There is no reason the USA should be voluntarily giving up its spot as an international power house, but that's precisely what its choosing to do. These are the ways I'd fix it:
Adjust foreign military operations: Stop destroying things, start constructing things. Reduce military spending. Become an active and involved participant with the UN - including paying dues. Close illegal prisons (see: Guantanamo - By the way, they'll need a really large cheque to make up for all that's been done to them), and dropping the Patriot Act.
Education: Stop failing. Start investing a lot into teachers and systems that work.
Reduce the debt: Start balancing budgets, and actively work to pay off the damn debt. Reducing military investment, minimally increase taxes for the high-end income earners, reduce salaries of high-earning government officials who.
Legalise drugs: Stop trying to plug the facet, and start controlling the flow. Ensure programs are in place to inform people of the consequences, and spaces for rehabilitation.
Stop the Fear: Neighbours really aren't that scary. Through the media and the education system, encourage respect for things that are different: cultures, languages, countries, people, etc. This fear mongering is not helping internally nor externally. With regards to foreign affairs, cease playing the bully, and start acting and performing like an all-wise and respectful older sibling.
Improve Immigration: Start making it easier for Mexicans to gain work visas in the country. If they already work here, then it proves there is work to be had. Ease employment-based immigration. Don't ask your Canadian neighbours to be anal proved when visiting the country.
Overhaul the Election System: Get an electronic system that WORKS. I can understand the preference to have 300 million people vote electronically. Get it working. Further, smooth out the election process, and allow multiple parties.
Stop Living in the 50s: Stop the barriers with Cuba. Stop the death penalty. Ensure equal treatment for all (with the usual alcohol, smoking, voting, driving restrictions on those under 18). Ensure abortions are available and stigma-free. Consider exploring legalizing euthenasia.
Tax System and Social Services: Stop taxing the poor. Start making sure that everyone is healthy (A healthy society can contribute better than one that is only semi-functional). Ensure there are institutions available for those who need it.
Go Green: Stop funding oil and gas. They can take care of themselves. Start imposing regulations country-wide on vehicles. Start pushing for and using renewable resources. Stop the waste. Cease encouragement of large families.
I'm with you - or at least thinking it'd be an interesting idea - for 1, 2, 3 & 4. 5 is potential ecological disaster (migration of animal herds, etc). Then we get to 6, and all my respect for you goes out the window. Same for 7. You ask that people speak English, but there are many students who are still failing horribly at the language in their high school years. 8, 9 are fine, but there may be unexpected repercussions to 10. My 2 cents.
I've recently discovered that for some states, if you do a google.com search for " " the results turn up the phone book information for the first 3 people of that name that it finds. Not all states seem to have this "feature" (I've been able to get it to work for Oregon, California, Nebraska and Montana so far).
The mere thought of having it so easily display personal information is ludicris! I understand that if a stalker wants to find someone with their personal information, they can. But do we really have to make it that much easier for them? I hope this concept never comes to Canada (I can't get similar results when I use our provinces and territories) - there is something called privacy. Geez.
Blizzard has done a fantastic job at being able to support many systems. I have a Tablet PC with an Intel Integrated Graphics card (aka: modern-day piece-of-crap graphics card), and it still has no problems. I might not have the best settings (they're not all min'd out either), but I get extremely smooth game play.
> you can keep in touch with lots of other people online
I'll admit its best to get to know the people in your neighbourhood, and if you're not doing that, you should. However, in the increasingly globalized world that we live in, where lots of people and families are travelling, its nice for it to not take 3 weeks to 6 months for communication to arrive (via snail mail) nor be hugely expensive (via long distance charges).
> impassioned debates... [&]... pissing off people on the other side of the planet with sophomoric trolling
I'll disagree that this is a negative. I actually think its great that people are actively seeking out debates and conversing. It may not be formal, nor highly intellectual, but its amazing to hear peoples views on things. One of the nicest things about the comments on, for example, Slashdot, is that the article will state one thing, but I learn a lot more by reading peoples' comments (that may or may not be correct, but I can take the time to research them if I really care to confirm it). Further, the fact that we can interact with people on the other side of the planet is incredible, as it allows the potential for increasing contributions for discussions.
pr0n, fps and pretending you're someone you're not (which is actually akin to acting...) aren't so bad. If you want to see some potential issues with face-to-face communication, see how Japan is handling keeping seniors entertained (via dolls). Maybe if the marketplace wasn't so geared towards single-serving sales, and media so fear-oriented, we'd have more face-to-face community. On the flip side, dumb people exist on the internet no differently than down the street. And at least with the internet, you can pick and choose which people to interact with...
