage of human mutation and evolution!