Having classroom discussions and 1-on-1 talks is not conducive to getting undergrads (and their money) in and out of university as quickly as possible. These have long since gone the way of the dodo, unless you're that 1% that goes to talk to the prof or you're in an arts program. Its pitiful how little question time and exploration actually seems to occur in universities. The instructors can't be bothered as it wastes time they'd rather spend doing something else, and the students can't be bothered as they just want their piece of paper.
Papers due is still a requirement, but that can be done and submitted online. Heck, discussions (har har, should they actually occur) could also be done via web conferencing, web cams, forums, etc.
Thinking about it further, this is fantastic for Berkley. Not only can they increase enrollment by a huge amount (don't need to worry about class size, if they're all watching it from their own home), but the instructors can spend either more time doing their research (less likely) or spend more time marking all the assignments for the increased number of students (more likely). Ah, the commercialization of education at its best. (#$!?!?!%) Best to suppress inquisitive natures. Perhaps its also part-political motivation in that case?
"If you want to play as a woman now in game you have to prove you are a woman via web cam."
This is a ridiculous comment. The population will become almost 100% male. Not just because all the men can't play as women, but because the women will find it too intrusive or perhaps too much of a hassle to have themselves screened by some total stranger. W.T.F? Way to alienate the demographic that is frequently being targeted for inclusion. They may as well not bother wasting the game developers time creating these female avatars in the first place.
Though perhaps having avoided myspace and facebook, I'm out of the loop, and people now-a-days voluntarily show themselves off online to strangers.
Good idea. Let's nationalize the farms before everyone dies of starvation. I think you're trying to be sarcastic, but there was a write up today in the nytimes about farmers in the south eastern states who are currently experiencing mass drought. I realize that it might not be the traditional American way of things, but if the drought continues, it wouldn't surprise me if official bought votes by trying to subsidize the farmers.
"And the Canadians have built a big fence along the border and won't let us in as none of us want to mow their lawns or harvest their oranges."
Correction: We built a wall to keep out "Canadian terrorists" (which turned out to never actually exist) and drugs, but now they won't let us take it down until we promise to stop bringing guns illegally into the country.
Rich == Hollywood
Prince John (evil dude) ==RIAA, etc.
Robin Hood & his merry men & women == People initially creating the torrents
Poor == those who download the movies
It's a great analogy. Though some claim that the theatre experience is bad, in many cases its truly because the "poor" don't want to spend their money on something that might turn out to be crap, when they have other things stretching their wallets.
(Aside: Hearing about actors/actresses spending millions of dollars on a birthday party, and you realize that could cover your, and all your neighbors', 40+ yr mortgages, it might make you less willing to spend the money.)
If you want to go for an alternative conspiracy theory, you could say that the Canadian secret service yelled at their equivalents in the American secret service, and threatened to release an equally damaging piece of information that they (the Canadians) are aware of within the American intelligence. At which point, the American secret service retracted their previous claim.
It is odd, perhaps, that along with limiting communication, most intelligence agencies, in general, don't publickly rat out their equivalents in other nations.
?!? $20 an hour? you consider that poor?! Geez, I wonder what you think of the people that get by on $5.15 an hour (and that's in Canadian, so closer to $4.80 USD / hr). I'm doing $18 CDN the in Dev. and I think I'm doing well for a first job. $200,000 can still get you an okay place in downtown Calgary IMO.
There was a study conducted somewhere that stated using a laptop on your lap can damage genitalia. The over heating essentially cooks your balls, possibly causing long-term. Of course, if you either don't have them (ya to being a woman!) or have/are ok with having them removed, then it's not an issue.
I'm not an arts specialist, but I do believe that there are an extremely wide number of media and mediums of expression with which we communicate in this world. Sometimes, it's a telephone call, sometimes it's a musical piece, sometimes it's a painting.
Moving pictures have been with us for over a century. Black and white silent movies with just actors and no sound (or some lovely fellow playing a piano). We've increased the flexibility of expression of this medium by adding sound and colour, and further being able to incorporate computers to add to the expression of the movie.
Animated film has been with us for as long. If you look back at some of the really old Disney movies - the ones of Silly Symphony, with a black and white old school Mickey Mouse running around - only animators were behind those colourful expressions. No voice overs.
There's so much that one can do just with facial expressions. No, voices and people will never be replaced. (I've never liked cell shading, but I've come to accept it as a form of expression that some artists choose to use) There are a number of animated (CG) shorts with no verbal content, because the director/artists are able to convey everything they need to without (eg. see some of the stuff by blur studios). Mr. Bean and Charlie Chaplin are classic examples of physical humour - communicating their ideas without sound.
So yes, a number of full length CG films have voices, but it's just an optional medium for the director/artist to use to communicate the storyline they want to express to their audience.:)
I rather hoped that/. was rather open minded, and tried to show both sides of the story, but in the expanded articles only ONE is pro-tablet pc, and 2 or 3 are pros/cons. Every other one demonstrates the negative comments on tablet pc's.
I do not have a tablet pc, however I am really excited about them, and the potential that they have. Having said that, my "ideal" tablet pc is not yet on the market (I don't even know if it's in development). The ideal one would be a convertable and detachable tablet pc with a DVD-ROM/CD-ROM built into the screen, all very light weight, and with a long lasting battery. Ideally, the detachable part is beneficial in either carrying it around for classes, etc. and then for home, when setting it up on a docking station.
Given I'm currently a part of the "starving student" crowd, I don't anticipate getting a tablet pc (or any other large-priced product, like a printer) until it's perfect, or until I graduate and find a valid one. HP had some detachable ones that looked interesting, but I don't believe they've developed them much further.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, that was Bill Hader's Saturday Night Live characterization of Assange.
Judging from the google cached pages, it looks like that's precisely what his research is for. Google cached pages: here, and here, and here
There is no reason the USA should be voluntarily giving up its spot as an international power house, but that's precisely what its choosing to do. These are the ways I'd fix it:
And that's just the short list...
I'm with you - or at least thinking it'd be an interesting idea - for 1, 2, 3 & 4. 5 is potential ecological disaster (migration of animal herds, etc). Then we get to 6, and all my respect for you goes out the window. Same for 7. You ask that people speak English, but there are many students who are still failing horribly at the language in their high school years. 8, 9 are fine, but there may be unexpected repercussions to 10. My 2 cents.
I've recently discovered that for some states, if you do a google.com search for " " the results turn up the phone book information for the first 3 people of that name that it finds. Not all states seem to have this "feature" (I've been able to get it to work for Oregon, California, Nebraska and Montana so far).
For example, John Smith Nebraska.
The mere thought of having it so easily display personal information is ludicris! I understand that if a stalker wants to find someone with their personal information, they can. But do we really have to make it that much easier for them? I hope this concept never comes to Canada (I can't get similar results when I use our provinces and territories) - there is something called privacy. Geez.
Blizzard has done a fantastic job at being able to support many systems. I have a Tablet PC with an Intel Integrated Graphics card (aka: modern-day piece-of-crap graphics card), and it still has no problems. I might not have the best settings (they're not all min'd out either), but I get extremely smooth game play.
> you can keep in touch with lots of other people online
... [&] ... pissing off people on the other side of the planet with sophomoric trolling
I'll admit its best to get to know the people in your neighbourhood, and if you're not doing that, you should. However, in the increasingly globalized world that we live in, where lots of people and families are travelling, its nice for it to not take 3 weeks to 6 months for communication to arrive (via snail mail) nor be hugely expensive (via long distance charges).
> impassioned debates
I'll disagree that this is a negative. I actually think its great that people are actively seeking out debates and conversing. It may not be formal, nor highly intellectual, but its amazing to hear peoples views on things. One of the nicest things about the comments on, for example, Slashdot, is that the article will state one thing, but I learn a lot more by reading peoples' comments (that may or may not be correct, but I can take the time to research them if I really care to confirm it). Further, the fact that we can interact with people on the other side of the planet is incredible, as it allows the potential for increasing contributions for discussions.
pr0n, fps and pretending you're someone you're not (which is actually akin to acting...) aren't so bad. If you want to see some potential issues with face-to-face communication, see how Japan is handling keeping seniors entertained (via dolls). Maybe if the marketplace wasn't so geared towards single-serving sales, and media so fear-oriented, we'd have more face-to-face community. On the flip side, dumb people exist on the internet no differently than down the street. And at least with the internet, you can pick and choose which people to interact with...
Having classroom discussions and 1-on-1 talks is not conducive to getting undergrads (and their money) in and out of university as quickly as possible. These have long since gone the way of the dodo, unless you're that 1% that goes to talk to the prof or you're in an arts program. Its pitiful how little question time and exploration actually seems to occur in universities. The instructors can't be bothered as it wastes time they'd rather spend doing something else, and the students can't be bothered as they just want their piece of paper.
Papers due is still a requirement, but that can be done and submitted online. Heck, discussions (har har, should they actually occur) could also be done via web conferencing, web cams, forums, etc.
Thinking about it further, this is fantastic for Berkley. Not only can they increase enrollment by a huge amount (don't need to worry about class size, if they're all watching it from their own home), but the instructors can spend either more time doing their research (less likely) or spend more time marking all the assignments for the increased number of students (more likely). Ah, the commercialization of education at its best. (#$!?!?!%) Best to suppress inquisitive natures. Perhaps its also part-political motivation in that case?
Ah, fuxor, i forgot the tag. Shows me up for not using the preview. Grr...
"If you want to play as a woman now in game you have to prove you are a woman via web cam." This is a ridiculous comment. The population will become almost 100% male. Not just because all the men can't play as women, but because the women will find it too intrusive or perhaps too much of a hassle to have themselves screened by some total stranger. W.T.F? Way to alienate the demographic that is frequently being targeted for inclusion. They may as well not bother wasting the game developers time creating these female avatars in the first place. Though perhaps having avoided myspace and facebook, I'm out of the loop, and people now-a-days voluntarily show themselves off online to strangers.
"And the Canadians have built a big fence along the border and won't let us in as none of us want to mow their lawns or harvest their oranges."
Correction: We built a wall to keep out "Canadian terrorists" (which turned out to never actually exist) and drugs, but now they won't let us take it down until we promise to stop bringing guns illegally into the country.
In order of random:
Rich == Hollywood
Prince John (evil dude) ==RIAA, etc.
Robin Hood & his merry men & women == People initially creating the torrents
Poor == those who download the movies
It's a great analogy. Though some claim that the theatre experience is bad, in many cases its truly because the "poor" don't want to spend their money on something that might turn out to be crap, when they have other things stretching their wallets.
(Aside: Hearing about actors/actresses spending millions of dollars on a birthday party, and you realize that could cover your, and all your neighbors', 40+ yr mortgages, it might make you less willing to spend the money.)
If you want to go for an alternative conspiracy theory, you could say that the Canadian secret service yelled at their equivalents in the American secret service, and threatened to release an equally damaging piece of information that they (the Canadians) are aware of within the American intelligence. At which point, the American secret service retracted their previous claim.
It is odd, perhaps, that along with limiting communication, most intelligence agencies, in general, don't publickly rat out their equivalents in other nations.
"The poor (making $20.00 an hour or less)"
?!? $20 an hour? you consider that poor?! Geez, I wonder what you think of the people that get by on $5.15 an hour (and that's in Canadian, so closer to $4.80 USD / hr). I'm doing $18 CDN the in Dev. and I think I'm doing well for a first job. $200,000 can still get you an okay place in downtown Calgary IMO.
There was a study conducted somewhere that stated using a laptop on your lap can damage genitalia. The over heating essentially cooks your balls, possibly causing long-term. Of course, if you either don't have them (ya to being a woman!) or have/are ok with having them removed, then it's not an issue.
I'm not an arts specialist, but I do believe that there are an extremely wide number of media and mediums of expression with which we communicate in this world. Sometimes, it's a telephone call, sometimes it's a musical piece, sometimes it's a painting.
:)
Moving pictures have been with us for over a century. Black and white silent movies with just actors and no sound (or some lovely fellow playing a piano). We've increased the flexibility of expression of this medium by adding sound and colour, and further being able to incorporate computers to add to the expression of the movie.
Animated film has been with us for as long. If you look back at some of the really old Disney movies - the ones of Silly Symphony, with a black and white old school Mickey Mouse running around - only animators were behind those colourful expressions. No voice overs.
There's so much that one can do just with facial expressions. No, voices and people will never be replaced. (I've never liked cell shading, but I've come to accept it as a form of expression that some artists choose to use) There are a number of animated (CG) shorts with no verbal content, because the director/artists are able to convey everything they need to without (eg. see some of the stuff by blur studios). Mr. Bean and Charlie Chaplin are classic examples of physical humour - communicating their ideas without sound.
So yes, a number of full length CG films have voices, but it's just an optional medium for the director/artist to use to communicate the storyline they want to express to their audience.
I rather hoped that /. was rather open minded, and tried to show both sides of the story, but in the expanded articles only ONE is pro-tablet pc, and 2 or 3 are pros/cons. Every other one demonstrates the negative comments on tablet pc's.
I do not have a tablet pc, however I am really excited about them, and the potential that they have. Having said that, my "ideal" tablet pc is not yet on the market (I don't even know if it's in development). The ideal one would be a convertable and detachable tablet pc with a DVD-ROM/CD-ROM built into the screen, all very light weight, and with a long lasting battery. Ideally, the detachable part is beneficial in either carrying it around for classes, etc. and then for home, when setting it up on a docking station.
Given I'm currently a part of the "starving student" crowd, I don't anticipate getting a tablet pc (or any other large-priced product, like a printer) until it's perfect, or until I graduate and find a valid one. HP had some detachable ones that looked interesting, but I don't believe they've developed them much further.
Just wondering... what are they doing to the Ents? I kinda liked them as looking like Jim Henson muppet critters.